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By Kellene Bishop
Food Storage. It really doesn’t have to be complicated.
Medical Emergency Preparedness photo c/o ehow.com
When it comes to emergency preparedness, there are actually 10 different components to consider, listed below in order of priority:
- Spiritual
- Mental
- Physical
- Medical
- Clothing/Shelter
- Water
- Food
- Fuel
- Financial
- Communication
Food storage is only one part, and in order of priority would actually be “#7” out of those ten components. What that means is there are a whole lot of other components that need attention more than your food storage in order for your food storage supplies to be usable and effective for you. And yet when I mention “emergency preparedness” to folks, the first thing—and sometimes the ONLY thing that comes to their mind is food storage. If your mind is fixated on all the obstacles of food storage, then of course it’s going to be overwhelming. If you feel like you’ve got such a long ways to go yet to be even remotely “ready” then of course it’s going to feel overwhelming. But just how much more of a burden do people create for themselves by trying to ignore it. I assure you, if you think it’s tough doing food storage now, try doing it when there’s no food on the shelves, no money to exchange, no possibility of travel, and no way to prepare it. That’s all you’ll be left with if you attempt to ignore or marginalize what may seem an “uncomfortable” or inconvenient activity. But if you’re making progress on something that was previously uncomfortable, unknown, or inconvenient, then the feeling of stress and anxiety is eliminated. You start thinking of what’s possible to accomplish in your preparation efforts. If you continue in being overwhelmed, you’re likely arrive to a point of paralysis once you realize just how much more there is to preparedness besides food storage. I assure you that such does not need to be the case.
When I teach my “UNDERwhelmed in Food Storage” class, my goal is to make food storage accumulation and preparation much less taxing on the attendees. I desire to make it more of a “minor thought” instead of an overwhelming one, and thus free up time and resources to be spent ensuring your preparedness in the other categories.
Thus far I’ve shown you that food storage is cheap or free to accumulate in most instances, it’s easy to prepare, can still taste GREAT—so long as it’s a dish or food that you’re already familiar with—and finally, it’s even easy to prepare without electricity. In fact, if you actually put into practice what I’ve taught you so far about alternative ways to prepare your foods, while initially you may feel out of your element, I’m certain that you will actually enjoy the alternative cooking recommendations. In fact, the reasons I use a pressure cooker and a solar oven now in my everyday life is because it takes so much stress and time off my plate as I work from home and teach a bazillion classes. Additionally it delivers a superior taste, texture and nutrition level than I would experience otherwise.
I think a lot of folks are overwhelmed simply because they don’t have the mental preparation necessary to succeed in their preparation efforts. Let me give you an example. What if you saw that your beef prices just raised to $12/pound and were of a lesser quality that you were accustomed to. That would stress you out, right? Whereas if you were able to obtain your desired beef for less a tenth of that price, and be assured that it was a quality product, your stress would be alleviated substantially, right? Well, guess what? If you go to McDonald’s right now, you can order a “1/3 pound Angus Beef Burger” for only $3.99. Let’s see. That makes that beef about $12 a pound. You also have some serious nutritional concerns with such a burger due to the excess amounts of salt added to it, as well as McDonald’s reputation for using less-than-stellar grade beef. So, my question is, when you pass that marquis outside of McDonald’s, do you feel a bit of anxiety to think that a “fast food joint” is selling beef for $12 a pound?! Of course not. But guess why that is the case? Because you simply need a little more strengthening in your mental preparedness category. Let’s explore this thought further.
Look at it this way, if I was selling a product to you that was cheap or free, easy to use, safe, easily accessible, and it would save your family’s life, you would embrace it in a heartbeat, right? Well, that’s exactly what food storage is. The only reason why we think otherwise is because we’ve heard so much to the contrary for so long. So really, why be overwhelmed with it?
Now, contrast that with overly expensive, overly complicated, questionable quality and nutrition, inaccessible—especially during an emergency—and definitely NOT lifesaving for your family. Just how fast would you embrace that?
Keep your food storage as simple as you need it to be. Increase your knowledge and your food “repertoire” as you desire and in a pace you’re comfortable with.
Keep it as affordable as possible.
Keep it as nutritious as possible.
And keep on storing it.
If you do, you’ll find that “overwhelmed” is quickly replaced by peace and comfort.
Copyright 2009 Preparedness Pro & Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Preparedness Pro & Kellene Bishop.
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