Food Storage Styles

[Dani]

From a Facebook group I belong to, LDS Food Storage Adventures:

"Several years ago my husband lost his job so we went on a spending freeze and tried to live off what we had stored until he got another job. I learned several things from this. We ran out of perishable items pretty fast. After that it became harder to find a variety of breakfast items that don't call for eggs, milk, or butter. So I started keeping a list (a very short list) of breakfasts that would made from the pantry shelf. A few examples are Oatmeal mixed with peanut butter and maple syrup. Pumpkin pancakes. Biscuits and gravy etc. None of these are very healthy except maybe the oatmeal but they would keep people alive.
Another thing I learned was that I had no variety of foods and we got tired of eating the same things over and over. I also longed for fresh fruits or vegetables. This got me thinking more about all sorts of different things to store or grow."

Breakfast: what foods to store for breakfast with variety? And that eggs, milk and butter will still be in high demand for breakfast and other things.

I am surprised that a member of LDS didn’t have powdered eggs stored, along with canned milk and butter. I thought those were on their years long list? At least she got her family thru their “crises”.

 

[Weedygarden]

I am surprised that a member of LDS didn’t have powdered eggs stored, along with canned milk and butter. I thought those were on their years long list? At least she got her family thru their “crises”.

Do you think all LDS members are well prepared? They are not! Some literally have no food storage! Maybe many have no food storage! How do I know? I have a friend who has been the preparedness lead for her church, called a ward, for many years. She has given classes, had discussions, and offered to help people with food storage. The interest is so low, to her, it is alarming. She is someone I met when I took a food storage class more than 40 years ago.

 

[Dani]

Since I am not a member and only know what they had published in the past on a years worth to substain a family, no I am not aware of the present ladies not taking it seriously. That is a shame, as all should no matter what religion you follow.

 

[Weedygarden]

Since I am not a member and only know what they had published in the past on a years worth to substain a family, no I am not aware of the present ladies not taking it seriously. That is a shame, as all should no matter what religion you follow.

I wish there was a video of this. My friend told me this. An LDS leader, The Prophet, equivalent to the Catholic Pope, gave a talk one year at one of their conferences. They do a couple church wide conferences a year. He got up and asked people to indicate how many had x amount of food storage, and went through to determine that in the room he was speaking how many had the churches guideline. When he was finished, there were very few who had the amount, perhaps a years worth. He commented that if the people there hadn't listened to counsel about how much food to store, would they listen to anything else he had to say? Then he sat down. I wish I could find his speech or a video of it.

 

[Magus]

Our LDS churches all have large food storage areas just for this.
Its come up.

 

[Sourdough]

When I lived on (52 mile long) Lake Clark, I used the lake as a refrigerator summer and winter.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Our LDS churches all have large food storage areas just for this.
Its come up.

I have to take exception to this statement. The LDS church has small "Bishops Storehouses" but they are relatively small (like a local grocery store) and usually shared by lots of congregations in the area (Imagine 30 congregations of 300 people sharing a small grocery store in time of great need). Their primary purpose is to distribute food to the needy in the congregations, but they would be very short lived in an emergency (maybe 2 weeks). The LDS Church used to have canning facilities and other resources that members would use to can at, but that was phased out over the last decade (health departments, city codes, and other legal concerns). I think that in high member concentration areas like Utah and Idaho the LDS church has set up food storage centers where members can buy food storage supplies. They have on-line sales of food staples for members but over the last 2 years I have been told by people who use them that items are often out of stock. Anyone thinking that an organization (Church, Government, what ever) or outside person is going to be there to carry them through a real SHTF event will be sadly mistaken. Food storage is a personal commitment and it will be your responsibility that cannot be deferred due to inconvenience....

Food storage is most important on a personal level. It can be used during financial hardship like loss of job, it can also be important during local emergencies like hurricanes or local water disruptions. I have used my food and water storage for events like these when the power was out and the grocery stores couldn't scan items and the water was out for 2 weeks due to a flood taking out a main water supply line. It really made us feel much more secure...

The LDS church does encourage members to pay a fast offering to provide help to the needy. During times of emergency they will pull resources from other unaffected areas to push emergency aid into the areas that need it. They also hold drives at the local level to collect resources and put together "aid kits" to send to people in need around the world. But I think that in an global event they would be stretched bare trying to help everyone.

Over the past 50 years Americans have become lazy and arrogant, in the quest for cheap goods they have differed much of their food supply to imports from South America and other external sources; all the while they (we) assume that America is food independent and secure. The US is the second largest food exporter behind the EU, exporting $144 billion dollars worth of food, but the US is also the second largest food importer, importing $163 billion worth of food. So the US is a Net food Importer at about $19 billion dollars worth a year....

 

[Magus]

I have to take exception to this statement. The LDS church has small "Bishops Storehouses" but they are relatively small (like a local grocery store) and usually shared by lots of congregations .

I don't know what you took exception to? Yes. about mom and pop grocery store sized, maybe a bit larger, but just a bit. the LDS here help homeless and in disasters. did you think I was saying they had a secret Walmart under every church? I happen to like the LDS, my idea was to trade armed security for a meal or two.

 

[UrbanHunter]

I don't know what you took exception to? Yes. about mom and pop grocery store sized, maybe a bit larger, but just a bit. the LDS here help homeless and in disasters. did you think I was saying they had a secret Walmart under every church? I happen to like the LDS, my idea was to trade armed security for a meal or two.

The belief that many have is that every LDS family had decades of food and the church has massive reserves hidden away is a "fantasy" that many believe and I didn't want that to be encouraged. That was it.

I know that the number of LDS families outside of Utah and Idaho that have a full food storage is most likely well below 5% (Based on preparedness conferences that I have attended first hand, it may be less than 1%). So if we experience an SHTF event even many of the LDS folks will be in need...

 

[Magus]

OK, thats fine. I don't wander around in LDS families homes, I HAVE seen the food pantry the church down the road has is all I'm saying. its pretty good sized. the guy implied most churches keep food on hand, which I believe. the local Pentacostals food kitchens were actually bigger.

 

[UrbanHunter]

I found this Pew Research article from 2012 interesting and relevant to our discussion on the LDS folks.

"LDS Church leaders encourage Mormons to keep a supply of food in storage in case of catastrophe, recommending that at least three months of supplies be kept on hand. Eight-in-ten Mormons (82%) say they keep a supply of food in storage, including 58% who keep at least a three-months’ supply."

I know in the 1970s LDS leaders were encouraging a years supply, so according to this, even back in 2012 they had reduced their targets to 3 months.

I think the new program is referred to as "Provident Living" and it focuses on developing self reliance. I think if I wanted to learn what they do and don't do I would go to their web-side and research it for myself. Provident Living

 

[Weedygarden]

I found this Pew Research article from 2012 interesting and relevant to our discussion on the LDS folks.

"LDS Church leaders encourage Mormons to keep a supply of food in storage in case of catastrophe, recommending that at least three months of supplies be kept on hand. Eight-in-ten Mormons (82%) say they keep a supply of food in storage, including 58% who keep at least a three-months’ supply."

I know in the 1970s LDS leaders were encouraging a years supply, so according to this, even back in 2012 they had reduced their targets to 3 months.

I think the new program is referred to as "Provident Living" and it focuses on developing self reliance. I think if I wanted to learn what they do and don't do I would go to their web-side and research it for myself. Provident Living

My friend and I have talked about this. Originally, when the LDS started telling their members to have food storage, they focused on 7 years, mostly wheat. All those years ago, wheat would have been a common thing to store, inexpensive, shelf stable. (My grandparents bought bags of wheat during the Depression. They had boiled wheat for breakfast and homemade bread, never store purchased, and there was always a plate of bread on the dinner table.)
This came from Joseph in the bible, whose brothers came to him during the famine. Then they (LDS) backed it down to 2 years. Yes, in the 1970s, it was a years supply. My friend, who has well more than that and who saw my food storage about 10 years ago, said that because people just couldn't wrap their minds around all that food in storage, they backed it down to the three months supply. My guess is that some people might have that and maybe more, but I do know of at least one person who I've been told doesn't have food storage.

I once heard a young married woman say she will never have food storage because she doesn't want to deal with all that wheat. This idea is still out there.

I do not understand how you can be a member and be in this mindset, of no food storage, no preparedness? I would really like to know. If you have moved, or have some special situation, it is a little easier to understand. The bible talks about a days food for a day's wages in the end days. I think the current times with plenty of food and so much processed food that no one really has to cook, has really not been good for many who haven't known any different and cannot imagine any different.

 

[Magus]

I MIGHT do 4 months on one meal a day.

 

[UrbanHunter]

I MIGHT do 4 months on one meal a day.

There was a time when 2 boxes of instant rice, 4 pounds of popcorn, a flat of cream of mushroom soup, a flat of pork-n-beans and a flat of raman noodles was all I had in the pantry. I had just changed jobs with a 60% reduction in pay and I was trying to survive with a $12 a week food budget... After 6 months I was eating the raman noodles and saving half the broth mix for my lunch..... I was using people power to go 2 miles to work and back and I didn't have a weight problem... See there is a good thing about going hungry.

When I first got married we didn't have much extra, and when I went back to school it was tough. My DW is an excellent cook and we lived on beans and rice for 4 years, but we still managed to make BOBs (bug out bags) with 3 days worth of meals for each member of the family. We rotated those every 3 months. For decades we shopped sales and added slowly to our food storage. We monitored our menu and then used that to get an extra months supply in. We kept monitoring our diet and discovered we increased our meat so we added that and a couple more months worth of food, we even tried to include snacks. But our oldest "rat" discovered a box labeled "treats" and when we went for them all we had was a box of empty wrappers.... Eventually we got up to a year's supply and then it became an issue to make sure none of the food went bad, so we developed our First In First Out inventory control, we date everything when it comes home from the store or when we can or freeze something. We have found that using a seal-a-meal will allow us to keep frozen meats for up to a maximum of 4 years (bottom of deep freezer, oops) and as long as the seal was good and no Ice formed inside the bag it was fine. We try not to keep anything in our inventory longer than 2 years.

20 years ago, I had an LDS friend visiting and he followed me into my food storage area (1/4 of the basement) and he said, "If things ever get bad, I'm bringing my family over here..." That was the last time anyone outside the family has been in my basement. I believe in having enough food storage to carry my family through a major SHTF event and sufficient precious metals (Iron, Brass, and Lead) to keep it....

I think of food storage kind of like the old joke about Noah and the Flood and "how long can you tread water". When the floods came I didn't hear about Noah handing out life preservers and rubber rafts, nope he just gathered up his kin & livestock, pulled up the ramp, and closed the doors.

Now don't get me wrong, I have tried to help teach people how to do food storage and emergency preparedness. The wife and I were even asked to teach classes at workshops and even a few LDS sponsored regional events. The wife taught basic cooking (beans, rice, and such) and I taught organization skills, planning, situational awareness, along with food storage methods. We shared what we had taken decades to learn and at the end of the day people just wanted to eat our samples and talk about why they hadn't done anything since the last time we saw them. People want to be prepared and have food storage. But, it is hard to make the sacrifices necessary to be prepared and it takes work. No one can do someone else's food storage for them. As the old saying goes you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. So after a decade of doing the classes 2 or 3 times a year, we decided that the time spent teaching could be better used getting our own house in order.

 

[Weedygarden]

Our LDS churches all have large food storage areas just for this.
Its come up.

When you say OUR LDS churches, do you mean all the LDS churches in America or the world? If you think this, I can tell you this: My friend has said there is no food in the building and there is no food owned by the churches. She plans to take her one plus years supply to her church whenever SHTF and there is no food to be had in the stores. This might have changed since I last visited with her about it. The thing is, the people who are members, and not interested in doing food storage, would just expect to have the local church feed them. I think it would not be a bad idea for each of their churches to have a stash of food storage for their members, but then the whole world would become a Mormon if the SHTF. How many people believe that all Mormons have food storage? I know some do. And how many Mormons have a typical American pantry? Many!

 

[Weedygarden]

There was a time when 2 boxes of instant rice, 4 pounds of popcorn, a flat of cream of mushroom soup, a flat of pork-n-beans and a flat of raman noodles was all I had in the pantry. I had just changed jobs with a 60% reduction in pay and I was trying to survive with a $12 a week food budget... After 6 months I was eating the raman noodles and saving half the broth mix for my lunch..... I was using people power to go 2 miles to work and back and I didn't have a weight problem... See there is a good thing about going hungry.

When I first got married we didn't have much extra, and when I went back to school it was tough. My DW is an excellent cook and we lived on beans and rice for 4 years, but we still managed to make BOBs (bug out bags) with 3 days worth of meals for each member of the family. We rotated those every 3 months. For decades we shopped sales and added slowly to our food storage. We monitored our menu and then used that to get an extra months supply in. We kept monitoring our diet and discovered we increased our meat so we added that and a couple more months worth of food, we even tried to include snacks. But our oldest "rat" discovered a box labeled "treats" and when we went for them all we had was a box of empty wrappers.... Eventually we got up to a year's supply and then it became an issue to make sure none of the food went bad, so we developed our First In First Out inventory control, we date everything when it comes home from the store or when we can or freeze something. We have found that using a seal-a-meal will allow us to keep frozen meats for up to a maximum of 4 years (bottom of deep freezer, oops) and as long as the seal was good and no Ice formed inside the bag it was fine. We try not to keep anything in our inventory longer than 2 years.

20 years ago, I had an LDS friend visiting and he followed me into my food storage area (1/4 of the basement) and he said, "If things ever get bad, I'm bringing my family over here..." That was the last time anyone outside the family has been in my basement. I believe in having enough food storage to carry my family through a major SHTF event and sufficient precious metals (Iron, Brass, and Lead) to keep it....

I think of food storage kind of like the old joke about Noah and the Flood and "how long can you tread water". When the floods came I didn't hear about Noah handing out life preservers and rubber rafts, nope he just gathered up his kin & livestock, pulled up the ramp, and closed the doors.

Now don't get me wrong, I have tried to help teach people how to do food storage and emergency preparedness. The wife and I were even asked to teach classes at workshops and even a few LDS sponsored regional events. The wife taught basic cooking (beans, rice, and such) and I taught organization skills, planning, situational awareness, along with food storage methods. We shared what we had taken decades to learn and at the end of the day people just wanted to eat our samples and talk about why they hadn't done anything since the last time we saw them. People want to be prepared and have food storage. But, it is hard to make the sacrifices necessary to be prepared and it takes work. No one can do someone else's food storage for them. As the old saying goes you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. So after a decade of doing the classes 2 or 3 times a year, we decided that the time spent teaching could be better used getting our own house in order.

Many people have more excuses than some of us have food storage. I'd be really curious if there was a serious survey done of just LDS, how many would have 3 months supply, let alone a year, two years, 7 years worth of food.
When I first seriously started stocking up food, in 2008, it was kind of interesting to me how quickly you can accumulate food if you buy something every time you go shopping, and especially if you set goals and keep going after those goals. In the beginning, it is scarier, but then after that becoming a part of your lifestyle, you can start to relax a little, and resetting goals.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Many people have more excuses than some of us have food storage. I'd be really curious if there was a serious survey done of just LDS, how many would have 3 months supply, let alone a year, two years, 7 years worth of food.

In 2012 Pew Research did a survey of 1000 LDS families (don't know if it was only UTAH, it would make a difference) and 82% said they had "some" food storage and 59% said they had 3 months supply.

I'm sure that going beyond a year you can expect to get to very close to 0%


FYI: The government (ready.gov) suggests you store at least a several-day supply of non-perishable food.
Good luck with that...

 

[Weedygarden]

In 2012 Pew Research did a survey of 1000 LDS families (don't know if it was only UTAH, it would make a difference) and 82% said they had "some" food storage and 59% said they had 3 months supply.

I'm sure that going beyond a year you can expect to get to very close to 0%


FYI: The government (ready.gov) suggests you store at least a several-day supply of non-perishable food.
Good luck with that...

I would expect that there are very few people anywhere who have more than a year's worth of food anywhere. I know a couple of people who do.
Also, people influence each other. If most of the people you know have 3 months worth of food, then that becomes acceptable, doesn't it? It is better than nothing, but could be better. I know that storing food can be a challenge to manage. I understand finances and life can get in the way. However, just before the pandemic, I saw people really get serious about purchasing food at Costco, more than usual.

We used to have a survey option here early on. I have looked for the possibility of doing a survey, to see generally how many people have how much food stored. I don't see that survey option any more. It might be pretty interesting.

 

[UrbanHunter]

I would expect that there are very few people anywhere who have more than a year's worth of food anywhere. I know a couple of people who do.
Also, people influence each other. If most of the people you know have 3 months worth of food, then that becomes acceptable, doesn't it? It is better than nothing, but could be better. I know that storing food can be a challenge to manage. I understand finances and life can get in the way. However, just before the pandemic, I saw people really get serious about purchasing food at Costco, more than usual.

We used to have a survey option here early on. I have looked for the possibility of doing a survey, to see generally how many people have how much food stored. I don't see that survey option any more. It might be pretty interesting.

Yes having a survey option would be interesting. I know we did one once on another site where we asked about food and water storage separately. What we saw then was that most people had food storage ranging between a couple of months and up to about a year, it created a steep bell curve with 6 months being about the peak. The water storage was a different story, most people had less than an month's supply and the bell curve looked more like a spike.

 

[Weedygarden]

Yes having a survey option would be interesting. I know we did one once on another site where we asked about food and water storage separately. What we saw then was that most people had food storage ranging between a couple of months and up to about a year, it created a steep bell curve with 6 months being about the peak. The water storage was a different story, most people had less than an month's supply and the bell curve looked more like a spike.

I find that water storage is more of a challenge for me. I keep plugging away at it, but buying a bag of rice or a case of canned food is much easier for me than finding places to store water.

 

[jishinsjourney]

We store a three-week supply of bottled water in the basement under the stairs, and rotate it by keeping a flat in each of our cars for drinking while we’re out. Is it perfect? Nope! There’s water for hygiene to consider too, and we’re not there yet. But it’s better than nothing.

I’m with @ClemKadiddlehopper — we can’t store a lot of the prepackaged food. My husband’s diabetic and we discovered that gluten is the thing that wrecks his blood sugar. I’m at least mildly milk-intolerant. That basically lets out 95% of all the prepackaged stuff if we want to both be able to eat it.

So I keep a lot of shelf-stable ingredients in the basement — non-gluten grains, a bit of sugar, vinegar, sauces, canned meat, canned tomatoes, dried fruit and veggies, that kind of thing. Gluten-free Oreos for emergencies because sometimes you just need an Oreo.

I’m working on mastering pressure canning but so far haven’t been super impressed with a lot of the recipes I’ve tried. I’ll probably branch into DIY versions when I feel more confident.

 

[Hardcalibres]

We store a three-week supply of bottled water in the basement under the stairs, and rotate it by keeping a flat in each of our cars for drinking while we’re out. Is it perfect? Nope! There’s water for hygiene to consider too, and we’re not there yet. But it’s better than nothing.

I’m with @ClemKadiddlehopper — we can’t store a lot of the prepackaged food. My husband’s diabetic and we discovered that gluten is the thing that wrecks his blood sugar. I’m at least mildly milk-intolerant. That basically lets out 95% of all the prepackaged stuff if we want to both be able to eat it.

So I keep a lot of shelf-stable ingredients in the basement — non-gluten grains, a bit of sugar, vinegar, sauces, canned meat, canned tomatoes, dried fruit and veggies, that kind of thing. Gluten-free Oreos for emergencies because sometimes you just need an Oreo.

I’m working on mastering pressure canning but so far haven’t been super impressed with a lot of the recipes I’ve tried. I’ll probably branch into DIY versions when I feel more confident.

Do you have a garage or somewhere you could store one of these:

They are about 4 feet wide by 4 feet long by 5 feet high.

You can just fill it up with municipal water.

Even the new ones only cost about $400.

275 gallons can go a long way during a crisis.

Just run it out onto your garden when it needs to be freshened up and refill from the mains water.

 

[UrbanHunter]

I find that water storage is more of a challenge for me. I keep plugging away at it, but buying a bag of rice or a case of canned food is much easier for me than finding places to store water.

We have a sump pump in the basement so I sat up an area next to the pump to hold 4 of the 55 gallon blue barrels (bungs up) I made copper pickup tubes to reach to the bottom of each barrel and then threaded them into one of the bungs, on the outside of each barrel I put a valve on the pickup tube extension and them made a manifold between all the barrels, I can open all the valves and if the manifold is sealed and full of water the barrels will equalize, I can siphon the water out and can drain them into the sump pump if needed. I can also close the house supply line from city water and then use an RV water pump to pressurize the house water to 55 psi from my water storage using my "fill" connections to the cold water line. I use this method to use my water when rotating my supply, the flow is not as strong as city water but it will get the job done and we don't waste it. We add a little extra bleach when we refill our barrels so I would prefer not to use it on the garden (besides I have rain barrels for that), but it is fine to do a couple loads of laundry, the dishes, take a shower, or even drink...

I also have a stock pile of filters that could be used to filter and treat the water in my rain barrels should it be necessary.

My thinking of water usage in an emergency is like this:

1) The treated water is only for cooking and drinking.
2) Use the rain barrel water for the toilets to extend the life of my drinking water.
3) If I have advanced warning, fill as many "clean" containers with water as possible (like clean food storage buckets with lids) before it shuts off.
4) If all else fails I can use high quality filters to convert the rain barrel water into drinking water.
5) If it looks like the water is not going to be coming back soon, keep the rain barrels at 75% of capacity (cut back on the watering of the garden).

I have 4 water pumps at my house, 2 of the boost pumps for to drive my garden drip irrigation (one in use every day, one backup) and 2 RV water pumps at 3 GPM @ 55 psi, one is 12V and the other is 110 so I can switch between power sources.

I have one of those plastic bath tub tanks, but they are expensive, hard to empty, and they don't store well once used. FYI: I had 2, used one and once it was empty it got moldy inside and became land fill fodder....

If I had an unlimited pocket book I would have gone with 2 or more of those caged tanks like @Hardcalibres showed and I would have gone with the tall exterior water tanks for the garden, I would like to expand my rain water storage increased to at least 1,500 gallons.

 

[TeeJ]

I find this thread very interesting in the heart of Utah - in an area where it's very common for the neighborhood to help people move in/out, do you get to see everyone's storage firsthand as you carry it to/from the moving truck... I'd say 2/3 of the families I've helped move have fairly substantial storage in the 3 mo to 1 year range. I know many LDS families see storage as an "ought to" thing rather than a basic life essential, so they do it in fits and spurts - buying enough to calm their conscience every once in a while.

As far as LDS storage lists, they are usually made at a very local level - the only church -wide list I've even seen is at: Longer-Term Food Supply , which is very general.

The LDS church has an area called Welfare Square in downtown SLC where there are warehouses and huge grain silos visible from the freeway. Other than the bishop's storehouses mentioned above (basically mini grocery stores where church welfare recipients can pick up food), and preparedness stores where storage items are available for sale, I'm not aware of local units storing any food at all. I'm sure the rationale is that each family should be responsible for their own needs.

I find the discussion on water storage very interesting living in an area with little rainfall or streams available. I've got a couple of those totes in my backyard, which I rotate out once a year. If you buy used, make sure they had food-safe products in them. I bought one that had hand soap in it that that the seller claimed was harmless, but even after 10 rinsings any water coming out of it still smelled super chemically I know a metal roof where water can be caught is high on my list of features in a future homestead!

 

[jishinsjourney]

Do you have a garage or somewhere you could store one of these:

View attachment 92310

They are about 4 feet wide by 4 feet long by 5 feet high.

You can just fill it up with municipal water.

Even the new ones only cost about $400.

275 gallons can go a long way during a crisis.

Just run it out onto your garden when it needs to be freshened up and refill from the mains water.

Possibly? The trick would be draining it to move it. Our property has a lot of stairs.

 

[UrbanHunter]

I use these pumps to use my water around:

This is what I use to move my rain water to my garden. I have fittings to connect to water hoses or that connect to my irrigation distribution center. It could be used to transfer my drinking water storage outside if need be..
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B121LL64/ref=emc_b_5_i
These are the type of pump (Not brand) that I use to feed my backup water to my house water lines in an emergency, they are on demand and pressure regulated. They come in 12 volt too, so you can use a 12V battery if the power is down too.

https://www.amazon.com/ECO-WORTHY-I...refix=rv+water+pump+110+volt,tools,56&sr=1-20

 

[Weedygarden]

I find this thread very interesting in the heart of Utah - in an area where it's very common for the neighborhood to help people move in/out, do you get to see everyone's storage firsthand as you carry it to/from the moving truck... I'd say 2/3 of the families I've helped move have fairly substantial storage in the 3 mo to 1 year range. I know many LDS families see storage as an "ought to" thing rather than a basic life essential, so they do it in fits and spurts - buying enough to calm their conscience every once in a while.

As far as LDS storage lists, they are usually made at a very local level - the only church -wide list I've even seen is at: Longer-Term Food Supply , which is very general.

The LDS church has an area called Welfare Square in downtown SLC where there are warehouses and huge grain silos visible from the freeway. Other than the bishop's storehouses mentioned above (basically mini grocery stores where church welfare recipients can pick up food), and preparedness stores where storage items are available for sale, I'm not aware of local units storing any food at all. I'm sure the rationale is that each family should be responsible for their own needs.

I find the discussion on water storage very interesting living in an area with little rainfall or streams available. I've got a couple of those totes in my backyard, which I rotate out once a year. If you buy used, make sure they had food-safe products in them. I bought one that had hand soap in it that that the seller claimed was harmless, but even after 10 rinsings any water coming out of it still smelled super chemically I know a metal roof where water can be caught is high on my list of features in a future homestead!

There is a Bishop's Storehouse in Aurora, Colorado and one in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I have been to the one in Aurora many times over the years. People drive long distances to shop there. Earlier this year I took someone there who tried to tell me last fall to stock up on food. Haha! (She bought some wheat and I told her she could use my grinder.) They have some tall silos on the property that are also visible from I-70. One time I asked them if there was wheat in those silos? No. They were empty. I know that it takes training and knowledge to maintain, fill and empty a silo. Perhaps those silos have just become difficult to maintain. And because all of the dry canning has become fairly centralized, it may be better for the wheat to be shipped to the locations where they do the canning now. We used to be able to can in Aurora, and I found it to be kind of fun to do so.

Of all the things on that long term storage list, the one thing I have never seen at the Bishop's Storehouse, or on their order forms is corn. I've heard that the LDS produce the food that is in the Bishop's storehouse, on farms and in their own plants. They have farms all over the U.S., or so I have been told. I can see a family leaving a farm to the church in their will. Or the church purchasing land as it becomes available and they need more of certain products.

Those totes? I know you need to be careful about what has been in them and I have seen people trying to get rid of them when they are tainted. If they have had chemicals in them, you don't want to use them for water for your family, animals or garden, just your toilet flushing needs or maybe cleaning. There is a design out there to make an outdoor shower using two of them, an on demand water heater, heated with a propane tank. The tote shown above looks like a nice one. In order to use the spigot, you would need to make sure that it was elevated a little bit.

Now that I have said that some Mormons do not have food storage, I'd be willing to bet that there is influence in Mormon circles and some of the churches have much more food in their membership than others. If you see people at least once a week who are working on food storage, the idea probably does rub off. When the leaders at church are talking about it, there is influence. If you lose jobs or have illness and need help, there is probably discussion about how prepared you are. When the women have their classes, if they do anything relative to food storage, it has to help.

I am wondering what it is about when my friend in Reno who tells me that there is little to no interest in food storage? Is it her particular church where the interest is flat? Is it that people are storing foods like frozen pizza's, premade food and meals that just need to be heated up, etc. and not the long term foods that I began with?

There are some excellent videos out there, made at preparedness fairs that Mormons have done, with their food storage and preparedness guru's presenting. Are these fairs done every year where every adult member has the option of attending?

One thought that came to my mind was what is it that prevents people from being prepared?
1. Lack of belief in the need to be prepared?
2. Busy lifestyle with work and family?
3. Lack of funds?
4. Falls low on the priority list?
5. Lack of knowledge and access to being prepared?
6. Lack of interest, in spite of believing in and knowing to be prepared?
7. Lack of maturity to take responsibility for the care of own needs?
7. Lack of space
8. Recent move
9. Excuses

 

[UrbanHunter]

There are some excellent videos out there, made at preparedness fairs that Mormons have done, with their food storage and preparedness guru's presenting. Are these fairs done every year where every adult member has the option of attending?

About 20 years ago we were doing them every few months, they were free to the public and none of the presenters got paid anything. By reputation, I got invited to give a presentation on food storage and using wild game as part of food storage. I made power point slides and handouts and gave a 30 minute presentation. Some of the presenters were LDS some were not, some were more Prepper Types and others were teaching by the LDS guidelines of the day. Back then it was a year's supply of food. Once the wife and I had presented and had received positive feedback we kept getting invited to present at different LDS sponsored preparedness fairs, they had them at different Stake Centers (kind of like big chapels where multiple congregations could meet, only they had a big rec area the size of a basket ball court and a kitchen area). Like I said we kept getting invited back to present at different locations (I think they had a network of emergency preparedness coordinators exchanging information). When we stopped accepting invitations, we stopped getting called to present.
I have not heard anyone talking about them in the last few years....

 

[Weedygarden]

About 20 years ago we were doing them every few months, they were free to the public and none of the presenters got paid anything. By reputation, I got invited to give a presentation on food storage and using wild game as part of food storage. I made power point slides and handouts and gave a 30 minute presentation. Some of the presenters were LDS some were not, some were more Prepper Types and others were teaching by the LDS guidelines of the day. Back then it was a year's supply of food. Once the wife and I had presented and had received positive feedback we kept getting invited to present at different LDS sponsored preparedness fairs, they had them at different Stake Centers (kind of like big chapels where multiple congregations could meet, only they had a big rec area the size of a basket ball court and a kitchen area). Like I said we kept getting invited back to present at different locations (I think they had a network of emergency preparedness coordinators exchanging information). When we stopped accepting invitations, we stopped getting called to present.
I have not heard anyone talking about them in the last few years....

I'd bet these fairs are or were open to the public, like the food storage class that I took more than 40 years ago was.

There are people who become the experts or gurus, and sometimes when they retire, no one else is willing or able to step up and fill that gap. There have been preparedness fairs in the past, not connected with LDS, but I haven't seen any information on those lately. I know Covid has to have been a part of that.

 

[UrbanHunter]

I'd bet these fairs are or were open to the public, like the food storage class that I took more than 40 years ago was.

There are people who become the experts or gurus, and sometimes when they retire, no one else is willing or able to step up and fill that gap. There have been preparedness fairs in the past, not connected with LDS, but I haven't seen any information on those lately. I know Covid has to have been a part of that.

It takes a lot of time and resources to put together a good presentation and display. The people putting the preparedness fairs together spent months making the arrangements and finding a sufficient number of experts to have a comprehensive program. Imagine, all those people doing all that work for free. Before it was all over I had displays on food storage, 72 hour kits, and general emergency preparedness. Each one was built around a half hour power-point presentation. It was a lot of work.