Having used up everything in the house last month, I am now very intent on stocking up on supplies. In this day and age lots of people have gotten on the stocking up bandwagon. Costco I noticed has even gotten into the market with products like Shelf Reliance THRIVE, 1-year supply Dehydrated and Freeze-Dried Food for $200 off the regular $1,000 price tag. There is even a wheat grinder included. Their website says that there is overwhelming demand and there is a delay on shipment.
My thoughts on food storage are mixed. On the one hand, historically people used to save up for a rainy day. Storing up food for times when it was less accessible was a natural part of life. Where we live in this disaster prone part of California people are strongly encouraged to store up, not just food, but other supplies as well that can help out in emergencies (nope, don't really have them yet, need to figure out what to get and add them to my grocery lists). But, I find this new frenzy disturbing. I think it is just a new way of spending; spending to help with nervousness about the future. I don't know how helpful a few #10 cans of dried veggies are going to be against, say, an economic depression that lasts years.
Now owning canning supplies, having a garden, and knowing how to can, that might be more helpful in the long run, and cheaper in the short run. Which brings me to my next thought on food storage. Relying on canned grocery store food as food storage gets really old really fast. At the end of last month we ate up the cans that I had bought for storage. I got very tired of our food options, cloyingly sweet pears and peaches, beans, beans and more beans, and mushy off color vegetables. Grocery store canned food remains chained to the 1950's and 60's palate. Which brings me again to the thought about gardens, and home canning. The idea of putting food we really eat into storage for later appeals to me.
Gardens. I have always wanted a large flourishing garden, but have never managed more than a few plants at a time. Right now I have three bell pepper plants ( I have gotten one bell pepper so far), one eggplant (harvested 3 small eggplants), and a yellow squash, I am delighted to see baby squashes growing, basil and rosemary. Not much, but given that we have a tiny California yard, that contains a pool and a cement patio with a strip of dirt two feet wide surrounding two sides of the patio, I am working with what I have. To compound the problem the non-cement area barely gets enough sunlight to support vegetable growth. So why am I dreaming of having a lush canning garden? I have one thing going for me--a 1960's nearly flat roof. Sigh. I'm fantasizing about a rooftop garden. I have a couple of setbacks there too: we rent, so I'd have to have the owners permission, we'd need to have the structure examined to make sure the weight of the garden could be supported, and most of all, I'd need my husband to get behind the project as well because it is a big backbreaking job. There are no guarantees that Jeffrey would get excited as I am, because he would want to know that the cost of the veggies offsets the cost of creating the garden. Hmmm. I don't know the answer to that one. At this point I am just dreaming.
