How do I know if
I've put away enough of anything when it comes to our long term storage? I literally sit down with a pencil and paper
as well as a calculator and I do the math.
I figure out per serving, how many times I would likely eat a certain
food and then I figure out how many servings over the span of time ( 90 days, 6
months, 1 year, 2 years, etc.) I have planned that would equal and then
multiply that times the number of people I am feeding. It does take some thought, but it's easy math
and extremely helpful in determining how much I want to store.
Initially I
began with a six month plan for three people, which easily evolved into a one
year plan simply by doubling up on everything I had already stored. It literally felt like starting over and
doing it again. And it was! Prepping isn't difficult.
As time has gone
on things change and evolve and they always will so adjustments will need to be
made. Now that both of my girls are college
age and more independent they do their own prepping and rely less on me so I've
made adjustments and although they're adults I do know they have the
limitations of both funds and space.
Instead of prepping for all three of us I now only prep for two people
and I've managed to increase our span of time to two years. A lot of preppers feel a three year long term
storage is ideal. Not only is it
feasible, but also quite manageable if you have the space to do it. I would have to get pretty creative to do
something like that, but in the meantime what I do have in place makes me feel
well protected and is quite manageable.
And it is easy
math! Who doesn't appreciate that?
May I also add something I learned at an emergency preparedness meeting years ago, hosted jointly with our fire and rescue and the nearby LDS church? Don't even BOTHER doing this if you are not going to store water as well, one gallon/day per person. Now, of course, most of us here have wells, which are run by private pumps, which, if the power goes out won't work. Even if you have a generator, there's the issue of propane to run it. Still, even with a stand by generator, we store water. Before the generator, whenever I emptied a suitable container, (apple juice jug, 2 liter soda bottle, plastic orange juice jug) I immediately filled it with tap water, and tucked it on a shelf in my garage, so I had something with which to "force" a flush of the toilets should the power go out. (Trust me, I learned quite quickly after the our first 3 day power outage how painful it is to see store bought bottled water going down the toilet...it was like I was flushing dollar signs!)
ReplyDeleteAs for storage-- we were taught to rethink it. Can you find a coffee table which opens up? Are you using the space underneath the beds? How about the top shelf in your laundry room, or the top of the cabinets in the laundry room? Can you put totes of your preps on the bottoms of closets, and lay your shoes on top? Also, it's good to rotate your preps, using them in ordinary circumstances, so if something does require them, it's no so traumatic. (Although, that's advice more for those with small children.)
Anyway, my two cents. I'm not currently adding to my preps with our move coming within the next 3 months, but it's a hobby I think I may rediscover once our move is complete.
My grandmother referred to that as "squirreling away". Good luck with your move.
DeleteI am not so precise, but think my method works, at least for me. I count how many cans of stuff I will need for a day. I assume I will have no way to cool food. (hopefully, that is not true.) I assume we must eat the contents of the food in one day without storage. Okay, it works for me.
ReplyDeleteAs long as your happy with it that is all that matters. We all have our own ideas of what is enough. ;)
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