Unless one is hiding from society, and avoiding all news – and shopping – you know how bad it is in stores these days. Inflation is hitting hard, and everything is going up in price, especially food. Every trip to the grocery store leaves me wanting to cry. I get depressed going shopping. Hoping what I want (not need, it is want after all) will be there, and that the price won’t have jumped by 25% in a week.
The numbers don’t lie, even when the media and Facebook will tell you otherwise.
$6.99 for non-organic strawberries in early September? For 1 pound. And the other berries might even be worse to buy. I always wonder how much waste there is with these prices. Are enough people willing to pay it? Or does it end up tossed out moldy?
And the vast aisles of nearly nothing to buy. And most people keep telling themselves “it’s just temporary” “it’s supply chain issues, it’ll get fixed soon”. But will it? At least people want produce, but there isn’t much to choose from. Taken in August.
This is what our shelves have looked like in multiple towns around us, for nearly 18 months now. They get stock, it flies out immediately. Whole sections have had no stock in 3 to 4 months. Photo taken 2nd week of September.
This meme seems simple, but it is the truth. For us to have food security, we must change ourselves first. We have to become part of it.
The first part is self-sufficiency. We must be able to rely on ourselves. As with anything, the best time to start something is yesterday, but you can start anytime. Yes, you might not be able to grow food now, but you will be able to next Spring if you do the work now. When the weather is cooler, and life is slower. Get a growing going – even if all you have are pot on a deck. Start here for gardening tips.
Growing food connects you to seasons and to the Earth. It slows you down. You notice things you didn’t before. It doesn’t matter if you live in a city, in a town, in a rural area or in the mountains: You can grow something. Be it in a pot, or acres of food. Even if you have to buy an LED grow set to do it inside.
Learn to save seeds, how to propagate plants – to build on what you grow. Become less reliant on having to consume yearly, and become a producer.
(This was from our urban farm before we moved rural)
The next thing you can do is buy as much possible local. This doesn’t have to mean hyper-local. It can mean regional. For example, I know of a great wheat grower on the other side of the mountains. Supporting them means I can eat ancient grains. Keeping your money out of the bloated agricultural/corporate food companies and supporting those around you goes far. Your food won’t be sitting in a warehouse with no truck drivers to deliver it. I might have to drive for much of a day, or pay shipping, but I know the food is high quality – and I support those people.
The more we buy local (regional) the more we don’t “need” the bloated large food companies.
Learn to preserve your food, because the less food you need to buy, means you don’t have to stress. And, you know what went into your food, be it canned, dehydrated, freeze-dried or frozen. We have posted a lot of recipes for water bath canning. And how to dehydrate food.
After that, and all of that, is to buy long-term food storage to have on hand. There are many options now on where to buy food, but I highly recommend using companies that sell mostly freeze-dried base ingredients, versus meals already formed for you.
It’s easy to make meals with freeze-dried and dehydrated base ingredients, and you can make it how you like it, versus it being a salt bomb in a #10 can. I am a consultant with Thrive Life.
Want recipes to use all those ingredients in? Our sister site, TrailCooking, is full of them.
Every choice we make to be more self sufficient is one more step closer to food security. Reduce your need for corporate food, and you will eat better, cleaner and be able to share with others.
~Sarah