A month later... Thoughts on our food storage only month.

Well, I've had a long time to mull over the things I learned during February (and long enough to forget some things, so I had better write them down).  It was an interesting month.   I REEEEAAALLLY fought the temptation to give in and give up, and I'm glad I made it.  My little family were troopers, too.  :)

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's one of my fridge at the end of February.  Yeah..... it was looking kinda pathetic.  Powdered milk, prune juice (no one's favorite), chocolate syrup (for the milk, of course), cream cheese, sour cream, eggs (thanks to my SIL), and leftover chicken noodle soup.  That's pretty much it.  I still had some meat in my freezer and all the condiments in the fridge door, but this really shows how things were looking and feeling by the end of the month.  On the upside, an empty fridge is so easy to clean...

I learned some pretty important stuff! First of all, I need to go over my food storage more often to make sure I really know what I have.  I didn't realize that we only had wheat, but no flour put away.  We have a grinder and made our own wheat for most of the month (after we ran out of what was in the house), but I would really like to have some pre-ground flour in our storage.  Whole wheat is just harder to work with for some projects.  Doable, but not my favorite.

I also figured out that if we had to live on food storage alone for very long, we would be in baaaaaad shape without egg and butter powder.  Cheese, too, I imagine.  I know we'd miss fruits pretty badly, too (veggies I can grow more easily). These are definitely going to be higher in my priority list now for obtaining more storage.

We have two Basic Year's Supplies from Emergency Essentials in our garage, but when they say basic, they MEAN basic.  Long-term, drypack food storage isn't cheap, and each of those Year Supplies cost about $800, but it won't be enough.  I will be socking away some of our tax return money to buy a couple of EE's Premium Year Supplies, too.  Yeah, that's gonna set me back at least 5 grand.  I know.  I'm not saying that we should wait  until we can afford these expensive options to start storing food (and there are cheaper options at EE) - it's just my goal.  In the meantime, we will take advantage of case sales in Utah, and good buys here at Sam's Club, etc.  I really like having as much non-drypack storage as is practical for rotation.  I'm sure I'll have to buy a pallet jack and keep that long-term storage wrapped on pallets for future moves, but I'm willing to do that.  Sounds like overkill?  Try living on just your food storage for a month and see if you don't agree...

I started socking away stuff as soon as we got married, 13 years ago, so I know you can make a big difference doing little things.  So don't get discouraged if these bigger purchases are not within reach for you and yours.  Every little bit is a blessing.  Move forward with faith, and the Lord will surely bless your efforts and help bridge the gap if you have truly done all that you could.   Just make food storage part of your mind-set every time you go to the grocery store.  Go without that vacation and buy food storage!  Yes, REALLY!  You'll never be sorry!

The other thing that hit home with greater intensity is the NECESSITY of learning how to garden and how to can fruits and veggies - two things I have never done on my own.  I stayed out of the way whenever mom and dad ventured to can anything, and just helped with the gardens a little.  Learning to do both on my own should be an interesting adventure...  Plenty of fodder for future blog entries, I'm sure.  I will be googling beginner gardens right away.  It's time to plant where I live.  :)