What is in your pantry?

Up until the early twentieth century, people used the concept of having a food pantry. When you needed something, you went and got it from the pantry. When you went into town, or to the store one would pick up stocked items they were running low on. By following this principle, one could easily go a week or two (many even several months) with out needing to go for supplies.

Over the years came the onset of grocery stores, then came the super market chain stores, and the pantry concept was turned upside down. Contrary to what you may believe, the Mega-grocery store we have today have not done away with the idea of having a food pantry. Nearly everyone in this country has a stocked food pantry still to this very day. The difference is that instead of being in your home, it is the store itself.

As society in general we tend to use these box stores as our pantry. They keep the shelves stocked, and when we need something, we go get it. More room in our house, no money tied up in food just sitting around, variety and selection is greater when one only buys for several days at a time. All in all, this system seems to work very well. That is until disaster strikes.

When disaster strikes an area, one of the first places people flock to is the grocery store. I am in the south east, and every time they call for just some flurries the shelves are depleted; not a single loaf of bread or a gallon of milk can be found within hours of a snow prediction. This is just a light snow forecast, put in something like an earthquake, terrorist attack, or even a quarantine to something like H1N1, and not only do people flock to the stores, but they panic as well. In the event of a disaster, most stores will be nearly wiped out within hours. Even if there was no rush, most stores can only run three to four days without resupplying their inventory. Yes the store as a pantry Idea is not a bad one; it just has this one big problem in the event of an emergency.

Honestly how long would you be able to feed your family, and possibly a neighbor or two if you couldn’t go to the store for a week or two? We like to tell ourselves that this could not happen here. One only needs to look at how many earthquakes have rumbled in the past two months alone. Would your family be ready for that, or would your life like many of those in Katrina and elsewhere, be at the mercy of the government to provide food.

I am not suggesting everyone run out and buy 10 years worth of food, (although more is better) but am simply stating that we need to be prepared to face life without the luxury of a grocery store for at least two weeks. You may never need to actually go this long without a store, but at least you will have the peace of mind knowing that can. As always, when taking into consideration how much it would take for your family for two weeks, always add a couple people to the mix, as you will definitely be helping a neighbor or two, and should be giving until it hurts, especially in a disaster situation.