Preparing your pantry for shortages in your area.

 

Preparing your pantry for shortages in your area.

My Father lived by the British Army’s 7 P’s rule -- Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance Having grown up with this saying I used to tease my father that it would never happen to me. Well, I can attest to the fact that without prior planning, certain stages of my life became muddled and screwed up and it took a while to make it right again. Ever since I started to prepare properly, life has been a little easier for me, especially when it came to stocking up for those long winter nights and economic shortages. So, here is my down to earth stock up advice to preparing your pantry for those potential economic shortages, or just tight money situations that were unexpected in life. 

If you’ve entered a grocery store in recent months, you’ll have to admit that food prices have become higher in the last year, due to the uncertainty of our economy. When Gas prices increase as they have in the last 6 months, you can almost guarantee that food prices and the prices of other items will eventually increase. Why are they increased, because delivery trucks that normally have at least 72 hours of provisions that are scheduled to deliver to your local stores have to increase their price of delivery because of the gas prices being higher. It also means that supplies to package food items also have to increase such as canned goods, paper products, even dog food have increased. So here is my advice: 

If you have the ability to start a garden, do it. Grow herbs and veggies that you normally use. I always grew basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme and many other herbs. Once I harvested my herbs, I dehydrated them and stored them for future use. Same went for veggies, tomatoes, peppers, green beans, peas, cucumbers (to make pickles), potatoes, onions, chives, scallions, and a number of other veggies. I would turn my veggies into sauces, salsas, and canned them, or froze them or even dehydrated them for future use. Same went for fruits, I would either grow them myself or buy them in bulk to make jams, jellies, marmalades, and canned them for either future use or even gifts. I would also dehydrate them to be used in pies, cakes, or other deserts. There are plenty of ways to preserve food, you just have to educate yourself.  Besides growing your own food gives you a sense of accomplishment that you grew the food you are consuming. When the weather is bad outside and you want to make something, but you don’t have fresh items in your fridge, it’s always a great feeling to know you have canned or dehydrated items in your pantry to use. Great feeling for sure. 

You should always stock up on dried goods too, such as sugar, flour, corn starch, olive oil, vegetable oil, vinegar (white, red and apple cider), dried herbs that you don’t grow yourself, rice (white, jasmine, brown), Chicken broth (if you don’t make your own bone broth), beef broth, or bouillon for both. Bottled water ( at least 3-6 cases per person for drinking and 6 gallon jugs per person for bathing and cooking purposes). Canned fruit, canned soup, mac and Cheese, Pasta, etc. 

Non-Food items that you should consider stocking up on would be shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste. Dish soup, laundry soap, toilet paper, paper towels. My rule is if I open a package of Toilet paper or paper towels, then it goes on my grocery list even if I have a package as a backup. Cleaning supplies such as bowl cleaner, Windex, etc. Don’t forget to include batteries and possibly camping equipment such as cooking and lighting supplies just in case your electric goes out after a bad storm. Small generator wouldn’t be mistake either. Don't forget your animals, stock up on dog food, cat food, even bird feeder food because if money become tight, you'll already be covered. Be sure to put the dry food into containers that are air tight sealed, like buckets. 

Are you getting the idea? So, what you should do now is go through your kitchen and your pantry to list what you buy and take an inventory of what you have on hand. Then note how much of what you have do you use in a month, then figure out what you would need for a minimum of 6 months. That new list is what you need to aim for to cover yourself just in case of an emergency. Good luck and best wishes in stocking your pantry for survival.  

Author Elizabeth Kilbride is a former political operative, author, scriptwriter, historian, journalist. business professional, and creative artist, and life coach consultant. Ms. Kilbride holds half a horticultural degree, a Masters in Criminology and a BS in Business Management and over 40 years in the political arena. She stepped out of the loop for a while, but who is now back with a powerful opinion and voice in the direction of this country and our economy. As a life coach, she is available to counsel individuals on how to enjoy their dreams and a better life. Ms. Kilbride loves to travel, photograph her surroundings and is also a gourmet cook who loves to garden and preserve food for the winter months.