Hi Everyone,
NOTES:
* The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Murrieta, California is encouraging its members to be prepared. They want us to make every effort during the upcoming year to do this so that we will NOT be caught unprepared for whatever disaster may come next. I have attached a copy of the Conference 2 Conference Schedule we will be using. I actually started using this schedule in January, we are ahead of the game.
* I think I tried to make strawberry jam once. My husband announced that he likes store-bought better. Score for me!!! Now, I just keep 2-3 large jars of store-bought jam sitting in my pantry. But I saw this recipe and watched the video. Jam with just three ingredients. Even I can do that. It makes just a small amount, so you don’t have to buy flats of berries. You can try it out and if it doesn’t work, you haven’t lost a lot. Strawberry Jam Video Recipe | TheBellyRulesTheMind
* Are the bugs eating your garden yet? Here are two highly recommended products.
First, Captain Jack’s Dead Bug Brew. It is totally organic and kills just about everything. It makes the bugs sick, so they don’t want to eat, then they die. This concentrate uses about 2 teaspoons (read the label) per quart of water. Use it regularly to prevent infestation. Just spray once a week. EVERY week!!! But, it doesn’t work well on aphids.
Second, you need something to kill aphids. There are a lot of DIY aphid sprays on the internet. Someone told me she used a “garlic” spray. Just drain the liquid off your jar of minced garlic and add water. BUT, I didn’t necessarily want to use this on my lettuce because I didn’t want my lettuce to taste like garlic. I have used both these products: Safer Brand Insect Killing Soap Concentrate. This is called Safer Soap. Also a concentrate. Another product for aphids is Pyrethrin.
All three of these products are totally organic. Organic gardening doesn’t mean you can’t use chemicals on your garden, just not poisons. Check with your local nursery. Otherwise, they are readily available online. If you already have aphids, you’ll need to spray 2X a week to get rid of them. Then spray once a week to control. Take your garden back!!!!
LONG TERM FOCUS: Eggs
I just don’t want to be without eggs. No cookies? If I’m in a zombie apocalypse, I want cookies! This month we’ll focus on dehydrated eggs and where to get them, how to cook them, how to make your own, and other egg substitutes. This website tried out 8 different brands of eggs. The Best Powdered Eggs for Your Emergency Food Supply 2021 | PreparednessMama Here are their top five favorites:
#1 Judee’s Gluten-Free Whole Egg Powder
#2 Ova Easy Egg Crystals
#3 Augason Farms Dried Whole Egg Powder (I have a few cans of this) You can get it on Amazon.
#4 Hosier Hill Farm Whole Egg Granules
#5 Mountain House Scrambled Eggs with Bacon.
(my advice – don’t buy this. First of all, it is freeze-dried. That means that the scrambled eggs are frozen at their regular size. This can is only 13 servings, and the Augason Farms is 72 servings. BIG difference.)
If you don’t have chickens, you may want to think about getting at least ONE can of dehydrated whole eggs this month.
SHORT TERM FOCUS: Peanut Butter
Have you wondered about powdered peanut butter vs regular peanut butter for storage?
Powdered peanut butter is made by pressing out most of the oils from the peanuts, then the nuts are ground into a fine powder. The bottom line is powdered PB has fewer calories. In addition, because there is less oil, it will probably store for longer. HOWEVER, on one website, she says this:
“The other thing to mention, of course, is price. For getting less (fat, calories) you actually need to pay more. I paid about $7 for the powdered peanut butter, which gives 15 (reconstituted) tablespoons, compared to about $4 for the Jif peanut butter spread with 28 tablespoons.” That’s a BIG difference. What’s the Deal with Powdered Peanut Butter? | Kitchn On this site, she has pictures to compare and her opinion of a taste test.
I DO find that I have to rotate my peanut butter. It will last about 3 years for me. I’m not big on PB&J sandwiches, but I love me some “No-Bake” cookies. Also peanut butter cookies in general. Plus, Craig eats PB on all things breakfast: pancakes, waffles, crepes. PB AND syrup.
72-HOUR KIT FOCUS: Change of Clothes
Have you heard of people being forced to flee with only the clothes on their backs? I do NOT have a complete change of clothes in my 72-hour kit. A) Too bulky B) I don’t have that many clothes. LOL
But, I DO have a change of socks and underwear. I put them in a ziplock Baggie and have it in my backpack.
In the ’70s (sigh, yes, I’m THAT old) I went to the thrift store and bought stuff for my kids’ packs. Either that, or just use something your older kids have outgrown, and stick it in a pack for a younger child. If kids are going to carry their own pack, clothes are light and it’s one less thing you have to carry. You can also repurpose a rolling suitcase or storage plastic tub to include clothes for everyone. Set it in the garage where it can be easily grabbed.
MISC FOCUS: Shampoo
Can shampoo go bad? Turns out it can. When Good Shampoo Goes Bad – SoCozy How do you get around this? Just rotate. I don’t keep a lot of shampoo on hand. After all, washing your hair is not on the “I Need It To Stay Alive” list. But, you will feel so much better if you can just get your hair clean even once a week. If you buy something cheap, just to store it, it will go bad before you ever use it (unless you put it in the guest bathroom where all unwanted products go.) So, just buy more when what you are using is about 1/2 empty. Then when it is ALL empty, start on the one you already bought and buy another one. Now you are one ahead. One open, and 3-4 on the shelf should do it.
FOOD STORAGE RECIPES
Peanut Butter Cookie Bars
This recipe is from my amazing daughter-in-law, Chantel. She says it originally called for chocolate chips, but her family liked the peanut butter chips better. She made this for us while I was in Maryland, and they were gone in ONE day!!!
1 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. peanut butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Cream together all of the above. Then add:
2 c. flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 c. oats
1 package Reese’s peanut butter chips
Pat into a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
Peanut Butter Cookies
I THOUGHT this recipe was from the Better Homes and Gardens CookBook, but when I tried to check that, I couldn’t find it in there. It’s the one I use all the time.
1 c. soft butter
1 c. extra crunchy peanut butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
Cream together
2 eggs Add and mix
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
Mix
2 1/2 c. flour
1 c. roasted salted peanuts – process to crumbs – about 14 pulses
(True confession, I never do this because I seldom have peanuts)
Roll in balls and press with a fork.
Bake 350 degrees on parchment 10-12 minutes until the edges are set and still soft in the center.
Marti
We have a truth problem in the world today, and it is multifaceted. There are multiple versions of truth and a plethora of voices espousing the one real truth. We tend to think of truth as tied and rooted in fact, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes truth is solely tied to belief and only loosely attached to empirical fact. We have seen in recent years enough truth that has been embraced that has turned out to be later either intentional or unintentional falsehoods that a term for it was created in 2013– Infodemic. This term originated around the SARS outbreak in 2003, so it isn’t surprising that it resurfaced with COVID-19 in 2020.
Source credibility is one of the easiest ways to determine if you are getting the straight dope or the true information, and there are a few ways to discern a source’s credibility. The first is to ask yourself if the source has a tradition of inherent bias. Does the source or person frequently take a stance that is sensational to drive up ratings and profits? Are they known for their extreme viewpoint? While this may not mean they are outright lying to you, it is an indicator that they are shading the truth. They offer their interpretation for profit, and the more extreme their view, the more audience they can attract. The more audience they attract, the more money they make. At some point, the source may be less interested in the real truth and may even convince themselves through a rising audience that they are still offering the unbiased truth and their bank account is the proof.
The famous British general John Bagot Glubb once theorized that there were seven steps in an empire’s life cycle. These were the ages of pioneers, conquests, commerce, affluence, intellect, decadence, and then the final age of decline and collapse. Each stage builds up and into the next progressively. While each country in the world probably can draw a correlation between one of the ages outlined, the United States is well progressed in the life cycle. The age of pioneers long ago passed. The age of conquest already occurred with the taking of land from the indigenous Americans and the end of slavery. The age of commerce was clearly during the industrial period, the rise of manufacturing, the completion of the railroads and highways and ports, etcetera. Capitalism ushered in a clear age of affluence. Dramatic progress in medicine and technology is the result of an age of intellect. That leaves only the age of decadence and the age of decline or collapse. Just two stages before the whole grand experiment potentially unravels forever.
The United States is clearly in the Age of Decadence. Instead of wasting money stocking raw materials and additional inventory in warehouses, companies are heavily dependent on the internet and the global shipping industry to obtain what they need as they need it. I would argue that the world is over-dependent in its reliance. As remarkable and as liberating as it is that we can click a few keys and get what we desire, it’s a significant weakness and crippling dependence. It’s akin to putting all our eggs in one basket. It is the equivalent of having just one crop in our fields. Instead of planning for the future and diversifying our access, we rely upon instant access to what we need. It’s the height of luxury. Instead of ringing a bell for the butler, we click a mouse and wait for a delivery. We rely upon a just-in-time manufacturing and distribution system that isn’t very reliable when you thoroughly examine it.
Political and cultural divisions have heightened in recent years. Politics have gone mainstream. You may have noticed that during this last election year. Many nations in history have completely fallen apart due to racial, ethnic, and political differences. Common to all is the dehumanization of the political opposition or ethnic group. When they are dehumanized in words, the actions of a few seem to be justifiable, though they are abhorrent. 
Weakened borders and increased travel are frequently politicized. This results in people never really understanding the problems associated with them. There was no smallpox in America until the Europeans arrived on the shores. The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 spread around the globe as rapidly as it did because the world was engaged in a great war, and troops were traveling worldwide. It has recently been established that even the bubonic plague, the Black Death that killed 30 to 60 percent of the European population, sprang up and spread along trade routes. The bacterium that causes the bubonic plague can survive in rodent populations and is spread to other mammals, including humans, through flea bites. The rodent population’s exposure to humans is higher along trade routes.
Income inequality and the working poor are another telling sign of a nation in decline. The rhetoric about them both is also highly-charged and politicized. However, it’s important to note that income inequality was one of the primary reasons for the French revolution. As the gap widens between the haves and the have-nots, as the working man works longer and harder for the same stagnant wages while the cost of everything increases, resentment festers. There are direct correlations between increased crime and corruption during historical periods of income inequality. Both crime and corruption are corrosive forces to a nation’s stability.
Many of the problems nations worldwide face are also overly politicized to the extent that the issue cannot be addressed, let alone solved, without someone somewhere trying to invalidate the problem’s premise by decrying extremism or alternative motives on the part of their opposition. That being said, the problem still exists. One of these overly politicized problems is the destruction of natural habitats and resource depletion. All politics aside, there is no other conclusion that can be drawn from the observational data other than humans are profoundly altering their earthly habitat.
This is the first thing you must consider. How many watts will you need? How many devices will you need to power if your power is cut off? To determine what size generator you’ll need, there are 2 things you must consider: continuous power, or running watts, and extra peak power. Continuous power is the wattage required for the operation of your electrical devices. For example, if you are running a refrigerator, you’re using about 600 watts. But when that refrigerator shuts off because it has cooled down and then later starts back up, the surge watts to restart it is around 2200 watts. So when you shop generators, you’ll see two numbers often listed: running and surge watts. 
When it comes to generators, there’s a handful of options that we’ll define by their fuel source. The primaries are gas, diesel, propane, dual-fuel generators, which operate on both propane and gas, and then solar generators, a term I’ll use to define portable batteries with charge controllers and inverters that can be connected to solar panels. I personally decided to purchase a few different generators. The first is a generator that runs on both propane and gasoline. By having a dual fuel generator, you have more options based on which fuel is available, plus propane is easier to store, something we’ll discuss in a moment. I also added a smaller gas generator to my inventory to give me portability. If I need to move this around or pack it into my car and go in an emergency, I’ve got this option. I finally added solar generators to my inventory in the event a power grid failure lasted longer than a week or two, and fuel becomes difficult to obtain. Although these can’t power as much as a larger generator and will need sunlight to charge, they give me the ability to continue to power smaller critical electrical devices. For those that need to keep medicine cold, these are a great option as you have the security that you can continue keeping your meds cool in a refrigerator by charging this with solar. 
When discussing the power source as we did in the previous point, it’s worth discussing the storage factors you need to consider. Let’s start with diesel. Under ideal conditions, it can be stored between six and twelve months. To extend the fuel life past twelve months, it needs to be treated with stabilizers and biocide. Gasoline has a shelf life of about 3 months but can be extended slightly with a fuel stabilizer. With gasoline, you have to be careful with this as it is very volatile, and proper storage is critical. 
OPSEC is short for Operational Security. This term is used in relation to keeping information you want to keep private from being known by others. In this case, who do you want to know that you have a generator?
I opted for two different-sized carbon fuel source generators to give me the option to have one that is portable. The larger of the two will be used to power some of the larger requirements such as a refrigerator while I’ll use the smaller one for other miscellaneous power needs in addition to having the option to be able to pack it into my car if we have to leave.
Gasoline and propane generators will produce emissions that require them to be at a safe distance from your home to properly operate. It’s not uncommon after a natural disaster to hear of people dying in their homes due to carbon monoxide poisoning from incorrectly operating their generators. Most recommend a safe operating distance of about 20 feet from your house. Also, please do not operate these in your garage. Be sure to read the manufacturer’s warnings carefully as failing to follow these rules could lead to death. 
The traditional carbon-based fuel source generators can vary drastically based on the size and the manufacturer. Remember, you get what you pay for. I picked up this Champion dual-fuel generator from Sam’s club for about $400. I only anticipate using this during emergencies and I try to operate it about once a month for 15 to 20 minutes. On the other hand, Honda generators are the gold standard for reliability and quality but typically cost a good deal more. My view is that having a significantly more affordable and not as quality backup gasoline generator that I use sparingly and maintain on a regular basis will be fine in an emergency situation. But if I anticipated using it more often for camping trips or on a job site, I would probably just go with a Honda generator.
Think of things you might need in a First Aid Kit (F.A.K). At Girls’ Camp, the most used items were bandaids, tweezers, a needle for splinters, and aloe for sunburns. Don’t just throw a needle into the kit. Put it through a piece of cloth, so it doesn’t get lost. Pay the money for an extra pair of tweezers to keep in the car or in your FAK. An extra pair of fingernail clippers would be a good idea as well. This week, add to your individual FAK’s or your family’s FAK.
About 30 years ago, epidemiologist and influenza researcher, Stephen Morse, suggested that there were about one million vertebrates’ viruses. He arrived at this calculation by assuming a very modest calculation of about 20 different viruses in each of the 50,000 vertebrates on the planet. That would suggest that there are at least 320,000 different viruses in the virus pool specific to mammals. If you extend that to all known vertebrates and other forms of life on the planet, the number of viruses grows to an order of magnitude somewhere around 10 to the 31st power. That is undoubtedly a hypochondriac’s nightmare, but we can take solace in the fact that the ones most likely to impact the human species are the mere 320,000 or so zoonotic viruses specific to mammals. Most of those are safely locked away in nature. After all, you don’t usually bump elbows with a Pangolin or a Philippine naked-backed fruit bat at the grocery store. They have their habitat, and we have ours, and habitat insulates us somewhat from spreading viruses from species to species. That’s the good news.
It is, admittedly, unfair for me to compare our current advances in combating viruses to the dark ages, but it will be viewed that way one day. During the Spanish Flu of a little over a century ago, the common curative was a prescription of what is considered today megadoses of aspirin. We know that 3,000 plus milligrams of aspirin every day for several days will cause hemorrhaging. Not surprisingly, that was one of the Spanish flu-listed symptoms– an Influenza type virus. One day we may look back upon our egg-incubation of viruses to develop vaccines as the dark ages of modern medicine. Already, the sequencing of a virus’s genome, the isolation and targeting of a single spike protein, and the development of a messenger RNA vaccine make the egg method seem comical.
Just as we are seeing antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria that cause infection in humans, so too are we beginning to see viruses that are escaping our antiviral medicines. I graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in Microbiology 20 years ago. During my studies there, antibiotic-resistance was one of the most significant concerns in the field of study regarding human infectious diseases. In recent years, some of these same fears have arisen with antivirals and vaccines. The development of antibiotics, antivirals, and antimalarials are some of modern medicine’s greatest successes. Still, they are costly to research, develop, manufacture, and distribute in quantities sufficient enough to create some level of herd immunity, disease prevention, or even comprehensive treatment. Also, the development of vaccines is like trying to hit a moving target. Scientists are developing according to the samples they have while the virus is continuing to mutate into other forms.
In light of the information presented in this blog, what can someone do to prepare for this inevitably? The first thing to do is to assess the threat accurately. That’s hard to do when information, especially about new outbreaks, is sketchy and inaccurate. Sites like the Center for Disease Control have a “Flu Activity & Surveillance” section where they list activity based upon actual reported test results. That’s great if people are getting tested and if people are getting tested for the correct virus. Google Flu Trends was a thing back ten years ago until they realized many people searched about the flu, even when they didn’t have it. Many people may have thought they had the flu but had some other common illness like food poisoning or even a common cold. This leaves the average person needing to sift through news feeds that are also full of punditry and bias. Still, if the virus you hear about is starting in another country, the news feeds from those countries may provide some insight outside of the vacuum of American media.
A prepper is a term that encompasses everyone from your great grandparents who made their own pickles, hunted, and fixed their own equipment to the person with the well-stocked pantry and an emergency kit to the off-the-grid hermit and recluse. The term encompasses the practical and prudent individual to the geographically or socially isolated. With that wide range of a definition, it’s not uncommon to get a sideways glance or two when someone whispers to someone else that you’re “one of those preppers.”
When you have prepared for the worst and are stocked and ready, sometimes the worst never comes for you. It may come for others who have failed to prepare, but you may weather the storm with confidence that you have what you need. If the power goes out for a day, no problem. If it goes out for several weeks, there could be chaos in the streets, and stores will be looted. You will confidently be free from much of that chaos and desperation because you will have what you need to care for yourself and those in your family or group.
When you prep to be more self-sufficient, you make your life easier in so many ways. The sudden shock of unemployment is stressful, sure, but it is less so if you know you have the food you need stored away and understand how to prepare it. When the power goes out during the middle of the winter, you’re not left freezing and unable to cook and take care of your family. You have a plan in place to make the sudden loss of power more manageable for you to endure.
Around the first part of the year, many of us commit to eating healthier. How many salads do we buy, and how many of those go bad in our refrigerators and get tossed out? When the bananas go a little brown, do you make banana chips or banana bread out of them, or do you toss them out? When something simple stops working or breaks, do you have the attitude that you will take the time to research and learn how to fix it yourself, or do you pay a mechanic 100-dollars an hour plus double the part’s cost? When you prep to become more self-sufficient, you increase your skills, confidence, and know-how. These return to you in immediate savings. When you eat your preps, as I advise, you save the 300 percent markup on your food that a restaurant charges. Would you rather pay the local grower a dollar and have supplies for months or the restaurant three dollars to have a less healthy meal that’s only good while it is warm? When you prep to become more self-sufficient, you will find that you have more money in your pocket and more buying power. The savings are almost immediately noticeable.
A person born before 1950 is more likely to know how to change a tire, dress a fish, grow a tomato, navigate with a map and compass, tie a survival knot, mend clothing, cook, and build a structure that is sturdy enough to be still standing today. In the last 70 years, however, many countries have grown their economies and surrounded themselves with commercial luxuries to the extent that they have forgotten older, traditional ways of doing things. The practical skills of life like soap making, home brewing, canning, pickling, fishing, knitting, crocheting, sewing, candy making, candle making, woodworking, raising chickens, cheese making, gardening, even cooking have become twee hobbies for many. They are no longer necessities that we must do throughout the year to survive. We all know at least one person; maybe we are that one person who buys their soap, beer, pickles, eggs, and clothes from a store and would be lost entirely without this ability. When we take the time to learn a skill, even just one skill, we increase our value to others, we improve our quality of life, and we create an abundance we couldn’t possibly use entirely by ourselves. We don’t have to know everything, but it helps to know something. 
When we find ourselves with an abundance, we seek others to share in it. We may seek to share and exchange knowledge or the cornucopia of what we produce. If you grow six tomato plants, the chances are canning sauces and drying them will be even more than you and a small family can feasibly utilize. I was nice when I earlier mentioned that you probably know one person who is utterly dependent upon getting everything they use and consume from stores and restaurants. If statistics and studies are to be believed, slightly over half of all Americans don’t have more than a 3-day food supply. Have you ever had to pause to consider if you had something at home to eat or you needed to stop by a grocery store on your way home to be able to make dinner? Even if you are prepared with a year or more supply of personal food, will you then turn friends, neighbors, and family away from your door at gunpoint to hold on to your supplies? When you ponder that question in your prepping journey, you begin to see the value of helping others learn to prep. Some neighborhoods have started community gardens and food exchanges. Helping others is the beginning of creating a mutual assistance group. When you aren’t going it entirely alone, your chances of survival increase dramatically. If you are already having a discussion with your group about the emerging threats, if you are already helping and assisting one another, you are more likely to organize and prepare better. The effects of the disaster will be lessened, and your recovery will be more robust.
As I mentioned earlier, even if you prepare, the majority of those around you will not. The adage you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink is true. You can witness the same disaster after disaster that your neighbor does. You can see the same early signs of economic collapse or infrastructure hiccups, but it doesn’t mean that you and your neighbor will come to the same conclusions about what you see. It doesn’t mean that you will get that neighbor, who you like, to get prepared themselves. The fact of the matter is when a disaster gets really bad, and the people get really desperate, you will likely find yourself wanting to be a hero to someone. Are you going to let your friend’s mom on a dialysis machine die when the power goes out when your generator is working quite well? I read many of the comments on this channel, and a frequent one is “My husband thought I was overreacting, but boy was he glad when XYZ happened…” Prepping puts you in the position of being capable of being a hero to others instead of part of the shuffled and abused herd struggling in the aftermath of the XYZ. You aren’t at the mercy of government and non-government organization responses to disasters. While politicians debate relief efforts, you can choose to be helping others.
A by-product of prepping is being able to do more with less. When you truly understand the value and utilization of any resource, you can stretch it out and use it to its fullest. You find that what you thought you needed and what you really needed are far different. Far from merely getting by, you are using more of what you need and less of what you don’t need. So much of modern living also means excess. We tend to think of abundance, not in terms of its actual definition– more than enough. We are satisfied with thinking abundance is a huge portion of something and more than what we need at any one time. The result is often waste.
You can’t hoard time. You can’t save it up. For good or bad, it is continually flowing in the same direction. You never can honestly know how much of it you will have, nor can you know when you will run out of it. With such a precious commodity, you would think we would spend less time pursuing mindless entertainment and investing more time in seeking knowledge and things that enrich our lives. I admit it. I sometimes just need a good movie that may be a little thought-provoking and entertaining rather than to think about what I need to do in my garden or how I can balance my schedule to work in exercise or even cook a meal. Time can hold you back from cultivating other interests. If you work full time and have a family, you know this to be true. To be a more self-sufficient prepper, you need to manage a few hours per week to pursue that goal. You need to prioritize your schedule and time to begin ticking away at your larger goals. If your big goal is to one day get off the grid and homestead a lovely five acres somewhere, realize you probably can’t do that this minute. Later, though, after you’ve learned some skills, reaped some savings, and invested in yourself, you may realize a path to attain that goal. Minimally, it will be closer to you after you have invested in yourself than it is right now, sitting on your couch, unable even to visualize it. Set realistic goals. Appoint a time to work toward those goals and keep your appointments with yourself. Before you know it, you will realize that though time is limited, you have more of it to spend in pursuit of your goals than you know you have right now.
Do you want a year’s supply of food for an emergency? Just go buy a year’s supply kit for around three-thousand dollars. I know, that’s terrible advice because most of us don’t have that type of money just lying around. If that’s your prepping goal, though, and it probably ought to be, 
If time and money don’t hold us back, the judgment of others will stop us dead in our tracks. People don’t want to be labeled as an outsider or prepper. People don’t want to be perceived as chasing windmills and fearing the boogeyman lurking around every corner. People don’t want to be the topic of gossip, innuendo, and conversation. So, don’t be. If you don’t like the term prepper, don’t use it. Try cook, camper, thrifty, resourceful, creative, fixer, helper, hiker, community organizer, club president, or any other label that gets you closer to your prepper goals. And take it a step further than that, become the organizer and gatherer. Throw a potluck or a cooking party. Invite some friends to go hiking, camping, hunting, or fishing. Create a sewing or knitting circle. Become an activist for a safer or cleaner community. Become a craftivist and gather a group of like-minded people together. Even if you only get your family and friends engaged in a healthy walk a few times per week, you are slowly working at your prepper health goals. Without knowing it, they are too. Whatever you do, realize three things. First, the judgment of others is not important. Two, your prepping goals are not all attained in one big bite. They are spread out over many activities and many goals. Third, people are less apt to judge you if they are engaged in the same activities.
Foodflation is the continuous rise in the price of food which is higher than the general inflation level. You can see this in real-time by visiting your local grocery store. The carts have gotten smaller, but your receipt total keeps getting higher. Food prices are soaring faster than both inflation and incomes all around the world. This is happening right now at an accelerated rate due to the events of last year, and it will continue into the foreseeable future. Ultra-loose monetary policies and an anticipated post-pandemic economic recovery have driven up the prices of raw materials. As companies, already under pressure from pandemic-related disruptions and rising transport and packaging costs, initially foot the bill, they will pass the added costs on to consumers. Over the next several years, food costs will continue to go up. Global food prices soared to a six-year high in January of 2020, and the total cost of that spike has only just begun to be passed on to the average consumer. Have you ever seen a price go up and then go back down? Probably not.
The American diet lacks diversity, is highly dependent on just a few staples, is controlled by corporations, and depends on a just-in-time delivery system that is incredibly fragile. Most Americans are dependent on obtaining all their food resources from a single store. If those workers go on strike or someone at the corporate offices determines that the store isn’t profitable enough, the doors could be shuttered. In a nation of abundance, there are at least a few areas that have been declared food deserts where affordable and nutritious food just cannot be obtained. If the store is the final endpoint of the network, transporting the food to market is another fragile network component.
With inflation on the rise and the dollar continuing to weaken, foodflation will continue to the point where some will be priced out of some stores altogether. America has not fully recovered from the millions of job losses experienced last year. According to recent research, an estimated 12% of U.S. adults have recently experienced some type of food shortage. Food banks around the country have resorted to rationing distributions to try and make supplies last. According to a survey conducted between late October and early November of 2020, almost 26 million adults said their households either sometimes or often did not have enough to eat in the previous seven days.
Many solutions can decrease dependence on a food supply system destined to fail for the prepper, and you already may be implementing them in small ways. Now is the time to consider expanding your efforts. Here are several solutions you can plug into your prepping to decrease your dependency on a food system that is likely to fail and increase your self-reliance.
your family. Write them down. Put them on the fridge. Doesn’t have to be food storage (although I think it’s a pretty good goal), can be paying off a credit card, or visiting someone you haven’t seen in a while, or learning a few phrases in another language. Set the goal. Start working on it.