Would You Be Ready? Part 1

This post will be a little different from my other posts in the fact that I am writing straight off the top of my head, random thoughts about something someone asked me yesterday that has left my mind in a panic once I had time to think about it.



Our heat pump went out on Wed.  Of course, we had to schedule a repair man to attend to it.  He came yesterday.  The heat pump was shot and almost all of the parts need to be replaced.  Go figure, huh?



At any rate, while he was here, we talked a little about allergies and food selection for individuals with Celiac.  He talked about a radio show that he listens to that has been having discussions about the changes occurring in America and how not long from now, shopping for food as we know it will be much different.  He added that the radio host has also suggested that families make sure that they have enough food to store up for at least a year.  I really didn't think much more about it as we just continued small chit chat as he worked on that blang heat pump.



After the repair man left, I found myself alone with my thoughts.  I reviewed our conversation and kept coming back to that particular topic of storing food.  I asked myself "what exactly did he mean when he said 'shopping for food as we know it will be much different'?"  I found my body begin to get tense as the fear creeped in.  How could anyone possibly store enough food, in our case for a family of five, for a FULL year?  That is 365 days!  What on earth would I store?  Where would I put everything?  I mean really, that is A LOT of food!  Not to even mention...water?



I composed myself and ventured on to making dinner, which by the way, was breaded fish with Rice Chex and gluten/dairy free Cole Slaw...yummy:)  I am so easily distracted sometimes.  So back to my story--my husband came home and I began telling him about the heat pump and everything that was wrong with it.  Of course, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to tell him what I had heard about the food storage.  You have to understand, my husband is part Indian and is a very self sufficient man.  I have no doubt in my mind that if he were planted out in the middle of the forest tomorrow with nothing but a match and the clothes on his back, he would survive and make it back home eventually!  He is so adept at making due with minimal materials that he can completely blow my mind when I just sit back and watch him.  I mean, really, I love camping and 'roughing it in the wilderness', but for a weekend or maybe a week at the most!  There are just some things that I would have a difficult time giving up...like my cell phone for one???  and my computer for two!!  Seriously though, it would not bother him for one second to give that stuff up.  I always tell him he was born in the wrong century!  He should have been a mountain man!



Sorry for the distraction...back to the topic at hand...when I finished telling him about the radio show and what the repair man had told me, I shared that it had scared me and wondered if he had heard anything about this.  He replied "yeh, I've heard discussions about it" and told me that he recently heard about a company that is vacuum sealing food that they guarantee for ten years!  OMG!  And you haven't bothered to share this information with me?  Didn't you think I needed to know??  It's important that I share one thing about myself here...I hate to watch the news and hate reading the newspaper even more!  I depend on my husband to tell me about the things going on in the world that apply to me and our family.  Hello!  This certainly applies to me and our family!



So now, the calm and rational person that I am, decides that I will just do some searching on the internet and see what I can come up with.  This took me to a whole new level of PANIC!  I found web sites with allergy free foods and storage.  I found web site with gluten free food storage.  I didn't find any web site covering all food allergen AND gluten free foods.  I did find two sites that offered quite a bit of information.  One was Ginger Lemon Girl and the other was Safely Gathered In.  Both sites gave valuable information, but wasn't exactly what I was looking for and of course, both sites increased my panic level as they discussed some things that I hadn't even thought about, i.e. like medicines, first aid kits, etc.  As my mind was focusing on food items, I really didn't pay much attention to other things that need to be gathered.  Although the time frame they discussed was slightly different than what I was looking for, the sites certainly did give me a starting point.



My panic level peaked once I landed on several web sites that had freeze dried foods available (not allergy/gluten free) and across the bottom of their screen a message appeared 'due to high demand of packaged foods, there will be longer than expected delays on shipping of food orders'.  I'm looking at my computer screen, putting my foot up my backside, wondering how everyone else seemed to know about this but me?  Then I began to wonder, does everyone know about this and are they prepared for a change in shopping or even a natural disaster?  Would you be ready if something were to change tomorrow?  Would you be ready to leave your home in 30 minutes and head for the woods or somewhere away from the comforts of your home if you had to?  I don't think I would.



After reading different web sites, I did land on one that looked like it would offer exactly what we would need for our daughter.  AAOOB Storable Foods is a site worth visiting if you find yourself looking for any storage of foods that are allergy/gluten free.



I believe this topic is worthy of additional research.  In my next post, I will compile a list of items that may be of interest to have readily available in case of an emergency.  I will also continue my research and hope to be able to provide additional web site links that you may want to take a look at.



I would like to ask my readers to do me a favor...let me know if you would be ready to sustain your family for 365 days if necessary, and what items did you feel it necessary to have with you in case of an emergency.  I will combine your comments along with the list I come up with and post it later in the week.  Hopefully, between you and I, we can come up with a detailed, complete list of items that would sustain us in a case of emergency, whatever that may be.