My mother in law essentially has a mini grocery store in her basement. Her whole family is the same way. When two of her brothers lost their jobs, both families pooled their resources and lived off of food storage for several months. It's really quite amazing to get to that point.

One of the things my wife and I have discussed recently in regards to food storage is that its purpose might not necessarily be for the millennium, but more for times of economic peril. If gas goes up to $6 a gallon, many families might have to dip into their food storage so that they don't have to go to the grocery store as much...and so they don't have to buy food that will rise with the rising gas prices.

We try to build up our food storage when we can get good deals, and unlike Utah for example, there are no case-lot sales. The other week, grocery stores slashed prices on cereal to 10 boxes for $10. I think we walked away with 35-40 boxes of cereal. If you watch the deals, you can really build up a food storage quickly...that and you have to be willing to commit your resources to it.

You want to store things that keep, and if they don't keep, then things that you cycle through quickly. I would never buy cereal boxes for food storage, just because I don't think they keep for that long.

The church website has good suggestions, and a calculator, for what to store.

My point was that it is better to have an active food storage...one you could live off of if need be in the immediate future...not just bags of wheat and canned fruit that get thrown away when you move or die (as is the case sometimes, especially with parents or grand parents).

What about the food you throw away (when you really need it) because it is no longer edible?

That's why I worry about more than outdated wheat.

I have been beating on the food storage drum for a long time. Unfortunately for you late-comers it will now cost more than 3x as much to get it now.

Well, it isn't my first time at the food storage rodeo, but I'll let that dig slide.

I think that food storage has evolved over the last 10-15 years and more specifically the last 2-3, which is why we're seeing a shift in food storage being a more realistic proposition for many "newcomers" as you say.

the idea that food storage could be used in economic hard times is not a revelation.

Neither is the idea that you need to store things that keep.

Nope. That's one reason why it's a good idea to follow the dictum.

Better poll would be this:

"Assuming you are active LDS, do you have a HDTV, but don't have a year's supply?"

Are you suggesting that I have somehow said that is not what we should do?