Food Storage
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Mormon Church leaders have long counseled us to store a year’s worth of food and water, if possible. Notice that I used the word “counsel”, not “commanded”. On the church’s Providentliving.org website, we find this wording: “Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once.”
I have to confess, however, that despite having joined the church as an adult over 30 years ago, and consider myself a devout member, I haven’t been very good at heading this counsel. I don’t think very many members have, actually.
But in the past few months, Susan and I have taken a new interest in this, and a renewed sense of responsibility for it.
It started with our ill-fated attempt at getting into the oatmeal/dried fruits/nuts/etc. business. After we opened a shop at the Hartville Marketplace in November, we struggled to find an identity.
We had conflicting visions for the business – one was to sell custom mixes of all kinds – mixed right on the spot for the customer. The other was to sell our own brand of oatmeal and granola. The two ideas seemed to conflict, at least in my mind, and I think we had a real problem in presenting a clear picture to the public of what we were about.
During this time, we found ourselves more interested in offering food that we felt was healthy, and had a long shelf life – something that we felt people needed rather than just wanted. We found ourselves investigating foods sold by Honeyville, Bob’s Mill, and other companies that sold foods that could potentially be used in food storage.
Ultimately, we realized that food storage – and anything having to do with preparedness – was something that we felt we needed to focus on. Preparedness includes food storage, but also includes all these things:
- Employment
- Gardening
- Finances
- Education and Literacy
- Health
- Social and Emotional Strength
- Emergency Planning
We felt that it could even include alternative energy, and anything that could allow us to save money and live independently while preserving the environment.
So this opened a whole new world to us. Today I’m starting work on FoodStorage1.com, a website which will attempt to educate and encourage food storage. One of the main features will be a comparison of various food products with long shelf life. This will include products by Honeyville, Wise Foods, Food Insurance, Nitro Pak, Shelf Reliance, eFoods, Free Food 2 Go, and others.
Check it out: FoodStorage1.com
