Food storage - practical or paranoia?

[Born Free]

Is food storage: good sense or promoting paranoia?

What is you take on food storage now?

Did you ever make it work, and rotate food, or keep wasting food and keeping weavels fat and well fed? :p

Do you figure it was wise "preparedness" or part of a broader process that fuelled paranoia, and anxiety of imminent disaster, which supported the general Mo paranoia about the "sinful, fallen state of the world"? :eek:

Daryl

PS: Sorry about the typo!

[dogzilla]

Well, back in the day, when I lived with my folks in Ohio, it was the silliest thing I'd ever heard of. Then, because it was Ohio and practically everybody worked in a factory at the time, when there were layoffs, my parents didn't worry too much. We could use the fireplace to heat the house and there was about two years worth of food in the basement... So it was always there as a sort of buffer. We always ate out of food storage to rotate stock and even canned things from the garden and ground our own grain... all that.

Now I'm apostate. But I live in a hurricane zone. Last summer, all FOUR major hurricanes, plus one tropical storm that didn't make CNN, passed over Tallahassee, where I live. I still have a couple gallon jugs of water I haven't used yet. (I use 'em to water plants after hurricane season is over.) Mind you, there was no damage at my house and by the time most of the storms got to me, they'd piddled down to barely being thunderstorms. But there were still tree branches falling on power lines and thus, short power outages. Actually, in the summer time here, any thunderstorm can take out a big tree branch or power transformers get hit by lightning all the time.

And being a good little exmo, I had my first aid kit, my batteries, my candles, lighters, matches, food, water, dog food, cat food, etc. all set up and ready to go. While I don't do food storage like those crazy TBMs, (I think that gets a little out of hand sometimes) I go through my hurricane preparations every June. I'm not worried about a category 5 flattening my house -- that's not too likely. But a strong category 1 can take out the power for a few days or even weeks and I think it's practical and wise to plan for that sort of thing. I've been through it so many times, I usually only have to shop for canned goods and fill a few plastic jugs with water. Also, my friends and I go camping late in the season to use up the old propane and toastee cheese crackers and all the hurricane food and supplies that won't last until next summer.

Now... food storage in Utah, Idaho, Colorado? What, you waitin' for a flood? Tornado? Hurricane? Earthquake? Exactly what major natural disaster or weather-related incidents can occur out there? What are you people thinking? ;) :p

[silverfox]

I didn't vote on the poll because I agree with BOTH.

There have been countless times over the years I've felt the fear as a TBM in not having food storage as commanded. I always felt some big horrible thing was going to happen and I would be unprepared and my kids would suffer.

As a result of that fear, I spent years storing wheat and honey. Most went bad and we used very little of it. My kids used to like it cooked in the crockpot overnight with honey. I never cared for it.

I think when storing food if you store things that are practical for your family it can be very useful. (canned soups, veggies, meat, etc) I think in times of job loss, financial hiccups, etc this can be useful and come in handy.

When the floods occurred in St. George recently I wondered how much food storage went with the homes as they toppled into the water. It's not going to do anyone any good like that.

These days I try to stock up on a few extra canned goods. But I use them and cycle them out so nothing is wasted. I don't have tons, just maybe a week's worth.

It did come in handy when I was very sick in bed for more than a week. My kids could feed themselves. And there's always Dominoes (or Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, etc, etc)

[peter_mary]

I agree with the previous posts...that emergency preparedness is always a smart thing, AND that the Church promoted that preparation out of a fear of millenial disaster. I am nearly certain that the concept of that "two year supply" came from the early Church believing that the end times were coming, coupled with the harsh realities of living in the desert with unpredictable supplies of food.

But I've also fallen victim to the scare tactics of the Church and others, and have learned an expensive lesson. Prior to the "collapse of the civilized world" at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2000 (the infamous Y2K fiasco), my wife got pretty caught up in the panic regarding the impending doom. When Gordon B. Hinckley stood up in the Priesthood session of conference in October of 1999 and warned that "we've had seven fat years, and we are facing seven lean years," that was enough to send her scrambling to one of the countless food storage places that sprung up like dandelions here in our home town, and we spent nearly $1500 on food supplies that were gonna "see us through."

Well, I've got $1500 worth of crappy food, including buckets and buckets of whole, unground wheat for which I not only have no desire to eat, but wouldn't know how even if I was starving!

The point is, like Dogzilla said, preparation for possibly tough times is a wise thing to do. But the Church's program is absolutely about fear-mongering. My favorite part of the fear, at least out here in the wild-wild-west, is the additional need people feel to "protect" their food storage. Many is the person I know who is well armed so they can fend off other starving people should the need arise. (I'm SOOO not kidding.) I guess the thinking is, not only do you protect the food you have, but the additional protein you shoot at your doorstep will be welcome. :Puking

Now, to answer your question Dogzilla, out here in Idaho and Utah, we are not as likely to get pummeled by a hurricane (okay, not at ALL likely), but a really good blizzard can put you in lock-down for several days. It just so happens that I live in the HEART of the worst drought the intermountain west has seen in decades, so the blizzard scene up here hasn't been too terrifying. We did actually have a tornado in our neighborhood on Valentines Day (February? Weird...) a few years back, as did Salt Lake City. We were without electricity in our neighborhood for 4 or 5 days. Thankfully, we don't cook much anyway, and the local Mexican restaraunts in town were all up and running :) .

Paul

[silverfox]

The point is, like Dogzilla said, preparation for possibly tough times is a wise thing to do. But the Church's program is absolutely about fear-mongering. My favorite part of the fear, at least out here in the wild-wild-west, is the additional need people feel to "protect" their food storage. Many is the person I know who is well armed so they can fend off other starving people should the need arise. (I'm SOOO not kidding.) I guess the thinking is, not only do you protect the food you have, but the additional protein you shoot at your doorstep will be welcome. :Puking

Paul

Oooooo good point, Paul. I hadn't even thought about having to protect your food storage in bad times.

When I was 10 we lived through the Detroit Riots. (1967) My dad was stubborn and although we were asked to leave our home my dad refused. NO ONE was running him out of his house, dammit!!!

So he boarded up the windows and we slept under the beds. Dad kept watch over the house. Houses and cars burned to the ground around us. People were shot and killed right in front of our home. It was muggy and hot.

Dad didn't think it would get that bad and we were stuck. Luckily the military brought in tanks and they went up and down the streets and brought boxes of food to families who were still there.

Even when things calmed down after about four days streets for miles were blocked by damaged buildings, cars, etc. We were still stuck! All the local little corner stores were gutted and ransacked. All the big markets were ransacked as well. We had to travel quite a distance to get supplies.

My point to this is - food storage would have been good to have at that time. BUT, yes, Paul, protecting it can be even a greater issue.

Store owners couldn't protect their stores. Home owners couldn't protect themselves. We had no idea anything like a riot was going to happen or how bad it would get. I feel very fortunate we lived through it.

[dogzilla]

:: slaps forehead ::

Well, duh! I forgot all about blizzards. Hey, I'm a Floridian. It happens. :D

Speaking of which, let me take a second to hijack this thread to acknowledge that today is the Date of Last Frost for my area. I planted a bunch of new herbs last weekend and plan to sow a few more this next... Neener neener neener... :p

[noodle]

:: slaps forehead ::

Well, duh! I forgot all about blizzards. Hey, I'm a Floridian. It happens. :D

Speaking of which, let me take a second to hijack this thread to acknowledge that today is the Date of Last Frost for my area. I planted a bunch of new herbs last weekend and plan to sow a few more this next... Neener neener neener... :p

ARGGGHH...don't wanna hear it. We still have a couple of feet of old dirty snow up here in nawthern-most Utard.

Anyhoo, the natural disaster that I always think about would be earthquakes. If my house collapsed, I wouldn't be able to get to the food storage in my basement anyway. We inherited my mother-in-law's food storage, and I have no idea what might be in them thar buckets down in my food storage. Ya'll come on over if we have a disaster, and we'll crack 'em open together!

mamajama

[Born Free]

But I've also fallen victim to the scare tactics of the Church and others, and have learned an expensive lesson. Prior to the "collapse of the civilized world" at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2000 (the infamous Y2K fiasco), my wife got pretty caught up in the panic regarding the impending doom. When Gordon B. Hinckley stood up in the Priesthood session of conference in October of 1999 and warned that "we've had seven fat years, and we are facing seven lean years," that was enough to send her scrambling to one of the countless food storage places that sprung up like dandelions here in our home town, and we spent nearly $1500 on food supplies that were gonna "see us through."

Paul

I never fail to be amused by the amnesia that sets in after these non-events. Like, we get whipped up into a big frenzy, and then,....... and then,........ nothing happens.

You would think people might stop for 5 and ask "What happened there? Could I learn something useful if I debriefed that?"

But no! Amnesia. Black out; brain dead; learn f'in nothing, so repeat the stupidity at some point in the future.

I wonder how much of this is sustainable because many members were traumatized in early life with this sort of "end of the world's a comin"" tactic, and deep down that trauma lies unhealed, ready to be reactivated.

On teh up side, I live for many years in an area whete the power supply was a bit vulnerable, and somewhere between Boy Scouts and Moisms stresses, I was very early into a complete power backup (generator) systems for work, with UPS to cover spikes and switchover, and it served me and the business in good stead.

Rational risk management is always sensible. Paranoia is paranoia. (A psych mate has the saying which I am sure is not original "Paranoia is the ultimate form of awareness" Bloody exhausting though!)

Daryl

PS: I loved around 2000 that the smarter heads pointed to similar anxiety at 1000AD. For me this is another case of human narcissism. Of what significance is the year 2,000 is the overall scheme of things? It is a man-made measure, and the starting point at Christ's birth is now widely regarded as dud, so IF there is some Divine rhythm of chaos, why the hell should God be working on our puny timescale?

[peter_mary]

My favorite part of the Y2K fiasco was the BOOM in cottage "food storage and preparation" industry. You couldn't swing a stick without hitting a little shop that sold giant cans of bad food, bulk batteries, and no doubt ammunition. All of them were owned and operated by millenialist Mormons.

Oh, and they all disappeared on January 2, 2000. :rolleyes: Guess the fear-mongering was over.

Paul

[bzcutah]

While I agree that the gov plays on our fears, and that the food storage industry made some good money from the 9/11 event. I do think that if you have the extra dough, food storage is never a bad idea.

I live in Utah, and if a major quake occurred, I would like the security of knowing I have the resources to take care of my family.

But the food storage thing is a little overboard, exspecially amongst the LDS community.