Being Prepared

So we all know that the economy isn't doing very well right now. . . the mortgage crisis, energy prices, etc. Well, now it seems to be taking another turn for the worse. . . the price of wheat has tripled in the last 10 months (KSLNews), in turn increasing the price of flour, bread, etc. Food prices rose 4% last year, the highest rise since 1990 (CNN). Now there are rumors that truckers will go on strike next week. This could have very fast negative effects on an already floundering economy.

It all just gets me thinking about what we've been taught our whole lives. . . BE PREPARED! I'm so grateful that Jon and I have made the effort over the years to establish a sizable amount of food storage. We have learned to shop the case sales each spring and fall and to take advantage of the canning opportunities through the church and through the community canning project in my mom's neighborhood. If at some point, there was a shortage of food in the stores (due to storm, power outage, trucker's strike or natural disaster), we'd be prepared for it! I realized the importance of food-storage when my sister lived in Michigan during the Northeast Blackout of 2003 during which they were out of power for about 3 days. They went to the store to buy water during the first day of no power, but the stores had already sold out of bottled water. They were very grateful to have what food and water they had a home at that time.

Then it makes me think about our finances. . . if one of us were to get laid off or unable to work for a period of time, we've also worked hard to set aside a short-term and long-term savings account. Accounts that we're able to use for unexpected expenses, emergency care and home repairs as well as to live off of in case of injury or lay-off.

I am just so grateful that we've listened through-out the years and have prepared ourselves well. Needless to say, we can always do better, but at least we've got a start. I think "being prepared" and in an attempt to become more self-sufficient, I've enjoyed planting a garden for the the last couple of years. I also did my first canning project last summer in which I bottled the peaches from the tree in our back yard. (I got a new canning set for Christmas!) I also got a juicer for Christmas, so I'm excited to juice our concord grapes this year. Turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. Our neighbor has 2 apple trees, so I've really gotten into dehydrating apples too. Thanks to Jon's mom, I now have a new dehydrator. One more thing I was pretty proud of this year was that I made apricot jam for the first time. One of these days I'm going to come by this domestic stuff naturally.

Provident Living is a great site to go to for more information on food storage, family finances, education, etc. We're working on it one day at a time, but at least I know we're working on becoming more self-reliant and being prepared.