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The LDS church has urged the membership to put aside a two year supply of food and necessities for as long as I've been a member (1986). The various geographic regions operate a "Bishop's Storehouse" that includes packaging foods locally produced in that region. The supplies from various regions are made available to other regions. During my years in San Diego, we ran a tuna fish canning operation. I've cleaned fish and canned 10's of thousands of cans of high quality tuna. When the tuna fleet left San Diego, the canning equipment was converted to "dry goods" canning. That equipment and training is accessible to anyone who wishes to visit the facility.

The principal motivation for the food storage is to provide a buffer against unemployment and unexpected emergencies. Various members of the church will find good deals on food and supplies satisfactory for storage and make "group buys" to help people add to their storage. There are training programs as well to help people assess their needs and develop a plan. It's a prudent approach. When major disasters happen around the world, the church routinely and quietly reaches into its resources and sends aid ASAP.

I do this(save food) sort of sporadically; but last week I looked at the LDS website pages about food storage and they are really thorough and well thought out.

I didn't get that the food storage centers were open to non-members though, as this article says .

They sounded like a resource worth checking out as they have all the equipment needed, and will teach one the proper way to do it.

All in all, I ended up reading a lot of the website, and their family welfare system sounds like what a lot of churches should be doing in terms of taking care of each other (-not to denigrate anyone's church-maybe they do and I just don't know it).

They had a page on the sanctity of the family that was really touching, and once a month all members have a two-meal fast, the proceeds of which are donated to help other families. Neat.