Why I Have Food Storage

(NOT MY FOOD STORAGE, but similar)
So there was this time, way back not so long ago, when I made a HUGE mistake in my checkbook. I read a one as a seven and spent away and well, yeah, big troubles. Luckily, I had money in other places to cover the money I had spent, but it made us pretty tight that pay period. Enter, Food Storage.
It is the banner I have been waving for about two years now. I think it is so important to have at least a years worth of food in storage. Now I don't have cases of MRE's sitting in my garage just in case the world goes bonkers. I don't have the money to spend on that type of food. (Although I do have some in my 72 hour emergency bag). I also don't have cans and cans of dehydrated food that would require tons of water to re-hydrate. We don't normally eat that kind of food anyway. What I have is a years worth of food that we normally eat put in storage or in the freezer.
Why? Well, let's just say that the time mentioned was not the first time I boo booed the check book. And there have been times in our married life that our income didn't match our outgo. And I have five kids still at home. And gas is getting outrageously high. And there is no such thing as job security. And when the unemployment rate is high it effects people who still have jobs that depend on other people coming in and getting elective medical procedures. And there was this one time when I wrecked the car. And the dollar doesn't stretch as far as it used to. And medical co pays are super high and I still have five kids at home. Well lets just say I have lots of reasons. Mainly, if for any reason, I don't have money in my pocket, I still want to be able to feed those sweet little cherubs of mine. For me it is a security issue. It makes me feel safer.
How? We are not rich (yet). I could not go to one of those websites that sell a years supply for one for $1200 on sale. Nope, not gonna happen. So I started by keeping track of what we eat in one month. Remarkably, not as big as a variety as I thought. We eat spaghetti at least once a week for example. So in my food storage, I have 52 weeks or so of spaghetti dinner fixings. Did I go and buy it all at once, again, nope. When I found pasta on sale, I bought as many extra as my budget would allow. I buy big cans of spaghetti sauce when they are on sale at our local restaurant sized food store. With our large family that works, but I still end up freezing left over sauce and using it next time. I buy meat in bulk and freeze it in sizes that I use. A little extra over a few months really adds up.
Now, I have a list of basic things we use all the time. I started with having a one month supply of everything, then I worked up to three months and then six and then a year. It has really helped my monthly budget. I can now shop only for those things that we need fresh or that are on sale and I need to back fill my food storage supplies.
Water is also pretty important to have. No, I don't have a row of water barrels lined up outside. (Not that my sweetheart wouldn't just love that) Mainly because of the expense. But when the water was turned off for a day when the water people were working on the main outside, boy did I miss it. Now we had water bottles for drinking during the day, and for a short time, you don't have to wash clothes or dishes, but flushing, yeah we like doing that ALL the time. Our low flow toilets still use a lot of water. On day two we filled the tubs for flushing water before they turned it off again. It made storing water a priority. Here in the PNW, it is fairly easy to leave a few storage containers out in the rain for the day and get enough water, but to me that just looks too red neck. So I started filling our empty milk jugs and putting them in the garage. That takes up a ton of space. So now for my birthday, I want water storage boxes. I know, romantic right. I got Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers for Chanukah. It made me very happy.
Don't forget things like oil and seasoning, vinegar and koolaide. We have allergy problems here, so I have to have eggless mayonnaise and gluten free things too. How about things like vitamins and shampoo and toothpaste? I can live without paper towels, but I have friends who can't. Guess what they should have. Yup, however much they need for a year. Medicine. I get as much as we can of prescription medicine as they will let me. Over the counter stuff I buy in the generic bottles and have plenty on hand. Band aides and Benadryl cream and lotion and deodorant are all important to think about too. And don't forget about toilet paper, I sure don't want to have to use corncobs and the sears catalog.
It isn't as hard or weird as it sounds. It is common sense to me. Before we buy what we want, we buy what we need. God has provided for me now to take care of my family in the future, like the ant. I don't want to put Him to the test when things are tough. Yeshua didn't, why should I?

ps. my kidos thought it was sweet that I called them cherubs ^.^