On my last poll, I asked what people would do if they absolutely had to evacuate from their home. There were several options listed (and people could choose multiple options), but 75% of those who responded said they could make it to a family member's house in the case of an emergency. Granted, I don't usually get that many people who vote on my polls (a big thank you to those who do :) but 75% is still a hefty percentage of people who would hope to rely on family to make it through a tough situation. So I guess one of the questions that we need to ask ourselves is: "How long will my food storage last if I need to support family members who come to me in an emergency situation?" Food prices today are such that if we suddenly found ourselves with several (or any) extra mouths to feed, we might quickly resort to using our reserves.
Other questions to ask in this hypothetical situation might be like these: Do our relatives have food allergies/sensitivities that would make it difficult for them to eat what I have stored? Where would these relatives be able to stay in the house in order to have as close to their own space as possible, to make a difficult situation easier? Are our children aware of what could happen (i.e. loss of own room, etc.) if we had to have emergency guests?
I'm sure that there are many wiser than me (and who may have had personal experience with either side of this scenario) who can think of more questions that we need to ask ourselves and/or can suggest better ways to prepare. If you have anything to add, please comment. I guess my point is, the emergency that arises that makes it necessary to use our food storage may not be our own personal emergency--it may be that of a family member. How prepared are we? Have we made the necessary calculations?
6 comments:
Marie, we are lucky to have plenty of room for family if need be, 5 bedrooms and 3 full baths. Really to big for us but the price was right so I went to the large home. Bear Ridge has a good post about storing food, check it out.
Chris
Big Bear has some really good posts on food storage. I see you have a link to his site on your blog roll. His new post is excellent!
Riverwalker
BTW, thanks for the warning tip about shoes and yes there are probably going to be a lot more shortages of anything you can think of as businesses try to deal with increased wholesale costs and lagging sales as most consumers are feeding the gas tank or their bellies with what little money they have left after paying the bills.
You are in a good situation--we have a couple of extra rooms at this point, but it would take some doing to get them so that someone would enjoy staying there. :) Thing is, in an emergency, extra space can be priceless.
Bear Ridge's post on food storage is great--I've also seen some of his in the past, and he provides a lot of information. Thanks for mentioning it!
Riverwalker-- Unfortunately, I can see how people would try to cover the most basic necessities first, but it is kind of sad that something that is so close to being a basic necessity, like shoes, would be hard to come by. I guess for me it isn't hard to imagine the "luxuries" of life being difficult to obtain, but it's a different thing entirely to think of children going without shoes. If there truly are shortages of shoes, it's scary to think of what there might be a shortage of next.
Bear Ridge has great tips for food storage--very detailed--seems like his most recent post is even more so. Thanks for your input!
Those are some mighty thought-provoking questions you pose! I'll feel much better about our reserves when the root cellar is completed.
Oh, thanks for nice things you said last post. Sorry for pulling the plug (and then plugging it back in).
Ron
Maybe everyone else has already thought all of this out, but for me, having a plan in mind ahead of time helps me to feel more prepared--what if I wasn't the one evacuating, but the people I care about were?
You can't get much better than a root cellar for food reserves, from what I understand. As for your blog, I kept checking in the hopes that you would plug it back in... so it's all good from my viewpoint!
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