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Sunday, January 3, 2010

The Official Rules

Ok, as usual, life has thrown a wrench in my plans. We have had the flu in our house this week, and on top of that, my computer died a couple of days ago. Add that to our new year of eating starting and I have been VERY overwhelmed.

Today though, we are all healed, I have a new computer in the box ready to set up, and so I'm feeling much more positive. It seems lots of people have found out about this blog and our plans to live off food storage. Not sure how since I really haven't told anyone but nonetheless it's good as it will keep me accountable and on track. So, I have a list of rules for the coming year. These are the basics, I may add to them later but here they are:

1. I will not go to a grocery store or buy food other than to replace the food storage that we are eating.

2. I will use up all the food that we have in our house including long term food storage, freezer items, and 3 month storage items. I haven't stocked up on anything other than what I normally buy so it should be an accurate test of what would actually happen if we suddenly had to live off only what we have.

3. I will still be going to Wal-Mart for non-food items. I have essentials stored like toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, etc. but I do not store other supplies that we will need to continue our day to day living like dish soap, beauty products, school items, etc. I promise not to sneak a Snickers bar while I'm there. :)

4. I will be planting a garden in the Spring. I always have a garden and I store garden seeds so it is reasonable I would be able to have a garden. We also have a few fruit trees that I will make use of in our backyard.

5. If I find that I am lacking some food item in my storage that I should be storing, I will purchase a year's worth of that item and put it in my storage now so that I can learn to use it.

6. We will still go to parties, ward functions, and dinner invites, but if you ask us to bring something, be prepared that it will be a food storage item!

7. We are going on an extensive vacation to Nauvoo this summer. It won't be possible to bring our food storage with us for that but I will try to shop in a manner consistent with what we are eating out of our food storage in order to maintain our goals.

8. I will post recipes, tips, and other things that I learn as I go along so that other people might benefit from this experience.

I think that's it. My whole goal with this "project" is to better learn what I should be storing, and how to use it. And hopefully somewhere along the way we will also increase our feeling of self reliance, and maybe even help others learn some things! Thanks for taking the time to read.

12 comments:

  1. I thought of you today during R.S. and our lesson on being prepared and just wanted to say thanks for sharing this experience with us/me. You are so much braver than me and I really hope it is a positive experience for your family. I am sure my kids would totally rebel and hate me for doing something like this so another good reason that I can live vicarously through you. PS glad your all feeling better:)

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  2. Well, I told all of Steve's family who would listen about your blog, so get ready for a few more curious readers. While I won't be living solely from food storage this year I do have a goal to more seriously feed my family from the whole grains I've stored (even use my wonder oven regularly) and try to live more closely the Word of Wisdom. You know that all these obstacles are only meant to see how serious about this you really are, right? Funny how life happens sometimes. Behind the scenes you have angels cheering for you!

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  4. I have told mom and Brenda about this courageous year long lifestyle change for your family and they are also following your blog with anticipation. You are an inspiration to all of us who know that we would never do this unless we had to. You are an example to those who do not think the need will ever arise. NO PRESSURE. I am sure that you realize by now that you are a real super-woman. I am behind you all of the way. :)

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  5. So you're saying that you already have a year's supply of Snickers?

    Still hoping to see an item list of what you're working with. Also wondering what you're doing for fresh foods until your garden matures. I've always thought of using food storage in a time of need, but there are a lot of logistics to consider. Good for you for going through the motions to get it all figured out.

    (I thought I'd posted this earlier, so if it shows up double - sorry.)

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  6. I still can't believe you are doing this! I am really glad you are though. I too want to learn from your brave goal! I don't think I would be able to resist a snickers in line at Wal-Mart. Just buy a year's supply. :) You are AWESOME I tell you all the time. I check for your updates all the time. You are like a food storage rock star :)

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  7. I just found your blog today.
    I'm going to read it in order January 2010, see how your year went.
    Thanks in advance for posting all of this!

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  8. Well Liz you're not the last one ;-)
    I just found out about this log because somebody I follow pinned your latest post.so now I'm starting at the beginning.
    I am so curious how things went that year, and hopefully get some inspiration about starting to prepare over here in the Netherlands too. The world has become a strange place, and being prepared might just be very neccesary.
    Thank you in advance for sharing your journey!

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  9. Three quarters through 2017 and checking in for duty. Just found out about your blog through a prepped FB group, so here I am. Started back at the beginning and can't wait to see how everything turns out. I'm in Dallas and not a Mormon. Can't wait to learn.

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  10. Christmas 2017, the kids are playing with their gifts and I've decided my ny resolution is to extend my garden to provide most of our fresh food by the end of 2018 and found this blog doing research

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  11. Christmas 2017, the kids are playing with their gifts and I've decided my ny resolution is to extend my garden to provide most of our fresh food by the end of 2018 and found this blog doing research

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