I've heard this quote several times throughout my life:
When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power." - Ezra Taft Benson
Just a little food for thought (no pun intended, really).... There is a newsletter I really love to read, that I've mentioned previously, called The Prepare Today Newsletter. As I was reviewing some of the information that this woman has gathered together, I picked up on the topic of a 3 month/90 day supply. I will go into this a little more in a minute, but for those of you just starting, I would recommend the following order of approaching your food storage (and again, I repeat, this is Kari's opinion only):
1. Store Water (I would store one 55 gallon barrel per person if it were me)
2. Get 72 hour kits updated for every member of the family
3. Begin getting your staples - eg. wheat, rice, beans, powdered milk, oats (dried goods that the church has told us to get for years and years and years!!)
4. A month's supply of food that you can make entire meals from out of cans
5. 3 months/ 90 days of canned goods you can make meals from (also incorporating some of the long term grain)
6. Year's supply of Grain/and canned goods you can make meals from
You get the picture - go from there
Now back to the 90 supply. Maybe you feel you've got adequate food, but have you considered hygeine items such as TP, Tampons and Pads, Diapers, Toothpaste, or even baby Tylenol and Motrin? How about vitamins? Its my understanding that you can store Vitamin C in tablet form for many years. Why not add a bottle of those to your storage? Do your family members have any special medications and do you have an extra amount you can rotate as you fill their prescriptions?
Now I know its taboo to talk about pandemics, and people love to roll their eyes and write you off for being an extremist if it comes up, but the fact is that it is realistic. The reason I'm associating this with a 90 day supply is because of something this woman put in her newsletter that made me think. She speculates that the reason there is so much emphasis on a 90 day supply is because in the event of a pandemic, we would likely be quarantined for that long. Again, this is purely her speculation, but because she posted it, it made me think about trying to get my family prepared for something like that. I share this information not to scare you, but perhaps to make you think a little more about it. Here are some links she posted on her site and I'll share them with you.
http://streaming.byui.edu/safetyoffice/flu.wmv - this one is kind of long, but informative
http://www.byui.edu/safety/Pandemic_Web_Page.htm
http://www.byui.edu/safety/Pandemic_Web_Page.htm - just a slideshow (no sound)
Again, start small and get going. Don't panic, just get started. It doesn't matter how much you can do right now, it just matters that you are putting it into motion and trying!
"We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your savings. Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for example, to go into debt to extablish your food storage all at once. With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve." - The FIrst Presidency, All Is Safely Gathered In: Family Home Storage, Feb. 2007
