My grandmother raised six kids more-or-less on her own after my grandfather died in an industrial accident. She was born in the middle of the great depression, and lived in a very rural area of southern Indiana. She canned everything, and got that lesson ingrained in my dad. Dad hated the mess it made, so would plant enough tomatoes staggered out so that whenever he and mom had the weekend available to get it done, he could go out late one Friday evening, pick enough tomatoes to cover every flat surface that would see the sun rise in the morning, and once us kids were up and kicked out of the kitchen, they'd commence to juicing and canning tomatoes. At first, seven quarts at a time, then later fourteen once they remodeled the kitchen and got a slightly bigger range to hold two pressure canners simultaneously, they'd can a hundred quarts of tomato juice for our use, primarily in making chili. They'd also can another hundred to share around the extended family and trade for other things. All summer, we'd pick green beans and sweet corn and give them to the mail man, sell them to the grocery store, etc. Once Mom and Dad had divorced, and later Dad had lost his battle with cancer, I found some of their tax returns in a box. Their average annual income in the late 1980s combined was around $14k. On that, they raised three boys, all with hyperactive growth genes, largely by planting a garden that was 50'x150' at times, storing provisions from that garden, trading work for a local farmer during planting season and harvest for beef, etc.

I think an episode on food storage in this century would be interesting, how did they keep things safe from critters or mold? Did they use root cellars or raised store houses?

Necessities: Flour, sugar, salt. Products with long shelf life: Pastas. Dry beans and peas. Dried fruits and mushrooms. Cooking oil. Lard. Honey. Canned foods. Preserved fruits and vegetables. Storable vegetables: Carrots, potatoes, beets. Today we made 40 kilos of homemade sauerkraut for the winter. Our grandfathers taught us to have a store of all of mentioned products before every winter. Just in case.

Calling those who store paranoid is like calling those who drives with a spare tire, jack, and wrench paranoid.

My wife and I don't have a root cellar, so we do a lot of canning of the things we grow on our trees and in our garden. This year our peach tree produced so many peaches that we gave them away, both straight off the tree and canned. Same with our chili pepper and tomato plants. We gave away a lot of homemade salsa and kimchi. It's a good feeling to share what you have with those you love.

"I like to make them a little different every time." Bet the nutmeg is a constant, though, Jon. :)

Preparing for the worst while hoping for the best is a individual responsibility for each household.

Something very popular in England is the allotment. It’s a space of land with fertile soil that can be purchased for the purpose of growing whatever food one sees fit. I like growing carrots and onions as well as basil and thyme.

Stocking necessities is a learned skill. There are ways to do it that aren’t going to break the bank and ways to maintain shelf stability. It’s something that takes time to do as well. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t have a years worth of food all at once. Build it up slowly. The important part is just getting started.

I was having a big ole chat with my 90 year old grandmother a little while ago. We talked about all sorts of things. Somehow, preppers/prepping came up. She asked what that meant. I explained. She said, oh, so normal life. She went on to explain the things her parents did when she was young. They prepped. Even down to buying silver with their spare money at the end of each week as they didn’t trust the economy. Was rather mind blowing. This was in Australia too, so no snow and you can grow some veg right through winter, but still they stored food and prepped.

My family was homeless when I was a kid, now I'm 40, well off, but I always remember to stock up and be prepared, no matter the abundance around me, just the basics, flour, yeast, garden, seeds. Brings reflection and gratitude toward any situation, but I understand not all people have this option. This video makes wholesome jealous of it

Also: when something _does_ break, if you're the person who has 2 weeks worth of food in storage, you won't be buying up the limited quantities of food at the grocery store that other folks need.

This plus your recent "learn a craft so that you can help out when society collapses" vid have been real fun

Well done video. “For peace of mind” is a solid reason to put back provisions. Also liked your perspective that “something always breaks!” True words. A gentle reminder to look after oneself and the loved ones by having a store put aside. Thanks, Jon!

When SHTF the guys and ladies from Townsend's will be the best dressed survivors.

One of the best episodes yet. I really enjoy the little “frank conversations” Jon occasionally films. I obviously like the other content, but these little moments are so significant and important in these chaotic times. They bring great peace of mind and clarity for me. Thank you, Townsends & Crew.

Johnny cakes are something my grandpa used to make to take into the woods with us, whether it was to hunt deer or to cut firewood or to fish. I haven't had it in almost 25 years. That's changing today! Thank you

I learned from my grandmother. She always had a small garden and always canned the left overs. I don't can, but I do keep the pantry stocked. There's no reason not to have a months worth of food - beans rice and canned goods aren't that expensive.

I love the fact that people still talk about things that have past and give hope for a future...simple things endure

I got into the habit from reading and watching historian James Burke in the 1980’s. He wrote the book and television series “Connections” about just how fragile our massively interdependent modern civilization truly is. I keep enough food, water, energy, waste management, medicine, and other supplies to tide me over for a few months. But I certainly don’t believe the nonsensical survivalist prepper fantasy, that I could live completely without modern society, or even survive beyond the two months I have planned for. People need to realize that we need to nurture and strengthen the bonds between ourselves, because we are never going to make it alone.

The last 2 years taught a lot of people that you cannot always depend on being able to get whatever you want from the store. It pays to have some flour, corn meal, beans, and canned goods on hand just in case.

I've been helping my parents getting stocked up in the freezer and pantry to get at least 2 to 3 months for the winter to avoid the icy roads.It's also a time and headache saver when I can make last minute meals for myself and save money each month then ordering out.I've been into emergency predarness ever since getting hit by superstorm sandy hit the New York area many years ago. I took those lessons form experiencing two weeks without power and I will never forget that.

I gotta say, I really like the aesthetic of the fireside talks / cooking coupled with the fall/winter light coming into the window.

I'm only 60 years old, but just 40 years ago it was rare to have all the variety of fresh produce year-round as we see today. I remember as a child being overjoyed to see citrus fruits in the A&P produce aisle, because it meant Christmas was near. We always had an orange in our Christmas stockings. The only year-round fruit was apples, and the only year-round vegetables were potatoes and onions. All the others measured the seasons. I do think it's a good thing to have fresh berries any time of year, but the downside is that the luxury is lost on the young. People under 40 don't have the conservation mindset because they're so used to having anything they want at any time of year that they take it all for granted. Whereas I'm still tickled pink to have access to all the variety, younger people are less happy, less appreciative, and more demanding. It's not their fault, being that it's just human nature that when childhood is filled with luxury, children grow up to regard luxury as their right, and perhaps to look down on those who didn't always enjoy the luxury.

The videos where you talk about people toughing it out through the hard times are my favorite videos. The fact it's in the cabin, ever better.

I live on the Gulf Coast and, as a precaution, I keep what I call "Hurricane Buckets". Literally buckets with twist-off lids that I store shelf-stable food in. Canned food, dried pasta, spam, canned chicken, grits and/or oatmeal, molasses, honey, peanut butter, crackers, a rice and bean prepper soup I learned about and vac-packed; things like that. I also keep a bottle or three of hot sauce around to add a little heat to whatever I might make out of the buckets. For full disclosure, I just moved from Houston further inland (and further north), but still Texas, so I don't actually have to worry overmuch about hurricanes anymore. Now my worry is tornadoes and ice storms. Guess I'll have to rename the buckets. 😉

I started a garden 5 years ago and every year my knowledge grows and so does my garden. If I could offer any advice to someone overwhelmed with options of what to garden it would be to pick one thing and just plant it. Once you feel confident in your abilities try growing two things that accompany each other well and keep it going.

I think it's really important that we focus more on food waste and how much we can save from preserving or getting the "ugly" produce and make it into food immediately to save it. We aren't treating fresh food as precious as it should be

I tend to cook in a pretty old fashioned way. When my daughter grew old enough to notice some of the differences between us and her friends families, she described it like this; we didn't have 'food' in our house, we had the raw ingredients of it. No cereal, cookies, or crackers, but grains, flours, sweeteners, salt and etc., boxes of apples, potatoes and other roots down cellar....( : D )

I have a winter's supply of homemade jam, canned tomatoes and pickles. Grown from my backyard and preserved. Delicious. 😊

This channel has been instrumental in helping me choose a plan for putting by for the winter and developing a more homestead way of living. We took some ideas from the 18th century and some from more modern permaculture methods. We've taken advantage of our wooded yard to grow native shade plants that also provide food including lots of berries, ramps, wild ginger and more. The little sunny areas are now sites for a fall, winter, spring garden bed (summer is too brutal for me here) and a medicinal and edible and very bee-friendly wild flower garden. The simpler our responses to basic needs gets (heat, food, light, etc.) the more we find ourselves looking to the colonists ways of combining knowledge of the native edibles with some gardening, butchering, and non-electrically derived food preservation. Suddenly that "stockpiling" mentality turned into just a simpler and gentler lifestyle. More physical labor? Sure, but at 62, I find myself getting stronger and more healthy every day and the less we need to buy, the less I have to work away from home. Thank you for all your wonderful videos!

I grew up in Indiana and had Grandparents that lived through the depression. Thanks to my Grandma I have always seen the need to stock up for hard times, now more than ever. I preserve enough food to make it through till I can harvest again with plenty to spare for others just like my Grandma.

The truth is, having more food in the pantry (and freezer) to last a month is a good idea not only in the time of global crisis but also in normal circumstances. Sometimes life happens and having one less worry in a time of personal crisis can be a blessing. Being it a broken leg with no way to go to the store, or a spouse losing job and not having that extra income for some time, having extra (shelf stable or frozen) food is never a bad idea.

We've got grocery stores with everything we need - till they don't, and the shelves are empty. I keep at least 3 months on my shelves, and I didn't have to panic at the start of the Covid lockdown.

I feel like owning your own cabin is more practical than modern life sometimes. lol.

Nice video. Because of where I have lived in the past, keeping at least one month ahead was the bare minimum, I've been in the situation where I could not go into the village for six weeks due to weather I, I usually keep at least three months ahead, I rarely go in more than once a month even now. It's quite comforting to know that I've got fresh milk, eggs as long as the hens are laying and some cured pork hanging, mutton on the hoof along with a good supply of fresh, dried veg, a nice variety of pickled veg and home canned stuff from the garden.

I grew up in the 1950's and 1960's, which many have called the "Age Of Prosperity", and for some then, it was. For our family, at times, it was. But, my family fell upon hard times, losses, some tragic, some not so much, but those losses were monumental and life-changing, and character-forming. My maternal Grandmother, who lived through World War I, the Spanish Flu epidemic, The Great Depression, and World War II, knew what it was like to live and raise a family through great hardship and shortages. My Mother also had that instilled into her from a young age. I, growing up when I did, always was taught to "be prepared" for hard times, "for one never knows when they can happen". During my formative years, there was The Cold War, The Cuban Missile Crisis, then the Vietnam War, Oil Crisis I & II. And here we are now nearly two years after "fifteen days to flatten the curve", "the toilet paper crisis", and now "The Supply Chain Crisis" and rampant inflation with food and energy prices increasing exponentially practically overnight. One can go to stores and see empty shelves where back only five years ago, there was no sign of any shortage of any thing. It is always good to be prepared, and still to this day, I do prepare. I can and preserve foods for future use. I always think ahead to have the things that I and my family will need, because I was taught that concept sixty years ago. We need to be prepared for anything, always. We who are able to have a little more in storage for future days, weeks, and months, perhaps years, need to do so not only for ourselves, but also for our friends and family who are not able to do so, for financial or other reasons. Be prepared. Be not afraid of your surroundings and future, but be wary. Be very wary, be very alert, be very aware.

My husband jokes that we have enough food to survive a nuclear. Winter! I rarely cook processed foods and my cupboards are full of staples. These days the best way of storing food is freezing, so I cook in large batches and freeze. I also have a good supply of store cupboard essentials..different flours, pastas, herbs and spices, pulses etc. It gives me a great sense of satisfaction to know that I can provide good meals for my family in any circumstances.

Right on Jon with storage! My Great grand parents talked about the Great Depression and the hard times and how hard it was to come by food. They lived in a suburb and had to have food ration stamps and wait for the train to stand in line for the food. My Great grandma would tell us they did this because of the interruption to the normal supply of goods.

Cabin looks mighty cozy under the new roof. Looking forward to many fine videos without the crew getting dripped on and chilled.

Yep stockpiling even back then wasn't called prepping. Rather it was just everyday life. But with the world today, I'd recommend stockpiling at least a months worth of food. I'm a butcher and the prices just keep getting higher and supplies are harder to get. Get the food and supplies now. Because the cargo and shipping crisis is only going to get alot worse Edit: butcher

Thanks for this video. A small chest freezer and ample pantry shelf spaces allow me several weeks' worth of 'self-sufficiency', if not longer. I don't do any actual canning, mostly cuz I'm too lazy - lol - but canned and dry goods holding purt near everything edible are abundant in my local supermarkets. Therefore I keep my shelves stocked sufficient to my needs. Being 72 years of age has not meant having inherent 'wisdom'. but it has allowed me a powerful 'perspective'. Relative self-sufficiency is NOT hard to accomplish in this day and age, and is surely a simple task compared to the struggles of our ancestors.

You are correct: it is perfect. A slow tutorial video of enjoyable entertainment revolving around fall...simple perfection.

It’s always a great time to grab a chair and learn the old ways of food preservation by canning or other means. Listen and practice (or at least have the know how) by your grandparents. Canning was big in my family and yes I have the know how and means too do so. Have you seen food prices? Gardening, even in a few pots, is also a good simple way to save costs and know what your eating. Start from good seed and learn how to save seed for next year’s crop too! Chickens are tons of fun and absolutely hilarious, and they are egg factory’s too.

Love this channel! Speaking about winter, could you do a video sometime about lumber collection and the time it took to collect and store wood for the entire winter? Thanks for all your content!

Grew up gardening, but had gotten away from it in our busy lifestyles. Me and my wife have started gardening again and shes learning preservation techniques. We've also been buying extra flour,lard,sugar,salt,and canned goods.

It IS a beautiful time of year in Charlottesville, VA and throughout the Shenandoah Valley. We have colorful maples and even colorful oaks with bright red leaves! Last week and next week, I was and will be out in my small raised bed garden plots, loosening the soil and raking in worm castings, kelp meal, peat moss, and composted chicken manure. These beds should be ready to go next spring! I ENJOY your videos from the cabin too! It must be especially fine inside since the new roof is on!

I am close to your age group and remember my grandmother and mom's gardens. We canned, preserved all kinds of food. Today we have lost our way but it doesn't mean we cannot re-learn those ways. Thank you. I have to make those Johnny cakes.

I'm a Brit and after the food in the cupboards and cans, I tend to keep 4 months food minimum of dried foods chosen to get a balanced diet and sugar/flour for calories.

from now (November) until green edibles is a long time--early April here, some years still snow...better to have food for 5 - 6 months. Fall harvest and root cellars go together--have you considered a root cellar episode? a lot of food can be set aside there potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips, also krauts and pickled foods. I'd love to see you build a root cellar and discuss how they were used in the 18th century.

This channel is a national treasure. Combining gastronomy with historical exploration, woodworking and literary references. There's really nothing quite like it. The first Townsends video I ever watched was the video entitled "Everything Is Going To Be Fine," dated 11-2-20, where Jon invites viewers into his cabin for some food and a fireside chat and reminiscences. Relaxing and educational.

Having experienced shortages and supply chain breakdowns in the California fires over the last few years and having to evacuate multiple times. I have the experience to say everyone should stock up at least 4 weeks worth of food and have an emergency bag to grab if they need to evacuate immediately. From my own experience I would say build up your pantry by getting a few extra things that you eat that can be stored longer term each trip to the store. Make sure it is things you would normally eat so that you are cycling it into your regular meals. It's silly to store 50lbs of rice and beans and expect to live off of that.The malnutrition alone would get you. Just have more pastas, canned chilli, canned veggies, canned fruits or pasta sauces. You know what you and your family will eat stock up on that. Things you should have in your go bag: two outfits one for cold one for warm; three pair underwear and socks; any medications you need or regularly use; some cash; a flashlight; water and ready to eat foods like a couple of granola bars; a couple of Mylar emergency blankets; a couple of disposable ponchos; a back up drive with all important documents and pictures on it in a waterproof case; a first aid kit; a bic lighter; last but not least a radio preferably solar or crank. You don't need all the outdoor survivalist crap you'll see many preppers talk about on youtube, odds are you will be going to a friend's or family member's house or potentially a shelter or hotel not to live a new life in the woods like in a movie. Sorry for the super long comment remember this is just my opinions you surely will have different needs so customize any safety preparations to your own needs.

I love watching your videos, sir. They bring back memories of a simpler time, when the entire family pitched in to store food for the winter. And we always had enough to share with those who were suffering hardships. I will always be grateful to my parents for raising us with their values. Didn't care for it too much at the time, but it instilled in us a way to make sure we could provide for ourselves. Thank you, Mr. Townsend.

We LIVED in a world where we could just go down the the store whenever. This has already changed but we haven’t figured it out yet! I love your channel both from the perspective of looking back but also learning lessons that might become useful in the near future!

Love cooking in the cabin - comforting.

Not only having food stuff available but also put thought into a way to cook/heat it.

I've got a dozen eggs in a muffin tin in my freezer as im watching this lol. When they're frozen i'll pop them out and put them in a bag and throw them back in the freezer. i can use them one at a time when I need an egg. I bought two dozen because they were on sale. ;) I've got a 5cubic foot chest freezer full of food, just incase. :) I buy when it's on sale, freeze it and use it as needed in order of expiration.

The last couple of years have taught me to always keep a month or two's worth of supplies on hand, just in case of lockdowns. Dry foods (beans, rice, flour, oats, pasta), canned foods (Not really a thing where we live, but pasta sauce and tuna), pickled stuff, medicines, and cleaning supplies are now something that I keep a STOCK of in my house. And now that the shipping crisis is starting to hit Korea (Seriously, our grocery store looks like Armageddon sometimes.), I'm very glad that we've been doing this.

Another good reason for preserving food is that you can decide what you want to put in there. YOU decide the amount of sugar, vinegar, preservatives...whatever. Also, doing it yourself bring great satisfaction. I opened a jar of plum jam from our own trees the other day. It was from 2014, and still as good as if it was made yesterday.

As a good Midwesterner, I was raised to always have enough for at least a few weeks, especially in winter. You just never know what's going to happen!

When I was growing up (1950's in Maine) we had a large book shelf and a large couch. If the couch was put in front of the book shelf the lower shelves were covered. It was there my mother put all the emergency food, water and other supplies. It was a habit she never lost even 50 yers later. I can recall several times we were snowed in for five days to a week... long enough to cause modern cabin fever.

For health reason, both physical and spiritual, we have gone to producing and storing as much of our own food as we can. This includes making as much as possible from as raw a state as possible. That includes making our own butter, breads, and so on. We do use modern methods such as a dehydrator, but it is so satisfying to know that we are more connected to the land around us but also less reliant on others and on systems that can fail.

Growing up we canned and presserved year- round. Normally we would raise/hunt our own meat and can/dry/freeze. But you can watch for meat specials and presserve.

A full pantry and a tall woodpile are two of the most comforting things to have on hand in winter.

I read the title as 'Food Storage: Not Just For Peppers' and I thought, "well, duh". Makes much more sense when you read good.

"Why do you have 2 weeks of food in the pantry? Are you expecting trouble?" "Nope. If I was expecting trouble, I'd have 3 to 6 months." Here in the Pacific Northwest, there is always the possibility of the Cascade Subduction Zone popping. When it does, it'll be an 8.0+ and the entire supply system will be disrupted for weeks due to damaged roads. If a household doesn't have the ability to feed themselves for a few weeks, they'll be hosed. The thing is, its pretty trivial to have 2 weeks of food set aside. IMO, having a small reserve for natural disaster is just like wearing the seatbelt - you don't expect to use it, but are glad you had it should things go sideways. Canned meats, stews and chili. Crackers. Just add water soup mixes and canned soups. Powdered milk. Instant rice. Potato flakes. Pasta and canned / jarred sauce. Instant coffee, some tea, hot chocolate. All stuff one can get at the grocery store, and all stuff that can be worked into normal meals to rotate it (or taken camping in the summer), and nothing that is particularly expensive. The list goes on. It isn't that expensive - add 1-2 items per grocery run (2 cans of chili, 1 box of instant rice and a box of potato flakes, etc) and in only a few months, you'll have a nice emergency stockpile. And its under $50 to get a basic 2 burner propane stove at Big Box Retail. For under $20, also at Big Box Retail, get the hose to adapt the 20lb grill tank to the 1lb fitting the typical 2 burner stove takes, and you're set for those same 2 weeks as far as cooking is concerned (assuming you already have a propane grill and you're not just about out - so go top it off, now). An "indoor safe propane heater" can be found by your favorite search engine. The folks in Texas last year who had this basic set up were going to be fine when the power went out. Those that didn't have this kind of set up were hosed. And having some fine, scratch made Townsends recipe ships biscuit to crumble into that soup when the power is out for the 5th day in a row will add quite a bit of substance to the meal. I still have a batch I made 2 years ago....right next to the soup in the pantry.

What a wonderful message of self reliance and hope. I am so grateful to have Townsends in my life. Well done sir. I think I will go make some Johnny cakes right now.

Mmmm! Makes me want to pull out the Mockmill and grind some corn and make polenta! I guess I’ll do just that!

Perfect video for the inflation going on right now. Stock up people.

Last year there was about a month where we were running out of food here in the tea. Meat was being rationed, canned goods were completely sold out as was dried pasta, milk, fruits and vegetables, it was a bit frightening. So I planted fruit and nut trees on my land, started a garden and bought dry foods that store forever. Your channel is great and I appreciate your message that we should all try to be a little more self-sufficient instead of panicking when things aren’t going as they usually do.

My Grand parents, Mom and Dad lived through the depression. It was instilled in me at a young age to have extra supplies on hand for any emergency. I passed that mindset along to my Daughter. I live in an apartment building with 50 apartments. I could easily "survive" for four or five months with what I have. But as a Christian, I would be out of food in a few days as I could not let my neighbor starve. Jon, Your video title, "Food storage, not just for preppers" is true, but those folks back then were the "original" preppers!

What a great video. I love fall and the harvest. How I wish I could walk out the door into the 18th century. I'd do it in a heart beat and not look back. Have you ever read the book by Ben Ames Williams, "Come Spring"? It's post revolutionary war on the frontier of Maine. Just like you were talking about putting up food. We have two seasons in Maine, winter and preparing for winter. As a dairy farmer I know that all to well. Thanks for the vid. Cheers.

When the pandemic hit us my family was prepared, the only thing I didn't have was potatoes, I live in the city and unable to grow them.I was raised on a farm by my very frugal grandmother who taught me to always be prepared. We have a months worth of non perishable and frozen food ready at any given time.

These guys put alot of production value in. It's great to see these guys do as good as they are doing from the early vids. My Abuela use to work on a family farm in Puerto Rico and they use to stock foods using alot of the same ways.

Nice. I was always taught this was also a hedge against personal emergency or job loss. A few months of staples and a deeper pantry.

When I was just a wee boy this became a very important lesson during the ice storm of '98. Much of Maine couldn't restock for months, grocery stores would often only be able to get in shelf-stable items and even then only occasionally, and even unaffected areas in northern Maine were cut off. Some stores pulled all their produce and had local families can and pickle it to donate to food pantries and churches, many of those families are indeed from that great depression era and have the supplies to do so on hand just in case. And we've seen it come around again. Two to three weeks of quarantine isn't really that big a deal with a well stocked pantry and freezer, no need to have someone drop off groceries for you and risk going out when they don't have to.

I would love to see a video of all your favorite foods you've had thus far in 1 video or even a 2 parter. That would be so fun to watch.

Townsends at it again with a well needed, and appropriate message for our brothers and sisters. Stay safe, prepare, and make sure to love your people!

I grew up in rural Arizona and my dad and I went shopping in town once a month, yes he was the rare single dad and he was great... I didn't know it at the time, but we would have been considered poor, and we had a pantry, and it was always full (of the cheap foods we ate), because exactly when we were going into town to shop again, well it was always give or take a week. And today, I still make sure my family has our own pantry stocked up, even though we can go to the store every day if we wanted to, because you never know when you might not be able to go to the store again.

As a common sense Prepping Channel I just want to say THANK YOU for this video and promoting the preparedness lifestyle. People need to be more prepared, you never know what life will throw at you and you should always be at least slightly prepared. I dont think well ever get knocked back to the 18th century ways but having just some spare food in the pantry will go a long way during a disaster.

In addition to being prepared, when you put your own food by, you know exactly what went into it. And since I've heard a number of people expressing their concerns about the contents of the things they consume just recently, this seems especially timely. Thanks Jon.

Maybe it is being the daughter of dairy farmer kids, or working in the auto industry where it is feast (OT) or famine (lay offs); I basically have a 6 months stock of food and supplies. The other thing I think a lot of ppl don't know is really basic recipes. When I worked in group homes (during layoffs), I can remember teaching younger co-workers on how to cook meals that didn't come from a box in the freezer or a can/jar. Like making a simple gravy for example.

💖Thank you. Not just for this video, but for sharing your common sense knowledge for all these years.

I agree. Society has gone too far the other way. Personally, I always have a month's food in the house. It's the way I grew up. My parents had always put down supplies for winter. I am working towards that again, so I have enough food to keep me from October to June. It might not be my favourite foods, but I'll have something to eat. It's a shame people thought removing the pantry and adding fancy cupboards to the kitchen was progress. Most of those cupboards become filled with dishes and appliances, not food. My next place will have few cupboards and a large pantry.

Anyone who has seen the empty shelves at the grocery stores and the high prices for what little they have knows it is time to prepare for the depression that is actually here now but will soon worsen.

It’s so wonderful to eat persevered peaches that my grandma put up for us, even though she’s been gone 2 years now

I grew up on a small farm with my parents and grandparents. We used all kinds of preservation techniques. We had a root cellar for easy access, but we buried the remainder of the root crops outside. Since the ground could get frozen over in winter we didn't want to have to rely on having to dig up the frozen ground to get to our potatoes, carrots and onions. The back of the house was all storage. Jars of all kinds of vegetables and fruits. Some things in brine, in syrup and some things fermenting. Also dried beans in good quantities. You had to have enough for the whole winter, with plenty to spare for planting in spring. Life had a seasonality to it. Spring was for planting, summer for growing, fall for harvesting and winter for preparing for next year. I've gone through some lean years recently, but it has gotten me back in touch with my food gathering and preservation skills, even though I'm doing ok now, I still keep a good amount of food stored, despite my tiny accommodations.

Dear Townsend, I have just discovered your channel and love what I have seen so far. I am age 80 and blessed with several Revolutionary War soldiers in my family tree. I enjoy learning what their life may have been like during those difficult times. You make at all so real and yet applicable to us in the 21st century. Yes, supply storage is a personal responsibility, I believe. Being self reliant is comforting to know that your family has enough food and supplies to get through the "winter", whatever that may be for each of us. And to be able to assist others if/when the need arises. Thank you for creating this channel. Very enjoyable.

Thank you! I've been sending allot of homesteaders to your channel. There's a huge problem getting canning lids, so it's great to go back and see some of your preservation videos. We never should have allowed ourselves to get so far away from our food sources and ability to preserve them. Ice age farmer is showing what's going on globally to our food supplies... it's biblical.

Bless you John for the wise words and comfy cooking. Had a bad day, but sitting by the fire with you lightened it up a lot. Bad days happen and to keep this knowledge and accept it, is what I believe is the fundamental driving concept behind the American people then and now-To be prepared for the unprepared, so that when it strikes, you can seize the opportunity and push past it to even greater things.

Thank you, Jon. I really enjoy your fireside chats.

I've been a fan of the channel for years, and this idea is central to what attracted me to your work. I'm an avid camper, and was initially attracted by discovering techniques for food preservation that didn't require refrigeration - allowing me to spend a couple weeks in the bush while staying well-nourished. I didn't have a lot of money growing up, and learned food preservation as a means to stretch the grocery budget - and your channel provided a number of new and helpful ideas. The story doesn't stop there, though. As a younger person, I worked a number of entry-level jobs - which could be whisked away with very little notice. Preppers talk about the "SHTF" scenarios - but it's worth remembering that it doesn't take a civil disturbance or natural disaster for things to go wrong; they can go wrong on a personal level, and be just as daunting. At times when money was tight, having a couple months of food put away was an almost-literal lifesaver (certainly a lifestyle-saver, keeping a roof above my head). When COVID-19 had us all panicking and loading up on groceries, my family was saved a lot of stress by the fact that we had (among a number of other things) pemmican made from the recipes on your channel. In truth, my thought has always been: *why not* have a few extra bags of rice, lentils, flour, sugar, salt, dried meat and canned fruits put away? Why not learn to forage, and turn one's lawn and neighbourhood into a salad bar? Maybe even go a bit bigger and buy a pressure canner, to lay away hard-to-store items like meat in Mason jars. By keeping an eye on sales (and, for that matter, taking into account escalating prices of goods), it will pay for itself in short order. With the techniques available to us today, there's no reason *not* to keep at least a few months' supplies in advance. However, sometimes it's just as important to remember the old ways - because you never know what could happen. That having been said, I'm still not storing any stockfish...

Even living in a more suburban area, I find it's worthwhile to save the glass jars and the more durable plastic containers from the things I buy, then use them for storing food. Sure, it may not be "real" canning, but cooked beans poured into a glass jar while fresh from the pot will still form an airtight seal and last for a good few weeks in the fridge, and going to the store to see barren shelves is a lot less alarming when you've got plenty of leftovers. Not to mention that even when we have food, we tend to be very wasteful with it, so skills like making stock from meat carcasses and vegetable scraps are the kind of skills that would be easy to learn, and extremely valuable to know when times get hard.

We have a lot of convenience today, but we are sorely lacking a connection to nature, along with preparedness for hard times. People in the 18th century lived with the seasons, used mostly locally-grown/hunted/made products from nature, got their hands into dirt and other elements of nature, and used their bodies more (manual work). I think this kind of connection to nature feeds the soul and helps us to feel both more human and also more deeply a part of an incredible web of life. The beauty of living today is that we can choose the best of the modern world (sanitation, for example) but also hold on to aspects of 18th-century life that are so enriching, like trying to eat more seasonally and locally, finding ways to minimize the waste of food and other materials, being prepared for rough times, and doing more work with our hands/body, such as manually grating nutmeg at every meal, instead of just pushing buttons on machines.

My wife and I live on the property my grandparents bought as their "if something breaks again". Growing up I remember coming here helping in the garden, and canning, drying etc. My parents did the same thing as well. It's nice having piece of mind knowing that we CAN provide for ourselves for close to a year if we needed. Also having the land to grow crops and provide ourselves with heat and building materials. Love the content and love the positive outlook. Townsends is ALWAYS wholesome content!

I have always had two years worth of dried food in storage. We use to regularly have winters here in England where food was scarce and we needed to store foods

Simple foods are what we need. I feel that if we go back to the simple life, we'd be better off. Very good video. Eat what you have. Eat properly and think of others. Great video! My husband and I both enjoy this channel.

Thankfully, we have a much broader range of food preservation technologies than my great grandparents did. I remember when my grandmother started to learn about how to freeze food from her garden. It was a revelation. It's a lot less work than canning, and the product is far tastier. We have vacuum sealing machines readily available that permit the storage of rice and beans for up to 10 years in mason jars, vacuum bags, or 5 gallon buckets. For those with storage space, this is a no brainer. We all learned that shelf stable "survival foods" are what disappear from the shelves first when the technocrats engineer a crisis. We have had our little depressions in our lifetime, though no one has the courage to call them what they are. Only a fool would choose to learn nothing from them. We are one mandate, or one general strike, or one financial crisis, one catastrophic crop failure, or one oil shock away from the collapse of our preposterously long supply lines.

Root cellar is a must have. They didn't just survive on preserves. They also hunted and fished in winter monthes.

My dad grew up on a farm in SE MO during the Great Depression and WWII. They had no indoor plumbing or electricity. The farm was not huge, and his father had a job in town…but they grew all the crops they needed, and raised animals for meat, dairy and eggs. He told me that family members who had no job available during the Depression, would work on the farm, and they shared their crops with those family members. They did have an ‘ice box’ and an ‘ice man’ would come and deliver giant blocks of ice so they could keep some things fresh in the kitchen. They also had a large root cellar and would preserve potatoes and other root vegetables in there, with straw between the layers. They also had a smoking shed so they could smoke pork for ham or bacon. My grandmother would can any extra that couldn’t be stored, so they had plenty of food all year, and especially through the winter. He said they would buy flour and sugar, salt, pepper and a few other items, but for the most part, they were self-sustaining. It was always fascinating to listen to his stories! And, gives me good ideas for how to manage things better in these challenging times (although, I live in the city, I have room for a garden…will start in the spring) and plenty of places in our house for good storage for items we grown and/or can. I know we’re struggling, but these types of videos are really helpful, because in the 1800s, they didn’t have Instacart to bring food to them, and had to be self-sustainable. We’re not able to be totally that way, but we can do our part in the vegetable area and some fruits as well. Thanks, I always enjoy your videos!