Next Goal: 30 Days of Food Storage, 10 Days of Water Storage

Well as most of you know, the next goal for ward and stake preparedness is to get everyone to have a 30 day supply of food storage and  a 10 day supply of water (I will sometimes refer to this as your 30/10 supply). How much is that really? Honestly, it depends on each family and each person's needs within the family, but the main thing to remember is to have enough food and water for three meals per person per day. As we have said before, each person needs about a gallon of water per day, and that's only going to give you enough water to drink and prepare food and doesn't count cleaning dishes, clothes, bodies, or any other uses for water. But for the sake of eating and drinking, each person will need to prepare 10 gallons of water and 90 meals. While that may sound like a lot at first glance, especially for those with larger families or limited storage space, there are ways it can be done. Here are some principles to keep in mind while starting up your 30/10 supply:

• This is only a 30 day storage, not a 30 year storage. Store non-perishable foods that you eat on a daily basis, not buckets of wheat and dried beans. While those are excellent long-term storage items, we're just focusing on a 30 day supply right now.
• Find a way to store water that works for you and your family
• We will do another post soon regarding different options for storing water in your house that go beyond 72-hour kit water storage (for a reference, go to this link to see our 72-hour kit water post).
• Start with small steps; for those who find 30 days of food storage daunting, start by buying one extra of whatever you normally purchase at the store (for example, if you normally buy 3 cans of green beans, buy 4 and set the extra one aside).
• Once you have your 30 days of food storage, rotate through it. Since these are supposed to be foods that you normally eat anyway, this shouldn't be more difficult than simply remembering to do so.
• Be creative in your storage space - don't feel like you have to be limited to a designated "storage room."
• We will likely do a post on this as well, but for now, try to think of every open space in your home, and see how you can best utilize it - you will be surprised at how much space your home has when you really look for it.
• Just because this is a more temporal goal, don't forget to bring God into the equation. If' you're worried about anything, such as figuring out how to store water, finding storage space, or having the means to obtain your 30/10 supply, bring your worries to the Lord and he will help prepare a way for you to accomplish the things he commands you to do (1 Ne. 3:7).

I hope this goal becomes a time of spiritual growth for everyone as we seek to obey the commandments of the Lord. We will continue to do more posts on creating your 30/10 supply, and if any of you have any questions about it, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Let Us Have Enough Food, Clothing, and Fuel on Hand

Alright, we're finally at the last point of President Benson's talk: Food, Water, Clothing, and Fuel Storage. Now President Benson specifically says to have enough for a year, but not everyone is in the position to do that just yet. Building a year supply of storage can take a very long time, and we shouldn't kill ourselves to get there. On the lds.org page, "Food Storage" we are given very good advice from our leaders:

"We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your savings...it is not prudent, for example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once."

Sometimes, in our zeal to build up our food storage and get prepared, we may feel like it's okay to spend tons of money to do it. This, however, would go against our last post to be financially prepared, so we need to be wise in our storage building. On the "Food Storage" page, we are told to start small - buy just a few extra items each week until we have a one-week supply of food. Then we can gradually increase to a three-month supply, which is supposed to contain food that's part of our daily diet. From there, we can (as slowly as needed) grow our storage to a longer-term supply.

One of the hardest things for us to store in a desert is drinking water. No matter how you do it, it's going to take some time deciding how to best store water (we will have a post later on going over various water storage ideas). But water is vital, and it is recommended that one person will need an average of one whole gallon per day, and that's only for drinking and cooking, not washing or cleaning.

So why do we need to build this food storage?

"We encourage members worldwide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings." (food storage, emphasis added)

We need to build our food storage to prepare for adversity. Adversity is not limited to natural disasters like tornadoes and earthquakes, but also for our own smaller personal emergencies that only affect us or our families. This is a wonderful video explaining what our storage is meant for:

I have a strong testimony that we will be blessed as we follow the commandment to build up our food storage. Even just having a small supply and working toward more storage can bring comfort and give us courage to face whatever may come our way. Whether we use it for a devastating tornado or for the loss of a job, I know that it will be a great blessing to everyone who makes food storage a priority in their lives.



Has anyone else noticed the blessings in their lives from building up food storage?

How and What to Prepare

The title of this blog is inspired by the General Conference talk by President Ezra Taft Benson, "Prepare Ye." If you have the time, I would advise everyone to click on the link and read the entire talk. Many people may ask, "How should I be prepared?" or "What should I prepare?" Here are some of my favorite quotes from President Benson's talk that answers what we should do to prepare.

In response to the question of how to prepare for the earth's calamities, President Benson quotes from the Doctrine and Covenants:

“Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments;
“And also gave commandments to others. …” (D&C 1:17-18.) He has also said: “Search these commandments, for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled.”(D&C 1:37.) Here then is the key—look to the prophets for the words of God, that will show us how to prepare for the calamities which are to come. (emphasis added)

President Benson quoted President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. when he asked what we, as individuals, should do to prepare for "this oncoming disaster, which God in his wisdom may not turn aside from us"

"First, and above and beyond everything else, let us live righteously. …
Let us avoid debt as we would avoid a plague; where we are now in debt, let us get out of debt; if not today, then tomorrow.
Let us straitly and strictly live within our incomes, and save a little.
Let every head of every household see to it that he has on hand enough food and clothing, and, where possible, fuel also, for at least a year ahead." (Conference Report, April 1937, p. 26.)

So there is the answer - we need to listen to the prophets' counsel, live righteously, avoid debt, live within our incomes and save that income, and have a year's supply of food, clothing, and fuel. Obviously there are many other aspects to being prepared, but these are the main topics that this blog is going to focus on. 

My husband and I are the authors of this blog and we hope this will be an ongoing tool to help others, including ourselves, follow the words of the prophets in taking care of our temporal and spiritual preparedness.