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(Continued from Part 3. This concludes the article.)

As discussed previously, I followed two important principles in achieving a 7-year food supply using basic foods. First, let “everything from scratch” be your motto, avoiding processed and genetically modified foods. Second, buy in bulk. These two principles together will contribute to good health and definitely get you ahead of the steep inflation curve. Take the time to read the book, Nourishing Traditions, that I refer to as the “food Bible”. It will help you understand the real nutritional needs (“nutrient dense foods”) of adults and children, give you recipes, and help you avoid fad diets and food cravings.

In the following paragraphs, I give examples of the things I’ve purchased and their current cost that got me to the 7-year food storage plan for one person. If you wonder about why I purchased a certain quantity of this or that, my choices were dependent upon: the most protein and fiber per buck, and what I personally like. Your choices will be different.Continue reading“Shortages, a 7-Year Food Supply, and Beating Inflation – Part 4, by SaraSue”

(Continued from Part 2.)

Food Basics

In 6 months, I was able to stock up on basic, healthy, foods for a single person relatively inexpensively. You won’t necessarily have to take what I did and multiply it by the number of people in your household because it depends upon food needs and tastes. I avoid “emergency food supplies”, which are basically either dehydrated or freeze-dried foods at a premium price, because the budget matters to me. I avoid processed foods unless I see an exceptionally good sale, and know that these items will be good for the purposes of bartering or charity. Most processed foods are “meal-sized”, which makes them handy to pass on to someone in need. Some processed foods, like peanut butter, are less expensive to buy than to make, although the cheaper brands are chock full of sugar and other oils, so look at the ingredients list before buying. The following is the process I followed in order to achieve the 7-year goal in 6 months while not breaking the bank. If you’ve got loads of money, you can do this in a few days.

But first, the best advice I can offer is to know how your family eats and start taking daily notes about types and quantities. If you save your grocery receipts, that’s a good way to eyeball it. In reviewing your grocery receipt, remove everything from your grocery list that is not a necessity, and focus on food. For instance, you won’t need that air freshener should SHTF, although you’ll wish you had it. LOL. I know someone who recently got very serious about providing nutrient-dense food for her large family of little ones while on a budget. I suggested that she read the book “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon. It’s chock full of information about basic foods and the types the body needs in order to thrive. I recommend it for everyone.

Once you understand how and what your family eats, think seriously about modifying the diet to remove processed foods. Removing processed foods will not only improve your health, it will save you an enormous amount of money. For instance, a Rice-a-Roni box of rice pilaf in the smaller box (6.5 oz) might cost $1-1.50. If you bought 10 of those, you’d have less than a couple of pounds of actual rice that you paid $10-15 for. Whereas, you can buy 20lbs of rice for a few dollars more – anywhere from $17-$20. Wouldn’t it be worth it to learn how to make rice pilaf from scratch? What about Red Beans and Rice? You get the picture.

Another example, I purchase organic wheat berries that have a long shelf life, rather than flour, and grind the wheat into flour. It costs about $17 for a 25lb bag of wheat berries. If you don’t want to fool with grinding, you can still get ahead of the game by purchasing flour in bulk. There is a non-GMO brand called Wheat Montana that you can get in 10-lb bags from Walmart inexpensively. My point is that it takes a pound of flour to make a 1 lb loaf of bread, which translates into 25 loaves of bread for $17, which translates into ~68 cents a loaf. Have you seen the price of a good loaf of bread lately? Eeek! I use a few different types of flour for different recipes (breads, pastries, rolls, pasta, dumplings, tortillas, etc.), but I’ve learned how to do this over time. Continue reading“Shortages, a 7-Year Food Supply, and Beating Inflation – Part 3, by SaraSue”

(Continued from Part 1.)

For many of us, the following are well-known concepts that we try to implement in our day-to-day living. I share my spin on them. I don’t cover OPSEC in this series because there are individuals with far more security experience than I, who can speak to it. Suffice it to say, I have implemented layers of security.

The Basics: Water, Shelter, Tools, Energy, and Food

Water: If you live in an urban or suburban area, your sources of water are very limited. However, you can get smart about water storage, storage containers, water filtration, and even identify alternative sources of water. You can identify lakes, streams, reservoirs, and even dig a shallow well, as long as you have developed a method of hauling, filtering, purifying, and storing the water. Even if your area doesn’t “permit” rainwater catchment, develop a system to do it anyway. It won’t matter what the rules are should SHTF. Even in my situation where I have 2 wells on the property, I experienced a complete failure of the system that lasted about 2 weeks. We loaded 5 gallon buckets in the truck and made numerous trips to an available spring to fill them. We used buckets of water for flushing toilets, filled the bathtub for bathing children, and filtered water for drinking and cooking.

had a larger portable water tank and cistern on site so I was able to pay to have a truck deliver 500-1,000 gallons of potable water while we waited for the well repairs. The things I had on hand that made the “emergency” less of an emergency were lots of buckets, a Berkey water filter, bleach, knowledge of where a couple of local springs were, and a working truck. Before I moved to the country, I stored at least 50 gallons of water, in 1 gallon jugs, in the basement. The rule of thumb is 3 gallons per day per person for basic drinking, food prep, and sponge bathing. That does not account for washing clothes, flushing toilets, or anything else that needs water. At this location, I have a lot of farm animals to water, so things can quickly spiral out of control when there’s no water. The other day my pipes froze and I did not have enough water stored to cover the basics! I got lazy. Don’t do that. Attend to your water needs as a first priority in your planning.Continue reading“Shortages, a 7-Year Food Supply, and Beating Inflation – Part 2, by SaraSue”

Having a seven-year supply of healthy foods and saving money sounds like an oxymoron, but I want to explain how I did it in hopes it will help others. First, “7 years” is arbitrary. I had just finished reading the biblical story of Joseph and how God directed him to store up grain for 7 years because famine would come upon the land. Because of his obedience to God, he was rewarded both professionally by the Egyptian Pharaoh, and personally as the Lord brought his estranged family to him in need of grain. The story struck a chord in my heart and so I settled on a 7-year plan. I had no prophetic insight and claim none – this was something I chose to do. Whether God “laid it on my heart” or not, I do not know, but it became an urgent goal for me. This is my story and methods.

• Part 1 is a review of possible reasons for the shortages of seemingly Everything and discussion of basic areas of preparedness.
• Part 2 is a review of the basics: Water, Shelter, Tools, Energy.
• Part 3 is a review of Food in particular.
• Part 4 is a review of the Costs associated with a 7-year food plan and how to avoid inflationary costs.

Shortages of Everything!

Many of you have been surprised when you couldn’t find something simple, something common, something that has always been in plentiful supply here in these United States of America. Others of us shake our heads and mutter to ourselves about how devious The Powers That Be (TPTB) are, by creating shortages of almost everything. We remember the outsourcing to other countries, mainly China, over time, until suddenly we made almost nothing in our own country. We remember the job losses associated with outsourcing. We remember the shutting down of mills that made fabric, plants that made cars, and steel. We remember when technology jobs were outsourced to India, Puerto Rico, and other countries. We remember when California was turned into a wasteland after enjoying decades of oranges, apricots, walnuts, artichokes, and avocados. So many sad memories of what our Country was and how it has become. There are many more stories of the changes we’ve seen. So while we hear that “climate change” is the boogeyman, I see political policies as the culprit. I see multinational conglomerates manipulating markets to their advantage. I see politicians becoming millionaires after taking office. I see the ability of the common man or woman to provide for themselves and their families jeopardized.

Depending upon your lifestyle and where you come from, you’ve experienced a shortage of Something in the past couple of years. At first, the blame was placed on the “Pandemic”, but as we peeled back the layers of the onion, we found that it had little to do with the “Pandemic”. The “Pandemic” was just an excuse to implement an agenda, and to transfer wealth from all the little guys (us) to the big guys (globalists). Why is it that everything is available on Amazon, but not in the local store? Why is it that Walmart dominates? Why is it that Costco shelves are full, but not the local grocery store, and in some cases, not even Walmart? Why? Questions I ponder, but I have my suspicions as to why small businesses were devastated the last two years and big business saw record profits.Continue reading“Shortages, a 7-Year Food Supply, and Beating Inflation – Part 1, by SaraSue”