Food Storage: Victory and Defeat

I was so pleased to finally get our Walton Foods order in last Saturday. It was my first experience ordering in bulk from a co-op. The delivery took months longer than we expected, but now that it is here and organized in the basement, I am so glad we did it! We mainly ordered long term (20+ yr.) items in 6 gal. buckets. They arrived sealed and ready for storage. This is something we have thought about and wanted to do for a long time. It always seemed overwhelming though. But last spring I had a fire lit under me and I was determined to get prepared. Now I am reaping the benefits! I'm not saying we are complete, but we are well on our way.

So, one of the tasks I completed last spring was compiling real, working 72 hour kits. You know with backpacks, extra shoes, glasses, diapers, etc... I did the very best I could. I was so proud of myself, until yesterday when I opened the big rolling tub where they are stored. Evidently one of the sealed water jugs cracked and leaked out a gallon of water and festered and molded and grew lots of hairy stuff on EVERYTHING!!! So now I have the lovely chore of digging through a huge tub of mold and determining what to salvage (the cash) and what to pitch (probably everything else). Well, at least I found it now, and not during a real emergency.