Stake challenge

[phylm]

Letter from Stake read in Sacrament service today: invites all families to begin today to live off what they now have on hand...no eating out, no stops at food stores, until suppertime on Sat. the 16th. Also, would like us to live off "basic storage," that is, what we would be left with after our 3-month supply is gone. And report to Stake with the results and experiences of the experiment.

Some of us unruffled with the idea, :001_tt2: but some deer-in-the-headlights reactions from others. Should be interesting. :wink (3):

PS: Our supper was "Hungarian Goulash" that my husband cooked while I was on a long phone call with an old friend.

[libertygranny]

About 12 years ago I was called as 2nd counselor in RS over Homemaking, for one of our homemaking nights the theme was prepardeness and food storage (of course!!!), 2 weeks before the meeting (with the blessing of the bishop of course) I handed out 4 3x5 cards to four different families. Each card had a different scenario, but no matter what the scenario was the "event" started that day (Sunday) and lasted a week. They were encouraged to not go to the store as if the scenario had really happened, real emergencies do not give us advance warning. Some cards said they could not use their stove or oven to cook on because of possible gas leak or power outage. Whatever they had on hand to eat, etc was what they could use but they could barter or trade for items too. I asked the sisters to present a 15 minute presentation on what they learned, how they did, etc. All of them learned where they lacked, etc and they taught a lesson to all the other sisters that emergencies, etc can happen at any time and being prepared is a blessing. Out of 4 sisters only one said she had to go to the store to get diapers because she did not have any cloth to use if she ran out of disposables, after this experience she said she was buying cloth diapers to keep on hand since they can also be used for other things.

I sure hope the people in your stake do this assignment. We have been blessed by obeying and having our storage.

[4evermama]

PLEASE update us when this is over.
I will be most eager to learn of the results.
Mostly, I'm interested to find out how many families out of the entire stake, will actually commit to the challenge.

These types of test-runs are brilliant.

I have a friend who once put a lock-down on his family for 6-months...food storage only.
10 years later, his wife is still bemoaning the effort. His kids however, are avid food storage preppers.

We can't underestimate the possibility that we are experiencing these challenges now so that our children will be better prepared mentally for what might lay ahead. If these concepts are introduced at an early age, then it becomes a lifestyle instead of a punishment.

Sounds like a great Stake President.

[libertygranny]

4evermama, it's funny because our kids grew up with the idea that food storage was just an everyday thing that we did as a family. We ate from our food storage not because we had to, but because it was a way to rotate. My kids can tell you tales of having to stand in line at the grocery stores during case lot sales with $4 in their hand to buy a case of veggies when there was a limit per customer. All five kids would line up in front of me and make "their" purchase. Actually we did this with any good buy if there was a limit per person. As the kids grew up and left home it was not unusual for those kids left at home to make a purchase, take it out to the car and go back in to get more.

And one at a time each of the kids used having to keep track of our food storage for 6 months to pass something off in Personal Progress, Scouts, or Duty to God. They had to make up inventory sheets, inventory it every 2 weeks, make a shopping list and then go shopping with me.

The blessing, all my kids have food storage in their own homes. They followed our example and started before they were even married.

[4evermama]

Amen, Libertygranny, that's exactly my point. I hope that we find similar success when they begin their own families. (My kids give me cofused looks when I buy less than a dozen of anything.)

My kids learn so much from organizing and budgeting.
They also learn about self-discipline. Our family has a monthly menu (3 meals per day, desserts included) on the fridge. While we may make emergency substitutions on a rare occasion, everyone in the house knows that the menu is the plan. And we stick to the plan. Every meal has been discussed, voted on and put into rotation so as to run our food storage endeavor like a machine.

I've been amazed as I have watched my children take over my kitchen.
No decision required...just implementation. They cook, they rotate, they clean-and they encourage me to stick to it even when I'm tired or distracted. In an effort to be better organized, we've actually empowered our children to be pro-active with meal preparation.

Of course my 4 year old's favorite job is rotating cans. I have castles and dragon mountains built up everytime that I walk into my garage.

They even have a standard response when people ask if their mom really makes them eat food storage..."you bet, at every single meal".

[Noahs ARK]

I have a friend who once put a lock-down on his family for 6-months...food storage only.
10 years later, his wife is still bemoaning the effort. His kids however, are avid food storage preppers.

That's such an excellent idea - food storage ONLY for 6 months!

I went thru a period of time where I wrote down every single thing I used for every meal. That helped me start my food storage beyond the "basics".

Cranberries, sweet potatoes, cabbage, etc - all the things you take for granted. Those were put on a list and I hunted until I found a place that sold them in either #2.5 or #10 cans.

I swear there's NOTHING as much fun as working on my food storage. :blush:

[phylm]

I'm keeping a log of what we do for the week, and I'll give you a report after next weekend, and as the stake reports come in.