I think one of the most harmful lies we’ve been fed in western culture is the myth of total independence and the myth of the self-made person. None of us is self-made, and none of us truly thrives without community, but we’ve been systematically isolated by our culture. And that’s a trend we must opt-out of.
One of the first things that got me thinking about growing and storing food in particular was that fearful time in the first few weeks of the pandemic when lockdowns were first ordered and no one knew what was coming. We didn’t know if we’d be allowed to go to the grocery store — or if anything would be there if we were.
I remember thinking about how long I could feed my family with the food we had on hand. And then I remember thinking about my closest friend and her family, and asking myself: could you let her babies go hungry? It still brings tears to my eyes to think about it, because of course the answer was no.
I’d always been the sort of person to keep extras on hand, but from that moment I knew I wanted to be the sort of person that could help feed my little circle, my community, when it was most needed. That’s why we started to food forest. It’s why I always have LOTS of non-perishable food stored like rice and oats and dry beans. It’s why I can and preserve food. To save money, yes. To opt-out of harmful food systems, yes. But also to be able to share mutual aid when it’s most needed.
I think we tend to think of mutual aid on a grand scale, like food banks, and organizing, and unions, and things like that. But this week, mutual aid for us looks like participating in a meal train for a friend dealing with some health issues.
And because I’m prepared, it means that I could make this entire meal for them — even make it dairy-free for their food needs — from my pantry, freezer, and garden. The only thing I had to buy were the aluminum cake tins!
That makes me feel rich. It makes me feel safe. It makes me feel prepared and grateful that I can step in and help when someone else needs it.
Two square cake tins filled with pasta, sausage, and spinach, and a third cake tin with homemade cookies and rolls.
If you’d like to be more prepared, both to serve yourself and your circle or your community, here are a few tips I’ve come to live by:
Keep as much dry oats, rice, dry beans, flour, sugar, and salt on hand as you can reasonably store — and will reasonably use within 1-2 years. Even dry goods go off over time. (You can use things like mylar bags and oxygen absorbers to extend shelf-life, but that seems extreme to me…)
Keep canned tomatoes and some kind of canned fruit on hand as well. Again, only as much as you and your family will go through before the expiration dates — but keep replenishing your stock as you use it.
The reason for the two above is that, in a food emergency, these things can be cooked with just some water and will provide enough calories for a person to survive. Dry oats and canned tomatoes, fruit, and beans can even be eaten without cooking (soak the oats in water, obvs.). It wouldn’t be nice, but it would keep you and yours alive.
Beyond this very basic food storage, my philosophy is usually to have a “backup” for everything I use regularly that can be stored, including things like: cooking oils, seasonings, canned foods, dry pasta, other grains, baking supplies, and so on. I tend to keep backups for foods that spoil more quickly, like butter, nuts, meat, vegetables etc., in our freezers. (We have our normal inside fridge freezer and a full-size freezer in the garage.) This wouldn’t help us very long in a power outage, but for normal times, it’s nice to have these backups.
I try to stock up on things when they go on sale. That way I have extra when we’re waiting to get paid or when I need something in a pinch — like cooking an extra meal to deliver to friends.
We buy in bulk whenever it makes sense. We shop at Costco for staples, we get our meat delivered from a local service (frozen), and we get our toilet paper in a 3-month supply from Who Gives a Crap? (We were the only people I know not panicking about TP during the pandemic!)
If you see favorite fruits or vegetables on sale at peak season, it’s worth it to stock up and preserve them — which doesn’t have to mean hours slaving to can them. I found raspberries at Costco for less than $2 a package once and bought an entire flat, which I then froze to enjoy later.
We’re not what you’d call “preppers” in any sense. In a true, long-term emergency, we’d only be slightly more prepared than anybody else. But this kind of stocking up makes sense to me for our actual, every day lives. And, it means I’m able to participate in mutual aid to my community when I’m called to it, whether that’s signing up for a meal train, or donating extra canned goods to the local food bank.
What’s one small way you’ve been able to show up for your community — or someone in your circle — lately?