Pros and Cons of Having Food Storage

All the time growing up, our pantry was stocked full of food storage; there were bottles that my mom had spent hours feeling with jam, apple sauce, peaches, pears, apricots, tomatoes, apple pie filling, pickles, and even sauerkraut. We had five-gallon buckets filled with wheat, sugar, flour, rice, powdered milk, and honey. Then there were the cans of chili, pineapple, mandarin oranges, peas, green beans, etc. Oh, and this was just the dry food storage. In the freezer(s), you'd find up to half a cow, chicken, trout, homegrown corn, Turkey, and much more. I am a bit of an expert on the pros and cons of this topic.

Pros of Having Food Storage

1. Something you can rely on in case of an emergency. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint. Food storage is something that prophets and apostles of my church have advised the word to have. Many people have been blessed by following this council during food shortages, war, and natural disasters. 
2. Brings peace of mind. That is one less thing to keep me up at night. 
3. Allows you to be more self-reliant when hard times come. What if tomorrow you lost your source of income? Would you be able to feed those that depend on you without relying on others?  I know of someone who was let go and struggled to find work. His family had enough food storage to last during those trying times. 
4. You don't need to run to the store as often. It was dinner time, and nothing was ready. I ran to the pantry and within 30 minutes had a full blown meal  was prepared. 
5. You can learn new skills by building up food storage.  Below I compiled a list of things you can choose to learn while growing your food storage.

• How to bottle fruit
• How to grow a garden
• How to plant and maintain trees
• How to make fruit leather
• How to make juice
• How to grind wheat
• Cook with what you have
• Self-Reliance
• How to shop sales
• How to freeze meat

Cons of Having Food Storage

1. It can be expensive to build food storage. Canned food can break the bank if you aren't careful. You need to budget and plan well to make sure you don't brake the bank. 
2. Food storage takes a lot of space. I have stored food storage in so many places after moving out. I guess you got to do what you got to do, right?
3. It can go to waste. There are too many people who buy food storage, and never use it. Decades pass and all the sudden they find themselves with a pantry full of expired food. 
4. Hard to keep organized. I have cleaned houses and found this to be a problem. Yes, it is a problem it you like things tidy, but untidy food storage can cause a bigger problem. Rather then searching through a pile of cans for a can of olive, many people run to the store to buy another case. They then proceed to use one can of olives and throw the other 11 cans in the ever increasingly nightmare of a pantry. 
5. Food storage can become an obsession. How much toilet paper do you need? After the toilet paper shortage of 2020, I knew a lady that would buy a case every time she went to the store. That is fine, but she already had piles of toilet paper that would put a Walmart janitor's closet to shame. People can become fanatic.

"Our goal is to help the world make decisions with a list of Pros and Cons. We invite all to add to our lists to help others make the most educated decision possible. We are all in this world together to help each other and learn from what others have learned from their lives journey." - Pros and Cons Team
Written by: Kristen