Sup,

I haven't been a mormon for quite some time, but I am a "prepper", I don't think god has anything to do with Armageddon but that is the course we are on I believe. It is inevitable. This bastion of freedom the United States is fighting tooth and nail to prevent every other country in the world from acquiring nuclear weapons, which is futile. A handful of childish despots already have their finger on the red button, and that is only the tip of the iceberg. The religious extremists everywhere actually WANT to see the earth destroyed, I think. The nation of Israel is a time bomb waiting to go off. The entire region could erupt into white hot nuclear fireballs and it would cut off the united states automotive fuel supply and other unimaginable consequences.

Anyways, the topic of food storage is what I want to discuss. I read on the mormon curtain the posts related to food storage and they seemed childish to me, some woman helping to rid her mothers house of her stockpiled grain, which may never go bad in a sealed container, and another scoffing at the relief society politics as it related to food storage.

What I want to know is, who here takes a cataclysmic event seriously? You may be an ex-mormon, but don't let that blind you to the dangers that man himself presents to the world.

Zardoz out.

/e is so astonished at this post she doesn't even know what to say...a first.

_________________
Don't worry about what you heard about me.
I might of done a little dirt and left a few of em hurt.
But whatever has occurred, they all got what they deserved.

Hi Zardoz.

It's never a bad idea to have a 72-hour emergency kit on hand, especially if you live in an area prone to disasters. I don't have one, but it wouldn't be a bad idea if I did.

It's even a good idea to keep extra food on hand in case of emergencies such as a job loss. I don't do that either, but it would probably not be a bad thing to do.

But this year's worth of supplies that no one would use gets really ridiculous. The kinds of things that Mormons often store are things they wouldn't even know what to do with half the time.

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"A mind stretched by a new idea can never go back to its original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

You would think, no matter how tight you stored them, the bugs would infest. Thanks Rain for bailing me out on this one.

Welcome, Zardoz.

_________________
Don't worry about what you heard about me.
I might of done a little dirt and left a few of em hurt.
But whatever has occurred, they all got what they deserved.

I was thinking about the bugs too. Bugs crawling around in the flour. Eww.

_________________
"A mind stretched by a new idea can never go back to its original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Well, I went back and read the food storage thread referred to here. I was light hearted and fun I thought. I think having some food supply to get by incase of an emergency is fine and a good idea. We have a box we call the volcano kit, in case Mt. Rainier blows or we have a flood or something. We can throw it in the car and go.

But what is not OK is to get people to hoard food in a cultish way as if it were a commandment from GOD. People spending their hard earned money on "TAco Unmeat" and other crap made in Orem UT. They give a commandment and then sell you the food to make money.

I agree there are some wacko folks out there who may want to blow up the world, but I refuse to live my life in fear. Do I think we are going to have some post apocalyptic world like "Mad Max" or "The Book of Eli"? No, I do not.

Sup Zardox. Yes you have a good point. I like how my uber mormon brother-in-law deals with the issue you speak of. He says "if a nuclear war breaks out, I hope the first missle launched lands on my head. I don't want to live in a post apocolyptic world." I have worked with people who feel as you do and here is my conclusion. If the nukes start to fly and the whole world is blown up. The survivors will fight and kill over what little food remains. I once worked with a guy who said "I don't worry about food storage. I have automatic weapons and if I want your food I will come and get it." I have got to say, we have plenty of canned type food in our pantry. We have nothing like my parents had. Gallon cans of dried peas, rusting cans of who know's what. Yes, i have some extra food, I have guns, I have wildlife close by and a large garden. And if the world breaks out in nuclear war, like my brother-in-law, I hope the first incoming missle lands on my head.

I must say, my kids have a cool video game where in the apocolyptic world the currency is bottlecaps and you can travel around the countryside collecting weapons, killing weird mutant rats, and stock piling old food left behind in vacant places!

Now the first dirty bomb going off in Amercan soil, that's another story.

Welcome to the forums, and I def don't mind hearing other opinions.

X

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"Well, the fasting and praying wasn't doing anything for me so I simply took a common sense approach to the issue at hand."

The first blow happened before I moved to the NW. I don't look forward to a major Ash episode! Nice post sounds like you are ready!

X

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"Well, the fasting and praying wasn't doing anything for me so I simply took a common sense approach to the issue at hand."

Hello Zardoz, welcome to Exmormonforums. I don't know if Infymus put our lighthearted conversation about food storage on the Mormon Curtain but we've discussed it in silly and serious tones here and other issues that can cause some to question the seriousness of this forum.

I am probably one of the biggest contributors to the silliness but often it's an attempt to help others struggling with difficult and complex issues in their families, communities and the world at large to see the positive, the fun, the joy and friendship that can be had in spite of all the bad news.

I too am concerned about some of the nuclear stuff and even world pandemics but I worry more about the collective ability of many people to believe really ill informed and poorly researched information. These same people vote in blocks or groups that influence governments and corporate entities and they in turn influence the comforts and quality of life of other far more rational and peace loving people. Despots, dictators, even tyrants like our former president are only as powerful as the people who put them in power and keep them there.

Without going into a political conversation I would like to encourage you to re-focus some of your energy into things that are very optomistic and positive and will give you a much more hopeful vision of the earth, it's people, and the ways we can impact our world for good rather than fear mongering and reactionary food hoarding and gun or ammunition acquisitions.

There's a series of talks I love to listen to that really give me hope for the future of our planet and the people living on it. They're called TED talks and you can find them here:

http://www.ted.com/

here's some of the great topics they covered recently:

The collective action of beehives, photographed by Ted Horowitz.
Yochai Benkler dubs it 'the wealth of networks." Howard Rheingold's term is "smart mobs." It's the idea of technology-enabled collaboration … and it's making us all smarter.

The open-source movement embodies this spirit of collaboration. Jimmy Wales tells the story of perhaps the movement's most famous example, Wikipedia -- while Richard Baraniuk envisions a free global education system to which thousands of teachers could contribute. Charles Leadbeater gives examples of collaborative innovation that predate the Web. And 2006 TED Prize winner Cameron Sinclair wants to shelter the world -- by providing an online platform for open-source architecture.

And Deborah Gordon shows us the inspiration for all this: the desert anthill.
----------------------

As to food storage, protection of my meager resources, and sustainable living, I'm the living embodiment of the green earth mother. You should see my garden. I also recycle, reuse, avoid debt, and work hard to develop good relations with my neighbors and the world around me. That's about the best any of us can do and I don't live my life in fear or wastevaluable energy letting others impose their fears on me. You sound like you could use some cheering up. Perhaps you should read our sex thread. It's hilarious.

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Pissing in the Mormon Koolaide one post at a time. LIE PINOCCHIO!!! LIE!!!!

What happens, happens, much of which is beyond our immediate control ,so why even give a thought to worry about it? Retaining a doomsday mentality is something to be flushed with the other FGS type mentality.Like Robin mentioned, having a few items on hand, especially something in cans so the wee ones are thwarted is a sound behavior...but relying on the bishoprics 'generosity' to import vast quantities of unusable, tasteless, products is a waste of shelf space and lucre....and my time!

If we do end up living in a nuclear type winter environment, I'm certain, humanity will have the where with all to cope with the changes...people will band together with friends and reorganize society in a sucessful manner...has happened before and will happen again..its what mankind is good at doing, or you wouldn't be here reading this!

_________________
"When authority masquerades as a power, a simple question will unmask it."

"Just because you think, feel, or believe something is true, doesn't make it true!"

"The doubt of your faith, is not God testing you, but truth trying to emerge and free you."

Having extra food stored can be a good thing. It can also save you money. We buy on sales whenever possible. Buy by the case and keep it in our storage closet in the basement. Mainly canned goods and waterproof packaging. Some in waterproof plastics. Rice and flour. All are foods we eat or we know we can trade. We cycle through them so nothing gets too old. Good items like canned meats, olives and spices, oils and dried fruit and veggies. Peas, beans and such are good and are easily kept pretty current by us making soups and salads from them while rotating new into the shelves as we use what is there.

A short time ago we bought four cases of cranberry sauce. The labels were on upside down compared to how they stack well on the shelves so we got them for under .50 cents a can. We like cranberry sauce so it gets eaten as a snack. We would buy it anyway but at under half the normal cost four cases makes for good storage.

Some mixes in cardboard you have to be careful of. Pack in plastics or in metal cans. That is one good thing LDS folks have going, canneries. Powdered milk I traded for and instant potatoes also. Plenty of powdered eggs from military surplus and BIA/reservation trading with some friends. We actually eat some of them every month to keep up on the freshness so we now if they are going bad. Not yet and some visitors could not tell they were powdered. Seasoned and add in some cheese or an omelet, pretty good.

Plan ahead, buy some extra of stuff you actually use regularly(sale prices are a good way to do this). Even check on backpacking and camping supply stores. Some of their stuff is good and easy to fix. It may not be for everyone but having food storage sure helps at times when we can't get to town for a week or so and when poor weather in the winter keeps us on the farm.

I've had the pleasure of seeing relatives pass away and dealing with decades of food storage left behind. It kind of puts it all in perspective. All those hours that went into food preparation and hoarding, all for naught.

I started to put together a bunch of dehydrated crap, wheat etc., years ago but I have just used it all up. I can't eat wheat anymore since I'm gluten sensitive (God has a real sense of humor in the WoW doesn't he?). So I'll be giving my wheat away to some morgbots one of these days.

The only thing I'm saving now is red wine. I've converted my food storage area into a wine cellar. Makes sense to me.

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"It's easy to see without lookin' too far that not much is really sacred."

Bob Dylan

The Celiac Sprue folks that I am acquainted with are some of the most sharp and keen folks I have ever had the chance to meet up with. And sometimes extra witty too.

_________________
God of Poly-Folly Folly

{ If you believe in things that you don't understand, then you suffer ~ Stevie Wonder }
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God of Poly-Folly Folly

Balaam, my hard red wheat went out to some starving turkeys, pheasants and winter resident songbirds a few years back..

Mahonri, Cranberry sauce is great here too..like it served with turkey, chicken, goose, duck and pork as well....has a lot of nutritive value, but its acidic nature sometimes pushes the limits on the can seals and they end up leaking because of the corrosion on the seals...rotate them out and you may avoid this pitfall of cranberry cans...about the only thing worse than bulging cans of cranberry sauce, is bulging cans of sauerkraut....years ago a ward made up of predominantly German ancestry decided to feature it and we bought into 3 cases...big mistake, as the seals failed and the results were a nasty odorferous oozy disaster on the shelves, that started dissolving themselves...and now that my pantry shelves are barren here, that wine storage option mentioned, might be taken advantage of here a tad more...I'll even force myself to lick up any leaks that show up!

_________________
"When authority masquerades as a power, a simple question will unmask it."

"Just because you think, feel, or believe something is true, doesn't make it true!"

"The doubt of your faith, is not God testing you, but truth trying to emerge and free you."

I'm with Mahonri and Rainfeather on this (now when I think about it, I tend to agree with Rainfeather quite a lot!) Having some storage is good, for emergency or because of money saving. I buyshelf products on sale and always have plenty if I need them. Mostly pasta and cans. It would not support me for a year as the church requires but it would keep me alive for a while. Still, I do it for the convenience and to save. I also keep some instant packets like mashed potatoes or pasta/rice sides on hand. They don't require a lot of cooking and I use them when I go camping.

I don't see the need to hord food I don't use or have massive amounts on hand just in case. I'm not the type that you'd asociate with surviving the apocalypse anyway I'd rather have fresh products than eat cans and dehydrated stuff just in case. But that's me

Insanad,

I appreciate your attitude but I think it's unrealistic, and I think you may regret it should the bombs start to fly. The collectivist attitude is what's flawed about the mormons, they are going to have to lay down a pretty brutal set of laws to keep order and they'll all wish God would blast them off to heaven in the temple spaceship. Haha!

Most of you are viewing food storage and a symptom of a cult, but really it's a normal thing, but it's yet another safety net that modern society has thrown by the wayside because we're so comfortable with wal-mart and on-demand living, you have no idea that wal-marts supply chain is only a few days long and it all depends on middle-east oil. Regarding the year's worth, I think it's unfortunate that the mormons now recommend 3 months, because 3 months isn't enough time to get society back on track after a crisis like this. 1 year minimum, perhaps 3 years to really get the food supply moving again. 1 year is enough time for you to figure out how to grow food yourself.

I know, I know, I'm a crazy doomsayer. Well, if you look at events leading up to World War 2, Winston Churchill sounded like a cook warning everyone that Germany was about to start some s***. So, try to think outside the anti-mormon box for a moment. I'm Winston Churchill.

-Zardoz

I totally agree. I think it's wise to have some sort of storage. But the LDS make an entire industry out of it and they sell stupid, useless things sometimes. And then people tend to have things like barrels of wheat which have been sitting there for 20 years, which is just gross.

_________________
"A mind stretched by a new idea can never go back to its original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

The wheat is the best thing to stockpile, you eat bread every day, it contains everything your body needs, it's the cheapest thing and lasts 30 years (longer if stored in a cool basement).

You could buy a year worth of wheat for $300. It wouldn't be very fun eating porridge and bread every day but that's all you really need to spend for the insurance value of food storage. If you're seriously planning on doomsday then by all means, buy the $3,000 worth of freeze dried lasagna and all that.

I don't think the LDS church makes any money off of the food storage business. It's part of their bishop storehouse system which is a charitable thing, when you compare the prices they're selling it at what appears to be cost.

-Zardoz

We know there is nothing wrong with storing food. Food that you actually eat and rotate through your shelves so it does not go bad.
That is what we do and over a few decades have been glad we have done so. A few times we have had to rely on what we had on the shelves when emergencies or other things made getting to stores or buying not feasible.
We also have some stuff that stores well and will be worth trading if things get tough. Some alcoholic beverages. Some coffee. Some fine teas and other drinks that should keep for a bit.
No way would I store wheat as I don't grind it and few I know would do so. If I really need wheat I have neighbors who have grain bins full and we can get some from them, if we really need it. We have some stored items we would trade or give them if needed. Helps to have good neighbors and living in rural farming country is a plus for us.
Storing foods you know you won't eat is foolish and a waste. That is something we won't do.