In keeping with my current theme of having both global and local sources of necessities, my food security approach isn't going to be about gardening. Sure, I garden myself. In fact, I'll be planting gardens most of this summer. But to be frank, growing all your own food is full time work. I tried it during superstruct, and the simple fact is that for staple foods, growing your own only makes sense if you have absolutely no access to other sources. Also, we have a lot of people here with far greater expertise on urban farming than I. I'm just an interested amateur, and I prefer to read other people's stuff than write my own on that subject.
So for my ACT2, I'm going to share some knowledge that could increase YOUR food security, from a distant rather than a local source.
Angel food ministries is a non-profit organization committed to providing staple foodstuffs at cost to people who need them. It's a bit like a food bank, but the key difference is you don't need to meet any requirements on income or anything else. You just order the food online, pick it up on distribution day, and order next month's when you pick it up. The cost is 30 dollars a box, which gets you about a week's worth of dinners and some staples like milk and cereal. So for 120 dollars you can gets a month's worth of meals. That seems like a lot all at once, but it's about half what all the food you get would cost in a grocery store in the US. My family orders 4 boxes, and puts 3 in storage. Each month we eat one current box, and one from the three previous months, ensuring we still get a little variety.
I really like that they offer the food at cost to anyone who chooses to buy. It doesn't matter if you are homeless or if you are rich, they don't care. Firstly, they get better prices on food in bulk, so the more customers they have the more they can put in a box. So that way, people who don't need cheaper food help lower the cost anyway. Also, they suggest that you take the money you save and use it to help others. Maybe buy more boxes and give them to needy families, or just donate the extra money to a charity of your choice.
Now angel food ministries, from what I can tell, only operates in the US. Maybe they have branches elsewhere, I don't know. But if something like Angel food doesn't exist where you are, why not start it?
http://www.angelfoodministries.com/
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