Food — The Currency of the Future
Food The Currency of the Future
January 3, 2011 by Peggy Layton
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This is the final article of my series on Dehydrated Foods in which I discussed: The Advantages Of Storing Dehydrated Foods, How To Store Bulk Foods, What to Store, and How Much to Store.
Right now an unprecedented number of Americans are returning to a practice of our self-reliant and independent forefathers: Storing supplies of food. The events and circumstances we are facing here in America are unfamiliar to most of us. But they are so serious that we each must choose wisely how we will face our future. You can’t control earthquakes, floods, or the real estate meltdown, but if you have food and water reserves you will have personal solutions to how these things affect you and your family.
History has proven over and over again that food and water is the solution to almost every major problem, particularly those involving independence, freedom, security, and yes, even survival. Runaway inflation in 1923 Germany followed the same inflationary path that the United States is presently on. With runaway inflation the price of a loaf of bread doubled daily until it cost so much that it was impossible to purchase.
Just recently, the National Inflation Association released a report with projections of future U.S. food price increases due to the massive monetary inflation being created by the Federal Reserve’s $600 billion quantitative easing. This report was written by NIA’s President Gerard Adams, who believes food inflation will take over in 2011 as America’s greatest crisis. According to Adams, “making mortgage payments will soon be the last thing on the minds of all Americans. We currently have a currency crisis that could soon turn into hyperinflation and a complete societal collapse.”
This is one of the primary reasons that more and more Americans are putting away supplies of food and water. It always has been, is now and forever will be that food and water are what we depend on the most to survive and having plenty of each is the most comforting source of safety and security for every human being on our planet.
Let’s look at a few other good reasons to build your food reserves….
- Legislation to prevent people from gardening is being proposed and a Doomsday Seed Vault is being built in Norway with the intent of being the only source for seed to grow food worldwide.
- Global warming — whether real or fabricated — will likely be used to control fertilization of crops and tax many farmers out of business.
- Christians searching the Book of Revelation believe that there will come a day when no one will be able to buy or sell without the “mark” (most consider this the ID card.) The National ID card is expected to be required in order to buy food.
- Imported food from countries with no safety standards for insecticides, fertilizers, bacterial and chemical contamination have entered our country’s food supply and have proven to be very dangerous. Storing safe, clean food is essential.
- The financial and emotional impact of job loss and illness are hugely reduced with a strong savings account in the form of food.
- In the case of quarantines, martial law, disasters and emergencies, if people do not have their own individual supplies, they will be dependent and helpless like the miserable conditions people faced after hurricane Katrina.
- With a food supply you can help your neighbors, family members, or anyone in need.
- Storms and weather could make food impossible to transport, destroy crops and isolate some people from food supplies.
- The gasoline prices are predicted to reach $5.00 per gallon in the near future. When this happens the price of food will go up by about one third. It will put trucking companies out of business and make it almost impossible to get necessary supplies needed for everyday life.
In any of these scenarios, the most valuable asset or currency you will have is food and water. It will be more precious than gold, silver or cash. Having food and water reserves is our greatest need. Let’s face it, when you’re hungry, nothing else matters.
Alternative Cooking And Other Equipment Needed
Another thing to consider is alternative sources of heat and cooking equipment. Make sure you have a propane stove with enough propane for three to 12 months, and don’t forget the matches. Store a lot of them. (Two large boxes per month.) A wood stove is a big investment, but it will come in real handy if there is no heat or power because you can also cook on the top of the stove. Any other outdoor or camping stove will work as well.
Menu Planning
It is very important to plan out one week of menus and calculate all the ingredients used for every recipe. These menus should all be your favorite recipes and only what you know your family will eat. When you are finished with the menu, then multiply the ingredients used by 12 (because there is approximately 12 weeks’ worth of meals in a three-month period of time, give or take a few days). That is how much you will need to store of each item.
These foods would get you by in a short-term emergency without having to change your diet and run the risk of getting sick from foods you are not used to eating. For a one-year supply of food, multiply the ingredients by 52 weeks. I recommend that you add pre-packaged convenience foods like eFoods. I will explain how to order them at the bottom of this article.
One-Week Menu Planning Chart
This chart is a sample to help you plan a week’s worth of menus and itemize all of the ingredients you’ll need to purchase to have a 3-month supply of the foods that you normally eat. This chart came out of my book, Food Storage 101. Where do I begin? Make your own charts for every day of the week. You must tailor your list to your family’s eating habits and according to the way you normally eat. If you are using eFoods or convenience meals, just insert the name of the meal into the dinner menu plan.
How Much Of The Bread Baking Ingredients Does It Take To Make Bread?
I want to get you thinking about how much food it would take to sustain life for an extended period of time. I did the calculations on how much of the bread baking ingredients it would take to make one loaf of bread per day per family and it was shocking. I took my favorite recipe and calculated all the ingredients. It makes two loaves of bread per batch. I need 90 loaves for a 3-month supply of whole wheat bread. If you have a larger family, you might need two loaves per day.
Keep in mind that homemade whole-wheat bread is different from store-bought bread. Most families can eat an entire loaf at one meal, combining it with a pot of soup or casserole of some kind.
This is what I found out:
For a 3-month or 12-week supply I will need to store this amount:
- 30 cups of powdered milk
- 11½ cups honey or sweetener
- 3 cups salt
- 15 cups vegetable oil
- 6 cups dried egg
- 6 cups of dried yeast
- 20 gallons whole wheat flour or (combination of white and whole wheat)
For a 1-year or 52-week supply I will need to store this amount:
- 8½ gallons of powdered milk
- 3 gallons of honey or sweetener
- 13 cups salt
- 4 gallons of vegetable oil
- 1¾ gallons of dried egg powder
- 1¾ gallons dried yeast
- 82 gallons of whole-wheat flour or a combination of (white and whole wheat flour) this equals approximately 16½ 5-gallon buckets.
This is a lot of food and ingredients for making bread. Each family is different, and you must tailor your plan to fit your lifestyle, what your family eats and how much they eat. If you do not eat bread, then don’t store the ingredients for bread. Use your own favorite recipes that can be made either with dehydrated, dried or canned foods that are storable.
Take into consideration that you will have fresh food in season, and if you grow a garden and bottle your own food, include these foods into your plan. Rotating the food will use up the products within the time of the shelf life. As you use them up, you will need to replenish the ingredients. It will take some planning. Each adult needs between 1,500 to 2,500 calories per day; especially those that are active, walking or working hard. A crisis is no time to change your diet.
The Best Way To Build Up A Food Reserve
I have been asked this question many times. “What is the quickest and easiest way to build up food reserves for three months to a year?”
Here are my recommendations:
I’ve been testing a line of nutritious fast-and-easy gourmet meals by eFoods Global that will store for a minimum of 15 years. This company has a new concept in storable foods that are delicious, nutritious, affordable, clean and convenient for daily use. It reminds me of the pre-packaged food from the grocery store like soup mixes, Hamburger Helper® and Rice-A-Roni®.
Some of the features of eFoods Global are:
- The food is dehydrated from premium-grade, fresh raw fruits, vegetables, dairy products, grains, beans and legumes.
- All meals are complete with everything in them. All you do is add water.
- These meals can be used every day for fast, convenient and healthy food.
- There are no genetically modified (GMOs) foods in eFoods.
- There is no added monosodium glutamate (MSG).
- No imports from countries using illegal fertilizers and insecticides.
- No hydrogenated oils.
- They are packaged for long-term storage in Mylar® pouches.
The company lets you try before you buy; simply go to www.peggylayton.efoodsglobal.com and watch the three-minute video, and then click on TRY IT to receive three packages of sample food that will feed two to four people per package. All you do is pay $9.95 for shipping.
I am very impressed with their food. I like the fact that there is no MSG in the food. I am very sensitive to MSG and get sick within 20 minutes if I eat foods with this additive in it. I have never been sick eating the food from eFoods global.
It is dehydrated, not freeze-dried, so the prices are very reasonable. It only takes 15-20 minutes to cook and it’s done, and the cooking instructions are on each package. The food is delicious.
I like to store them in the heavy-duty boxes they come in. However, another good way to store these meals is in a 5-gallon bucket with a tight-fitting lid.
The packages include soups like cheddar broccoli, Italian chicken, vegetable beef, tortilla, corn chowder, minestrone, chicken noodle, chili and potato cheddar. Entrée and other baking items include chicken pasta Alfredo, cheesy chicken rice casserole, beef stroganoff, au gratin potatoes, instant seasoned potatoes, pancake mix, corn muffin mix, cornmeal dumplings, granola, powdered milk, wheat bread mix and buttermilk biscuit mix.
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The best part of this opportunity is that you can earn food credits and money by referring others. These weekly food credits can be redeemed for food, can be gifted to others and can be used as currency to purchase preparedness items in the forthcoming eFoods Global online shopping mall. I personally want to redeem my food credits for boxes of food to help my seven adult children in their efforts to stock up.
Please call me if you have any questions about the program. I can be reached at 435-835-0311 or cell 435-851-0777 in Utah. The website to check it out is http://www.peggylayton.efoodsglobal.com. Email me at splayton@sisna.com
To purchase any of my seven books or my other products: Dehydrated food, water storage, water purification and preparedness products go to http://www.peggylayton.com.
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