Why I Build a Prepper Pantry

I have been hearing a lot lately about people stepping up their food and water storage. There is a rumour that because of adverse weather conditions earlier this year... there will be a vegetable and grain shortage. I dont know if its true.. but with people showing pics of signs on empty shelves in  supermarkets.. like Kroger and Walmart...its something to keep in mind

I follow several homestead and prepping blogs and Youtube channels that give a good direction in what to store... what to grow and how to prepare it.  A few weeks ago someone actually laughed out loud when she found out that I have a prepper pantry where I store goods .. not just foods.. "just in case"

I haven't shared with many people what motivates me to store food, water, etc.... Or why I dehydrate freeze or can.. not even my kids. I know I could explain and some people would still not understand,  but I am okay with that. I will attempt to explain now.

Lets go back thirty years.. where as a young mum with a new baby.. and three young step children who we had at the weekends...my then husband became unemployed.. He decided to go back to college and get an electrical qualifications so he could find better work. We were surviving on 50 pounds a week.. and if it wasn't for the generosity of my parents and the food boxes from my mother in law.. I dont think we would have made it. I learnt to budget..cook from scratch.. and even tho we lived in a flat (apartment) I grew lettuce,tomatoes, beans, potatoes etc in pots on the veranda.

Forward 10 years.. and with three children... the marriage crumbled. We were over our heads in debt.. through credit cards.. car loans.. expensive holidays we didnt need and bad business decisions. It devastated me.. basically because over the years I had budgeted, scrimped and never over spent. I was the way I was brought up. We lost the house..and for five months my three children and I lived with my parents in their "two up two down" til we got our own home. I got a part time job.. and juggled to pay the bills..and my share of the debts

I was solely responsible for my kids' needs. They depended on me for everything. Budgeting was essential. My fear was my children would go hungry. I learnt to shop wisely... always making cheap meal food plans, cooking from scratch and always making shopping lists of what was on sale or is season. It was amazing that at the end of the day you could buy bread, fruit, vegetables in supermarkets for pennies. So I had to learn food preservation...  And we did well

A couple of years later we moved into the countryside... living on the top of a steep hill.  I had a vegetable garden.. a small greenhouse and a few chickens.. Friends would give me apples ..pears and plums from their trees. We learnt to forage for berries and nuts....Hazels and chestnuts were in abundance. I began to store other things too... building up my stock of candles, batteries, medical supplies and fuel for our open fire. I remember someone scoffing one day because I got excited about a fallen tree. It was in the middle of summer.. but it filled my woodpile... and some.

This all came in handy that winter.. when we had one of the coldest winters..with deep snow ... and we were isolated. The roads were so bad... we couldnt get to stores... and fuel trucks couldnt make it up that steep hill. We were warm and fed... even when the power went out

But...my friend argues... you live in the city... there is a supermarket on every corner!. Well we saw how well people coped last week. We were in church...and just as the Pastor started to speak.. the power went out. No lights..no A/C...  but like a trooper he carried on with the light on his ipad...which luckily was fully charged. And it wasnt just us...it was most of the area. You would have thought it was the end of the world. People left early... to go shopping would you believe. I was told that the lines in most supermarkets were huge

The power came on a few hours later... but can you imagine..........

I knew before then and I still hold this to me: forearmed is forewarned.  I keep enough food and necessities in the house for a couple of months.,, but I want more. I know with MrD's surgery coming up.. with time off work and a drop in our income that brings.. we will be just fine

You have to ask yourself... what would happen if your financial situation changed through illness or unemployment.  Could you survive without going to the store for a few weeks...or months? Could you even go a few days without popping to the supermarket for bread or milk?? If the power went out.. could you cook your food... or stay warm?

These questions could become the reality.

Be like Joseph in the Bible....During the seven years of abundant harvest, he stored grain...so when famine hit...no one went hungry

So.....why do I Prep?

Its simple.....It makes sense!

Love and Hugs

Phoebe x