Daisy Luther - The Pantry Primer: A Preppers Guide to Whole Food on a Half-Price Budget

The Pantry Primer

A Prepper's Guide to Whole Food on a

Half-Price Budget

By Daisy Luther

Daisy Luther, 2015

Table of Contents

Introduction

Did you ever stop to think about what you would do if all of your preps were gone? Heaven forbid such a misfortune might happen, but what if your pantry was wiped out in a fire or flood? If you had to start over, how would you go about it?

A few years ago, my daughter and I moved across the continent, from the easternmost part of Ontario to the Pacific Northwestern US. Because we were crossing the border, driving through extreme heat, and then storing our belongings in a trailer for a month, we couldn't bring our food supplies. We still had our tools and equipment, but we started over as far as our pantry was concerned. As well, we only brought a small trailer, so we also started from scratch for goods like toilet paper and laundry soap.

Being without my one-year supply of food made me feel uncomfortable and very vulnerable, given the economic circumstances in the world today.

I thought that it might be interesting, especially to new preppers, to show you how we rebuilt our food supply on a very tight budget. (That move was expensive!)

So, with that in mind, I wrote The Pantry Primer in 2013 to document our journey, and published it in 2014.

The original book was based on my blog posts about our fresh start, but the reviews and emails I received from the readers let me know that you wanted a lot more information than I initially provided. So, because of that, Ive revised The Pantry Primer and nearly tripled it in size.

This book is geared towards people who are just starting out on their preparedness journey. If youve been at it for a while, youll still find some creative ideas for shopping on a budget, but you may find that some of the concepts discussed are things that you already knew. I hope that youll still find the how-to information valuable, and maybe you can pay it forward by taking the time to advise someone less experienced.

In each section, well discuss two things: Why and How.

While knowing how to do something is of vital importance, I always find that I personally learn much better if I also know why Im doing it in that particular way. Some of the information is based on history, and some of it is based on my personal experiences.

So, lets get started. We have a lot of work to do, but dont worry! Ill walk you through it every step of the way.

Why Do You Need a One-Year Food Supply?

A years supply of food.

Does that sound like a ridiculous amount? Why on earth would you need a one-year food supply? There are four grocery stores in your town, not to mention Wal-Mart and Target. Food is EVERYWHERE!

Simple. A one-year food supply means freedom. It means that you are less subject to the whims of the economy. You can handle small disasters with aplomb. You aren't reliant on the government if a crisis strikes.

Here are some reasons why a food supply is important:

Personal Financial Disasters

People often ask me how I got started prepping. Nearly everyone who is into this lifestyle has a notable incident that made them pause and say, HeyI need to do things differently.

For me, there were two incidents that made an enormous, life-altering impression.

A looooonnnngggg time ago, when I was newly married and in my early 20s, my husband and I welcomed a beautiful baby girl who turned our world upside down. Suddenly, we werent just a young couple who could get by on only a few dollars until the next paycheck arrived. We had real responsibilities, and we needed to take life more seriously.

When our little bundle was just a month old, I had begun doing just that. I had planted a nice big vegetable garden in the yard of our rented home, and Id taken advantage of a good sale and put a dozen packages of bagels in our freezer and several jars of peanut butter in our pantry.

That was the same day that my husband came home, white-faced, to tell me he had been laid off.

Panic didnt ensue immediately. We had his last check and the weeks groceries. We knew hed qualify for unemployment, since hed paid into that fund for a sufficient amount of time. He was young, strong, and hardworking, we reasoned, so hed have a new job in no time at all.

Unfortunately, it soon became clear that there were few jobs to be had in our depressed area. Unemployment checks were eight long weeks away. Soon, we were broke and had nothing but the bagels and peanut butter, and some hopes for our garden.

It took five months before my husband found a job, and those were lean months indeed. But I had learned an incredibly valuable lesson. Stock up now, because you never know what tomorrow might bring. When we finally had some money coming in, I began to shop the sales diligently, organizing grocery trips with the ruthlessness of an invading army. Even on the miniscule amount of money we received from the Unemployment Office, I managed to put back a weeks worth of extra food, then a months worth, then even more.

That was the beginning of my preparedness lifestyle, even though I had absolutely no idea what prepping was at the time.

The next incident took ten years to occur, but this was the one that solidified things for me. Throughout the years, I had continued to stock my pantry, shopping the sales, and putting things back as I could. By this time, another lovely little girl had been born, and I was the single mom of two. I had a decent job in the automotive industry, but there wasnt a lot of extra money. Id bought a tiny little house with a tiny little yard, and was busting my rear to build some stability for my daughters.

Then, just like before, I got laid off in a mass culling of my former workplace.

Suddenly, I was without income. Here I was with a mortgage payment, a car payment, and all of the assorted expenses that come with homes and cars. I had two children to support, and no money coming in.

But this time it was different.

Totally, completely different.

Sure, it is always scary to lose your income source, but I had a safety net sitting there in the back room of my house.

That safety net wasnt soft and squishy. It was made of cans, boxes, and buckets. We had enough food to get us through at least 6 months of not buying a darned thing. This meant that my limited money could pay the bills to keep a car in the driveway and a roof over our head.

And for me, this sealed the deal. While other friends who had been laid off at the same time were struggling, we were just fine. In fact, we were able to help some of them out with groceries right out of our pantry and freezer.

In an uncertain economic climate, we never know when a personal crisis might befall us. Building a pantry means that your bills can still get paid while your family is fed. And this, my friends, is the best insurance you can buy.

Short-term Local Disasters

I can think of a dozen short-term disasters that have happened over the past few years right here in America that left people without access to stores for a few days up to a few weeks. For some of these incidents, there was a little bit of advance warning, but when everyone is getting the same warning, it doesnt take long for the shelves to be stripped bare. If you already have your supplies, you have no need to go out and fight the crowd beforehand, nor do you have to make a potentially risky trip to get supplies in the aftermath of the disaster.