Keep Food Reserves Safe In A Crisis
November 14, 2011
by Peggy Layton
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Keep long-term food storage in a locked room.
I have heard people jokingly say that they don’t need extra food reserves because they have guns. They casually say, “I will just come to your house.” I believe that people will do whatever they have to do to get food for their family. How will we protect the food reserves we have worked so hard to purchase, store and secure?
We really need to think about this question. Where would be the safest place to store food, water, extra clothing, cash and other necessities? We need to protect these things not only from bugs, rodents and other animals but from looters as well.
Precautions You Can Take To Protect Your Food Investment
I read a true story about a woman who came home from work and found one of her neighbors hauling out bags of groceries from her kitchen pantry. The neighbor was unemployed and financially strapped, so she broke into the house next door and took their food. She was caught and charged with burglary. She was put in jail and is being prosecuted. As times get tougher, more people are going to be unemployed and will do whatever it takes to feed their families; looting will become more prevalent. Many good people will be suffering the consequences of not being prepared with food reserves.
If you have food reserves, I caution you to take stock of your current situation and decide where you should keep your emergency food. Some of the food you purchase needs to be rotated, such as canned goods, dried eggs, powdered milk and perishables like winter squash, potatoes and other vegetables. The food with the shortest shelf life needs to be accessible so it can be rotated and used faster. I suggest you keep long-term food storage in a room that has a lock and key. It might be necessary to lock it with a dead bolt. Hide an extra key somewhere that you will be able to get to in a disaster. Tell your family how to access the food. If someone comes to you asking for food, you can give it out as you wish and not have it taken from you by looters.
Many people have guns to protect their families and themselves from predators and looters. All guns and ammo must be kept locked up as well in a gun safe or a locked room.
I think locking up all emergency survival items is very important. Keep in mind that if there was a crisis and you needed to get to your stockpile quickly, you must be able to find the key easily.
I have friends who keep their food in basements; others keep their food in metal storage containers. Most people keep their food in their kitchen pantry and probably would not be able to make more than a few days’ worth of meals if they had to. We have a root cellar with a food-storage shed on top of it. I also keep food in our basement, in the pantry and in the garage. Wherever you decide to keep your food reserves, you must guard them like you would any other valuable asset.
I believe everyone needs a heavy-duty safe that can be bolted to a cement floor from the inside. I have some friends who went to Hawaii for a vacation. When they returned home, they were shocked to find their safe busted open in their back yard and all their valuables, including $8,000, gone. The safe had been in a bedroom closet. Had the safe been bolted down properly (from the inside) to a cement floor, the thieves would not have been able to take it.
Why Should We Store Food Reserves and What Are We Preparing For?
There are a lot of good reasons to store food. Food in the pantry is better than money in the bank. I believe in a food savings account. If the banks have any kind of problems, we may not be able to get our money out. What will we do? Some of our savings is better off being in a food savings account in our pantry or basement. Food reserves bring a sense of security and peace of mind. I like being self-reliant. It gives me independence, freedom and a sense of security that if needed, I could take care of myself and my family for an extended period of time — especially if there were no grocery stores open and no one else to turn to.
- A disruption to food production resulting in food scarcity.
- Rising fuel prices, which can result in trucking strikes.
- Harmful outbreaks of bacteria that cause foodborne illnesses.
- Loss of jobs due to rising unemployment.
- Loss of homes due to foreclosure.
- Natural disasters due to changing weather patterns, which include droughts, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and freezing ice storms.
- Hyperinflation.
- Terrorist attacks, social unrest, anarchy and war.
My reserve of food is a form of starvation insurance. This type of insurance holds its value. Once you pay for it and put it away, you can still eat it. It could save someone’s life.
The National Inflation Association predicts that by the year 2015, the U.S. dollar will lose all of its purchasing power and empty grocery store shelves will be common in America. For every economic problem the U.S. government tries to solve, it always creates two or three much larger problems in the process.
- Did you know that 2 percent of the population of the world grows the food and 98 percent of the population depends on that food? That is true dependency.
- In Africa during the summer of 2011, more than 29,000 children under the age of 5 died due to malnutrition and starvation. Children in America are also going to bed hungry. What would happen if the welfare system shut down due to lack of funds? What would government-assisted families do?
- I worry about my seven children and their families and how they are going to make it financially in hard times. They don’t have the finances to purchase the extra food. I encourage them to stockpile extra food, but it just doesn’t seem to be a priority. Some live in apartments, some are in college, some are newly married, some have young children, and some have new homes with high mortgage payments.
- Millions of Americans are losing their jobs because of the economic situation our Nation is experiencing. Some people still have jobs, yet can’t even afford food to feed their family. Three million people in the United States are unemployed and will go from the workforce to the welfare lines this year. This can happen quickly to anyone.
- Millions of Americans are losing their homes as a result of mortgages being overinflated. Making mortgage payments will soon be the last thing on the minds of Americans. The No. 1 thing on people’s minds will be where they are going to get their next meal. We are in the midst of an economic crisis that is devaluing the American dollar and could turn hyperinflation into monetary collapse.
Families will need to help each other. Multiple generations of families might need to live together. Young adults might need to move back home with their parents to avoid being homeless. Every parent should store for himself first and then for his extended family members that might need help. Then, store extra for their friends and neighbors in need. This will take sacrifice and focus. A food savings account builds over time, just like savings in a bank account does.
Long-Term Food Reserves
http://plimages.blob.core.windows.ne...read-image.jpgI have mentioned many times before in previous articles that I am involved in a company called eFoods Global. The company changed its name to Go Foods Global. It is a way of announcing their products as an on-the-go, just-add-water type of food. The food can be stored long-term, it can be shared with others, or it can be served tonight for busy families. These foods are quick fix meals. Everything is in the pouch. You just add water, cook for 20 minutes and it is done. The food comes in Mylar® pouches and has four servings per pouch. They are sealed with oxygen absorbers in the pouch, which makes this a long-term food product that will last on the shelf for 15 years.
- New products that were announced at the national convention: instant stick packs of Kona Coffee, Orange Passion Green Tea and Tropical Energy Drink. The new entrees are Thai Coconut Noodles, Santé Fe Fiesta Rice and Creamy Tuscan Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes.
- The other entrées that are available are 3 Cheese Alfredo Pasta and Cheese, Au Gratin Potatoes, Beef Stroganoff, Chicken Cheddar Rice, Hearty Chili with Cornbread Dumplings, Seasoned Mashed potatoes, Vegetable Beef Stew, and Wisconsin White Cheddar with Pasta Shells.
- There are breads such as Pancake Mix, Southern Buttermilk Biscuits, Whole Wheat Bread, and Cornbread Muffins.
- The breakfast items include Almond granola and Natural Oatmeal.
- The soups include Cheddar Broccoli, Chicken Noodle, Potato Cheddar, Southwestern Tortilla, Sweet Corn Chowder and Western Potato Chowder.
- There is a snack called dried Tropical Fruit Mix.
- They have a variety of other items like non-hybrid Garden Seeds, The Berkey Light Water Filter and the Katadyn Hiker Pro Water Filter.
I suggest that you take a portion of your monthly food budget and purchase a stock of food for yourself. You can use Go Foods every day for meals or store them for an emergency.
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Go Foods Global is now shipping to Canada. There is an opportunity in the United States and Canada to be an independent business owner and sell the Go Foods Global food. If you love these foods and want to help others get prepared with emergency food reserves, this opportunity is for you. This is how anyone can start a food reserves business and earn enough money to purchase food for himself. Check it out at www.peggylayton.mygofoods.com
http://plimages.blob.core.windows.ne...ook_covers.jpgFood Storage And Self-Sufficiency Products Available
If you are interested in any of the seven books I have written, such as Emergency Food Storage and Survival Handbook or Cookin’ with Home Storage, water storage tanks, ION water treatment, dehydrated or freeze-dried food storage sealed in gallon-sized cans with a shelf life of 15 years, wheat grinders, Bio-Clean sewage treatment, 72-hour packs or emergency medical supplies, click here.
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