What is up with fundies and stocking up?

[fundyduddy]

Homegrown simplicity has posts up today about food storage and stocking up and I realized that I've been seeing quite a few fundie bloggers talking about this sort of thing. She's going to be posting a whole series about it.

susangodfrey.com/homegrownsimplicity/?p=609

susangodfrey.com/homegrownsimplicity/?p=614

As far as I know, Susan from homegrown simplicity isn't a mormon. I think it interesting that so many of them are really getting into this. It's not just a mormon thing I guess. I can understand stocking up supplies for a month or so because you never know when there will be a job loss or sickness or something, but a whole YEAR supply? It's like when one "bigger named" fundie blogger gets on a bandwagon, a bunch of the other ones jump on it right along with them. It doesn't matter what the subject is, modesty, feminism, Titus 2 or whatever...it's like they go in cycles...one person sets it off and they all follow. The all of a sudden it creates this feeding frenzy where they all are worried that the end of the world as we know it is upon them.

Here are some other examples of this sort of posts as of late:

paratusfamilia.blogspot.com/

thesurvivalmom.com/

journal.michaelbunker.com/ - he has a "Surviving Off Grid" book on amazon and lives in a Christian community (commune) somewhere in texas.

There is a whole group of fundies that are preparing for economic collapse and possibly even civil war/revolution. I can remember even Candy Brauer talking about this sort of thing on her blog and about stocking up, along with several others, namely AnnaMatrix.

[hoipolloi]

Not sure how old this trend is, but many Christianist fundie-types (non-Mormon) were totally into preparing for Y2K by stocking food, ammo, meds, etc. in the late 1990s. They looked like idiots of course when nothing happened, but at least a few entrepreneurs made a pretty penny off these folks by selling them all this crap.

[Sweetpea1]

I think some of it might come from an "end times/tribulation" type of mentality. Seems like fundies can believe different things about being "raptured" and the timing of said rapture. Stocking up is seen as preparation for tribulation (or the ebil government going bust).

I need a tin foil hat emoticon.

[fundyduddy]

I remember Y2K, I had several family members who stocked up like crazy for that. When it was all said and done they were left with a bunch of food they had to eat up and with items they would never use. There were certainly a lot of people who made some money off of Y2K. I think this is a similar situation, they are expecting a major depression or economic collapse.

[fundyduddy]

I need a tin foil hat emoticon.

Makes me think of that Mel Gibson movie "Signs" when his brother and kids were all wearing the foil hats. :D

I haven't gotten the end times/tribulation vibe from homegrown simplicity, more of a future depression or economic collapse sort of thing. But honestly, who knows with these fundies! :dance:

[Cassandra]

Hey could you break the links?

[nuri]

Oh, it's not just fundies --- my brother and roommate are growing increasingly paranoid and "stocking up".

Of course, when they talk about it, they are more in the way of thinking of guns, rations and water, and not a pantry. Neither are stupid, and both have different ideas of what to do and why they need to do it. Even my husband will talk about it from time to time --- but not as seriously. Because see, my husband and my brother's wife are type 1 diabetics. End of the world comes, and the insulin doesn't make it to the pharmacy?

I hate how my brother doesn't seem to realize just how much this talk he does upsets his wife.

[fundyduddy]

links broken

[Hane]

Yeah, my increasingly right-wing, non-fundie BIL is getting into this. He's gone from installing a generator (a smart move) to stockpiling rice, vegetable oil, and a supply of drinking water. You'd think he lived somewhere in the wilds of Montana instead of a white-bread Connecticut suburb.

[mnb357]

Well, I am definitely NOT a fundie, nor was I raised as such, but I can't snark on them stocking up, as I was raised on the very same notion. It was smart shopping. It saved a lot of money and time, both of which my parents needed with six kids to put through college. I too, follow my mother's methods, and stock up. I do so to best allocate my time and money. Plus, three trips to the store a month are better for the environment than 8 trips, aren't they? I take HUGE advantage of loss leader sales, and as such, probably have a year's worth of toothpaste, and laundry detergent and shampoo for less than what a month's worth would cost, and accomplished that with a lot less trips to the store. I also stock up on flour, sugar and butter when the prices hit rock bottom. Added to that, I can a lot of jam/fruits grown on my own yard. I could go the school year without having to buy jam for toast in the morning, or school lunch sandwiches. Plus, it's organic, and *I* control the sugar amount! Moreover, we also tried our hand at raising/slaughtering our own beef cattle. (Never again, slaughter day was sad.) We did that to assure organic grass fed beef. If I eat commercially grown beef, I wind up with night sweats, no doubt from hormone, injected in commercial beef. Finally, we have our own well, and live in a region which is prone to power outages due to wind storms. No power, no water, so we also store water...anytime a suitable container is emptied, it gets filled with water and put into storage. (You'll use store bought bottled water to force your toilet ONCE in a power outage, and learn your lesson!) Again, it's not a fundie thing in our house at all, nor was it with my parents. It's a clear decision on how to best allocate our time/money and eat naturally. I guess, then, since I can't snark on THAT they stock up, I'll have content myself to snarking on the WHY....is that allowed?

[fundyduddy]

I guess, then, since I can't snark on THAT they stock up, I'll have content myself to snarking on the WHY....is that allowed?

sure thing! ;)

[ElphabaGalinda]

I don't think it's so crazy that they stocked up. If you do it effectively, it's a great way to save money and eat healthy. However, they're probably doing it to prepare for the inevitable zombie apocolypse that will come wipe out the heathens or something. I can't imagine they'd be doing it for sane reasons like saving money :)

[lilwriter85]

I know a lot of non-fundies who stock up for different reasons. Some people do it save money like mnb357 mentioned. I do think some fundies are probably stocking up in case a rapture or economic depression/collapse happens.

I remember when Y2K didn't happen, a couple in my state tried to sue a Baptist Church for causing them to stock up on things. The church held several Y2K presentations and encouraged people to stock up on things. This couple actually used credit cards to a shitload of things and they wanted to sue the church the pay the credit cards.

[Wolfie]

Well, I am definitely NOT a fundie, nor was I raised as such, but I can't snark on them stocking up, as I was raised on the very same notion. It was smart shopping. It saved a lot of money and time, both of which my parents needed with six kids to put through college. I too, follow my mother's methods, and stock up. I do so to best allocate my time and money. Plus, three trips to the store a month are better for the environment than 8 trips, aren't they? I take HUGE advantage of loss leader sales, and as such, probably have a year's worth of toothpaste, and laundry detergent and shampoo for less than what a month's worth would cost, and accomplished that with a lot less trips to the store. I also stock up on flour, sugar and butter when the prices hit rock bottom. Added to that, I can a lot of jam/fruits grown on my own yard. I could go the school year without having to buy jam for toast in the morning, or school lunch sandwiches. Plus, it's organic, and *I* control the sugar amount! Moreover, we also tried our hand at raising/slaughtering our own beef cattle. (Never again, slaughter day was sad.) We did that to assure organic grass fed beef. If I eat commercially grown beef, I wind up with night sweats, no doubt from hormone, injected in commercial beef. Finally, we have our own well, and live in a region which is prone to power outages due to wind storms. No power, no water, so we also store water...anytime a suitable container is emptied, it gets filled with water and put into storage. (You'll use store bought bottled water to force your toilet ONCE in a power outage, and learn your lesson!) Again, it's not a fundie thing in our house at all, nor was it with my parents. It's a clear decision on how to best allocate our time/money and eat naturally. I guess, then, since I can't snark on THAT they stock up, I'll have content myself to snarking on the WHY....is that allowed?

Okay- so you stock up on 30 year dried food supplies because of TEOTWAKI?

Your stocking up sounds like my stocking up- I can when stuff is in season, I raised my own meat chickens this year so the freezer is full, and some is canned for quick meals. (some years I buy half lambs, ect...) You're frugal, not the same thing as what these groups are encouraging.

[starfish]

Some of the fundies (and not so fundy) like to stockpile items, and then take great satisfaction from donating them to a food pantry. I guess they don't have any cash to give, so they give the pantry a bunch of toothpaste or deodorant. They don't seem to want to donate blood, which also would not cost them any money, but they really enjoy donating all their extreme coupon stockpiles.

[Guest Anonymous]

The closest my husband and I came to "stocking up" was when we lived in Florida. We kept about 2 weeks' worth of canned and dried foods, extra cat food and litter, and about 3 cases of bottled water in our garage. We also had a small cash reserve, also in the garage in case our ATM cards didn't work, a fully-stocked first aid kit in the trunk of our car and extra blankets, clothes and underwear. We were neither rapturers nor end-timers. This was elementary hurricane preparedness and we were hardly alone in doing this.

[ladypuglover]

When we lived out in the middle of nowhere on the plains, my parents would make sure we had at least 4-6 weeks worth of food and supplies because a blizzard could keep you locked in your house for weeks after the storm had passed. Out there the snow would drift over our 2 story home, so it isn't hard to believe what the dirt roads would look like. Also at that time we would lose power, water and everything else so we had to be prepared for everything that comes along with the joys of severe weather on the open plains.

@starfish, I must be one of the few people who love to donate blood. I have such high iron levels that I feel so much better after a donation that I feel like super woman. Bad thing is that rarely is my iron level low enough to donate. :(

[fundiefan]

I do it when I can and when it's financially wise. I think a lot of people do.

I have a theory about a lot of the fundie women, though.

Their entire lives are about the home and every aspect of it. In the blogging communities they definitely compete with each other and the fundie mom bloggers are all about one upping and showing their perfection at the job they were born to do. (gag).

Many are overly obsessed with schedules, organization, lists, planning...above and beyond what is normal and helpful. It's a measure (to themselves) of their success. Once you get pretty good at the scheduling and general home running you gotta' come up with something else to plan and do and obsess over. There is a definite 'look at me' factor for many of them.

So, they go all out 'stocking up' for...whatever. Whether it's religious based, fear based, government hate based doesn't matter as much as the fact that they are doing it, dammit! They are planning and organizing and listing and shopping and sharing and one-upping.

Just my theory, but I stick by it. The average person/family will buy 'more' when they can and when it makes sense to do so. They don't obsess over it and stock a year's worth of food and supplies in the bomb shelter.

Edited my bad typing

[Wolfie]

Just my theory, but I stick by it. The average person/family will buy 'more' when they can and when it makes sense to do so. They don't obsess over it and stock a year's worth of food and supplies in the bomb shelter.

This- but even more- if you live in an area where there are natural disasters that hit regularly you should be prepared for those disasters. (I live where there are snowstorms and we're without power often in the winter, grew up in a flood and earthquake prone area. While I'm no longer living in the area where there are floods and earthquakes, it could still affect my food supply because it is close, so I keep about a month's worth of food on hand, sometimes more because I can seasonally and try to have enough for the year.) It's normal to be prepared for what is not unlikely to happen. But these guys take it to the extreme.

[ADoyle90815]

I can't snark about having some extra food and supplies on hand, but I do live in earthquake country. Even then, these fundies take stocking up to the extreme, especially if they have at least a year's supply of food. One issue is that if their house is destroyed by a disaster, then their food supply is gone. If grains get damaged by flood, a mold grows that has hallucinogenic effects if consumed. In fact, it's not thought that witch hysteria occurred when crops were infected by that mold, and with the way fundies are in general, they would easily accuse others of practicing witchcraft.

[Kaylee]

I think one thing is just that most people into the survivalist type of stocking up tend to be right wing to some degree (from mostly normal to really extreme), and that part of the population tends to be more religious and more drawn to fundamentalist forms of religion. A generation ago, you had the John Birch types who were building bomb shelters and stocking up for WWIII or the "commie invasion", and today it's the people who watch Glen Beck or listen to Alex Jones preparing for peak oil, the economic crisis, bird flu, the Chinese invasion, or whatever the else. You also have some crossover in the blog world because there are a handful of conservative Mormon mommy bloggers who are also popular with some fundies, and the Mormon church has had a focus on emergency preparedness & food storage for a long time. Since the whole Bird Flu hysteria and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, even the government has been pushing preparedness more, so many more average people are getting interested in it, and some start reading around the internet and decide if 3 days or 2 weeks' worth of supplies is good, then a year or more must be great.

I will say that I'm really into preparedness, but part of that comes from living in areas with Hurricanes and floods, and from having times when money was so tight that we lived off the food storage for a few months at a time to free up the grocery money for paying bills and home or car repairs. I don't have a problem with long-term food storage, but it needs to be stuff you'll actually used and rotate, not cases of MREs or bags of grains that sit and spoil unused. Storing more long-term also means you have more to share with others in short-term disasters, but that is assuming you have good relationships with your neighbors and would be willing to work together to get through whatever is happening, something that the "I'll just shoot everyone who comes near, like it's a zombie movie" crowd misses. Also, the people who post tons of photos and go into detail about all their supplies, weapons and ammo, are idiots - if a major disaster did occur, they are setting themselves up as targets for anyone who did want to raid for supplies.

[Sweetpea1]

I stock up on things to a point. I live in North Dakota and weather can get nasty in the winter. I usually make sure I have enough to get through a blizzard if I need. I also coupon a bit, so stock up when I find a good deal.

[forever ago]

I can't really snark on stocking up on supplies, being a college student who lives in hurricane country. Less money spent on food (outside of my meal plan, that is) means more money going to my education, my car, etc.

I also had to live without power for a week after Hurricane Isabel a few years ago. So yeah, in coastal NC, always a good idea to stock up on food and water, at least a week or two's worth.

Some of them just take it to the extreme. Seriously, a year's worth? A few weeks or even a couple months, sure, but more than that and you're just insane and assuming there will be no other source of food, ever. What the hell are they so worried about? Floods? Tornadoes? Hurricanes? Earthquakes? Russia and China teaming up and invading us? Natural disasters will likely not only destroy your home but also your food supply. In the event that your home holds up okay but there's no power, better ensure that your food is non-perishable and won't go bad if you can't eat it fast enough.