So, I realized that now is the time to start planning for the future.

No, really. After watching how people reacted when COVID-19 first came to the forefront: panic buying all the Clorox, Lysol, Paper Towels, Toilet Paper, stores limiting the amount of bread, meat, and dairy products you can purchase, etc., I started thinking not about the food and toiletry items we use, but our storage.

I have never canned anything in my life, apart from using mason jars to store breast milk that I pumped at work to transport back to my parents, and even then, it was used within two days. My in-laws do can, and they are planning a larger garden this year than last year, with plans to can more of what they grow. Well, if things keep going in the direction they are right now, I see more people panic buying canning supplies come late summer and early fall, as they realize they have all this produce from their gardens, and they want to preserve it all. So, I Voxer-ed Squatch this morning as I was driving into town, and told him to get his mother to start an inventory of their canning supplies. When I was in town, I did check the Piggly Wiggly and WalMart, and they both have plenty of mason jars and canning lids, but that will not always be the case.

So, once we have our current numbers, we will either start to pick up supplies as we do our shopping runs, or else we will go online and do a big bulk order of everything, to get it done all at once. I would love to get a dehydrator, and will look into pricing on those as well, to give us another option for preserving what we make.

What other storage options are out that that you use, but may enter a shortage of in the future? My first thought is ziploc baggies. Guess what you can use instead of a ziploc? Mason jars! Yup, they are a great multi-tasker tool. So, get looking through your supplies, figure out what you will need later this year, and start stocking up now, before you can’t get what you need.