Community Security & Getting Started

Netscape Enhanced

Community Security During Times of Crisis
And Getting Started With Food Storage

Portela: If you've got your food supply and your neighbor doesn't, you probably don't have it any more, either. Who's going to go shoot their neighbor? We are in this to share and to help. So once you get your food supply and maybe take care of your family, and your extended family, then maybe you need to give some wisdom to your neighbors so they will do the same thing. Wouldn't it be great if a whole community could get somewhat prepared. I know that's naive to say because the majority of people will never do this. It is only going to be a small handful of individuals that can see the handwriting on the wall. I think, Gary, a good number of the Christian world believes that we are in for some turmoil in the future. And why couldn't this computer 2000 problem be a part of it. But there are a number of problems that we need to address. We need to be somewhat self prepared. We can not rely on the government to do this for us.

Dr. North: Your approach is to have several levels of protection. I guess you'd call it several levels of commitment. And yet you must realize that not everybody is committed to the same degree; not everybody has the same willingness and financial reserves to do this. So that your system, A person's finances determines to some degree the type of food storage program they invest in. I know you have an emergency pack and a two year pack which I think is a good idea. The two year pack is a good idea because you have enough for yourself for a year and enough for a neighbor for a year, if that's necessary. But then you have other foods also. You have cereals, pastas and sauces, the things that make life more palatable, and not just food more palatable, but life more palatable. You also sell this kind of item. Let's talk about the costs so the people have some idea, at least, of what we are asking them to consider.

Portela: All right, good idea, Gary. To get your fundamental, core foundation grain supply for a family would probably only cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 to $300 dollars. [The cost actually comes more to about a minimum of $300 per person.]

North: For how many people?

Portela: Well, let's say for four people. If you are just looking to get wheat, corn, maybe some beans, rice and salt, it's not going to take very much money. So that's step one. We recommend people gradually build up their food storage over a period of time if money and space are issues. Often they are. Because you are limited as to what foods you can actually make with those beginning products, then perhaps, as time and money become available, you step up to the next level and add other products. For example, perhaps you add margarine powder, butter powder, cheese powder and tomato powder. We sell all of these things canned or in buckets, although specifically we sell them in cans, things that will enhance what your core foundation foods are. With these nice to have items you can make many more recipes. In fact, if you get enough of these other products you can go ahead and live just like you are doing now. You will be set up to do so. We don't have a structured system to do this. There are a lot of companies that do this, however. They want you to buy a case of one item this month and the next month a case of a different item. But a lot of this is common sense, and you need to make everything fit your family.

North: So you think for a family of four, to get a two year supply would require how much of the basic grains - the corn, wheat, soy bean basics?

Portela: You are probably talking about $600. [Again, this number is a little low.]

North: For two years?

Portela: Yes. It just isn't that much money to get. It all depends on how far you want to take it.

North: So, at these kinds of prices, it's not that much of a commitment for half a dozen families in the neighborhood.

Portela: No it's not. If you go into our web page, there is a food storage program that you can download which will allow you to input your family. Let's say you have a family of the wife, husband and five kids. You enter the ages, whether they are male or female, how many months of storage you want, and it gives you how much food you should store. The LDS Church made this years ago. I'm not saying it is a perfect program by any means, but it does give individuals and families a guideline of what you ought to be looking at. It gives you a foundation and a place to build from as money and time allow.

North: I can see this could definitely make it easier.

Portela: It does. We also put out a 10 page price list we can mail to individuals. It walks through some of these programs. There are many, many cook books available also. They are also on our price list and people can get those. They will give them guidance and steps of how to proceed. And then we also sell a lot of equipment: Wheat grinders and mixers to help people process their food. If you've got wheat and you don't know how to use it you are going to be somewhat in trouble. You are going to be stifled.

North: I know your site has lots and lots of different products that you could order, shampoo, seeds and soap, spaghetti, just all kinds of things. It is all set up so they can click to it and order what they want which is really useful, but most people want to do it once and forget it, I think.

Portela: Well, if people want to do that, we have an 11 case, one year supply of dehydrated food. We sell a lot of these units. I don't know if I would recommend them to everybody, but one thing I do say at the bottom of my price list, "If you buy this 11 case unit, which supplies an individual 1200 calories and 35 grams of protein per day. By adding 300 lbs of wheat and 100 pounds of beans to this 11 case one year supply unit, you will then increase your calorie content per day up to 2950 calories and your protein per day up to 76 grams." I think in an emergency type situation this unit needs the extra wheat and beans. So I highly recommend and state it.

North: What do you call that particular package?

Portela: We just call it the `11 Case Unit.' Our price for it is $757.00, and if you add your wheat, and maybe a few beans, or some corn like Art is suggesting, it is just going to raise the price a couple of hundred dollars, if even that much.

North: That's for how many people?

Portela: That's for one person.

North: So, $750, plus a little more.

Portela: But it is a very good unit. It has everything in it, depending again on money and space and time, individual families can make the best choice for themselves. Some people are allergic to wheat. And so they need to look at other grains, maybe spelt or kamut or quinoa or other products, and we have all of these. We package all these products, and I think we have just about every grain grown and dehydrated food available. We have a complete package and people can buy it in bags, in buckets or in cans. We package it any way anyone wants it. We are trying to make it simple.

North: That's the way it ought to be.

Portela: We private package for another dozen firms under their labels. And a lot of these different companies have taken the basic year supply, this 11 case unit, and have modified it a little bit to their thinking and have added wheat and beans, grains and corn and call it their One Year Supreme Unit, or One Year Plus Unit.

[Walton Feed has now put together a couple of different packages.]

Common sense will tell you that after you can get the 11 Case Unit, you should get another 20 buckets of wheat, 10 of corn and 5 of rice, or whatever grains meet your family's needs. We believe in letting individuals make their choice and not lock them into something. After all, anything can be done. I'm open to any and all suggestions.

North: What about water storage?

Portela: That's a tough one. It is difficult to store as much water as we need for very long. It is hard to do. We have come up with a few solutions, but they are at the best, temporary. You just can't store the quantity of water you need. We have different kinds of water containers. We have 5, 15 and 55 gallon containers. The government tells me that if you have chlorine in your water system, you don't need to do anything else it except put it into a clean container that no sunlight can get through. It should be good in that state for quite a while. And then as you go to use that water, you may wish to add water purification tablets to kill any bacteria that might be in it.

North: Do you sell the water tablets?

Portela: Yes, we do. And this is also a new product for us. It has been out for a long time. Maybe some of the listeners will have heard of the name, Aerobic Oxygen. It has also been called 0-7, and there is another name from my price list where it is called Ion. This will completely disinfect the water either before or after it is stored. Ion is another solution.

North: How does it work, and how do I use it?

Portela: Put a few drops of this product into a glass of water and wait a couple of minutes. The oxygen literally kills the bacteria in your water. It is proven. I researched it for a lot of years before I added it to my price list, which, by the way, I just did two days ago. I just went ahead and convinced myself that this product is viable, that it was something that I could represent.

Web Page Maintenance: Al Durtschi, E-mail: rcox@mail.lcc.whecn.edu

Home Page URL: http://waltonfeed.com/