I will use coupons, but I am not extreme. I believe in being prepared, but I'm not a doomsday-er. So why do I store food?
Food storage means peace of mind. Not just peace of mind in the event of a major natural disaster, but peace of mind in the event of lesser challenges. The stress that comes with unemployment, illness, or even just "I'm-in-the-middle-of-a-recipe-and-now-realize-I'm-out-of ____" can be decreased or eliminated with food storage.
Food storage embraces the tradition of saving for a rainy day. Though the actual process of preserving food can take time and effort, having food stored harks back to a simpler way of life.
Food storage provides a creative outlet. It's validating to realize I can take various ingredients, throw them together (with the help of recipes), and end up with a delicious product.
Food storage brings people together. My oldest son's brown-bag lunches piqued the curiosity of one of his friends. Next thing I knew, my son asked me if I will teach his friend how to make bread. (Apparently I was called a "hard-core" bread baker, because I ground the wheat.)
Do you have food storage? What do you store? How do you use it?
Thankful thought: Thanks for the wisdom of the past, which still proves wise today.
We love to can from our garden, and have put up enough green beans, corn, pickles, beets, carrots, and salsa that we'll never have to buy it again! Each year, just before it's time to can, we are working our way through the last of the previous year's jars, so it's been a very thrifty way of stretching our budget! Plus, it's so satisfying having a meal made from so many of 'our own' things!
ReplyDeleteI am not an excessive storage person but I like to buy extra when it's on sale and always have staples on hand in quantity. My DIL who lives down the road shops often in my pantry.lol I love to can and preserve bounty from the garden it's creative and satisfy to serve food from my own hands and I know exactly what's in it. Using the last of last seasons peaches this week, so yummy and not too sweet and syrupy like those from the store.
ReplyDeleteWe simply don't have the space in our home to store very much, but I grew up with a hardcore storage-mom! The vegetables of her own garden, fruit from the trees and bushes, the meat my dad shot himself (he is a hunter, not many people in the netherlands do that anymore, only a few are allowed). A big BIG freezer full and a basement filled up to the ceiling....
ReplyDeleteIf we ever get a snowstorm or an other disaster, I would hurry to my mom's! Even with the whole family (10 persons) we could hold out for at least half a year on my moms stored food!! Thankful for old-fasioned mom!!
(and I would love to bake a bread myself, so I'm going to try that too)