Food Storage?

From Mises.org:

The May 30, 1918, New York Times carried the headline, "Navy Man Indicted for Food Hoarding." It reported on a man who had invested his wife's inheritance in a year's food for storage; and so they were held on a $3,000 bail each. The food was confiscated.

There is quite a lot of buzz in certain circles about food storing. The example from the Mises article shows some of the dangers. If you decide the buzz is correct and you buy food it would be best not to tell anyone. What no one knows you have no one can take. 

I think that having some food stored is a good idea for three reasons. First, it is a good investment in this current food inflationary environment. Food is going up in cost rapidly. Secondly, in this economy one can never be certain about your employment. Imagine how pleased you would be with a few months of food in your pantry if you or your wife are laid off. Another reason is the risk of natural disasters. While no one seems to be starving in Japan, those with some food stored did well. This assumes that their house was not destroyed by the quake or the flood of the tsunami. A Christian can also share with their neighbors. Unless society deteriorates to resemble a bad post-Apocalypse movie, having food for yourself and food to share seems like a good idea. If society does get that bad, you will die; and the food will be stolen. 

But there is no reason to buy the pre-made "survival" food. I just recently threw out all the food my mom purchased for the supposed Y2K "crisis." Some of it we did use, for example we added the soup mix to the pot whenever we made soup. But all the MRE packages we threw out. These pre-made emergency meals are not something you would ever eat unless you had to. 

You should store what you eat, and eat what you store. Let's say your family eats green bean cassole once a month. Then you should gradually have 12 cans of green beans, 6 cans of cream of mushroom soup (we use cream of chicken), and 6 cans of the onion topping. You would gradually buy more when these items were on sale, and build up your pantry. Having a well-stocked pantry is smart, having boxes of expensive survival food in your garage is not. 

Positive Dennis