"In every family there are unforeseen circumstances that call for immediate action. A child swallowing cleaning agents or medicines, someone sustaining a serious wound, natural disasters, an unexpected loss of a job or reduction in income—any of these can catch families unprepared.
When the Teton Dam burst in Idaho in 1976, President Spencer W. Kimball said, “We don’t know where another dam is going out or where a river is going to flood, or whether an earthquake is going to come, or what’s going to happen. We just are always prepared because the Lord said, ‘If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.’ (D&C 38:30.) And that’s the only way to have peace and security—to be prepared.”
When the Teton Dam burst in Idaho in 1976, President Spencer W. Kimball said, “We don’t know where another dam is going out or where a river is going to flood, or whether an earthquake is going to come, or what’s going to happen. We just are always prepared because the Lord said, ‘If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.’ (D&C 38:30.) And that’s the only way to have peace and security—to be prepared.”
Ensign, Dec. 1990
A few months ago Brad and I decided that we needed to heed the prophets council, and become more prepared. So we decided to take a portion of the money we received from our tax return this year and put it towards getting started on our food storage. I have slowly been acquiring food storage items over the last few months, mostly canned items that we use frequently for meals, and putting them in some drawers we have under the bed in our spare bedroom. A few cans here and a few cans there, usually when there are big sales going on. But, the drawers were getting so full that it was a struggle to open them anymore. So as part of our food storage efforts we purchased a "Shelfreliance" can holder and Brad spent an evening putting it together. He also built some shelves next to it for non can items to be stored on. Thanks to some case lot sales that are going on in the stores near us, we were also able to fill a lot of the shelf and tonight we are going with our ward to the dry pack cannery to add to our food storage. I have felt so overwhelmed with the task of pulling together a year's supply of food and other essentials for my family, but working on it slowly, one item at a time, relieves a lot of the stress. I started with setting the goal of getting my 3 month supply going first. I made a list of 15 meals that our family likes to eat. Gathered the recipes for each of those meals and made a list of the ingredients I use for each meal. Which gave me a list of several items that I could store. So each time I go to the grocery store (and as things are on sale) I can buy a few extra of the items that are on that list. Starting out slowly has made such a difference. I feel like I'm reaching little goals on my way to the ultimate goal. I'm feeling a lot less overwhelmed and feel good about following the prophets council and becoming prepared.
Brad loves the shelf! He thinks it's a toy. He is like a kid putting the cans in and watching them rolls down to the bottom.
These are the shelves that Brad built out to the side.
The finished product
8 comments:
Good for you! I would think it was a toy, too. Looks like fun!
xoxo
That's great! Good for you on getting started! It's amazing how overwhelming it can seem....
Water is a really easy thing to start with too. Since it's free and all :) Saving up juice and soda bottles for storage takes us a long time because we don't drink them that much. We've outgrown our storage also but plan on building something in the garage near our freezer this summer. I have like 4 boxes from the cannery that have been sitting in my kitchen since December.
Jeff Here- I know I don't do much with this blog thing but just wanted to say that you guys are such an inspiration to me. Seeing how you guys slowly but surely work toward things and accomplish your goals really inspires me. I love you guys. Thanks for being such an awesome example! PS- give Chels a kiss for me. Can't wait to see her!
Jeff already said it, but it makes me feel so overwhelmed seeing that too and makes me realize we are nowhere near where we need to be! Ah!
BRAD SAYS "This didn't happen over night, its taken many month's of buying 1 or 2 extra cans of commonly used things. eventually we just ran out of space to store them under the bed. Yeah its not quite as good as a 52 inch plasma flat screen, but i've never felt bad by following the prophets council.
We are slowly working on ours too and I finally got 3 72 hours kits done as well as some food and water stored. It is overwhelming, but like you said/did, one thing at a time, slowly but surely. Congrats!
Who is the sexy beast putting that shelf together??? :) Nice arrangement. I wish I had one in my home. I have it all under the stairs of which I can't get my big butt through the crack to get it. Now that makes sense. It was fun putting the cans in and watching them fall. Could entertain a LARGE kid for hours .:)
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