Prepper Nation
Jessica Lawrence
I am so tired of politics. What was once a (mostly) mildly disagreeable topic that could be discussed with some civility has now turned into an epic battleground of opinions, Facebook university misinformation and outright rage. The fact is, on a national level, the political scene is only about power and nobody truly cares about the average American outside of getting their vote by any means necessary. In reality, we are all suffering from the fracture in our society from bickering on both sides of the fence, and it is the time more than ever to be more independent in taking care of yourself and your family. Inflation is skyrocketing and the finale of 2021 was rising gas prices, rising food prices, food scarcity, shipping delays and media fearmongering of not being able to get toys for Christmas. The truth here is that the American people have done a lot to put themselves into this predicament rather than only blaming the government. American made products are typically more expensive because of labor costs, but we prefer cheaply made imported goods and overbuy everything. I am also to blame because I have a massive shoe collection and last time I checked, Nike and Adidas didn’t make their shoes stateside.
The problem coming at us is not only an extreme price increase, but the availability of common products. The toilet paper disappearance early in the pandemic is just one example of how people panic because they were not prepared. If you planned to store things, you can buy a couple extra every time you shop and not empty out the shelves. This is typically better for your finances, other shoppers and your storage abilities. Panic hoarding leads to shortages that leaves a lot of the vulnerable population struggling to get by. Senior citizens, in particular, are at the mercy of a caretaker a lot of the time and do not have the physical or spatial capability to keep extra supplies on hand.
Most people who keep bees are already mindful of the independence of being prepared. Keeping bees is not easy, and keeping it up for years takes dedication and research. The price of sugar is going up all the time, but honey will stay good in storage for years and almost any recipe can be modified for honey instead of sugar. Bees also give you multiple sources of bartering or creating revenue, whether it’s from selling queens, bees, candles, wax, propolis, bee bread or honey. It’s more important than ever to take care of your bees because even colonies may be difficult or expensive (more so than usual) in the coming months.
Besides honey, people often overlook the importance of condiments or base ingredients in food. You may be able to grow all the vegetables in the world, but you’re going to want some salt at some point. Things like salt, pepper, seasonings and spices, and any dry goods that have long term storage capabilities should be purchased as extra any time you go to the grocery store. Most of those aren’t too expensive, particularly salt and pepper, will keep a long time in low humidity storage and they are items you will use over the course of time anyway. High sugar or high fat condiments, like ketchup or Crisco, can be bought in bulk but need to be rotated more often because they are more likely to go bad.
If you can grow your own vegetables, you can have meals that have more flavor and are tuned to your tastes. If you’re not careful with your garden though, the Baker’s Creek seed catalog and the Johnny’s Seeds catalog and High Mowing Seeds catalog will overwhelm you and then you have 43 varieties of tomatoes and you don’t even really eat them but they’re really pretty in pictures. Try to think about meals you eat commonly and go from there. If you don’t eat a lot of vegetables, this is probably the time to think about how you can incorporate more into your diet and what you’re eating instead. If nobody in your family eats cabbage, then don’t waste your time growing it just for variety. It would be a much bigger waste of space and time to grow a lot of vegetables that you might not eat than a couple vegetables you eat regularly. We eat a lot of broccoli, brussels sprouts, asparagus, corn and turnip greens. I love peas and green beans but I would rather buy them pre-frozen or pre-canned any day of the week than grow them if I have the option. There’s nothing wrong with stocking up on frozen and canned vegetables either if you can’t grow your own or you don’t want to. They are inexpensive and don’t take a lot of room in a freezer.
Speaking of freezers, that’s a hot commodity that has been difficult to find since the very beginning of the pandemic. If you get the opportunity to buy one you should absolutely jump on it, even if you have to strap that box to the top of a smart car. If you are so fortunate as to have options, upright freezers are a lot easier to organize and manage than a chest freezer. A chest freezer is not that bad if you have storage bins or are incredibly organized, or if you are using it for meat, but I definitely prefer upright when they are available.
I’m sure there’s some vegetarians out there reading this, or even vegan, but most of us aren’t. Meat prices have skyrocketed and I don’t see them coming down anytime soon. If there is any way you can harvest or grow your own meat, you have a definite advantage. If you’re really struggling, you can open a meat processing center and never have downtime for the rest of your life. My mom bought Charlie (middle son) two pigs for his birthday this year in February. Well, two thousand dollars later after building a pen and a house and buying food and lime, the girls were getting pretty large. Charlie had acquired a girlfriend and was not exactly as interested in pig maintenance as he might have been otherwise, and me and Biscuit and Gravy became friends. We weren’t the kind of friends where I wouldn’t eat them, but we were friends like they knew I’d bring them food and they could scratch their heads on my boots. The problem coming up here was the unavailability of the processors. They were booked solid for six months. When I called, I thought I was being proactive and was a couple months at least ahead of where our pigs should be when they were processed. The lady told me that they had a cancellation the next week and if I wanted it to tell her now. The girls weighed out at around 150 and 160 pounds, but it would have been better to have them closer to 200 each for maximum benefit. Sometimes you just have to roll with what you have though, and it was better meat than if you keep them too long. If you do decide to grow your meat, do a lot of research and see what it is going to take to maintain them and to process them and how much you are willing to do. It is almost impossible to find people who are selling piglets right now because everybody wants them. The pens are an expense and a lot of work but they will last a long time if you plan on keeping animals long term or on a yearly basis. Understanding how the process works to butcher your animals and deciding if you have that capability or you need to take it to a professional is also extremely important. If you don’t do it right, you’ve went from a humanely and responsibly raised food source to animal abuse in a hot second.
If you are one of the lucky people who have the ability to hunt (hunting skills, time, and acreage availability), then you can stock your freezer with meat for “free” for as much space as you have. I use the term “free” loosely because technically the meat didn’t cost you anything, but you have to be proficient with a weapon (plus buying it), tracking and hunting, safety and licensing, skinning and butchering, and several other random skills. My son Henry and I went bowhunting this year a lot and it is more difficult than a gun because you have to be able to track the deer, but it is more satisfying because of the skill needed to kill with a bow. You shoot it, track it, drag it out of the woods, then you have to clean it, have a space to clean it, know how to clean it without wasting all the good meat (or any meat preferably), understand deer (or bear or moose or whatever you are hunting) anatomy, and how to process the butchered meat in a way that it is palatable to you. A lot of people do not like the taste of wild game because someone did it wrong one time and gave to them. It takes a lot of learning and a lot of time to be able to hunt, so it’s not as easy as buying something in a store but potentially more rewarding and less cost in the long run.
Planning for the future in times where availability is uncertain is crucial for taking care of yourself and your family. Make a plan, make recipes, and decide what fits you best. The most important part is to make sure you don’t wait until the last minute and you’re in a panic with everyone else. Figure out how to make it work for you and do your best to make it happen.
