1. Using preps over a medium term has meant that we can better identify those areas where we need to focus vs those where we are (or were!) fairly secure.
2. We've been more cohesive in our approach and have a much better team mentality moving forward - this is a huge step forward for us.
Firstly - the key food areas where we fell down were proteins and fresh vegFinancial hardship in dec / jan / feb has taught me that "the hungry gap" HAS to be filled better in this years growing and preserving plans - there simply wasn't enough veg left in the freezer or overwintering on the plot and it was an area where we had to use cash that could have been freed for other things. I also discovered that my OH hates pretty much all forms of tinned ham and chicken and I need to get up to speed with recipes that "sell the concept" over coming months....
Being a better team has meant small things from my 6 year old going 'round the house to check that lights are off to big things like my OH finally agreeing to cash in an endowment and transfer the money to reduce the outstanding morgage balance because in the long run this will make our future more secure. Gary has been more organised with wood "procuring" (ahem) storage and rotation, while referring to the pantry as a first call rather than the supermarket and in summary we have strengthened our good habits going forward!
Overall, we've had a financial "glitch" - but this, as a family is what we chose to prepare for and overall, it's been ok. That said, we need to shore up some gaps that we've highlighted and make sure that we are buffered as well as we can be against any further mishaps (my OH is self employed and our income is sensitive to general economic fluctuations!).
I think that things in the coming years will be difficult economically and our principle focus is to better protect ourselves from such difficulties so this has been a very useful learning experience. I'll keep you posted on how we improve in the coming weeks and months!
Take care all,
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)