The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has been a long time advocate for self reliance. For years they have counseled members and non-members alike to 'prepare every needful thing'.
I was pushed to write this post after I received a phone call from a woman who found my ad listed on ksl. One of the most commonly asked questions I get is "Where do I start?" My response is always the same: "What are your goals?" The answer to this is different for everyone, but in a largely populated LDS community, most often they respond with something like "our religious leaders have counseled us to have food storage."
This counsel to store food dates all the way back to Brigham Young, 2nd president of the church, when he told the saints:
"The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat."
President Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, p.298
"...save the wheat until we have one, two, five, or seven years provisions on hand, until there is enough of the staff of life saved by the people to bread themselves and those who will come here seeking for safety."
Discourses of Brigham Young, pp.291-293
But somewhere down the road, I have found that a lot of people don't really know or understand what this counsel actually is. Specifically. And so, from the mouths of prophetic leaders of the Latter-day Saints, this post will hopefully help to cover just that.
