preparedness in temporary quarters

Preparedness doesn't always happen in ideal conditions or situations. It was very difficult for our family to collect and store a three-month supply and even harder to store longer-term storage items while we moved around the country and lived in small, temporary spaces. We tried to take as much storage as possible each time we moved. In some cases where moving storage was not practical, we sold or gave away some of our storage supplies.

Properly packed home storage products were very difficult to find when we lived in New York. I remember spending hours calling around and contacting companies just trying to find storage buckets and barrels (which I never found). In the end we participated in a group home storage purchase and items were delivered in a huge truck for many of us. I left some of my storage with my friends in New York when we moved, but I actually wish I would have given them all of it. It's so easy for me to get it here in Utah now.

My husband tells a story of incredulous looks as neighbors, not familiar with home-storage, helped to move their family. They responded to many questions of "why do you have all this food/wheat?" It was a wonderful opportunity to share their beliefs and testimonies of having home storage.

I love this talk where Sister Silvia Allred, 1st Counselor in the General Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, explains how they adapted their home storage to many moves and less-than ideal conditions. "My husband’s job required our family to move to Guatemala City. I had to leave behind our food storage. Once we were settled in our new home, I began to plan our food storage. The first thing we did was buy wheat. To our dismay, the 200 pounds we bought were moist. We had to dry the wheat before we could store it. It was the rainy season in Guatemala, and it rained a little almost every day. I found myself spreading wheat in thin layers out in the sun for what seemed like forever. We learned to be more careful about what we bought for food storage. Six months later, we moved to Costa Rica and again had to leave my precious wheat behind." (Principles of Self-Reliance, Silvia Allred, BYU Women's Conference 2008).

You may not have to dry your own wheat like Sister Allred, but you might be in the military or at college. You might be living with family or struggling from job to job. You may be in a situation where you change locations every few months. In any case, you can start and restart your home storage as much as needed. All you need is an extra can of something to start over. Something is better than nothing. Even a college student can keep a bag of extra food supplies under their bed. And who knows, you might bless others with difficult-to-find storage items if you have to leave your storage behind.