If you live near a church home storage center (also commonly referred to as a cannery), you should take advantage of this when planning and purchasing your food storage. Your ward may plan a trip or two every year, or you may be asked to volunteer your time at the cannery. Another option is to use the dry pack canner that your stake has and prepare your food that way. You may find that it is cheaper to purchase the food on your own, and then can it. You can order just the cans, lids and oxygen absorbers from the food storage centers as well.
You should call ahead and schedule your trip to the home storage center. Often they like to have a list of what you will be ordering and canning, so that they can have it on hand. Certain types of food have been more difficult to find and order. By scheduling and ordering in advance, it may save you a wasted trip if the main thing you want to purchase is not currently available.
You may set up a system in which you swap babysitting with someone to attend the cannery. If the cannery is one or two hours away then you may have one person baby-sit while the others attending can the food for them. This may take a little bit of extra planning, but will make it possible for more people to can food.
Take advantage of the option to purchase food that they have canned for you. This is great if you do not have time or the distance is too far to accomplish much during your trip. You can call ahead with your order and schedule a pick up time. The cost is a little bit more, but it may be worth the added convenience.
Although many people would think that a famine is only something that we read about, it is important to take note of the current food shortages around the world. With a global economy we are better able to deal with the negative effects of drought, and other conditions that may lead to poor harvests. But we are still reliant on things beyond our control when it comes to food production. At the very least food storage may help us to save money and stretch our food a little bit farther as food prices continue to rise.
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