Could your family weather a depression?

[Ellie]

You know, Henspa, that there is a sister site: SufficientSelf.com It would be great to share there.

Ellie

 

[HenSpa]

Okay. Take a deep breath, here we go:

Water: cheapest way is to get food-grade 55-gallon drums. Do a web search in your area. Local feed and seed stores keep some, too. Ask. Make sure no chemicals were stored in them; that they're food grade. In an emergency, you'd need 1 gal. per person, per day. So 55-gallon drum is good. Change your water out every year. Keep in cool, dark place with lid on. You can add a drop of bleach, or buy water purification tablets to have on hand.

Dry goods: Walton Seeds is about 4 months out on orders. Most popular one. Emergency Essentials, however, will get it to you in 1 week. Do some research so you don't do common food storage mistakes (like lack of variety; only grains, no cheese, etc; need to make palatable). They offer #10 cans and Superpails that have 02 obsorbers in them, plus they're vacuum-packed. This keeps out moisture and air (enemies of food). Store them in dry, cool place like basement. These can last for over 20 years.

Dry goods, cheaper ways: purchase a FoodSaver at Tuesday Morning (on sale now). These vacuum-pack food. If you want to do this to items like pastas, rice, etc., freeze them for 48 hours to kill any eggs (mealworms,...), let them dry out, and then vacuum-pack.

Flour/corn meal, etc.: If you want to do what you have instead of order from Emergency ESsentials (can get $$), put these items in your freezer for best storage.

CAN fruits/veges. Get your equipment.

Store up specially packed seeds from Emergency Essentials, too, for garden. Most seeds won't last due to moisture, elements. These are packaged specially. Put them in your refrigerator or freezer.

 

[HenSpa]

Sorry, Ellie. Already pushed the button when I saw your suggestion. I'm just learning the navigation of sites around here. Still get confused.

 

[2dream]

We added a 3rd freezer to our house this year. I now use my smaller freezer for flour, meal, rice, dried beans, powdered milk, and an assortment of other dry items packed into plastic and sealed with my foodsaver. I have been stocking up for the past 8 months.
We had the largest garden ever this year. Unfortunately it do not do as well as we expected but I still have enough veggies put up to last for 5 or 6 months plus I also buy in bulk on canned goods when I find them on sell. I also purchase meat in large quantity's on sale. I have a panty full of paper products to last for several months. Lately I have been purchasing extra milk and freezing it. I do purchase bread but I also bake my own. I just don't like it for sandwiches. I keep several loaves of bread I have baked and purchased in the freezer. We canned 60+/- jars of tomatos plus 20 +/- jars of homemade spaghitti sauce this year. We also canned about 50 jars of greenbeans and other items. This past weekend I made and canned applebutter.
With two teenage sons that hunt everything during every season guns, ammo and wild game are always there in abundance.
The one thing I have started doing is saving my change. When I say that I have always saved my change, rolled it and gone to the bank to get paper money. About 5 months ago I quit doing that. Now I just keep the change. I figure what little silver is there will be worth more than a worthless dollar bill.
So the question was "Could your family weather a depression". With the preps I have already made plus the chickens and rabbits I already raise and the milk goats I plan as soon as possible. Yes. We do have 2 payments but those will be gone shortly. One is for the tractor we purchased and the other is for adjoining land we just purchased. The notes on both are low enough that I think we could probably hang on to them. If not oh well. We would still survive.

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:
Thanks I found my answer! Canned goods! Have to search them on sale or go to Aldi's for any canned goods.

 

[unclejoe]

Quote:
I've never been one to panic when the doomsayers are screaming "The World Is Ending!!!" As Y2K approached I found it amusing that everyone was running around in fear, buying generators, and stockpiling food and supplies. What happened? Nothing. This feels different. Is God talking to me? I don't know.
I always thought of canning as something old people did. Probably from spending a lot of time in my grandmothers kitchen during harvest season. This year I felt an overwhelming desire, maybe even a need, to can, dry, and freeze every thing I could get my hands on. WHY!
One more thing. A little off topic, but humor me for a moment. I am an avid star watcher. I know where all the constellations are and in what season to find them. I know the planets and where & when to find them, and I know the phases of the moon and where & when to find IT. Now to my point. Why did I have a dream on Sat. night that the moon was rising in the northeastern sky and traveling even farther to the north, similar to the way the sun does in the winter in the far northern latitudes. It's only up for a couple hours a day. You folks in Alaska know all to well what that is like. Long cold days. I woke up with butterflies in my stomach and a feeling that something was VERY wrong. After a minute I settled down and went back to sleep.
Just thought I'd share that. The DW doesn't share my passion for the night sky and said "OK what's your point"?
I didn't have an answer for her I was just very uncomfortable with this dream. Thanks for listening.

 

[HenSpa]

Hey, Uncle Joe. I didn't fall in with the Y2K group, either. Yes, this is different. Do a little searching online, ask your friends (really, your Christian ones). Guarantee you their "radar's" up, or someone close to them is aware and talking to them. God quickens His people to prepare BEFORE His judgment (which is what this will be, for our country/world). Read Joseph before the famine, Noah before the flood, Ezekiel before Babylonians invaded, Passover in Egypt before death of firstborns, etc.

 

[HenSpa]

I told my sister about this God-urge-prepare thing a couple of months ago, and told her to pray about it (know it sounds crazy; but knew God would reveal it to her in His way also). She prayed when we got off the phone. She lives in Arizona; me, Alabama. Anyway, a couple of hours later, her best friend (publisher of Christian Bible studies) called her and said she didn't know what was wrong with her. That she wanted to buy meat, freeze it, to put things up. My sister knew then that God was confirming it. And once your eyes are opened up to it, you see/hear it from many, many others. Same "push."

 

[HenSpa]

On your moon dream: Start looking at Revelation (the moon is mentioned in it). Look at the things that start happening to creation; but look at it from a bird's eye view: it's a reverse Genesis. But there will be redemption at the end.

And then, when you've wrapped your brain around that as best you can (it's a lot), compare these things to the Jewish Harvest holidays and what they signify. I bought a book on their holidays - from their perspective, not Christian - because I wanted to see their views of the harvest feasts. They are key for what is to come.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Ok this is going to sound crazy, but I promise it is true.

My mom has been telling people for YEARS that something is coming. She knows God told her when I was still a child (I am 30 this December) to be prepared. She told everyone she knew, family, friends, etc, that hard times were coming, she didn't know when, or how long it will last, but that everyone should be getting prepared. And my mom did.

From the time I was I don't know 11 or so? my mom ingrained in us, be prepared. Don't panic, just prepare. Something is coming. Lean times, hard times, etc.

Last year I had a strong feeling that if I didn't get my chickens in 2007 I wouldn't be able to get them at all. I bought 50 birds, had several losses, and someone stole ALL of my flock. I think God was trying to tell me something with that. This year the money wasn't there for chickens, but last year I had prayed that God would hold off whatever was going to happen for another year so that I could try to get chickens. I did get them again, by selling my digital camera to pay for my Buff Orps and Speckled Sussex. Very much worth the sacrifice!

Right now I am stock piling anything I can. We have been surviving the last 3 years with little to no money because my husband was injured and unable to work. I do believe even THAT was to prepare us for what is to come.