Hello, Faithful Reader!
Let's put some things right out there and deal with them. Prepping doesn't equal crazy- it can, but in our situation, it doesn't. We don't believe in the Mayan calendar, or that the military has deep rooted secrets that will destroy us, or that the undead will walk the earth and try to eat all of our brains. These Hollywood stories simply put a face to the natural human fear of not being ready when things go completely upside down.
We started prepping (preparing) when our world crashed into a perfect storm scenario. My husband's company was sold and his position in management was not retained. We were looking at a long, cold winter with one income. A couple of days later a horrible snow storm hit us hard. We lost power. I had not filled up the bathtub, we had no food for my cat in the morning (if you have a cat you understand) and we searched for an hour for our only flashlight only to find that we had not one battery for it. We were at the mercy of God and it was His perfect timing. We had some serious changes to make.
Like we have a tendency to do, our family made a plan (when the lights came on) to store up one years worth of food and water, create a complete first aid kit, fill our 72 hour bug-out bags, and order a truckload of ammunition. We were planning to do all of that work- that day! We researched food storage items all over the Internet and we even ordered some sample items to try. We thought-$3,000 isn't much for a whole years worth of food in #10 cans...WRONG! As impatient as I was and as needy as we were to be prepared, slow and steady became the process.
The first question you need to ask is: "What are the areas in which my family is already headed in the right direction?" Do you know how to plant a garden? Do you know how to preserve your harvest (by canning or dehydrating your excess)? Do you seek out weekly deals on long term food storage at the supermarket? Do you have a food saver? Do you have a freezer? Have you taken a first aid course lately? Do you own a firearm? Do you have more than one source of heat?
We were pretty well set on those things listed above so we started to focus on just 2 things. The first was planning and shopping for our meals at 2 week intervals. We sat down and wrote out 14 dinners for 4 and made the grocery list to go with it. We always try to stretch what we get to 2 meals. Say we bought a roaster for $10.00. We have roast chicken with potatoes, gravy and a vegetable one night and then 2 nights later we have left over chicken cut up on the leftover potatoes with gravy on top. Now that we have added so much to our "store" in our house, all we need to do is buy the chicken and we have 8 servings of a good, wholesome meal for a little over $1.00 a piece.
We built up our "store" very quickly by deciding that if we needed 1 can of broth, we would buy 2 or if we bought 2 cans of peaches, we would buy 4 instead. We continue to do this as we strive for our one years worth of food storage. There will be much more regarding food storage as this series progresses.
The second thing we focused on was water. I don't know if you are like me, but when the power goes out, I am instantly thirsty. Of course, if you are not on a well, your water will continue to work with or without power. But think beyond that. What if the water supply becomes contaminated due to a spill or some other disaster. What will you do? You can last 3 minutes without air and 3 weeks without food, but you can only last 3 days without water. If you consciously thought about how much water you really use on a given day-not just to drink- do you really want to struggle if something does happen to your water supply? The guideline that we go by is 1 gallon of water per day per person-just for drinking and using to cook with- and 1 gallon of water per person per day to take care of sanitary needs with. We will be addressing water purification techniques later on in this series.
My Friend, the decisions you make are your own. You are the head of your family. Others will look to you in times of trouble and expect guidance. What will your answers be? "Sorry kids, that trip we took last vacation was our focus." or..."Don't worry, we have spent all of our time, energy and resources working to create peace and calmness in this difficult time. Go get some of that beef jerky we made yesterday and let's play a game of Monopoly." Our focus on the farm is on family and our love of God. What is your focus?
