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I remember the sugar shortage too! but not the way most of you do! My Hubby was stationed at Ft. Lewis,Wa. and every Wed had Garbage dump duty, Bet you can't guess what he did? He covered up Tons of perfectly fine Sugar!! with a Bulldoser. This went on 7 day a week for along, long time!! with guards and I sure it was not just in Washington. So we never had a Shortage atleast not one our goverment didn't Want!!

Krystyna

I've been prepping for years. You never know when you will be hit with a financial disaster or other problems. It is always prudent to have stocks on hand ~ and there is always enough to share with those in need.

mrsponcho1

I was raised in a rural area and when the roads were bad, you stayed home. My parents always stocked a little extra groceries during the winter. I still live in a rural area and always make sure to have extra canned goods and other supplies on hand. Well, after 2 different ice storms, I have had my eyes opened to the meaning of being prepared. We were without water and electricity for 2 weeks. We do have a propane cookstove so we were able to eat. My brother in law has a well that you cannot drink but it was a life saver to flush our toilets. After the 1st storm, you could not find a bottle of water or batteries. By the time 2nd storm came a lot of people had generators, but couldn't find gasoline locally. We now have a generator and my husband fills a 55 gal drum with gasoline before expected bad weather. We heat with firewood, so we are always warm. lol

redkimba

I love your attitude. I don't being prepared with what I find on sale or buying more of when I have the extra pocket change, but I will NOT succumb to the paranoia of others. (I'm tired of the media/govt/people mashing the panic button at every given opportunity)

I will try to do more home canning this next year; I will shop more at the discount places such as Big Lots, etc. But that's just a matter of preparedness.

auniqueview

I told my dh since the "end date" is supposed to be Dec 21st, I expect him to get the Christmas cards out EARLY this year. We live in Florida. We keep supplies on hand.

auniqueview

Remember what was supposed to happen in the year 2000? Of course, none of those dire predictions came true. Be like the Boy Scouts, and be prepared, but not go crazy.

hobo2000

Speaking of water, we live in the Washington, DC area. Our pipes are so old that we have a breach at least once a month. Then you are told to boil your water at least 10 minutes for drinking water. Of course, by this time, all the bottled water is gone from the stores. There are five of us in this house, and my granddaughter who is 12. We gave up and bought a Big Berkey unit. It is so wonderful. You pour any kind of water in the top and it filters out everything. Chlorine and all. To test it you add a few drops of red food coloring and the water comes out clear and tastes so good.
I use it for everything now. We had a rain barrel but the county told us we couldn't keep it. I loved to wash my hair in rainwater. We put it thru the Berkey until we had to ditch it. We are warned that at some point we will be hit inDC.

lwbuchholz

I was raised on a remote ranch and we had to keep a long winters stock of necessities and I still have that habit. I think it is a good habit as many caught in bad weather and other disasters have found out. I get the backwoods home and country side magazines and in one of these there was a lady who canned her dry food products. I wish I could find the article. She used a low oven temp and heated for a period of time and then sealed the jars. She said the things like flour kept very well and for much longer than usual. I wondered if it would loose some of it's mutrition but I suppose if it did it would also lose it in the baking process. I had thought of trying that because it would keep the bugs out too. And although that sounds bad I know lots of our dry foods like cereal or grain products have the eggs of these bugs when we buy them from the grocery shelves. So I uaually freeze them for 3 days as that kills those nasty things too.
I guess I think it is a good thing to be prepared for what ever might happen. I live in earthquake and blizzard country so I feel better if I know I can live for a couple of weeks with what I have here.
I love to hear how others have kept foods long term and what they store for emergencies. It seems like we always forget something we need.
Lynda