« Infection Control | Main | Short-term Emergency Food Storage »
The Idea Behind Food Storage
Having emergency supplies of extra food storage is a smart plan to implement. You just never know what's going to prevent you from buying food. Blizzards can shut down distribution paths or your access to the grocery store. Being sick can keep you from leaving the house. Natural disasters and weather play all kinds of tricks on society, so being prepared with a well-stocked larder is a good idea.
Everyone needs to have food stored for emergencies. Food storage isn't a "survivalist" notion, with all those connotations. It's a practical approach to life. There have been periods of time when stocking extra food for emergencies was the norm. And there have been groups of people who have subscribed to preparedness with food stocks. But these days it seems that most people don't think it's necessary. After all, for most of us the food market is so convenient why should we tie up money and storage for something the store will have when we need it?
We should all have a larder for the events that happen which keep us from getting to the store, or the store from getting supplies. What good is a convenient grocery store that has limited or no food stocks?
You may wonder what could deplete grocery stocks. There are lots of things that can affect them: disease, weather, terrorist activity, and natural disaster.
The series of food storage articles I've written were motivated by my concern that bird flu could become a pandemic. Pandemic means it will sweep the world in a very short period of time, even seeming to appear in various reaches of the planet simultaneously. And when that happens there will be lots of very ill and dying people. But there are other immediate reasons to create a larder.
Between food distribution channels being interrupted and the need for isolation or quarantine, having extra foods at home will be important. I have several friends and associates who don't believe bird flu, or any other disease, will become a pandemic because they think that medicine and hygiene have improved so much since the last pandemic that we're all safe from disease spreading. I'd like to think they are correct in their analysis. but I'm not willing to gamble on it, especially considering the ease in which people can cross borders in jet planes.
If we could count on the grocery always having the food items we need, when we need them, that thought would be sound. But as has been illustrated by various emergencies, the stores don't always have the food we want or need. For example, the blizzard in Denver and eastern Colorado in December 2006 left many grocery shelves empty for days, and depleted for weeks, in various parts of the state and the west because trucks couldn't get through. The unexpected happens and food supplies get depleted. From produce, dairy, canned and packaged goods, meats and frozen items, the food you rely on may disappear for periods of time.
There are lots of reasons you may think you can't go down this path; finances and space being two of the top contenders I hear among my friends. If money is tight, then pick up only one or two extra items that are on sale each time you go to the store. It won't be long before you have a good short-term food storage built up.
If space is a premium at your home, which I know it can be, then get creative and carve a small area where you can store a little extra food. Creating food storage space may take rethinking how you use your space. Your kitchen cabinets will hold some of your extra foods, but not enough if you have the typical kitchen space. Do you have an attic, basement, crawl space, or under-stair areas? What about the back of a closet -- coat, bedroom or guestroom? I've seen people in small spaces use trunks for storage and tables; you could consider that option too. Are your bookcases deep enough that you could put food supplies behind your books? You could even consider a space under your bed(s) for storing extra food supplies. Strive to create storage space that's not exposed to high temperatures or humidity to help lengthen its shelf life. This is an important issue and worth making the space.
So whether you want to prepare for a blizzard, earthquake, forest fire, terrorist attack or pandemic, there are lots of good reasons to have at least a short-term food larder. Create a plan and start acting on it today.
