Back in the days before there were 15-20 new temples announced at every General Conference, a popular topic was home storage. We were told to have a year’s supply of food and other essentials. There were often not-too-subtle warnings about what might happen to us if we weren’t prepared.

I think having a couple of week’s worth of food, medicine, and other essentials on hand at all times is a good idea. Weather, natural disasters, and even a truckers’ strike could case disruptions, but a whole year’s worth of everything? That’s not practical, possible, or even desirable for most people. And yet, that’s one way that people proved they were good Mormons.

After my mom died, I remember cleaning out her basement and throwing out her food supply (which included a couple of barrels of wheat-laced with mouse droppings).

When was the last time you heard food storage mentioned in mormondumb?

iirc, it started out a TWO YEARS supply; I bought some rice & wheat, no one knows where they are now...

I’m actually old enough to remember when it was two years. I guess the saints weren’t faithful enough for that.

There's nothing like recent hurricane floods and fires to remind people what could happen to food stowed away in homes.

I always thought it was strange to tell people to hoard wheat but not to worry about hoarding money first. As newlyweds, we got pushed about getting a two year supply often. Very little was said about being able to live two years financially.

Vaughn J. Featherweight for the win!

"Brethren, give your wife a year’s supply of wheat for Christmas, and she’ll know your heart is in the right place."

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1976/05/food-storage?lang=eng

It was 7 yrs, then 2 yrs, then 1. In the 70's storing wheat, honey, powdered milk, and I forget what else. And bottling every fruit, vegetable and fish. In Relief Society on homemaking day, the lessons included how to grind and make wheat into a meat substitute. It was ghastly!! Today I think preppers are similar to Mormon food storage folks of the past.

I think the new line is the old "I don't think we teach that."

I know lots of folks who have storage.

I think if the program was truly inspired it would have been more realistic than buy wheat, milk, honey, potatoes and the infamous Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)

I am glad I had a more realistic emergency storage plan that included toilet paper, hygiene products, medical supplies and various canned soups, pastas, meats, vegetables and sweets.

I learned from my grandparents who had a well stocked larder and tons of non food items laid up. They not only were prepared for a bad year on the farm, but Grandpa let parts of the farm lie fallow so they had to be prepared.

Also since they were born in the 1800s, they were accustomed to being self sufficient. They canned and dried food to last them through the next harvests. Often they were snowed in for weeks at a time.

My father on the other hand barely kept a few weeks worth of emergency storage.

My own experience with hyper inflation and chronic shortages when I lived overseas kind of put me in the habit of having a few months stash of just about anything non perishable.

When Covid hit I had enough of everything. All the money in the world can't buy what isn't available.

> All the money in the world
> can't buy what isn't available.


guns & ammo

That is a magazine. I just read it for the articles.

Have you accepted Gun Jesus?

It is pretty sacred to even mention in passing, but I've had my second oiling.

Don't oil it too hard or you will have to talk to your bishop.

Is heavy pet-roleum-ing a sin now too?

food without water doesn't save anyone.

I think it started to vanish after Jan 1, 2000, when Jesus failed to appear as planned. Ever since then, talk (among the leaders, anyway) about the End Times has greatly diminished. You still hear it from time to time, but nothing like in the sixties (when Armageddon was obviously right around the corner as evidenced by Civil Rights, The Feminine Mystique, and Viet Nam protests. But the Soviet Union just kind of disappeared, so no more Gog and Magog. That took all the fun out of Mormonism.

I think the last thing the church has pushed is a 72 hour emergency kit. I seem to recall my Mom going to a Saturday "Be Prepared Fair" at her stake center, but I think that was 10 or more years ago- under Monson.

I don't think Jesusfreak Nelson has said much as it's not part of his Jesus curriculum.

I don't know if it's being pushed in church or not, but, I can tell you that I have plenty of Mormon family that are storing up food like crazy. It may have more to do with end of the world fears though. Cuz you know, Jeebus is gonna be here any minute now, and the libtards are taking our country to hell in a handbasket! Ugh...I hate my family sometimes.

The Mormon church tries to wean itself of extremism and the members, who love extremism, find a political ideology--even a political eschatology--that fills the need.

Those people are cultists through and through. And they are not alone.

Exactly! I think they put on the appearance of not wanting extremists, but, in reality they know they need these cult minded people to keep paying the money. They have been preaching end of the world since day one to keep the members fears stoked and scared people are easier to manipulate. To rid itself of the extremists, they would need to change their doctrine.

Speaking of extreme, my sister recently told me she has enough food stored, canned, dehydrated, freeze dried, that she has enough for the rest of her life. She's 70, so 20ish years maybe? She also likes the conspiracy theory stuff. Yikes.

Until you mentioned her conspiracy addiction, I was going to ask you if she was single...

That's the problem, isn't it, eternal1?

The church wants cultists but then gets upset when those cultists join complementary cults. That's problematic on the micro level, meaning Julie Rowe and Chad Daybell and Denver Snuffer (sounds like Dirk Diggler) and the Laffertys; and on the macro level with extremist political movements. The result is that Mormonism produces all sorts of bizarre phenomena that vitiate the church's efforts to enter the religious mainstream.

You can't train people throughout their lives to surrender their moral responsibility in one situation and not in another. As Eric Hoffer observed regarding the ease with which Nazis became communists and vice versa in the 1930s and 1940s, True Believers care less about the content of the movement than about the extremity of its principles and activities.

I didn't mind the church pushing the be prepared mantra, but I resented the way it was implemented. A lot of members preyed on others about purchasing tons of worthless wheat. I grew up in the food storage bunker of the house- a terrible thing to deal with. A lot of musty, foul odors from boxes, burlap sacks and leaky buckets. No child should have to cohabitate with that crap stacked up in closets and under the bed. Just bad memories and dealing with rodents that were attracted to the rank mess.

around Seattle's North end, I knew members who would coop on a rail car of Utah coal & bury it in their back yard..

Absolutely Positive about this!

I grew up in Everett, WA just north of Seattle and I recall hearing mormons talk about getting coal from the railroad tracks that fell off the coal cars.

Isn't that stealing??

Dad thought it was a good idea to scoop up spilled coal near the tracks. Problem was that it was a bad idea. Burned very well, even better heat than good oak logs.

Coal nearly started a chimney fire. It got way too hot inside the house- flames going out the pipe- embers landing on the roof. Lucky the house didn't burn down. Never again.

Used to go to molding places and ask for scrap wood. They really liked that people were willing to haul away their waste cuttings in their pick up trucks.

My dad was big into the 2 year supply back in the 60's. I remember packing up many, many cans of wheat one evening. He borrowed a CO2 tank and would insert the nozzle into the bottom of the wheat and blow the CO2 into the bag before sealing it and putting the top on the canister. When he died in 2005, my older TBM brother took all the wheat. No idea what condition it was in after 40+ years.

We also had lots of canned ad dried good which was very convenient for feeding a family of 6 kids. My friends use to tease me about having a grocery store in the basement.

I keep several weeks of food in my freezer and pantry. I like to buy on sale and then store it for later use. I only keep as much as will last and not go bad before we can eat it. We have a well on our property and I can keep that going with my generator, and we have a nice creek out back so I could boil water and use it if I had to.

We lost power for 5 days a couple years ago during the ice storm that hit Oregon and between our food supply and the generator we did just fine. Could have gone longer with no issues.

Oh, and I have guns and ammo so I could always shoot a deer or two, ducks, squirrels while sitting on my back deck and eat them. Maybe get some crawdads from the creek and have some surf and turf.

And if it came right down to it, I would gladly share with my neighbors if they didn't have enough.

I had a born again friend who told me that the mormons were going to be the first ones murdered (guns and ammo) after the rapture because they had all that food in their homes.

That's why my dad had sheets of plywood, guns and ammo. To keep people from breaking into the house and stealing our food when the end came. I used to envision what that would be like, shooting people out in front of our house through a peep hole in the plywood. I got my first gun at 7 years old, still have it.

I used to beg my dad to let me use some of the plywood to build a tree house in the back yard....no dice, we'll need that to board up the house and then start shooting!

I think he ended up using that plywood to build a puppet show stage for my moms poppet business that she had in the downstairs of the house after I grew up and moved away. Damn puppets, they got the plywood! Good thing they didn't need our food too or I would have shot them all!

Plywood sheets as a defense?

Bullet wounds AND flying splinter wounds.

when I think about 'home defense' (which is a rare occasion), I have to take in Bill Burr's notion that hoarding goods means the "strongest man/group" on the block is the beneficiary.  If that's you and/or your group, fine.  If it isn't, then not so fine.

It makes sense to me that you either have to be in a huge group or a total loner to make it from Armageddon to the final curtain.

Post-Apocalpse/Armadeddon/EMP, whatever; not a fan!  I am a huge fan of an adequate supply chain.

>> Plywood sheets as a defense? <<

1/4 inch plywood no less. Makes about as much sense as Jesus coming down from the clouds to usher in the time that we would need to board up the house and start shooting.

And if we were just following Jesus' orders, I'm sure the plywood would have stopped the bullets just like my dads garments would have, and there wouldn't have been any splinters either. And if there were splinters, we would have used them for toothpicks to pick the food storage out of our teeth.....win win!

A while back I was at a party with a fellow contractor who told me that he worked on Bill & Melinda's house under construction, he told me all the walls had kevlar in them.

A la the Graduate: “the future is Kevlar condoms!”

Not a bad idea to have a few weeks of food and a 72 hour pack you can grab. I have a friend who said his 72 hour pack was very helpful during the Northridge earthquake. His apartment building collapsed and all the cars underneath in the parking garage got crushed.

Hah!

I take it he didn't keep his 72-hour pack in his apartment!

Yes he did. The building collapsed on top of the parking garage but because the apartments had more framed walls inside them they were stronger and didn’t collapse. He could get his pack. The convenience stores were charging $10 a liter for water. There was no electricity so ATM’s were useless. The food and water in the pack were the big benefit.

I think over the years it's morphed into a way to keep people from using Church welfare.
In the past it became a panic driven scenario promoted by local food storage sales people who were often placed in positions like Stake Preparedness Coordinators etc.

I'll step it up a notch--how many parents had a Magic Mill to grind that wheat?

P.S. Our huge cans of wheat starting to flake off their cheap blue paint, revealing olive drab paint underneath with yellow 'Civil Defense' markings; I wonder how old that surplus was already when my parents bought it.....

We still have food storage in the basement that is 30-35 years old; gotta give us some credit though, because we did use the sugar.

Our next door neighbor was put in charge of burying the dead in the event of a catastrophe of any kind, because he works at a mortuary.

Nice to know we're in good hands.

In my church I do things different. Every year I demand my followers buy a complete new years storage that must be purchased at one of my authorized merchants ie my brother in law.

Never had it, never needed it.

How much time and money did I save?

I think it lost a lot of credibility when the 100 billion came out. Money is the best food storage now. Be like Jesus.

I remember that in the 1960's, we'd have lessons and show-and-tells about making furniture supported by those 5-gallon dry-pack tins. A couch might be boards supported by six or eight times, and the skillful wife who always knew how to sew would make the cushions for it. Pretty pitiful.

On a recent episode of "Sister Wives," viewers got a peek into the food storage cupboard (a small room), lined with shelves and containers of food. A wife talked about how they rotate stock, in and out. Someone remarked that it was really helpful during covid.

Seven years' worth of stored food is incredibly wasteful. Stories from people here about all that wasted wheat, thrown away when elders die....moldy, rancid, gathering dust.

the 72-hour pack ready to go makes so much more sense: hurricane, wildfire, civil unrest, tornado, tsunami, energy curtailments.

Where / when did the 72 hour thing originate?

Ok on food, I guess propane users often have 72 hours supply, but 72 hours worth of water would be a challenge especially for a large (Mormon) family.

> ...but 72 hours worth of water
> would be a challenge especially
> for a large (Mormon) family.

Nuh-uh!  Not if they paid a full tithe!

FEMA suggests a 72 hour kit. The church just follows along.

For water storage the old civil defense guidelines the 72 hour includes the water in your hot water tank.

I know several folks that have either two 40 gallon tanks or a single 60 gallon tank and justify it as bring prepared.

They justify it as being prepared because it is being prepared. If your house is without water and power for more than a few days, you are going to need to leave the area. If the entire town is without power, then within a few days you will also be without sewer.

The water in the hot water tank is more than enough to get you by for a few days. After that you are moving to a shelter, or somewhere other than your disabled neighborhood. I’m pretty sure the National Guard is not allowing anyone to stay overnight in Ft Meyer, FL these days.

Around 15-20 years ago, a missionary couple were assigned to my last stake, with the remit of pushing food storage.

I remember them holding a fireside, teaching the members how to grind wheat.

That's good information to have. We'll need it after the revolution.

My stint as preparedness guru ended within hours of being called when I pointed out to whole combined priesthood and relief society the buying wheat was a bad idea.

I pointed out not only the need to grind the wheat, but you need milk, eggs, oils, fluff powder, sugar etc to make anything out if it. Plus you need butter to top off what ever you make.

I suggested rice, canned soups, pasta, canned veggies and fruits etc.

Bishop was unhappy no one bought wheat that year.

the size 'sq ft' of your residence directly impacts what & how much your storage is.

What could have been my allowance or just lunch money for school was sent to Salt Lake City for both food storage and tithes. My father spent thousands and threw it all away. Like the baby with the bathwater, I was thrown away too. I resent those bastards in Salt Lake as much as I resented my father.

And that was my misery in 7th grade math class. The teacher had provided a list of required materials as part of his syllabus. My TBM Mom looked at it and tossed it in burning fireplace.

-Don't worry Messy. We'll get you those things later. Just let me know.

Around the first week in November, I needed a protractor. Probably 2.85 (there were few dollar stores back then). I told Mom.

She lashed out- Are you crazy? I don't have it. I just bought 500 pounds of wheat and there's tithing settlement in a few weeks. Just ask the teacher to borrow one.

So I failed that quarter because I couldn't measure or draw angles. I received failing marks and my Mom blamed me for not paying attention.

And every night I slept with 500 pounds of wheat rotting away under my bed.

Wow. Most teachers do keep extra supplies for classroom use, but they normally wouldn't send it home for homework because in most cases, it never comes back.

In my career, I've supplied most pencils, markers, crayons, scissors, rulers, etc. for my classroom. When a new student would arrive in my class without supplies, I would sigh, and go to my supply box. I would take out a pencil box, pencils, a marker, crayons, etc. I could get that kid outfitted within two minutes. Many parents are remarkably cheap. Why buy things that "the school" (in most cases meaning, the teacher) will provide? People should not wonder why there is a teacher shortage.

I had one student whose parents were immigrants. The father was a physician, unheard of in that neighborhood. He was getting training at a local hospital. I sent home a supply list for her twice, and got nothing in response (both parents spoke and read English fluently, so that was not an issue.) So I gave the girl the usual kit. One day she came to me complaining that her seatmate was using "her" crayons. I told her that I would talk to her seatmate, but I also pointed out that they were in fact, my crayons. The mom, who was a real horror show, came in the next day with the same complaint, and I made the same observation. The mom visibly huffed, but did send in supplies for her daughter the very next day -- finally! Some people will get away with whatever they can get away with.

The next time you hear a politician or commentator railing against teachers, teacher unions, or the public education system in general, think of Summer reaching into her own pocket time after time after time to provide what the parents and schools should have provided, but did not. I estimate it's been somewhere between $15-$20K over the years, with only a very small fraction of that gotten back in tax deductions. I wish I had that $15-$20K back to provide for my needs and wants, teacher salaries not being very huge.

So true, summer. So many teachers give and do things for students from their own resources. Many of them are saints and a better influence than parents for the students. Teachers deserve better.

Remember the 3 rules of disaster preparedness.

1.It always happens to someone else.
2.It can never happen here.
3.What you can't see can't hurt you.

If you think these are foolish rules ask yourself; have I ever died in a disaster?

...and hardly anyone of us has a friend, or even knows of anyone who died in a disaster of biblical proportions . . .

Don't worry, be happy!!