Obtaining and using food storage takes continuous mental and physical effort. It has to become a way of life. A way of life that is contrary to the society that we live in. We have to learn new skills, we have to organize our menus, our homes, our finances, and we have to be willing to eat a simpler healthier diet. That is a lot to ask when McDonalds is just right around the corner and you can feed the whole tribe off the dollar menu for just a few bucks.
So you have to ask yourself if all that effort is worth it. The answer is YES! The health benefits alone are too numerous to mention on this site. One must also consider the sense of personal and family security once a year's supply is established. Regardless of what happens in your home, with your employment, or in the world, you know that your family will not suffer for want of food. That is worth any amount of effort, especially when you consider the children that depend on you.
The only way to truly be sucessful at obtaining and working long term food storage is to set aside distractions and focus on your goal. The following are just a few ideas.
#1 Fill out an inventory sheet and keep it visible! This is the most important first step. You have to know what you need before you run willy nilly buying food. Your food storage in an investment and needs to be planned in order to experience success. Compiling an inventory may take a few weeks, be vigilant. Start by recording everything that you know you will use. You will cook something and think, "Oh wait, I will need ____". Record that in your food storage inventory. If you don't know exactly how much you will need, start with your best estimate.
#2 Experience a paradigm shift. I hear all of the time that there is not enough money to buy groceries every week or two and to also purchase food storage. That is because food storage is being treated as something seperate from family groceries when in truth they should be one in the same. You should be eating from your food supply every day. Food storage and your family groceries will merge when you realize that every time you walk into the supermarket, you are walking into a food storage opportunity. I never walk into the store without adding to my storage at home.
#3 Carefully allocate monies. This is a sensitive issue that goes well beyond budgeting. It has to do with priorities.
"Many more people could ride out the storm-tossed waves in their economic lives if they had their year's supply of food. . . and were debt-free. Today we find that many have followed this counsel in reverse: they have at least a year's supply of debt and are food free."
President Thomas S. Monson
I have a close friend who is beautiful and always perfectly groomed. Her hair, nails and make-up are always. . . well, perfect. She is a single mother who lives on a very limited income. Recently she expressed a desire to be more prepared and to obtain a food storage. She called me to ask my advice and for help with a personal food storage plan. Together we came up with a realistic amount that she should be spending every month to reach her goal. It was going to be a stretch for her and we both knew it. The other day she came to me and proudly held out her hand to show me that her artificial nails had been removed. She had decided to reallocate her nail money into her food storage budget. Her teenage daughter had done the same thing. Wow! They both had made a personal sacrifice to do something more important with their money. She will never regret that decision. Within six weeks she had also made the decision to disconnect her cable, and home phone line to further increase her budget.
#4 Constantly aquire more food storage, more recipes, and cook from scratch when possible. This is a tough one! Life is busy. We are not just mothers and fathers, we are working, schooling, diaper changing, PTA going, coaching, nursing, church servicing, house cleaning, boy scouting, child rearing, bill paying, laundry doing people! The list never ends, and it won't. With all that we do, and all that we are expected to do, it feels overwhelming to do one more thing! Let's just take a minute to pat ourselves on the back for evertything that we accomplish each day. . . Okay that's enough. It has been my observation that we put our energy and our money where our focus is. Focus on food storage.
It will be overwhelming and dangerous to your family to attempt to live on a food storage that you have no idea how to use, no idea what you have, how much you have, or what it tastes like. The only way to prevent disaster is to cook from your food storage now.