"The Approaching 1930's Style Depression"
written & posted August 11, 2007
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Imagine that you are now approaching a season like the 1930's depression. If this is true, and we believe that it is, the convenience of a trip to the local grocery store to purchase food for your family may not be an option. Are you prepared to feed your family for an extended period of time? What do you need to do to prepare?
Having a storage of essential foods, clothing, fuel, and water will help us during times of personal and natural disasters. As we consider the future, the New World Order, government controls and count the costs... [Read Matthew 25:1-13]. Watch "The Shocker". It is important to prepare to meet the basic survival needs of our families and others.
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"In Matthew, chapter 24, we learn of 'famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes. …' (Matt. 24:7) The Lord declared that these and other calamities shall occur. These particular prophecies seem not to be conditional. The Lord, with His foreknowledge, knows that they will happen. When we are prepared we do not have to worry about the ‘what if’s’ because we have prepared to meet the basic survival needs of our families. We encourage women to read Proverbs 31:10-31
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Years ago we began storing food for our family truly believing we would someday be done. We have since learned that food storage is like any other household chore. We may catch up from time to time but the task is never truly finished. If left undone for too long the task becomes seemingly insurmountable.
While we can't offer much in regards to helping you with your household chores, we can share a few practical tips and suggestions about preparing for the end time ‘famines, pestilences, and earthquakes’… by providing some ideas that you can use to begin planning and purchasing a one year supply of food (at the minimum) for you and your family.
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The first thing you need to do before beginning your food storage plan is to assess your needs. Your family may be large or small. Perhaps you are the only member of your family. Regardless, you need to know what and how much you should store. Begin by making a list of all the meals you and your family like to eat. Then figure out which
meals can be stored.
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Basic Ideas
Our food storage should contain what we would eat, and if we don't currently eat the items we should try to incorporate them into our diets. Start with the basics and then work from there to build up your food storage.
We have not laid down an exact formula for what should be stored. We encourage you to concentrate on essential foods that sustain life, such as grains, legumes, cooking oil, powdered milk, salt, sugar or honey and water. Most families can achieve and maintain this basic level of preparedness for any emergency. The decision to do more rests with the individual or family members.
It's important to remember that most of the recommendations you receive are just that... recommendations. In the end you need to decide how you will incorporate the recommended foods into your storage plan. For example, if all the people in your family are lactose intolerant, then it doesn't make sense for you to store dry milk. Instead you would store other milk replacement choices.
We will also point out that the families who are most successful in obtaining minimally a 1 year supply are those who store what they eat. In other words, they keep a rotating food storage.
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Benefits of Storing Food
A year’s supply of food storage is beneficial in several ways:
1. It provides peace of mind as we know we can meet one of our basic needs.
2. It helps ensure survival in case of personal or natural disaster.
3. It strengthens skills in preparing and using basic foods.
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Grains
Grains include wheat, rice, rolled oats, dried corn, pearl barley, and other cereal grains. Flour, cornmeal, and pasta products such as macaroni and spaghetti are also included. Each family should store various grain items that suit their individual preferences. For example, rather than storing three to four hundred pounds of wheat per person, a family might choose to store two hundred pounds of wheat, one hundred pounds of flour, twenty-five pounds of rice, twenty-five pounds of rolled oats, twenty-five pounds of dried corn, and twenty-five pounds of macaroni per person. There are numerous combinations. This gives variety to the menu and encourages using and rotating the supply. It also provides choices for those who do not like or cannot eat a particular grain.
Most grains can be dry-pack canned or vacuum sealed. This makes them more convenient to use and reduces the possibility of spoilage. Grains may also be stored in tightly sealed metal or heavy plastic containers.
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Legumes
Legumes—an inexpensive, nutritious protein food—include beans (soy, pinto, white, kidney, lima, winged, red, navy, pink, and black-eyed), split peas, lentils, and peanuts. They can be stored in clean, dry metal or plastic containers with tight-fitting lids. They may also be dry-pack canned or vacuum sealed.
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Fats and Oils
Fat is essential to every diet. Shortening, cooking oil, margarine, and mayonnaise are suggested for storage. Store fats in sealed containers in cool, dry, dark places and rotate them frequently.
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Powdered Milk
Nonfat powdered milk, instant or regular, is an excellent storage item. It contains all the nutrients, except fat, found in fresh milk.
Powdered milk can be stored in the original sealed packages, or if purchased in bulk, it can be stored in tightly covered metal or plastic containers.
You may also use canned milk as part of the milk storage program, but you must rotate it regularly.
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Salt-Spices
Nutritionists recommend iodized rather than plain salt. Store salt in its original container in a cool, dry place.
Don't forget about spices. A large variety of spices can make the same old foods taste new and enjoyable.
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Sugar and Honey
Whether to store sugar or honey is a matter of personal choice. Sugar may harden; honey may crystallize and/or darken. Neither affects the safety of the product.
Store honey in small containers. Then, if it crystallizes, you can immerse the containers in warm water to re-liquefy it.
Store granulated sugar in a tightly covered metal or plastic container or place it on a shelf away from moisture in its unopened cloth or paper bag. Occasionally knead the bag to help prevent the sugar from hardening.
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Water
Water is more essential than food in sustaining life. Store a minimum of twenty gallons of water per person for drinking and food preparation. Store an additional twenty gallons per person of the same quality water for bathing, brushing teeth, and dishwashing. Use heavy plastic containers with tight-fitting lids, clean, new plastic or metal garbage cans with lids can also be used. Metal containers, which may corrode, tend to give water an unpleasant taste.
If you store water away from sunlight in clean containers, and if it is bacterially safe at the time of storage, water will remain pure and useable indefinitely.
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Preparing for what?
Before buying anything you should sit down at the kitchen table with paper and pencil because you have some decision making to do. Ideally, everyone who’ll be depending on the food storage should be at the table as well, but the person who will be responsible for the food storage can do it alone, if necessary. It is more fun if everyone participates and learns these practical survival steps as a way of life.
Your first decision to make is ‘why are you storing food?’ What situations and circumstances do you think can occur which would cause you to need your food stores and prevent you from easily being able to get more food from the grocery store?
Make a list of everything that has some significant probability of happening in life. Write them all down as they come to you and then on another sheet reorder them according to how likely you think they are to occur. While you are doing this, make a note beside each one of whether or not you will have some means of cooking or preparing food should it come about. You’d really hate to have stored away hundreds of pounds of food only to find yourself with no way to make it into a meal. Practice scenario planning. Think things through and think ahead.
Once you have your list, write next to each scenario the length of time you feel it might last. Chances are, the situations that will concern you the most are weather related, but it is wise to also consider long term unemployment, severe economic depression, civil unrest including riots, martial law, war, earthquakes, etc.
Now that you have a list of probable scenarios and the length of time you think each may last, you are ready to plot the course of your food storage program. Plan your food purchases to meet the needs of the shortest duration scenarios on your list first. As you accomplish each goal set your sights on the next longest and work towards covering that one. In this way you are steadily preparing for one scenario after another while making progress towards your ultimate goal of meeting the needs of your longest lasting concerns.
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Making the List.
Begin by making a list of all the meals you and your family like to eat. Then figure out which meals can be stored. List the food items and amount of that item your family will use each week. Then multiply these amounts by 52 since there are 52 weeks in a year:
For example:
· pinto beans = 78 cups or 31 lbs.
· rice = 78 cups or 31 lbs.
· tomato sauce = 52 15oz cans
· cumin = 52 Tbsp. or 3.25 cups
· salt = 52 Tbsp. or 3.25 cups
· oil = 13 cups or almost a gallon
· olives = 52 6oz cans olives
· corn chips = 26 bags of corn chips.
As you calculate these amounts you now know how much to store for one meal a week for one year. If you follow these steps for six more meals you'll have all your dinners taken care of for one year. The more meals you come up with, the more variety you will have in your food storage and the more likely you are to transition in to using the food stored throughout the year and replenishing it as you use it. Do the same lists and calculations for breakfasts and lunches and you have a year supply that you can eat, use and maintain.
It's also important to mention that not all the foods you eat are easily storable. You may be accustomed to eating donuts for breakfast every morning, but it's not really feasible to store a year supply of them. You may need to experiment with some new recipes or eating habits and add these items to your food storage.
Knowing what you need to store and actually acquiring it are two different things all together. It may seem impossible to purchase all the food you will need to complete your storage if you're already struggling financially to make ends meet.
Have faith! With God’s help it CAN be done.
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How do I pay for it? (written by a guest contributor)
Let's talk about money for a moment. Most Americans do not have a good grasp of what money is or how it works. We have posted links to several videos by G. Edward Griffin who discusses this topic and they are MUST SEE videos if you want to have a working knowledge about money. For more information about money, watch these videos. Money Masters part 1, & Money Masters part 2.
Simply put, the US dollar is not real. It is not supported by anything other than the faith of the people who are using it. Since you are reading this on a computer, I will assume that you know a little bit about computers. Think of the US dollar as a shortcut on your computer. When you install a new piece of software on your computer, like Microsoft Internet Explorer, the program places a shortcut to that program on your desktop screen or in your "Start" menu. This shortcut is not the program itself, it is only a link to the program.
Now then, a US dollar is not wealth by itself, it is only a "link" to the wealth that it is supposed to be representing, just like the Internet Explorer link is not the program itself. Those of you who have delved into the workings of your computer a little bit, know that it is possible to remove a computer software program while still showing the link on your computer screen. The program is gone, but the link is still there. If you click on the link, nothing happens because the program is gone.
This is what has happened to the US dollar, and every other "paper" currency in the world. They are links to wealth that has been removed by bankers and the various governments. Those "dollars" do not represent wealth anymore. That link was removed in the United States by President FDR in 1933 when he seized the gold and issued "dollars" to replace that gold. Gold has always been money as far back as Old Testament Scripture. Gold is not created by man like a piece of paper. Gold requires hard work to find, to extract, and to process. It is real. Gold is mentioned throughout the Bible as something of value.
If the computer example did not make my point, I'll try a few others. You have a brand new car which came with a title. The car is real, the title is not. The car can be washed away in a flood, never to be seen again, but you still have the title in your safety deposit box. Same thing with your home. It burns to the ground, but you still have the deed. Do not confuse "paper" with real.
I made this point to say the following: There is coming a time, very shortly, when the US dollar is going to crash and become worthless. When that time comes, would you rather have food, and other tangible items needed to live, in your possession or are you willing to risk losing your savings that are in some bank?
Government is not going to save you. If you watched what happened in New Orleans during Katrina, you saw troops with guns everywhere, but you did not see food and water being delivered. This was not some horrible mistake made by the government. This was a trial run in this country to see how the American people would respond. Lest you think that I am some conspiracy nut, I am a former paratrooper who was stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC, during the mid 1970s and I am a retired Highway Patrolman from a western state. I know what could have been done by the military to help the people in New Orleans and I am ashamed by what I saw the police doing.
Please be wise. Protect yourself and your family now, while you still have the time to take action.
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G. Edward Griffin videos
Purchasing Cycle
The purchasing cycle could be repeated month to month until you reach the amounts you have calculated when making your list.
If you can afford to use the economies of scale that making larger bulk purchases gives you, then the price per pound of the foods you buy will drop considerably. By taking advantage of sales, bulk food outlets, warehouse grocers such as Sam’s Club and Costco, local restaurant and institutional food suppliers, or ethnic grocers (Asian, Hispanic, etc.) you will be able to buy large quantities at reasonable prices.
If you have the time and resources available to you, much of the fruit and vegetable portion of your storage program can be economically acquired by growing it yourself. Not only do you get wholesome food, but by growing, canning and doing the work yourself you get exactly what you want in the way that you want it. If being frugal is important, growing your own will need some careful analysis to be certain you’re not spending more in time, labor, and equipment than the value of the food will make up for. This is especially true when it comes to food preservation, but you can at least partially offset this by choosing appropriate preservation methods. Pressure canning requires quite a bit of expensive startup equipment (canner, jars, lids, rings, etc.) which may make the operation uneconomical. However, if you dry the food using a dehydrator you can often do this at a much lower cost.
One area of home preservation that generally will be worthwhile to do yourself is canned meats. Beef, pork, and chicken often go on sale and can be purchased at reasonable prices, so even with the price of the jars and equipment necessary to process, home canned meat will usually be cheaper per pound than any commercially canned meat of equivalent quality.
There are two cardinal rules of successful food storage: The first is store what you eat and eat what you store. The second is to rotate, Rotate, ROTATE! Follow them always, keep a watchful eye on fliers, grocery store sales, and be willing to make a moderate investment of time and effort. Do this and you’ll have a successful food storage program that your family will look forward to eating in good times or bad.
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Storage Guidelines
1. Use storage areas that are well ventilated, clean, dark, dry, and cool. If your conditions are less satisfactory, rotate contents more frequently than recommended. Even though space may be limited, there are usually “hidden areas” for storage. Use your imagination!
2. Do not place food storage containers on or against cement or dirt floors and walls. Place pieces of wood between the storage containers and the floor or wall to provide ventilation and protect against moisture.
3. Keep stored food away from products that may affect the flavor of the food.
4. Rotate and use food storage items regularly. Date food items as you purchase or can them, then store new supplies of food at the back of the shelves, moving earlier purchases forward to be used first.
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There are many online food sources available. We do not endorse the sources listed below. However, we have purchased some of our family's food storage items using these sites. We encourage you to look for your own sources and share any that you may find with us. Email your resources, insights and ideas to: admin@kingmannafta.com
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Honeyville Food Products
eFoods Direct
Bulk Foods
Emergency Essentials
Nitro Pak
Spice Barn
Pleasant Hill Grain
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