Food storage "out of the closet"?

[justusnak]

Being a "prepper" and being Self Sufficient in my book have two different meanings. Sure...some may "prep" for whatever happens...but how long will that hold them over? Will they be able to "produce" more when needed? For alot, I say...no. So...for being SS, it means...haveing what you need, produced right there at your fingertips. Yup, thats me. Oh sure...we have store bought items...coffee, teas, sugar, flour...etc...but mainly we grow what we eat, and eat what we grow. We buy stuff from the stores we "want" when we can. Jellied cranberry sauce...spices...TP..stuff like that. Is it stuff we can survive without? Sure! But, for now...why suffer? Our canning supplies are enough to get us through at least a few lifetimes....our wood supplies (unless we have a HUGH fire in the woods) will last us untill we no longer need it...I have cooking supplies, (cast iron) to be able to cook on a fire or wood stove....and mostly..I have KNOWLEDGE! Thats what alot of people are lacking....knowledge on HOW to make it through. I wish them all luck.

 

[savingdogs]

My husband has always wanted to be self sufficient, he was influenced young by a friend who bought and stored food in bulk and was totally prepared. While we have never achieved his organizational skills, my husband has always been stockpiling for something happening.
We finally have a little property and we have been currently focusing on reproductive animals and having breeding pairs. We are hoping to not have to buy meat next year from the store as a goal. We have been working on the gardening aspect and we need to learn how to raise food better, our attempts have been fairly unsuccessful. But we are working on buying more whole foods, simple products, like using vinegar and baking soda and borax instead of buying cleaning supplies and making our own soap and laundry detergent.
This forum has been the biggest "help" in achieving our goals that we have ever found. We never found like-minded individuals to discuss these matters with before, except our original friend who is still, mightly prepared. So you could say we were influenced by a great Prepper and now by all you great Preppers or wanna-be Preppers!

 

[k0xxx]

From my perspective, be more self sufficient is "prepping" in the real sense. The more that you can do for yourself, the better prepared you are for whatever comes your way (either as an individual or as a society).

I maintain a lot of bulk food storage. I keep enough to sustain my immediate family and quite a few of our extended family. They help with the cost of purchasing this supply, and plan to come here if needed. However, most of the purchased bulk food is things that we can't produce ourselves. With our garden we try to provide the majority of our vegetables, although we haven't been as successful as we would like. Our chickens provide all of our eggs. We raise catfish in our pond, have a decent orchard, and barter for a decent amount of pork and beef. We also have harvest from the local deer, rabbit, and squirrel population.

No one can be totally self sufficient, short of living some type of primitive existence. There will always be essential items, whether food or tools, that we can't produce on our own. The best that most of us can hope for is to be less dependent on the rest of society. Speaking of essential items, my wife called and said she picked up four more 23 ounce containers of powdered cocoa. Woohoo!

 

[Icu4dzs]

So the question that appears most poignantly here is "Are you a ""Prepper" or SS"? The next question was "will this form of thinking become mainstream?" after the statements made by someone on the MSM.
I think the answers are contained in several of the postings here and bear consideration because they seem to offer guidance in what I believe to be a good direction.

A lot of these preppers seem to think that a large storage closet of food and supplies is going to save them. Personally, I think they need to learn how to provide all those things for themselves off their own land if they truly want to be prepared. If there is someone with a crop of potatoes in the ground and a lot of fruit ripening on the trees (with a stock of jars to can the fruit in when it gets ripe), a few chickens for eggs and meat, a garden for vegetables, a loom to make cloth, etc. Is this a "prepper"? Yet, six months to a year after TEOTWAWNKI these sorts of homesteader folks will be pretty much doing things the same way while the official prepper folks with the storage closet full of food and ammo and a safe room to hide in will be emerging from an empty closet.

Niele has a great point. Prepping without knowing or making plans to live "after the event" means little. When folks say they think we should have a years supply of food or MORE, it bears consideration as to why they use that time frame. My guess is that it takes a year for things to get going in the garden from the time of some serious disruption in our current lifestyle. (TEOTWAWNKI is the way one person put it). I agree. That year of food will get us through a winter so that when spring comes we can get the garden started and still have food, etc. to sustain ourselves and children. If we have two years of food put up, then we are to some extent protected if the growing year brings disaster of another sort such as weather problems (think hail on your acre of crops...bummer!!!)

Prepping therefore appears to be only step one. Being able to have what you need for an extended period of time in the event of a serious disruption of the supply chain we currently enjoy is the real issue. Can you make those things? Can others in your group or town make those things? This is where K0xxx's idea comes into play.

The second and more important step is the SS approach which would seem to naturally succeed the preparation step. As Niele says if all you have is preparation, then you come out the other end with an empty closet...and things might not be sorted out by then so you can go back to the "way it was before the 'event' that caused the problem in the first place. This would seem to me to be the most important issue...sustainability. Prepping gets you just so far. Having things ready for a time when your supply chain is disrupted is good but what if the supply chain is indefinitely altered or worse...eliminated for a much longer time?

I believe that prepping will indeed go mainstream. Unfortunately, that will happen with most of the public as they rush into the grocery stores to find nothing but bare shelves.

I do know quite a few people who would be considered preppers. I am part of a group (it's more like a Tea Party Group) that follows politics and gets involved with elections, we have speakers on a range of subjects such as political science, food storage, gardening, financial preps, etc. Someone I know even presented information on emergency communications.

If there isn't such a group in your area, maybe you could consider starting one.

K0xxx has a great point. the time to be prepared is before the storm. Once the cow is out of the barn, it is a little too late.

As for groups in the area getting together to support and teach each other, I completely agree. It is a good idea to know about the folks you can depend on before you get into a situation where there are a lot of people who figure that they will "just kill the folks who did prepare" (YES, I have actually heard some folks say this)

You can trust the folks who do what you are doing. The others may not be so kind in a serious situation because they either didn't believe it would happen or they figure they will (as so many folks in New Orleans have proven) they will just depend on what they get from the government or what they can loot from those who made the effort. "The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg" story comes to mind here.

This entire preparation scheme comes from Aesop's Fable, "The Ant and the Grasshopper". Self-sufficiency comes from knowing about how to live without the luxuries of the 20th century that so many folks have come to depend upon. I guess the folks who will be laughing the loudest in a SHTF scenario will be the Amish. They probably won't even notice anything actually happened.

 

[Wifezilla]

From my perspective, be more self sufficient is "prepping" in the real sense. The more that you can do for yourself, the better prepared you are for whatever comes your way (either as an individual or as a society).

 

[i_am2bz]

I guess the folks who will be laughing the loudest in a SHTF scenario will be the Amish. They probably won't even notice anything actually happened.

Altho they might notice that there aren't as many cars on the road as previously...

 

[Icu4dzs]

I guess the folks who will be laughing the loudest in a SHTF scenario will be the Amish. They probably won't even notice anything actually happened.

Altho they might notice that there aren't as many cars on the road as previously...

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Totally not a prepper here. I wouldn't say I'm oblivious or ignorant, I just don't think we're going to have a major poo hitting the fan event. I love to be self sufficient, I just don't stockpile food. Or TP for that matter....I think we have 2 rolls left in the house.

 

[Denim Deb]

For me, I'm not really worried about WTPHTF. It may or may not happen. But, for as long as I can remember, I've wanted to be SS. And, as I get older, I'm wanting it more.

First off, there's a verse in the Bible that states that it's required in stewards that a man be found faithful. To me, that includes being SS.

Secondly, I have an alcoholic for a husband. We have no savings to speak of, and are quite deeply in debt. He has finally woken up (for the most part) to the financial situation we are really in, and is trying to get the bills paid off. I cannot work a regular job due to my MD. I never know when I'm going to get a vertigo attack. :/ So, the more SS I can be, the better it is for our finances.

And lastly, I enjoy it. I like to work in my garden. I enjoy having the chickens. Right now, I don't have the room to raise other animals for food or milk (the goats are just pets), but would love to do so at some point in time. And, as long as I'm not doing it for too many hours at a time, I even enjoy cutting up the wood.

 

[Wifezilla]

Aggie, as I have stated before (on other threads) if you prep and nothing happens, there is no problem. You have extra supplies for camping. You have items in case of a blizzard, flood, hurricane or whatever natural disaster tends to be "the thing" in your area. You also have things on hand you can easily donate to the local church or food pantry. You also can give the extra items to family members or friends that have fallen on hard times. You lose nothing by having extra supplies on hand.

Now if you don't prep and things DO hit the fan? Then what? Well, you are completely screwed.

One thing that brought things in to perspective for me is quite a few years ago we had flash flooding. While the houses in the area were fine, a stream did wash out a bank which took out a major electricity tower that supplies the area. We had no power for over a week.

Since there was no power, the stores had no functioning cash registers. Everyone rushed to the store to get food, batteries, ice, etc... People had to shop using grease pencils and writing prices on all the stuff. The checkers had to use hand held calculators and try to ring things up. Once all the refrigerated and frozen stuff was gone it wasn't restocked. No point without power. The ice was gone in minutes. Check out took hours for some of my friends.

We didn't have to bother with that mess since I had a well stocked camping box and our propane grill has an extra tank. I did manage to grab a chunk of dry ice so our freezer was fine. To buy regular ice, though, I did have to go in to town.

Because of that event I was able to relax. Plenty of candles, battery, and some lamps. We used up what food we had and didn't lose anything to spoilage. Because of the ice issue, I did learn to have extra frozen large water bottles in the freezer and we also got a much better 7 day cooler.

Whether you think things will go all FUBAR or not, prep. Seriously. If you don't you may very well become a burden on someone else.