Food Storage and Provident Living

Recently, the bishop asked me to be the Assistant Provident Living Coordinator.  (I know, right?  Whoda thunk it?)


The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints teaches self reliance and preparedness.  The kind sister that helped us at the cannery said that we need to be prepared to assist our relatives and our neighbors.  What I was thinking was not at all Christ-like.

But we are commanded to love one another.  So there ya go.  One of the signs in the cannery caught my attention and I wish I had taken my camera.  But, it is in the middle east with my husband.  We all have to learn how to do without.

"Get out of debt, pay off your mortgage and get food in your homes." ~ President Gordon B. Hinckley

It should be mentioned that you are not supposed to go into debt trying to buy enough food for an entire year during one trip to the grocery store.


"We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your savings.  Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once.  With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and financial reserve."  ~ The First Presidency, All Is Safely Gathered In: Family Home Storage


We're a chicken and rice kind of family.  So most of my food storage is going to be made up of rice.  The cannery sells the #10 cans of rice for $3.85 (5.7 lbs).  The #10 can of oats is $2.50 (2.6-2.7 lbs).  LDS.org recommends that each adult have 25 lbs of grains for one month.  But if you build your food storage one week or even one can at a time, it can be done.  And make sure you're stocking up on things you'll eat.  Otherwise, what's the point?


I didn't go to the cannery last time because I wasn't exactly sure of what was going to happen.


Let me tell you...you don't need to know what you're doing.  There is always someone there to help you.


We had a group of five people and even the kids were put to "work".  But Matthew and Rachel had so much fun, it didn't really feel like work to them.


We set up an assembly line.  The cans were placed on the table and labeled (upside down).  They were placed in a bucket and filled, Matthew put the oxygen pack in them and put the lid on top.  A cannery worker sealed the lid, and more workers assembled the orders.  In a little over an hour and a half, everyone's order was filled and we paid for our order.


This is not my video.  But I think it's pretty much what happens at every cannery.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXYjYvzVk8s

On a side note:  What is the point of food storage?

Every day I speak with people who have lost their job, or their spouse has lost their job, or their hours have been substantially cut back.  Many people I speak with are scrimping and saving and can't afford to buy groceries AND pay their bills AND put gas in their car.  If you have the means to build your food storage, consider yourself blessed.  Because Armageddon and the Apocalypse aren't the only reasons you'd need to crack open your food storage.