Food Storage is a Necessity, Not a Luxury

***Taken from Sariah Schmickrath @ www.teamshelfreliance.com****
You have of course, heard about food storage but chances are you have none or very little of it. I'm hopeful that this article will help you understand why you need food storage as part of any emergency preparedness plan and inspire you to start now to acquire the appropriate amount of food storage for your needs.
Why Food Storage
Look back through history and you'll quickly see that disasters are constantly affecting people around the world. Whether they be caused by nature, such as hurricane Katrina or manmade through war etc, they are everywhere. At any time a disaster could affect the flow of food to your area of the world.
In the U.S. most people are accustomed to an abundance of food that hasn't been seen in the worlds history prior to the last century. Just look at the obesity epidemic affecting us and other parts of the world. We are so used to being able to walk in a store and get literally everything we want that it doesn't uccur to us that anything could break that chain. But without a constant flow of trucks and planes to supply your local store, it would be empty in a day; in a few hours in a panic such as the hours before hurricane Katrina hit. Just walk through your local Walmart at about 9pm before the night stockers begin to replenish the shelves and notice how little yogurt and other things there are. I had a friend in Denver a few years ago when a huge snow storm hit and blocked all the roads. He went to the store on the second day and said he was flabergasted that the shelves were basically bare. All it takes is a small interuption in the supply chain and the food supply you are so accustomed to just being there, won't be.
It may be a local disruption such as a bad storm, earthquake or fire. Or it may be on a larger scale such as the outbreak of a virulent flu. If you don't feel how lucky we were with the swine flu a few years ago I encourage you to read more about it and see just how close we came to a global disaster of a massive scale. Our modern lives allow us to travel great distances conveniently and also helps to spread such an outbreak accross the globe very quickly. Do you think the truck driver who is driving the oranges to your local store is going to risk infection - his life potentially to deliver them? I think he would do what everyone will, stay at home and pray they don't have it already.
Its Not If, Its When
Read anything about emergency preparedness and you'll start to see that the experts are right, its only a matter of time until an emergency affects you personally. Most people have been effected by the down economy the last few years. Food storage isn't just for disasters. Its for any time where its difficult to secure food for yourself and your family. It could be as simple as a lost job. Which is an emergency that only affects you! Wouldn't it be easier to stretch a smaller income if you already had all the food you needed?