Do you try to come up
with inspired New Year resolutions year after year? Sometimes I think I should try to come up with unique ideas each year, but the realist in me always falls back on the same handful of goals: work on my food storage, get organized, complete unfinished projects, lose weight, and learn a new skill. Doesn’t sound very exciting does it?
The difference is this year I’m going to start off by double-dipping! In order to work on my food storage I need to do some organizing, which is a project I have started several times- so three goals are getting check marks! All of my goals are important to me, but to stay functional I need to focus on only a few at a time. So the weight loss and new skill will probably be on next year’s list- again!
Food storage is first on the list because it looks like hard times are not going away anytime soon. According to magazines from the Christian Science Monitor to Successful Farming, global competition for commodities will cause cost increases to food in the United States. Flooding has devastated much of Pakistan and Australia, where we import beef from. Droughts in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Russia wiped out wheat and barley crops. Romania and Poland had too much rain and France, Germany, and the UK were too dry. So what does that have to do with us? The United States grows enough for it's own use, right? Umm, not exactly. We heavily export and import grains so any global shortages affect us also. Asia imports soybeans and corn from the U.S. The price of corn is skyrocketing and cattle raised here eat that corn, so the price of domestic beef will go up. Australia also exports the world's wool. The sheep were lost in the floods so wool prices will be higher- meaning people will look for cheaper fibers, like cotton. That means everything from clothing to upholstery and cotton balls. (If you use cotton balls- store them!) There are also shortages of corn, sugar, rice, and wheat. The United States Department of Agriculture has announced that harvest will be short for the next two seasons.
Sorry for the discouraging words- but these are the days and times we have been warned about. Whatever we can store now will save money and give peace of mind.
To finish off our new start- besides food, other basic needs are water, water, and water. Also, paper goods such as toilet paper.
Water has been discussed here before, but the importance needs to be stressed again. Many of us have dehydrated foods in our food storage which must be re-hydrated to safely use; to re-hydrate requires water. So at the top of your food storage list put WATER- at least one gallon per person per day.
I like using toilet paper better than newspaper- I’ve never used newspaper,
but I’m pretty sure I don’t like it! I imagine most of you feel the same way- So whenever TP is on sale- buy it. You can figure out how much you need by figuring one roll per person per week. Or, write the date on the side of the package when you open it and see how long it takes you to use it. Do this for at least 3 months, get the average and then calculate for a year. Paper doesn’t go bad, and you can never have too much. Store it under beds, in closets, in car trunks, etc. Another option is to stock up on bleach and cut up washable material, like from old t-shirts. Use and treat in the same way as cloth baby diapers. It’s softer, economical and environmentally friendly. You can make a complete switch or you can use traditional toilet paper in some instances, such as for guests!These are just some things to be thinking about and acting upon. Follow along with me as I work on my resolutions! I’ll share what I learn and do - please share your ideas and achievements also!
Don't get me wrong- all the cool food storage that other people do is great- but something about how this couple did theirs really works for me. So click here to go to the post on his "Living Prepared" blog and read how he did it. There are also some really good recipes he has developed to use his stored foods. 
