Apparently, there is a new show on the National Geographic Channel called Doomsday Preppers, documenting the lives of "preppers" who take emergency preparation to societal extremes.
I admit, I have not watched the show (yet). But it has garnered a lot of attention, particularly now that our country has experienced several natural disasters (like Hurricane Katrina, tornadoes, flooding...), and the assertion that Rand Paul made a while back stating that the government supposedly finds a few months' food storage to be terroristic activity (I'm not buying it, but he said it, and it caused an uproar).
I am not, in any way, shape, or form, prepared for a catastrophe. I don't even have completed 72 hour kits. We don't have a back-up heat source. In the event of a tornado, we would likely become, to use the academic term, screwed. For a long time, I laughed at the ladies of my church who pushed food storage and at the time found it to be antiquated knowledge from a bunch of women who were running scared and living still in the Great Depression.
And then, I became a wife. And a mom.
I didn't grow up with traditional "food storage" in my home. Preparing for, buying, and maintaining a food storage is hard on a tight budget, and our family home was very small. But, that motivated me to start one of our own, and it has become my passion. I'm not the type to keep tons of wheat on hand. If we had to rely on wheat, we'd die. Simple as that. But, we do have some on hand that we are learning how to grind into flour. We keep several months worth of canned goods, pastas, meat, flours, sugars, and baking mixes on hand. We have #10 cans of staple items around for some semblance of a long term food storage (it's meager, but would be good for a couple months, I would think). In the event of an emergency, knowing I could feed my family is something that is priceless to me.
I will never be the type to hoard ammo, or build a fall out shelter, or cry and wail in the streets waiting for doomsday. That's not me. But, we do occasionally go without power here in the sticks for a few days, and we have been snowed in for a week...small things happen. And that is what I want to prepare for, for those moments where we don't want to leave our home and want to hunker down. I am hoping to dedicate myself to my husband's goals of creating 72 hour kits and carrying emergency ready-to-eat meals if we need to leave our home for whatever reason.
On some level, I am discovering a passion for being a (small scale) prepper.
Maybe those featured on the show are extreme. I haven't seen it, so I can't judge. But, I don't get the ridicule of those who have food storage, or water for an emergency, or things "just in case." Even I have been made fun of for our small provisions. My thing is, in the event of an emergency, even if someone chooses to live in a fall out shelter, if they are one less mouth/family to feed and for the government to worry about, what is so bad about that? I hope I can dedicate myself and learn to cultivate this passion I have for being prepared.
Some interesting info I found today:
Emergency Food for Babies
Freezer Bag Meals
One Year Food Supply for One Adult
Stocking Food for Small Spaces and Budgets
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