Food: Self-Reliant or Dependent?

There is a growing trend towards self-sufficiency because of the economic turmoil in the US. People are realizing the importance of basics and many are turning away from a life built on disposable income and credit. We are watching and learning hard life lessons.  As people deliberately simplify their lives, they are taking more responsibility and control of their own lives. Those who decide to follow a simpler and more self-reliant lifestyle have chosen what they believe is the best way to survive in today’s economy.

Fifty years ago, very few people were committed to self-sufficient lifestyles.  Times were changing and self-sufficiency was for backwoods people, poor people — people who didn’t have a chance in the new real world. The upward-advancing people had money and they were hiring out, letting others do the work for them. They shelved the rakes, parked the plows, and let the fields go to seed. These people, the working class, produced very little (or none) of their own food — they were working. The bought foods, durable goods, suburban homes, and had disposable incomes to do so.

Fifty years before that — one hundred years ago — the self-sufficient lifestyle was much more common, though. Most people raised their own food. Store bought goods were generally limited to a few staples, yard goods, and extras such as tobacco or a household item. Families had less money so they bought less. Credit was unheard of except at the local general store.

Back then, lifestyles and perspectives were different. People were not as worldly and commercials didn’t force us to become consumer-driven robots. The community, church, and the home was the center of most activity, not the highways, the workplace, and shopping malls. But as we industrialized, we modernized, and somewhere along the way, a large segment of our society decided it was in vogue (and much easier) to let someone else do the hard work.  Money earned from paying jobs provided the means to hire out and buy out, and people often chose to do this.

Well, here we are in the 21st century and times have changed again. Big corporations farm much of the land in America now and big government dictates what we can and cannot do. The economy has been weak for years. Jobs have either moved across the ocean for cheaper labor or they have evaporated because businesses have closed. People who were once dependent upon the safety of the American system that was too big to fail know it has flopped. Tens of millions of us (more like most of us) have felt the economic fallout in one or more ways. We all realize the system has been twisted, massaged,  and propped. And we all realize the system is not working. The system is unhealthy and unsustainable.

With a deliberate focus on self-reliance and our own food production and gardening,  are any of us getting more concerned?

In 2009 and 2010, our household made some changes to our personal food supply.  We began making bulk purchases of dry goods, increasing our own future food supply while it was still “affordable.”  The decision was a good one and we not only saved money, we saved time because our food supply system became our own little grocery store. We purchased dried foods like grains, beans, sugar, and rice in 25 pound and 50 pound bags. As we used them, we bought more. We cycled our bulk foods much as we cycled our canned goods, using the oldest foods first. We grew our food storage system until we met the food storage goal of 1 year’s supply of food for our household.

As we continue to use and restock our food pantry, we are also in the process of adding more and more foods into our pantry. At this time of year, we are buying some canned foods and jars of food that we can keep in our food pantry downstairs. As well, we are still making bulk purchases for dry grains and legumes.  Some would refer to this as “stocking up”, others would say we are “stockpiling food”. We are. We’re doing both, actually, but during this Winter season, we are buying cans and jars of food to offset the probability of food inflation. So in keeping with our self-reliant beliefs, we have decided to adjust our lifestyle to accommodate the economy now. We are using money to purchase some foods that we would normally grow. (I will explain this tomorrow.)

So with the continuing lag in our economy and the threat of food inflation, coupled with the lack of confidence in our government, we are in the process of increasing our food storage.  By investing in foods and not in banks with almost no yield, we are choosing to buy more foods now with today’s money instead of waiting to find that we have depleted our food supply and must buy food that’s more expensive.

We are preparing for more difficult times.

I’m more concerned now than I was 6 months ago. The possibility of continued weather-related problems coupled with food inflation and a food shortage could possibly push the US into a food crisis. The food crisis issue is a relatively new announcement in the US, and more analysis is necessary. (In my opinion, the assessment was not provided with fact-based evidence that satisfies my own curiosity.)  However, discounting a food crisis, we are still forced to accept the possibility of weather-related problems. Then there is that pesky food inflation that is only beginning to appear in stores.

Unfortunately, there are other factors to consider when looking at our food supply and our national food system.  Organizations now inform us that there is a larger strain on public assistance and our overall food supply. SNAP, the Federally funded “food stamp program.”  In January 2008 when Obama became President, there were 27,580,481 individuals enrolled in SNAP. The latest news is that more than 43 million Americans are receiving “food stamps”.  This large number of individuals shows the economic reality of our Nation’s financial hardships. The SNAP assists a segment of our population that is part of our government-dependency and always receiving assistance, but the “food stamp” assistance has been steadily climbing for years. In Fiscal Year 2010, the Federal SNAP paid out $64,704,631,665 for food assistance. In Fiscal Year 2009, the total was $50,359,917,015. An incredible $64.7 billion for money to buy food that people can’t afford and don’t grow.

With this Federal program increase in spending, it is obvious that the dependency on assistance programs has grown. The rate of increase does not match unemployment or other economic statistics one for one, but is indicative of the overall economy. Think of it: more than 14% of individuals in the US are receiving financial assistance for food. How did our agrarian-based Nation become so removed from crops and from gardening? How could so many Americans become dependent upon a nationalized food supply system? What happened to providing for oneself and being responsible?

We do know that there are those who are self-reliant. We also know our LDS population has been taught to store food for emergency situations. No doubt, if some people suffering financial hardships were not well prepared with their own food storage, they too would be on Federal assistance for food.

Food banks struggle now and some have run out of food on occasion. This phenomenon occurs across America.  The number of homeless people is not only increasing but the tent cities are seen, and there are higher numbers at area soup kitchens. The state of our food supply seems to point to a critical stage for America….and it very well may worsen.

We are indeed living in very difficult economic times.  So we are increasing our own food storage with additional foods that we will purchase.  By investing in foods, we can provide a safety net for ourselves by having additional food stored. We are planning to protect ourselves against more system failures. Frankly, it appears that a big food pantry is more valuable than money in the bank.

How about you?

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