Why You Need Food Storage

Why You Need Food Storage

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Today is a great day to talk about why you need food storage. We all know what is going on in the world as it relates to supply chain bottlenecks all over the world. If you aren’t fully aware of the challenges of getting food and other products right now then you need to turn on your TV, listen to podcasts, or read some articles from reliable sources about what is causing the shortages and how to respond. If you need proof, go to your local grocery store and look at empty shelves in every food aisle. I have a friend who is an Emergency Preparedness leader in her neighborhood and surrounding areas for her church right here in Northern Utah. She is expected to get her fellow members up to speed and prepared as best she can.

I wish more people would understand the need to store food, have a pantry full, or even partially full. My friend mentioned some of her church leaders won’t respond to her emails requesting help to get the word out about food storage or emergency preparedness.

She’s frustrated because she sincerely understands why we all need to better prepare our families for things that are unexpected. She gets it, as do many of my readers. The last comment she received was not to instill fear in her fellow church members. Mark reminded me of a famous quote from President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

President Roosevelt was trying to encourage all American citizens to look ahead, to face the Great Depression with hope, and to work together so we all can come through the challenges as a stronger nation.

Here’s the deal my friends, we need to somehow get people to understand they must have food storage, not because we are afraid of what’s happening, or could happen, but because we want the confident knowledge that we are ready to face those unforeseen situations because we used common sense and prepared in advance.

Check out my book for many great ideas:

“Prepare Your Family For Survival” by Linda Loosli

Is Faith All We Need?

Do we hide under a rock and think everything is okay if we just have faith? Are people thinking the government, FEMA, The American Red Cross, or their church will deliver food and other badly needed items to their doorstep as if these organizations or agencies have the resources to help everyone? That certainly isn’t realistic, even in the best of times.

Will they expect their neighbors to share all that they have in their pantry? Do they think the restaurants and fast food drive-throughs will be open after a disaster? We all know that isn’t going to be the case in many situations.

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I feel like I’m on a soapbox today, and I guess I am. My heart tells me that you as my readers and friends understand the need to be self-reliant. But, I see so many people that don’t catch the vision of the importance to prepare for any disaster or unforeseen emergency.

Are they naive? They can’t use the excuse being prepared isn’t in their budget. Mark and I grew up with very little means, but our families understood the need to take care of themselves. We always had food in the pantry, it was not fancy but we knew what to do with it.

We grew up cooking from scratch, making bread, sewing our own clothes, and taking care of ourselves. I would love to say I have a freezer full of meat, or a cow I could slaughter, but I don’t. But I can cook many meals with what I do have.

When it comes to taking care of your family after a disaster, a job loss, a death, or an unforeseen emergency we must be prepared to do it. Read below about Mark’s personal experiences regarding unforeseen emergencies and how it affected his family growing up.

Why You Need Food Storage

Why You Need Food Storage

Why You Need Food Storage

If in fact, the food chain continues to be disrupted year after year, we must be prepared to cook from scratch. Cooking from scratch is not throwing a piece of meat on the barbecue, and making a salad.

We must know how to stretch meals with rice, lentils, and beans. Another option is cooked wheat. I grew up on cooked wheat cereal, this is how I make mine.

Cooked Wheat Is A Great Filler

You only need one cup of whole wheat berries, three cups of water, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. The first thing you need to do is rinse the wheat with a very fine mesh strainer. Hard White Wheat

Drain the wheat and dump them in the slow cooker, add the three cups of water and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Put the lid on and turn it to low for 8-10 hours.

Or, you can add the rinsed wheat and salt to 3 cups of boiling water and cook uncovered for one hour, and then drain.

One more way is to use your electric pressure cooker: one cup wheat berries, three cups water, 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook on high for 30 minutes and you will use the natural release technique (this means you let the pressure come down naturally on its own).

This is how they look after cooking for ten hours on low in the slow cooker. The time will vary with your slow cooker brand due to wattage. I had very little liquid (water) to drain off.

Why You Need Food Storage
5 from 7 votes
Wheat Porridge
Cooked Whole Wheat Berries
Prep Time
12 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Total Time
42 mins
 
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Servings: 6 people
Author: Linda Loosli
Ingredients
  • 1 cup uncooked whole wheat berries, rinse with water in a fine strainer
  • 3 cups water
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Three Ways To Cook It
  1. SLOW COOKER: cook all the ingredients listed above for 8-9 hours on low in a slow cooker.

  2. STOVE TOP: add the rinsed wheat and salt to three cups of boiling water and cook uncovered on the stove for one hour or until tender.

  3. PRESSURE COOKER: add all of the ingredients above into your electric pressure cooker and cook on high for 30 minutes. You will use “natural release," let the pressure come down naturally.

What kind of emergencies should I try to prepare for?

Most people tend to think of disasters or emergencies as things like floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. Mark reminded me of two situations in his own family that changed the lives of his siblings and their families forever.

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Mark had a sister with a lot of kids whose husband got sick and went to the hospital. Although the visit to the hospital wasn’t related to his brother-in-law’s previous heart problems, the sickness brought those heart issues to the forefront. It was determined that long-postponed surgery was the only option. Although the doctors did all they could, he passed away as a result of the surgery and the weakened condition of his body.

The moral of this story is, be prepared since you never know when you can get sick, have a serious accident, or another unexpected turn in your life. Thousands of families are dealing with that right now, as we all know.

Mark had an older brother who did lots of things with his kids. His son was going away for church service for a couple of years, so he decided to take that son out on ATVs for the day. They hadn’t been gone long when Mark’s brother lost control of the unit, or it had a blowout, no one seems to know. The accident caused him to land on his head, fracturing some vertebrae in his neck. His brother spent weeks in the hospital and then months in rehab.

Who would have thought that a day that started so innocently could turn into a lifelong series of challenges as the family lost their breadwinner?

Life often deals us some tragic cards. We can lose a job due to no fault of our own as companies decide to cut back. We can get sick or have a life-changing accident. There could be drought causing shortages of food and livestock. There can be floods that happen thousands of miles away, but affect the food supply where we live. There can be a series of hurricanes in Florida that wipe out this year’s supply of oranges and other fruits we rely on. And there can be a disruption in the supply chain for everything we use and eat each and every day.

There are so many reasons to prepare. Please don’t be the one who thinks: “This won’t happen to me.” Any of the above could prove to be your reality!

Final Word

It’s critical to understand why you need food storage. We must be diligent now, this is no secret for those of us who understand the need to stock food storage. Please keep stocking up, we must, we know what is going on all around us. May God Bless this world, Linda

Copyright Images: Beans Lentils in Jars Depositphotos_37988837_S

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20 Comments

  1. Thanks Linda for a great article. It is hard to get through to people that they must prepare for the unexpected, isn’t it? My sister and I grew up never knowing when our next meal would be or if our parents would pay the utility bills. We had heat and electricity shut off at times, so Sis and I, as adults, have prepared as best we know how. We have never gone hungry as adults and my kids will tell you that when they were growing up I was adamant they would never be hungry. We didn’t eat gourmet food, but it was nutritious and they are healthy and very tall! Son is 6’ 6” and daughter is 5’ 10”! By the way, I’m the “runt” in the family at 5’ 6”. LOL

    1. Hi Paula, thank you for sharing your thoughts, I love hearing life stories, they help all of us. Good job on never going hungry! And raising two healthy kids! Proud mama, I’m sure! Yes, we can cook on shoestring and make nutritious meals! Good job! Linda

  2. Linda,

    Being prepared doesn’t just give us confidence. It gives us peace of mind. I was raised that a man’s primary duty was to protect and provide for his family. Being prepared is simply step one in doing that.

    We may not know what the future will bring, but by being as prepared as possible we know we have done all that is in our power to keep our families safe.

    1. Hi Ray, great comment as always. I totally agree on peace of mind when we have the skills, water, and food to get us through at any time. We do indeed to everything to keep our families safe. Linda

  3. Absolutely
    I’m not sure after the last 2 years how one would not think they need storage. Definitely do what you can with what you have. We’ve been canning, freeze drying and Mylaring as much as possible on top of insuring the pantry is full. Start with the pantry first. If you can only get one extra can this week then do so. That means you just made it a little further

    1. Hi Carrie, it’s just wheat kernels. It depends on where you live. I buy a bucket 6-gallon bucket every time I see them at Costco. But I live in Utah where we have Lehi Mills. https://amzn.to/3njHrY6 I prefer hard white wheat over hard red wheat. It’s a milder wheat and the bread is better. Linda

      1. Thanks so much! I love all your articles. And I believe you also have an article about grinding the wheat and making bread. Could you link it for me?

          1. I’m also seeking a hand crank mill for when power goes out. We have several pounds of whole wheat flour but I like having options. Like we have candles, large and small, jars, beeswax and wicking, flashlights, and oil lamps. I wonder if Amazon has those too?

  4. I bet those wheat berries would cook pretty well in a thermal cooker, too. I will have to try that.

    Thanks again for a great article.

  5. 5 stars
    Linda, thanks for another great article. I clicked on the Amazon link and loved the information there especially the video on how the wheat is harvested. While I have seen the combines at county fairs, I have never been able to see them work in the fields. Your recipe is worth trying – once I get my fresh wheat berries using the link. My Italian mother-in-law used to make a delicious wheat berry pie! I have a very old Bosch stone wheat grinder that fits on my older Bosch mixer that I can use to grind the berries into flour that I want to try again. And I so agree with the comments about if this past year has not convinced folks that they need to store water, food, and other necessities, then they will never be open to the message.

    1. Hi Carol, thank you for the 5 stars!! You are so nice! Now I want to make wheat berry pie. I have never heard of one!! I LOVE new ideas! If you have the recipe, please share it! Thank you, Linda

  6. Great article, Linda. Your husband’s reminder of the Roosevelt quote re fear is timely here, as fear is what Big Gov, Big Money & Big Pharma want everyone to experience today, as it’s part of our great nation’s takedown & control over us. Now, more than ever, preparedness is the name of the survival game. The last week or so, our household has been acquiring some items that we were missing so it’s affected our limited income enough that I had to really slow it down, until payday, that is! Today, I bought an extra gas can because we’d had our generator fixed, but of course that’s only like the beginning of resources to initially use before there’s no electricity & even fuel runs out & one moves on to other sources of cooking. Thank you for being there as a smart, sensible resource for all of us who care about this subject to helping ourselves & others around us, if need be. I have LDS friends in CO, who’ve been doing this very same thing for decades now – the man of the family was my former CPA boss. Wonderful folks…& smart like you.

    1. Hi Janet, you are so kind with your words! Thank you so much! We must do what we have to do, a little at a time. We can do it, we have the skills, and the knowledge to be prepared! Linda

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