The Illusion of Food: What happens when the shelves are bare?
If you’re like most Americans, you’ve probably never considered the possibility of a widespread food famine hitting this country. For most people, the very mention of a famine seems ridiculous, something that could never happen here in America.
Every day millions of Americans walk into their local supermarket, filling their baskets with only enough food to make it through the week. Sadly, most people have never even thought about grabbing a couple of extra cans of food while at the store — you know, just in case something bad happens!
They stroll through the store blissfully unaware how the whole system is built on a house of cards, a house that’s just waiting to collapse.
The Modern day Food Distribution System
Modern day grocery stores operate on what’s known as just-in-time food delivery systems. Very little product is actually stocked at the physical store. In fact, the backs of these stores are often only big enough to process what’s coming in on the trucks. That means what you see on the shelves, is what’s available.
To stay profitable, today’s grocery stores have about a 3-day supply of food on hand at all times. They use complex delivery systems monitor, track, and reorder products on an as needed basis. While these systems have allowed big box stores like Walmart to thrive and take over the entire industry, they have left the average American incredibly vulnerable to even the slightest disruption in the food distribution system.
Every time a natural disaster hits, we witness firsthand how vulnerable our system really is. In what sometimes can be a matter of minutes, entire grocery stores can be stripped bare by a population that’s completely unprepared to deal with even short-term disasters.
If you’ve lived through an earthquake, hurricane or even a decent size winter storm, I’m sure you’re probably pretty familiar with the sight of an entire store filled with empty shelves.
While these small-scale disasters usually only last a couple of days or weeks, they provide a very real and very disturbing glimpse into our future. Should our country ever be hit by a major drought, shipping disruption, fuel shortage, or war, the delivery systems we depend on will be brought to its knees in very short order.
You must be Prepared to Feed Yourself
The government’s advice about having 72 hours’ worth of food supplies doesn’t even come close to what you really need. In my opinion, two weeks is the absolute minimum amount of supplies that you should have on hand at all times, and even that’s a very conservative number.
I advise immediately going out and buying two weeks’ worth of food and water. Once you hit that goal, you should then set a goal for 3, 6, and then 12 months’ worth of food.
Here are some suggestions,
- Canned foods and other non-perishables
- Military Rations MREs (Meals ready To Eat)
- Bulk Packages of Freeze Dried Food
Disaster after disaster in this country shows us how quickly an entire store can be wiped out. With most households in this country stocked with only a 3-day supply of food, during a long-term disaster this would not be sufficient to feed your family.
Being prepared for a food crisis means so much more than just stockpiling food. To be truly prepared, you must learn how to be self-sufficient. This means learning how to grow your own foods, studying the wild edibles in your area, and learning how to hunt, fish and trap your own food.
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