Full Belly Insurance

Apr 2009 Issue

By Rachelle Sullivan
It’s not just about the end of the world and you don’t have to be a fanatic. As Shane Sullivan likes to put it, “It’s one of the easiest principles of the Gospel to follow. It doesn’t require a lot of faith for me to figure out that I like to eat and I don’t like to be hungry!” One of the most common things we hear is that someone bought their food storage 20 years ago and they are tired of “throwing their money away.”

We like to think of food storage as an insurance policy. Most people that own a home buy a homeowners’ policy every year. I’ve yet to hear someone complain that their house didn’t catch on fire this year so that they could file a claim. We buy insurance for our cars and again, nobody complains that they don’t get in a wreck. The nice part about food insurance is that it is 100% useable and there doesn’t have to be a disaster.

There are many instances where food storage could be used. How long could your family survive if Dad lost his job or broke a bone and was unable to work for 6-8 weeks? What if there was a trucker’s strike? What if there was a natural disaster that drastically affected the food supply?
The church teaches us to get out of debt and become self-reliant. One of the ways we can do this is to prepare ourselves and our families to be ready for the unknown. Along with water, clothing and shelter, food is one of the most basic needs known to man.

With a full belly we are more able to face whatever may be put on our plate (no pun intended). Most of us like to get up and eat breakfast and even those that pass on breakfast will be ready for lunch along about noon. After a long hard day, dinner starts to sound really good. In today’s slow economy you might like to know that meals prepared from food storage cost significantly less than pre-packaged foods.

“Where do I start?” Start with the basics. Beans, wheat, rice, oats, and corn (popcorn is best) are inexpensive and are the basis for many meals. Then you move up the ladder trying to increase the variety of products stored. Next I would suggest widening your grains. Kamut, Amaranth, buck wheat and Quinoa are all great. What would it take to make a bean soup taste better? How about some TVP? TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) is a meat substitute. It can be flavored to taste like chicken, beef, taco, sausage, etc.

Next you might add some vegetables. Dehydrated or freeze dried carrots, corn, green beans, onions, celery, mushrooms, cabbage, and broccoli are all available. Finally you might add dessert. Why not a corn bread? If you think corn bread isn’t dessert, try adding fruit. My personal favorite is the peach flavored apple flakes. Nuts and raisins will also turn an ordinary dish into something great. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy!

There is a large variety of dehydrated or freeze-dried fruits available. Apple cinnamon slices, raspberries, blueberries, oranges, pineapple, blackberries, peaches, apricots, strawberries and many more. For additional flavor enhancers add bouillons, soup bases, pizza and spaghetti seasoning, honey powder, cream cheese powder, and the list goes on.