It's the Ides of March. I hope you're all stab wound free.

So, today I went out and replenished a bunch of food storage at a case lot sale. It's not only economically savvy, but it's also saved our bacon, like when Rice lost his job. We did not go hungry, and ate better than we had any right to. Also, we've watched grocery prices increase and the price for corn, rice, and especially wheat is supposed to increase significantly over the next couple of weeks out here. I bought a bunch of pasta, and am planning on buying more, as well as purchasing flour, lots of rice, etc. We buy the things we eat anyway, make sure it's all balanced and a good diet, and spend a lot less money in the process. I'd really prefer to eat fresh all the time, but particularly when we're talking about things like canned beans one can't complain when they have several cases lying around. (We eat a lot of beans; the kids love foods that begin with beans... hummus, taco/enchilada/burrito filling/dip, soup, casserole, with pasta, with rice, chili, falafel, etc.) Besides, there's the saving one's bacon thing. I'd rather have a case of canned peaches to get through (and the kids love them) than have no fruit at all.

It's not uncommon for people to have food storage out here; it's more common than not. Besides, my family (both sides) have always been ones for setting up stores, especially for winter. My paternal grandparents were farmers and harvest season was spent bottling salsa, chili sauce, fruit and vegetables. My maternal grandparents lived in the city, but would go to a cannery and put their own fruit and vegetable and preserve stores together for the winter. Growing up we always had dry and canned goods around for just in case, particularly since we also tended to get snowed in. Rice's parents do the same thing. And so we just do, too. We lay up the stores, find it helpful in many ways, and then (as I've said) there's the whole saving one's bacon thing.

Occasionally I've run into people who thought I'm crazy. What do we do with all this food? Today two of the store employees who checked me out when I took two trips to purchase said food storage (their carts were really small) thought I was out of my mind the first time through. When I went back for more their minds were blown. "What do you do with all this food?" (We eat it over the year.) "How many kids do you have?" (Two boys.) "Well, that's not very many." (Perhaps not, but you haven't seen them eat.) "Where do you put it?" (In my basement on my shelves that are specifically there for such things.) "Why do you do this?" (Cite reasons about economics, assisting with budgets, rising grocery prices, etc. here.) "Huh, that's not a bad idea." (No, no it's not.)

I'm sure I've discussed food storage before. Maybe it's a concept from the past, maybe it's a Jell-O Belt cultural thing, but I wouldn't have my family do it any other way.