Thursday, July 26, 2012

The Blessings of Food Storage



Growing up I have always been taught that it would be beneficial to keep a food storage in case of emergency.  We have been counseled by leaders of our church to have a 72 hour kit on hand, as well as a longer supply of food in case of a natural disaster.  You can read a little bit more about it here.  

I have never been great at it.  I mean my food storage is nowhere near where it should be. But I do try, when I remember, to slowly stock up when things are on sale, etc.  These last couple months have been hard on our finances.  I had a ridiculously painful ear infection, we had terrible insurance, and I think we ended up paying about $500 for my doctor's visits, medications etc.  About the same time, Kenz came down with a terrible cough, in turn her doctor's visits, ER visits, and medications cost us about $150.  We are by no means rich, and are often living paycheck to paycheck, so you can imagine how this set us back.  Ever since, I have been trying to play catch up as I make up for the bills that did not get paid that month.  It has been tough, to say the least.  The past couple of weeks, we have been broke. It has been a long time since I remember being this broke.  Anyway, there were many days where we had no money and what I thought was no food.  This is where food storage came in.

Like I said my food storage is not extravagant, but I did have some shells and pasta sauce, some random vegetables, and other odds and ends.  Let me tell you, sometimes I had to be really creative, and I wondered what in the world I was eating.  But when you are hungry, you will eat anything.  Although I obviously could have gone to my parents, or several friends and they would have offered me food, I felt blessed to know that I had enough food storage to keep us fed for a few weeks.  I will now have to start building it back up, but that is what it is for right.  I am blessed that I have been taught this principle and I have seen the effects of it first hand.  I am glad it wasn't a natural disaster that caused me to use it, but there are more simple reasons too.

If you do not have a back up supply of food, I encourage you to start. Start small, buying a few things every time you go to the grocery store.  Trust me, you won't regret it.

Something to think about...



3 comments:

Samantha Phillips said...

I love you, Kayla! You are a wonderful example of patience and perseverance!!

Emily P. said...

Your post inspired me to FINALLY start on food storage. I went to the store and bought ingredients for meals that could be stored, and meals that we enjoy eating. You just never know :)

Kayla Lindholm said...

Im glad, cause truly you never do know when you may need it! Hopefully we never have to go through a hard situation but if we do, id rather be prepared. :)