Not only can you stop worrying about getting food storage, but you don’t even have to come up with an excuse either! I’ve got you covered with the Top 10 excuses I’ve heard dozens of times (I’ve even used most of them myself at one time or another ;) There is always room for improvement when it comes to procrastinating, so memorize a few more excuses to use the next time you have an urge to prepare!
One of my very favorite preparedness experts, Wendy DeWitt, was nice enough to let me share her Top 10 reasons she compiled about why people don’t have their food storage. So get a pen and paper ready to take some notes, you never know when these excuses might come in handy…
Top 10 Reasons Why I Don’t Have My Food Storage:
10. My neighbors have a TWO year supply!
It’s more likely they have no food storage at all. Most people have made no effort whatsoever to be prepared for an emergency. So, if your plan is to eat your neighbor’s food, not only is it not very nice, it’s probably not a very good plan.
9. I’m moving in with my children / parents!
Really….that’s just a bad plan all by itself. Many people believe when times get bad we’ll all just band together to survive. (Of course, since no one has any food, we won’t survive for very long.) But consider that if there were any kind of epidemic or pandemic, we couldn’t band together and we couldn’t share. You may have to survive on just what’s in your home.
8. Isn’t that what my taxes are for?
7. I donate to my church…if anything happens, they’ll take care of me.
6. I have a year’s supply…and the bullets to go with it!
5. The boat and the 4 wheelers are taking up all my storage space.
4. I’ve got 1,000 pounds of wheat…what else do I need?
3. I’ve decided to store non-perishables and then I’ll just trade for food.
2. I can’t afford scrap booking AND food storage.
1. I’m waiting for them to sell Papa John’s dehydrated pizza!
Resources From Wendy DeWitt:
If you’re ready to stop making excuses and start preparing, check out the resources from Wendy DeWitt below! They might just change your view of food storage forever, I know they did for me!!!
- VIDEO – Sensible Food Storage
- YouTube SEMINAR – Watch ALL 9 Videos – A MUST See!
- FREE GUIDE – Everything Under the SUN
- LIVING ESSENTIALS INTERVIEW – Discusses her Plan!
- BLOG -Everything Under the SUN
So whether you choose to keep making excuses, or you decide it’s time to finally commit already, the choice is ultimately yours!
What do you choose?
I don’t understand number 7, unless you have celiac disease, I’m not sure wheat will kill you faster than not having any food at all.
Are you talking about #4? I don’t know if it would necessarily kill you, but it could make you very sick. I’ve known of families that have gone on food storage only diets, and since their bodies weren’t accustomed to the foods, they ended up in the hospital.
That’s something to look into though, now you got me curious.
I was just watching about how feedlot cattle need to get accustomed to eating feedlot rations… Messy business if you mess that up.
Yes! Sorry, I meant #4.
I think the point she was really trying to make is just having wheat isn’t all you need. I know a lot think of food storage as just storing tonz of wheat, with nothing else and no idea how to even use it.
#4 is my favorite! For some wondering why this is on the list, if all you have is wheat your diet won’t be balanced. You will experience food fatigue (you will starve rather than eat) You will have a huge amount of fiber in your meals which will lead to abdominal cramping, bloating and diarrhea. Diarrhea can lead to dehydration. All this can be avoided if you start incorporating wheat in your daily diet so your body becomes used to it. Also store other foods besides the wheat.
I realized last year how big of a threat food fatigue can really be. I was on this nasty diet that I finally had to get off, because I actually got to the point were I would rather starve than eat ;) Thanks for your added wisdom on the All Wheat issue! Great points you brought up!
About the moving in with family… If I can refugee that far, it’s probably because of localized disaster. If I lived in commuting distance of my mother, I would probably split my efforts in maintaining mine and hers Ragnarok plans.
I’m a mixture of reasons, though I’ve decided on sugar, salt, and enriched rice for my non-perishable barter goods. Even if the neighbors do have a stockpile, I doubt it’s foods that I would go for before the raiders get there first. Church=community, only when we get a proper retreat.
That’s not a bad idea to split efforts if you lived close to each other! Way to be creative!
I think I’ve used each of these excuses at one time or another!
The one that sobers me the most is to watch your little ones starve. I really wouldn’t wouldn’t even want to think about what we would do if that happened to our grand-kids. I really do think my neighbor thinks she will come and share our food. I have extra rice, and that is what I am handing out! :)
Having kids brought a whole new perspective to being prepared for me! That is very generous of you to think about your neighbors! I actually just made a space to try and have some extra food for others too.
Yes, I totally agree. Eating just one kind of any food will lead to malnutrition! I completly agree you should store a variety of food as well. I guess I was trying to understand why you singled out wheat. And then also understanding how eating one kind of food would kill you faster than having no food (famine). I grind my own wheat for bread and other kinds of baking. I have not always done this but when I started I did not notice any digestive issues for me or anyone in my family. So though it’s possible to have issues if your current diet has absolutely no fiber in it, I think for the majority of people switching to whole wheat would not be a huge issue. I also think have any kind of food is better than none. Even if you have digestive issues you might be able to trade.
Definitely having some food is better than having no food, plus people need to start somewhere. I think she singled out wheat in her top 10 because most people she helps out start and finish with wheat. I’ve also heard that phrase from a lot of sources, I’m not sure how accurate it is, or if it’s just a figure of speech. Maybe I need to conduct my own myth busters and find out ;)
#8 and #10 are the most used excuses in my neck of the woods. I think most of my neighbors don’t give food storage a second thought, thinking government and aid agencies will be there to help.
And I don’t know how many times I’ve heard “if things go wrong, I figured I’d just come to your house”. Uhm, yeah…No.
Great article Wendy.
I would really like to believe that people are smarter than this, but unfortunately I think your right “isn’t that why I pay taxes” Hilarious! Maybe Papa Johns will go into the MRE business? hehe
And great point about how anyone can become “that person with the gun” people love to believe that they could never do something like that, but the reality is we all out to protect our familys and will do whatever it takes to do it. Preparing for survival is also preparing yourself so you don’t have to become “that guy with the gun”
Thanks for the read…made me chuckle a couple of times!
Dale
Here’s an idea for #2: Costco – Deluxe Survivor 700-serving variety food storage (dehydrated, prepared foods) – only $200.
Even at 5 servings per day (assuming the advertised servings are over-estimated), that’s over 4 months of food storage. Very few people can buy regular food for a month on $200, so you really can’t go wrong.
Thanks for solving that problem! That’s a lot for $200 and it’s definitely better than nothing!
#9 is the one my family, including my children, are using. My children and siblings had a discussion at Thanksgiving last year on what they would do in case of “zombie apocalypse.” Their idea was to move in with me. My sister calls me “the food hoarder”. When my daughter told me about the discussion she was laughing, but she sobered right up when I told her none of them were invited to move in with me. I said that if they wanted to survive whatever disaster might happen they all needed to become “food hoarders”. What I find funny is none of them understand why I moved 400 miles away from them. :)
Good for you! Way to cut them off and encourage them to prepare for themselves! I just wish I could have a $1 for everyone that has said they are coming to my house if anything ever happens ;) Nothing is wrong with being a food hoarder, so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! Keep it up!
Amen Sister!!!
Quite frankly i dont understand how #2 – owning a cell phone means you consider that a priority over survival? Ive seen rich people have a bank account full of money, and yet dont vaccinate their kids, and now we are having epidemics of simple childhood illness’ going rampant through college aged non-vaccinated students. you can have all the money and food there is, it doesnt make you any smarter than the poorest person that can barely afford the weeks groceries. I have a cell phone for $6/mo, and i prep, and yet with a college education in Computer Networking System Technology i cant convince anyone to give me a minimum wage job, even when i type 100kspm and over 10 years of experience in my field! Maybe i missed the point.
No, owning a cell phone doesn’t mean you consider that a priority over survival – especially a $6 a month one.
The main point she is trying to bring out is we have money for what we want to have money for, it’s just a matter of priorities.
I enjoy dropping by your site to see all of the things you’ve posted. In this thread, a certain kind of what I call “bucket food” was mentioned.
**Bad idea**. You might want to take a look at this thread from another website where one of the members actually tried to live on their ‘bucket food”.
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=366928
Due to the actual nature of the ‘food’ he consumed and the change in diet, he was force to seek medical for a horrible case of diarrhea.
I would suggest your funds are better spent on beans, rice, wheat, salt, dry mile and a lot of other – real food – items and pass on the buckets so often made of a mass of chemical laden ‘stuff”.
Keep up the good work and I hope you and your family enjoy the Holidays.