No, I have not gone crazy, and I have not become an extreme survivalist. I have been giving this idea of stockpiling more food some thought for a while now. Ever since I started preserving fruit, making pickles and jams, I have been wondering what I should do next. Something simple, yet meaningful and useful.
Growing more food is a good start, but seeing that I have already converted about 30% of our land for food production, there is only the front yard to go and a little area near the hills hoist clothes line that can be utilised. I am working on the clothes line area already in conjunction with building the chook house, and will get stuck into the front yard when I fully recover from my back injury.
So, my next idea is to stockpile non-perishable food. I initially talked to Kim about this after having read an news article online about another article published in the Medical Journal of Australia by a team of nutritionists and dieticians from the University of Sydney regarding the possible impacts on food production by a flu pandemic within Australia. It recommends that you should have 10 weeks supply of food or a “food lifeboat“, as major supermarkets would quickly run out of everything if everyone was forced to stay at home until a vaccine became available and panic buying set in. It mentions that we need 9 MJ of food per day to remain healthy.
A bit extreme, but, hey, since my sustainable journey began, I haven’t done things in half measures! Then I read an post called “Saving Money with a stockpile” on a favourite blog – “Down to Earth” written by Rhonda Hetzel. She has lots of good advice regarding stockpiling, which got me thinking even further on the issue. You can read her tips, as I will not replicate the good work that she has written.
With the motto of “Be prepared” ringing in my ears from my boy scout years when I was a lad, Kim and I have decided to buy extra essentials when we next go shopping, which we will add to each time we have a little more cash. Here is our list that we have come up with so far;
So, my next idea is to stockpile non-perishable food. I initially talked to Kim about this after having read an news article online about another article published in the Medical Journal of Australia by a team of nutritionists and dieticians from the University of Sydney regarding the possible impacts on food production by a flu pandemic within Australia. It recommends that you should have 10 weeks supply of food or a “food lifeboat“, as major supermarkets would quickly run out of everything if everyone was forced to stay at home until a vaccine became available and panic buying set in. It mentions that we need 9 MJ of food per day to remain healthy.
A bit extreme, but, hey, since my sustainable journey began, I haven’t done things in half measures! Then I read an post called “Saving Money with a stockpile” on a favourite blog – “Down to Earth” written by Rhonda Hetzel. She has lots of good advice regarding stockpiling, which got me thinking even further on the issue. You can read her tips, as I will not replicate the good work that she has written.
With the motto of “Be prepared” ringing in my ears from my boy scout years when I was a lad, Kim and I have decided to buy extra essentials when we next go shopping, which we will add to each time we have a little more cash. Here is our list that we have come up with so far;
- Toilet rolls & Personal Hygiene items
- Kidney beans
- Diced tomatoes
- Baked Beans & Spaghetti
- Rice
- Pasta
- Olive Oil
- Sugar
- Flour
- Red & Brown Lentils
This list is in addition to all of the preserves we have still left in stock, and whatever we are growing in the vegetable garden. With the chook house only a weekend away (didn’t do anything today, as I was recovering from my son’s 21st birthday party), we should be self-sufficient in eggs.
As the stockpile grows, we will start to cycle through it so that the dried goods do not go off or stale. Hopefully with a bit of work, we should have a fairly simple system to maintain for any sort of unexpected circumstance! With six mouths to feed, we will need quite a lot of room to store it all. Tomorrow after work, Kim and I will be re-arranging two of the kitchen cupboards to hold the extra food. It should be fun!
Here is to hoping that we never have to actually rely on the stockpile to survive, because that means that something bad has happened, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Kim also says that she hates shopping every week, so we will have more time to do interesting and meaningful things than pushing a shopping trolley around a boring old supermarket!
As the stockpile grows, we will start to cycle through it so that the dried goods do not go off or stale. Hopefully with a bit of work, we should have a fairly simple system to maintain for any sort of unexpected circumstance! With six mouths to feed, we will need quite a lot of room to store it all. Tomorrow after work, Kim and I will be re-arranging two of the kitchen cupboards to hold the extra food. It should be fun!
Here is to hoping that we never have to actually rely on the stockpile to survive, because that means that something bad has happened, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Kim also says that she hates shopping every week, so we will have more time to do interesting and meaningful things than pushing a shopping trolley around a boring old supermarket!
Hi Gavin. Now i know theyre not foodstuffs, but bio-hazard face masks not in your list! I nearly fell over when my husband packed a box of them away in the pantry, for said occasion!