A Slap in the Face

"If you are without bread, how much wisdom can you boast, and of what real utility are your talents, if you cannot procure for yourselves and save against a day of scarcity those substances designed to sustain your natural lives? … If you cannot provide for your natural lives, how can you expect to have wisdom to obtain eternal lives?” - President Brigham Young

I got a slap in the face last night. Not literally, but I was brought to the realization that my priorities are way out of line. Since buying our new house, my thoughts, minute to minute, are pretty much consumed with what I wanna do with the house and what things we need to buy next to furnish and accessorize our empty spaces. And believe me, we've got a lot of empty spaces. I was thinking of new baby furniture, chairs for our master bedroom, a rug and a paint job for our family room etc. I got a new idea of what to furnish our house with. It looks a little something like this:

Last night our ward had a "bread making" enrichment night. I worked at a bakery all through college, so to be honest, I wasn't that interested. I was late going and thought I'd be early in leaving, but as it turns out, it was more of a how to build and use your food storage. Matt and I have a huge bag or rice, a big bag of beans, lots of water and some canned stuff. I think if we had to survive on what we had, we could MAYBE make it two months. I guess when I was single, I always thought that if I had enough to last me a few days to get me from Logan or Provo to SLC, I was in the clear, cause then I could just bum off my parents food storage. But now we live in Houston. I'm married with a child. No more excuses!

The lady (Karen Wilkinson) that taught the class lives just north of Houston. She has dedicated her life to helping others know how to build and use their food storage. As I was watching her in our little seminar thing, I kept thinking to myself about my patriarchal blessing which talks about the duties of being a member of the tribe of Ephraim. "As a member of this tribe you share in the opportunity and responsibility of preparing the world for the return of our Savior". I always thought that this meant missionary work, but this woman is helping us prepare physically. I was so impressed by her. This lady was hip, funny, and very practical so it was easy for me to see how it was possible implement some of her ideas. There have been and are many people who criticize "stay at home moms" and think that being a stay at home mom is mind numbing and boring and makes no difference in the world. I am beginning to realize how important of a role Mormon mommies will play and are playing in the preparation for the Second Coming. Not only are they teaching their children the gospel and then sending them on missions, they are storing food for themselves and perhaps even their neighbors and family members who don't have food storage. Karen talked about how in the last days, people will flock to "Zion" not only for peace and safety, but it may be the only place to get food. Imagining having the power to feed someone who is starving really touched my heart. I know there are people all over the world who are starving, but imagining it being my friends and family makes it a little more real.

She says that she often runs into people who say that they don't have space for their storage. Here in Houston, no one has a basement, so food storage ends up in every closet in the house. She said it's all about priorities. Everyone HAS space, it's just about whether or not you want to use it for food storage. She has taken a ground level bedroom in her house and made it into "The Wilkinson Mini-Mart". She talked about how you need to make your food storage what you use on a daily basis. And it needs to be accessible and not something you hide under your bed and never touch. You need to learn to cook from what you have or store what you use. Once you have your food storage, then you just take note of what you use and replace it when you go to the grocery store. She said that you need to plan menus, things that your family likes to eat and then learn how to make it from your food storage. She has several meal ideas posted on her website and also has a lot about bread making, solar ovens etc.

So, to get started, I looked up online what exactly the prophet has said on the subject. Some people talk about just starting with a three months supply of what you always eat. Some people say to get a lot of wheat, legumes etc. This is a letter from the First Presidency that I found. I'll try to do both.

There are several food storage calculators to help you identify how much stuff you need in SURVIVE. Not live well, but SURVIVE. That's where I'll begin. THIS is the one from the Church's website. I found THIS ONE a lot more helpful/specific. I'll keep you posted on how things go, and how the using and rotation of our food storage goes. If you need some motivation, read Prepare for the Days of Tribulation by President Ezra Taft Benson. That'll give you a slap in the face if you need one. I know I did.