I’ve been looking at images of the end of the world since I was 8 years old. The collapse of civilization was a desolate backdrop to some of my favorite movies and then predicted, ad nauseam, by scientists on the nightly news. In grade 10, we had to watch a documentary about a computer projecting how overpopulation would lead to societal collapse in our lifetime.
With all that, I don’t feel all that weird about keeping
extra bags of lentils in the cupboard. Or learning about the edible and medicinal plants in my area. Or making friends and doing business with every local farmer I can get my handshake on.
And yeah, I might keep a generator on hand and debate whether we should install a water cistern, but is that irrational or just plain common sense? It’s always good to have a solid reserve of food and water and deep ties in your local community. That’s just prudent, in my view. I remember the shelves of our local grocery stores sitting empty when a major highway into our mountainous area got blocked by a landslide. And during the pandemic, there were times we couldn’t get essential parts and supplies. We all need to be prepared for a crisis,
at least according to
many governments. And I’m not even going as far as they suggest.
As Autumn approaches, I am reflecting on how we’ve emptied the
freezer and how I should check in with the small cattle ranch down the road. We’ve been trying to work our way through our food stores so we don’t have a bunch of old food sitting in the back of the cupboards and bottom of the freezer, but with winter coming, now is the time to restock.
There are plenty of websites that will sell you survival kits and all kinds of special food, but that just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. You can save more money and eat better food by just adjusting your diet and purchasing habits to eat healthy, nutritious foods that store well—and you actually enjoy. You don’t want that stuff sitting in a cupboard forever.
If there really is a crisis though, you might want to have a deeper understanding of what to do, and what not to do.
Lisa Bedford breaks down some
common food storage myths for the potential prepper and offers up some great tips on how to
build up food stores without it going to waste. That can mean repacking food and making sure you stock up on foods you will actually eat. You can find
all of her articles here.
And
Mary Hunt has plenty of articles about how to store food and pack your pantry without breaking the bank. Part of the benefit of thinking ahead and buying in bulk is that you can save money and time, so long as you buy foods you enjoy—or learn to enjoy foods you can buy cheaply and that last.
Maybe that whole “crazy prepper” stereotype needs to be revisited. I’ve been looking into these preppers a bit and most of them are just people that like to be ready for whatever life throws at them. As for me, I’d like my catcher’s mitt to be a little bigger still.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here. 
