Storing food for when you cant find any

Specop_007 · Expert Joined: Aug 12, 2004 Posts: 6288

I decided to post this in regards to an IM I had received.

Many people think we will need to learn to grow our own food. I wont argue that one way or the other, but many can also tell you that sometimes even with the best planning Mother Nature wins and your plants die. Having food put away isnt about having enough to last a lifetime, its about having enough put away to cover any deficits you may have regardless of the reason.

As an example, it would be nice to have a few months of food set away so that if something should happen you have time to make arrangements. Many seeds can be harvested in 90 days, thats 3 months from the time they hit the ground. It just never hurts to have a bit to cover your ass.

So where to start? Storing food. Hmmm.

Well, the easiest way is of course to buy the ready made stuff. Mountain House is probably the best. Its very light so you can carry it, they have an excellent selection covering breakfast lunch and dinner. Downside is its fairly pricey. Additionally there is a bit of a delay, I've heard MH is running at 110% to meet orders so there may bhe a slight premium on the price due to that. Some examples of mountain house are here

http://www.nitro-pak.com/
http://www.survivalunlimited.com/mountain.htm

Note I have NOT done business with these, so I cannot speak for the price or reliability. At the time I was buying MH it was through a group buy put on by an individual and those are no longer done as they were. Kinda makes me mad, but thats another story....

Another option I have used is military surplus. MRE's. I consider this my last line of defense. If I'm eating MRE's, I'm about 3 weeks way from eating Soylent Green. Hey, I may eat weird but damnit I'm gonna eat! Wink

LLF has a sale going right now on MRE Tray packs. 1 tray with 15-18 servings. If you go to their website click on "Online Catalog" on th left.

http://www.longlifefood.com/

Scroll down to the Tray Packs. The selection is getting a bit thin as the sale has been going on for a while but they still have some options. Keep in mind that price includes shipping. For roughly 35 bucks you get 4 18 serving trays. Thats some CHEAP food, regardless of taste. A family of 4 could figure 1 tray per day, 1 tray per 2 on thin servings. 35 bucks for 8 days food? Not bad.

While MH is nice, it is pricey. MRE's are ok, but not so tasty. Then theres the old fashioned way, buying grains and packaging it, buying canned goods and things like that.

I've actually done a bit of everything. The "cheap" options take quite a bit more manpower. Theres something to be said for the premium of not doing it yourself....

As to the "do it yourself" option, first you need to start with grains. Wheat or oats, rice and beans should be a top priority. You need to think it terms of meals. Wheat for flour and breakfast, oats for breakfast and snacks, rice and bean for dinner and supper.

Theres many different ways to seal them, but they should all be sealed to protect them. Properly sealed most whole grains will outlast you and your children!

The basic storage is the 5 gallon bucket. From there some choose to seal in mylar, others only use the bucket. I personally use a mylar bag inside a 5 gallon bucket.

For buckets you should use a food grade bucket. I use mylar because finding food grade buckets is a pain in the arse. If you use just buckets find food grade buckets and I highly recommend Gamma seal lids. You can find Gamma lids below

Web Page Name

Gamma lids really are the cats ass. They are NICE, well worth the price IMO.

After a container (We'll get to mylar later) you then get to choose. You have to deal with moisture, air and bugs.
For air you can use oxygen absorbers or nitrogen flushing. For moisture you have dessicent and bugs you have air purging or diamateous earth.

For moisture I personally dont use anything. I also dont use anything for air, however I do use the earth and also freeze my stuff for a few days. Supposedly freezing kills the eggs. If not, the earth will get it.

Nitrogen purging can be done with either dry ice or a nitrogen bottle. With dry ice you toss some in the package and DO NOT seal it until its melted. With a pressurized bottle you run it for a minute or two into your package (depending on package size).

For mylar you fill the bag nearly to the rim and seal with a clothes iron unless your feeling fancy and bought a real sealer.

You can find most everything from Sorbent Systems.

Web Page Name

I use the 10.0"x16.0" and also the 20" x 30" bags. The smaller are roughly a #10 can while the larger are 5 gallon bucket size.

A note o0n bugs, if you purge the oxygen you dont need to worry about bugs, and the lack of oxygen will kill them. 2 birds with one stone.

If you get whole grains you should also get a grain mill. I've heard very good things about the Country Living grain mill although it is pricey at about 300.

You can also buy the grains prepackaged if you would like. Saves some effort, but I would imagine shipping would make it a bit pricey.

http://honeyvillegrain.com/products/Products.html
http://beprepared.com/

Both offer more then just packaged grains, so the sites are worth a look.

Now grains alone will make a poor diet. You'd also want some canned goods to go with it. I found a great pantry pdf online and saved it. You can find the directions to make it on my "website" below.

http://fusionwaste.com/pantry1.pdf

I tend to take a bit of everything approach. I have some Mountain House, I have some stored grains, I have some MRE's. It gives me versatility, adaptability and selection. Freeze dried stuff seems great until you have a water shortage. Regular foods are nice until you have to carry them very far.

The links I provided are only examples, there are many other websites that sell things like this. A long time ago I whipped up a quick links pageyou can find below.

http://fusionwaste.com/Sur.htm

I can speak for Sorbent Systems as I have done business with them. Truth be told the ordering is a bit hokey but I've been very happy.

So, there we go. A quick primer on food storage and options. I cant tell you which route is best for you, but I would encourage you to put *something* away. As an example, I can buy 50 pounds rice, 50 pounds beans and mylar bags for under 100 bucks. 100 pounds of grains will last a guy a long time even if he is damned sick of eating it after a few days.

And if this post seems a but sporadic, well, I've enjoyed a bit much Crown and water this evening. Embarassed

*EDIT*
Forgot to add canning! I actually just bought a pressurized canner today. If you do go into canning I would reocmmend a pressurized one, hot water baths are pretty limiting. And I'm focusing on caning meats right now, as I think that will be short first. Its getting expensive to raise meat. I'm going to start canning the hell out of beef.
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kpeavey · Expert Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 1323

That's a fine essay Specop.

If your food storage is low at the start of the harvest and there is a sudden early frost, you will be in a bad position. It is absurd that the US government recommend you keep a 3-7 day supply of food in the event of emergency. If you had a 30 day supply of food in the house you are still dependent on the system to provide you with food for your survival. A year's supply is not unreasonable. I a crop fails entirely, you still have time to try again, no matter what the season. 5 years would be the maximum. If your life is in such upheaval that you are dependent on stored food for 5 years, food storage might be the least of your worries.

The best case scenario has the world in a recession with rising food cost. Even in such a case, food storage becomes a worthwhile investment. If the price is going up 10%, you are still looking at several times more return than in your checking or savings account, and its tax free. I've seen estimates of food price increases over the next year to be in the 50% range. You can spend $2000 in the next couple of months on things that will last until you consume it, or spend $2500-3000 to buy it as you consume it. It's a winning investment to be sure.

Starting a food storage project may take money you don't have. To this end, all I can say is that sacrifice may be needed. Better to go without cable TV and AC now than go without food tomorrow.

There are foods on the market that are cheap as dirt, can offer you an edible meal, and will hold up on a shelf if stored properly. I've seen ramen noodles for 16 cents/package (was 14 cents 2 months ago). Grabbing a case of 24 off the shelf will set you back a whopping $3.84. What's that? A cup of coffee at starbucks? Beans can be had for 50-75 cents/pound. 1/3 pound will give you a fine meal. Tuna ran me 56 cents/can today. I get 3 good sandwiches out of a can. Chef Boy r Dee has all sorts of stuff: ravioli, spag n balls, beefaroni, lasagna (its all the same, just different shapes) for a buck a can or less. Store brand of the same sort of thing is cheaper but needs a can opener. I drag it off to work for lunch. With these cheap foods, a couple hundred bucks would go a long way to giving you some volume right off the bat. You can always expand and diversify your storage with your next trip.

Stored food does not necessarily mean stocking up on rice and flour. If you do not eat rice and flour, what good is it going to do you? It is important to store those thing that you consume.

Rotation of inventory is critical. Most goods have dates and can be arranged on a shelf accordingly. If it does not have a date, have a marker handy. there is plenty of information online about product shelf life. Try over on the left sife menu under Web Links.

On this website are several threads addressing food storage, be sure to do a search. You gotta get that homework done.

STEALTH FOOD PURCHASING
There is a moral dilemma with stocking up food for hard times in a world of just in time distribution. The stores, warehouses, distribution centers and supply chains are set up and have been functioning on a par inventory system for decades. Store A sells an average of 10 jumbo sacks of rice per delivery period, so they stock 12. It supplier handles 50 stores, serving a need of 500 sacks per delivery period, they receive 550. In the event the buying habits of the consumers changes, the pars will also be changed, however, it is not instantaneous. a lag time of a couple of weeks is needed for the suppliers to make the adjustment. If sales continue to exceed supply, they continue to increase pars. This happens at each level in the supply chain right up to the farmers, with a lag time at each level. Farmers see soybeans selling well at a fair price because of biodiesel production, more farmers will plant more soy. The farmer is the most remote point on the supply chain and can only adjust his production levels once per year, depending on available land, fuel, fertilizer, cash, labor, time, and a host of other variables. If demand outstrips available supply, a shortage results, empty shelves can really piss people off.
A person stocking up is not a problem for a store. It won't even be noticed. If it is, it will look like someone getting ready for a big party. 10 people, the store can handle, although some of the more popular goods may run out. 10 people continuing this pattern, the store will adjust in just a few weeks. Now what happens when 50 or 100 or more people start gathering food for storage? Over a wide enough area, it is unnoticed. Over a small area, as seen with hurricanes Katrina and Francis, shortages present quickly in the popular goods, then expands to include substitute goods. Let's go one step further and think about a portion of the population of a nation all going out to stock up on supplies. This becomes a change in the consumption pattern. While distribution systems can adjust, there is another aspect to consider. That is the layman. Some Joe goes to the store for a loaf of bread, gallon of milk, stick of butter, sees several people with full carts of lots of large sacks. Mary Homebody goes to do her shopping, finds the sugar and flour sections empty. People will start to figure things out. This can be a trigger for panic buying. Panic buying can empty a store in a day. The stores can restock in a day or two with emergency deliveries, but there will be people in line waiting to get there hands on whatever they can to get them through the panic. Some guy will come home with a sack of corn meal and say "this is all I got" then try to figure out how to cook it. The stores would likely implement a purchase limit in such a scenario. $50 per customer or 50 pounds or something reasonable in order to ration the inventory. The people will simply make multiple trips to multiple stores with multiple family members until they reach a level of food storage they feel meets their needs in the situation. If it gets bad enough, riots and police intervention are possible, just read the news from around the world.

While we are far from food riots in this country, bear in mind that if enough people begin to stockpile goods, it will be noticed at the higher end of the supply line. There is not yet a need to run out and load up volume at the supermarket. However, there are things that each person who is stocking supplies needs for their own diet and comfort, and it is wise to be ready ahead of the pack. As the news worsens over the next weeks and months, keeping up the appearances of normal shopping will help maintain calm. The sheep do not need to be startled. Now is a good time to gather your supplies if you have not already done so. There are a number of actions you can take to this end.
-buying volume packages is fine. If you must buy several all at once, buy those things that go specifically with that product. For example if you are buying a bunch of flour and also need sugar, salt, oil, and a whole bunch of canned goods, buy just those items involved in baking. Load your car, then go in for the rest. To the layman, you are getting ready for a bake sale at church.
-Make multiple trips rather than fill multiple carts.
Use several supermarkets if possible
-Shop during quiet times, early morning, late evening. If your vehicle is in view when unloading, shop at night.
-Use different checkouts/cashiers. I would even consider using the self checkout on occasion.
-Do not engage your cashier in conversation.
-Pay cash when possible. If you do pay cash, limit your purchases to the $200 range, pay with a mix of a few 10s, 20s and a couple of larger bills.
-rather than gather all the salt you expect to need for 50 years (about 20 pounds per person), buy a couple of pounds at a time of an item over several trips. 2-5 is a good number, much more can get noticed.
-online shopping keeps your activity out of street level view, and is a fine means of buying bulk grains. There will be a digital trail.

I returned from Wal-Mart earlier, where I spent $350 on supplies. To get me by for a week, $50 would more than be enough, and I'd be eating high off the hog. The shelves look fine, the people are going about their usual business of buying prepackaged fluff. There was no hint of panic buying or stockpiling, just a typical evening at the supermarket. If I were to load up carts with big sacks of rice, flour, sugar and beans, I would stand out. I made two trips of it. Still can't find the cheese, chocolate bar or that burrito.

Addendum
As the number of people gathering supplies for the future increases, and buying habits change, there will be some goods in greater demand than others: canned meat, flour, rice, oil, sugar...staple dry goods that can not be produced in a back yard.
The price may be expected to rise along with demand. If enough people involve themselves in this activity, shortages may also present.
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WildRose · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jun 21, 2006 Posts: 1092

Excellent information, Specop and Kpeavey. Thanks for providing it.

wisconsin_cur

Great Essays.

I would just add to remember that if you are a human being, you are a mammal which means you can eat like any other mammal on the globe even if you do not like the taste. I watch a lot of mammals eat acorns, you can to. Depending upon where you live you can go a long time on acorns (and other nuts). This does not mean that your body will not have trouble adapting to the new diet, this does not mean that you should not learn what is or is not poisenous but merely to point out that you have options. Heck you can even eat pine bark.

There is also cleaned wheat, corn groats etc deemed fit for animal consumption (not the treated stuff that you plant!!!). It can be half to one quarter what you pay at the co-op for bulk grains. Store it yourself in second hand containers and you have saved some dough.

As far as canning your own on a budget, I have some friends who, over the last few years, have found every apple and cherry tree in the town in which they live. Most people let them rot or got to the birds. They have both connected with their neighborhood and gained a lot of fruit by talking to the neighbor and getting permission to gather the fruit.

Think laterally, there are all kinds of things you can do if you apply yourself to think around the problem you are in rather than trying to force your way through it.
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allenwrench · Intermediate Crude Joined: Apr 23, 2008 Posts: 893

Ludi

allenwrench · Intermediate Crude Joined: Apr 23, 2008 Posts: 893

Some deer have died from eating too much tannin in acorns.

wisconsin_cur

Ludi

kpeavey · Expert Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 1323

MD · Last edited by MD on Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:29 am; edited 1 time in total

I don't store food.

I'll find meals.

No worries!

PS: I can handle circumstances that come my way, until I can't, then I won't. (a semi-kuntslerism)

I'm sure glad for all of the farmers around me though, and equally glad that I have skills that they find useful.
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The observations and suggestions are absolutely correct. Crop failures occur (regularly) or items that you can purchase or barter for now - may not be available in the future. Having food storage reserves is an insurance policy and it also buys you time to figure out a fix or alternative to the problem at hand - without the added pressure of not eating. We keep more than a year supply of basic foods on hand at all times. We rotate it and use it combined with the fresh food from our four season garden and the meat/dairy/eggs that we currently purchase locally on a regular basis (and intend to keep doing until I cannot any longer). Grains are so easy to store long term and provide such a significant contribution to the diet without much money investment that we have approximately a six year supply in reserves if we continue eating them to the level we do today. We grind our own grains and bake bread weekly (just part of the week's normal agenda) and are practiced in using what we store.

Live today like it was the future you are expecting. The consequences of failure are far less dire today than it may be in the future - and now is the time to get the systems and skills (and storage!) in place.
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Ayoob · Expert Joined: Jul 15, 2004 Posts: 1145

Rice is cheap, beans are cheap, 55 gallon water barrels are cheap, propane and tanks are cheap. If you run out of food, it's your own damn fault and I need to sight in my rifle anyway.

startswithearthquakes · Tar Sands Joined: May 27, 2008 Posts: 98

Also explain what to do about toilet paper and such.

Specop_007 · Expert Joined: Aug 12, 2004 Posts: 6288