I was asked this in Home Depot while I was buying food grade buckets and gamma lids, by customers and the employee who helped me find more (there was only 1 on the shelf, I needed 7 more). I was asked this by a coworker, and a few friends. They know I'm in the science field, and think I might have been tipped off about something that would require food storage.
Is there impending doom on the horizon? A looming economic collapse? Terrorist threat? Klingon attack?
For the record, I have no idea.
If I did have a clue, you can be sure that I would be heavily encouraging you guys and gals to be stocking up on food and supplies too.
If I honestly thought certain doom was going to descend at some point in the next 20 years, you can also be sure that I would be blogging about any food storage in vague terms. It would be on an extremely need-to-know basis. Starving people do desperate things, and as a former stalker made me aware, it isn't that hard to find someone's address. I mean, we may be armed to the teeth, but I wouldn't be tempting fate like that.
Instead, this is just an experiment in frugality.
Next year we're going down to one income. My contribution to the family will become more of a supportive role than breadwinner. More gatherer than hunter.
The biggest way that I can contribute financially next year will be reducing waste and reducing spending, and by increasing our health (we've been reducing processed foods, and want to switch completely to whole or from-scratch foods). And groceries are the #1 thing we can easily trim to save money. That's what started this food experiment... realizing that just plain ol' dry black beans were now $3/pound, and that buying in bulk meant getting them for more like $1.34/pound.
But "bulk" meant 50 pounds! So the next step was to figure out how to store it properly so it didn't go bad, and then to figure out how much variety we wanted in our whole-foods diet. Variety is important! To get all that in bulk, it meant at LEAST over a year's worth of food.
I asked the advice on one of my friends who left her job, who was happy with her decision, and she advised me to stock up on toiletries and dry goods to make the transition be less noticeable. She'd bought stuff like toilet paper, shampoo, and canned foods ahead of time while she had more money, and found it to be super helpful while they were learning to live on a lower in come.
Since we have extra money right now (my income is "disposable"), and our savings is okay, I feel like this would be a good way to use some of it. I'm looking at the long-term financial picture here. With less than a month's worth of what I bring home, I am able to take care of 50% of our caloric needs over the next 2 years, and give us a pantry brimming with purely healthy staples. Supplement that with gardening for food, and it will save quite a bit of money in the long run.
Here's a peek at our pantry... I already buy herbs in bulk, since I can often get a quart jar for the price of one or two of those little McCormick bottles.
Yes, we do go through that much turmeric.
Plus, it will just be a fun experiment to see what it is like living off of stored foods and a minimal fresh food budget.
That said, emergency preparedness in the SF Bay Area is a good idea.
People here are always making jokes about "The Big One," the giant earthquake (magnitude 8 or higher, for reference Haiti in 2010 was only a 7) that is someday going to happen along the San Andreas fault. The earthquake of 1906 in San Francisco was a 7.8, so it is quite possible it will happen again, without warning. In such a case, I would probably just head out to my parents' house (hi Mom!), if roads were passable. But it couldn't hurt to be a bit prepared.
With the Rim Fire recently, SF's utilities and water supply were threatened. It is a good reminder about how dependent we are on the transport of food, water, and energy... and of how easily supply lines might get disrupted. Just one little campfire, and the entire Bay Area might get water rationed.
Or emergency preparedness anywhere is a good idea.
CDC/Red Cross/FEMA current guidelines are to have a minimum of 2 weeks' worth of food, water, and supplies prepared. I have interpreted this as, "if there is a disaster, we don't have enough resources to start giving you minimal emergency rations for the first 2 weeks." Take that as you will!
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