Food storage

[knfmn]

I'm trying to stock up on some food for the wife and I. If we ever need it, we'll probably also be feeding her mother, father, sister and brother because they're idiots and live too close to get away from.

My question is this: How much food do you usually keep on hand? Suggestions? Right now my food storage consists mainly of big bags of rice and beans. No clue what we have at this point, but enough to keep the wife and I fed for at least a month. Suggestions for places to buy food from?

 

[richc]

I've bought rice from Costco, and beans from Walmart.com

 

[northshoreLTC]

I would stock up on canned goods of food that you would normally eat in your everyday routine. Buy from BJ's or costco or market basket when there on sale. I rotate mine out as we eat it and buy it when we need more but I always make sure I have lots on hand. I have short term and long term storage as well. Long term is rice and beans in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. And then of course your garden and eggs from chickens if you can have them. You must have layers of food. Also having a chest freezer is a good idea as long as you have the means to run it if the power goes out. Hope this helps

 

[xtry51]

Start with rice and vitamins. It's the cheapest way to start a food store and rice will last 30+ years stored in mylar in 5gal buckets. Seal the bottle of vitamins on top of (not in) the mylar in the bucket.

Six people you're looking at quite a bit:

Six people
two 1/2cups of rice per day - 1cup per person per day
There are about 2.5cups per pound.

So you need about 2.4lbs per day for 6 people or 16.8lbs per week.

A five gallon bucket holds about 35lbs. So for 4 weeks you'd need two buckets. For a year you'd need 25 buckets.

Those numbers are not "living", they're staying alive. You'll need more than rice to live, but you need to start somewhere. Beans (dry) like rice can be stored long term the same way but are way more expensive. Other good protein items are any canned meat: Tuna, Spam, chili, etc.

ETA: Diversity is good, but hard to establish quickly in large amounts due to cost. If you have the money go crazy and expand a pantry into 3 months of the normal stuff you eat and then go long term. Most people can't afford to do this, which is why I usually push rice in these threads. Rice is dirt cheap at BJs in 50lb bags.

 

[ToddDubya]

What are you preparing for?

If you're going to be saving food in case there's a big snow storm and you can't get groceries for a week, you don't need 100# of rice. Hell, you probably have enough food at the house to last a week. Do you even eat rice on a regular basis? Everyone saves rice and beans (which I get, it's cheap, easy and nutritious), but if the power goes out for a week wouldn't you rather have some food you actually want to eat? A couple lasagnas in the freezer or a few freezer bags of chili will taste mighty fine when the family shows up. They also work when your back is sore and you don't feel like shopping/cooking.

My current food plan is to buy more of what I regularly eat and keep the extra in reserve. It takes some discipline to not eat the reserves without replacing them, but it's comforting to know when I open a new container of something there are a few more behind it.

If you're preparing for TEOWAWKI, then rice-n-bean up, build a bunker, a few caches, etc.

 

[northshoreLTC]

also, make sure you have multiple ways to cook and boil water, grill, rocket stove, fireplace etc

 

[7.62x39]

Mountain house in #10 cans. Has crazy long shelf life (20-25 years IIRC) I bought a bunch of it through a group buy on another forum. it is surprisingly good

 

[xtry51]

What are you preparing for?

If you're going to be saving food in case there's a big snow storm and you can't get groceries for a week, you don't need 100# of rice. Hell, you probably have enough food at the house to last a week. Do you even eat rice on a regular basis? Everyone saves rice and beans (which I get, it's cheap, easy and nutritious), but if the power goes out for a week wouldn't you rather have some food you actually want to eat? A couple lasagnas in the freezer or a few freezer bags of chili will taste mighty fine when the family shows up. They also work when your back is sore and you don't feel like shopping/cooking.

My current food plan is to buy more of what I regularly eat and keep the extra in reserve. It takes some discipline to not eat the reserves without replacing them, but it's comforting to know when I open a new container of something there are a few more behind it.

If you're preparing for TEOWAWKI, then rice-n-bean up, build a bunker, a few caches, etc.

Apparently he's prepping to feed the neighborhood that doesn't want to feed itself

Seriously though, if you think you're going to take in four people that don't know how to help themselves and think they won't be dragging the whole town over with them I think you should have a heart to heart with the wife on reality. The last thing you want when food becomes scarce is freeloaders coming over.

 

[Admin]

but if the power goes out for a week wouldn't you rather have some food you actually want to eat? A couple lasagnas in the freezer or a few freezer bags of chili will taste mighty fine when the family shows up.

How many freezers hold temp without power being used for a week? You can probably get three days if you're lucky. A chest freezer with pre-filled ice containers will give you a little more time, but most people have front opening freezers and opening them dumps out all the cold air.

 

[RLBreton]

The mantra should be "eat what you store and store what you eat"--this covers you for a lazy Sunday when you don't want to run out to a blizzard and 5 days of no grocery shopping or the apocalypse. Buying $2k worth of freeze dried meals you will probably end up not liking is a waste of good money and rice and beans are good to get you started should the SHTF tomorrow, but you should really back fill your pantry with stuff you would use regularly.

As for where to buy, Costco and Sams are our go-to places for many bulk items. If you choose to go the freeze dried route (which we have done for long term storage proteins), we really, really like the Thrive brand of foods. They aren't cheap by any means but the quality, texture and taste are really good. you can find them here. For powdered eggs, the absolute best we've tried--literally it was hard to tell them from fresh eggs--are the "Ova Easy" brand. They really are outstanding and you can find them here or here.

Hope that helps!

 

[Cowgirlup]

First off make some 5 gallon emergency buckets for your "idiot" family so they might stay home during a small emergency.
You should probably decide just what worst case scenario you are planning for.

Rice and beans will keep you going. Adding different types of beans, peas, barley, different types of pasta, quinoa($). Larger Market Baskets used to have Goya brand hominy (cracked corn) in the ethnic food aisle. Add some type of fat like olive oil which will keep for a long time in a cool place. Don't forget spices. all of that can be done cheaply and doesn't take up as much room to store. The down side is all need a good bit of water for cooking.


I found a lot of great ideas from this site so the above foods don't get boring.
http://www.bing.com/search?q=domini...id=259ab98f8981496f81e4d24374da95ce&FORM=QBRE

If you want your company to leave for the FEMA camp then just give them plain rice for a few days. LOL


Once you have the basics covered add in what you like. If you belong to BJ's they have good prices on canned meats. Peanut butter stores past it's best by date when kept in a cool place. Other things, freeze dried coffee, tea, hot chocolate, bullion cubes, other canned goods and soups. Probably more of those if water is an issue. Definitely store things you like to eat.

Mountain House and other FD foods are great for variety but will cost you. If you decide to go that route make sure you know what you're getting. A 40 serving can of something sounds great until you see that a serving is 1/3 cup.

 

[todd c]

i can what i like to eat chili, salsa, stewed tomatos, green beans, chicken soup, turkey soup other items from the garden. i also store rice, beans, lots of granola bars, Nutella for my picky eating kid and the list goes on. my place doesn't look like a preppers place more like my grandmothers pantry. i figured we could eat good for 4 months or survive for a year. i also told famly don't come over unless you have your own food and ammo.

 

[Bob J]

We do canning as well.... We have a fairly productive yard/garden and find it really helps with the cost of food going up.... We also run a dehydrator for some produce.... Don't know if it's still available but before we got the yard/garden established we used to hit the haymarket right around closing on Saturday and could pick up quite a bit of significantly discounted produce..... Might be worth a thought if there is a similar market near you....

 

[white feather]

Just remember:

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-ne...d-laborers-during-national-emergency_03182012

"The signing of the National Defense Resources Preparedness executive order grants the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Labor, the Department of Defense and other agencies complete control of all US resources, including the ability to seize, confiscate or re-delegate resources, materials, services, and facilities as deemed necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense as delegated by the following agencies"

"The new order provides specific definitions for each of these essential infrastructure elements, indicating that all resources, not just those owned by large farms and businesses, are to be directly controlled by the government. Thus, if you think the investments you made in digging a water well, building a solar array, or stockpiling food were for your own personal use, think again"


White Feather

 

[xtry51]

Just remember:

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-ne...d-laborers-during-national-emergency_03182012

"The signing of the National Defense Resources Preparedness executive order grants the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Labor, the Department of Defense and other agencies complete control of all US resources, including the ability to seize, confiscate or re-delegate resources, materials, services, and facilities as deemed necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense as delegated by the following agencies"

"The new order provides specific definitions for each of these essential infrastructure elements, indicating that all resources, not just those owned by large farms and businesses, are to be directly controlled by the government. Thus, if you think the investments you made in digging a water well, building a solar array, or stockpiling food were for your own personal use, think again"


White Feather

That's good. They can reclaim the lead from their coworkers.

 

[Golddiggie]

1. Don't post what you're doing online.
2. Get plenty of variety and as much as you can reasonably store.
3. If you're going to 'bug-in' then get a generator too. Stockpile enough fuel for said generator to run it a good amount of time (even if you only run it for an hour or two each day).
4. Tell the in-laws that if they don't bring something to contribute (food, ammo, guns, etc.) then they can keep on walking.

Or just move far enough away that they won't be able to get to you in time. You can also put up barriers to prevent unwanted 'guests' from showing up at your door.

All of this is hypothetical. At least until the excrement hits the rotating air movement device.

 

[mibro]

I've planned for two plausible events. (1) The direct-hit hurricane or epic winter ice storm bringing 30 days of power outage and chaos. (2) An epidemic requiring 90 days of isolation. I think planning for anything much beyond that is paranoid and fairly pointless unless you're in a remote location.

The key really is to store what you already eat, so start by making a list and build on that.

I put together a spreadsheet analyzing many Costco items for calories per pound and dollars per 1,000 calories. I now know why the third world eats beans, grains and oils as they are highly cost efficient, calorie-wise. King Arthur Flour in a 25 lb. bag costs 36 cents per 1,000 calories at Costco.

Sugars and carbs including dry pasta cost less than a dollar per 1,000 calories.

Healthy fats and oils (olive, coconut, avocado) cost between $0.67 and $1.80 per 1,000 calories.

Beans, peas, nuts, other protein-containing foods cost between $1.50 and $2.65 per 1,000 calories.

Canned meats and fish (tuna), vegetables, fruits and other "variety" type foods cost from $2.50 to $10.00 per thousand calories.

At one time all Americans stored food. Life was a constant rotation of hunting, harvesting, preserving, storing and eating. They would think people today are crazy with only two days of food in the house.

 

[Night_solstice]

At one time all Americans stored food. Life was a constant rotation of hunting, harvesting, preserving, storing and eating. They would think people today are crazy with only two days of food in the house.

I remember years ago watching a weather man talking about the current 'big storm' and how people rush to the stores to buy food, and in the segment they had gotten someone who was insisting how they had 'nothing to eat' and had to come out into the storm to stock up. They went to their house and started going through the cabinets and pulling out meal, after meal, after meal, and basically said that people had more to eat in their house they they realized, that "nothing to eat" usually meant "nothing I'm in the mood to eat", and that people could deal with a short term emergency like a storm better then they realized if they would shift from 'eat cause I like it' to 'eat cause it's food' and look around at what was already in their cabinets.

I however am still a very picky eater (always have been), but then again, I keep what I like in stock.

 

[Imprezah]

The buckets of augason farms products are very nicely priced on Walmart.com with free shipping.
The best price on pinto beans is the Walmart 8lb bags.

I'm striving for a 1 year supply of staples for a family of 5. We also have a 20x30 greenhouse and 1000ft/sq garden. With the greenhouse you can keep stuff like salad greens and carrots coming year round. We also have chickens for a constant supply of eggs. We love gardening and self sufficiency as a regular way of life. We store what we eat so its constantly in rotation. I don't buy any of the weird freeze dried stuff or MREs.

 

[Imprezah]

Also, it's kinda expensive, but quinoa is exceptionally nutritional, low glycemic index, high protein grain that can be put in long term storage.
And mung beans are the bean sprouts found in Aidan dishes. Storing those and sprouting them to consume as fresh vegetables is excellent and I don't see them on many prepper lists or websites.

 

[enbloc]

.

 

[JayMcB]

Not that I acknowledge storing anything, home, cabin or cached in between.

whatever you store, remember to store spices, etc.

There is a process called appetite fatigue that makes people not want to eat the same bland foods

Store LOTS of salt (25 pound bags), then add pepper, chipotle, chili powder, granulated garlic, dehydrated onions, cinnamon, nutmeg, dried parsley/basil, chicken/beef bouillon, tomato powder, lemon juice/lime juice concentrates, honey, preserves (strawberry/raspberry, molasses etc.

Then add vitamins, the ones that are like gummy bears do double duty as a sweet too.

Get some comfort foods. Only you know what they are. Me, I like my bacon, butter and cheese. If I were storing, I would have all of them canned

The spices, etc will make wheat berries, rice and beans a LOT easier to take.

As far as the wally world 30 day supplies, etc, watch the (lack of) protein in them and adjust accordingly. I personally found the sodium level of some of the items over the top, but if you make a batch of plain rice and then mix in that stuff, the seasoning level is more in line

Buy a foodsaver and you can drypack things you like in a mason jar that has been vacuumed into a long term storage method into a manageable size.

I've purchased salted cod and then vac packed it and eaten it over a year later. Between the salt, being sealed and the anoxic environment, it wasn't even possible to tell it was 'old' cod.

In terms of rice, get a type you like. Brown rice has better nutrition and most 'american' rice is pretty awful from a nutrition standpoint. I prefer basmati rice for a nuttier flavor, or jasmine for a more fragrant sweeter flavor. (see mentioned appetite fatigue)

There's a LDS cannery in Worcester, you can bring a truck and have a pretty good jump on storage in 1 trip, with stuff canned and stored that is immediately ready for long term storage.

Last tip....buy LOTS of can openers; it would suck to have all those cans and no way to open them

 

[enbloc]

.

 

[Bob J]

Not that I acknowledge storing anything, home, cabin or cached in between.

whatever you store, remember to store spices, etc.

There is a process called appetite fatigue that makes people not want to eat the same bland foods

Store LOTS of salt (25 pound bags), then add pepper, chipotle, chili powder, granulated garlic, dehydrated onions, cinnamon, nutmeg, dried parsley/basil, chicken/beef bouillon, tomato powder, lemon juice/lime juice concentrates, honey, preserves (strawberry/raspberry, molasses etc.

Then add vitamins, the ones that are like gummy bears do double duty as a sweet too.

Get some comfort foods. Only you know what they are. Me, I like my bacon, butter and cheese. If I were storing, I would have all of them canned

The spices, etc will make wheat berries, rice and beans a LOT easier to take.

As far as the wally world 30 day supplies, etc, watch the (lack of) protein in them and adjust accordingly. I personally found the sodium level of some of the items over the top, but if you make a batch of plain rice and then mix in that stuff, the seasoning level is more in line

Buy a foodsaver and you can drypack things you like in a mason jar that has been vacuumed into a long term storage method into a manageable size.

I've purchased salted cod and then vac packed it and eaten it over a year later. Between the salt, being sealed and the anoxic environment, it wasn't even possible to tell it was 'old' cod.

In terms of rice, get a type you like. Brown rice has better nutrition and most 'american' rice is pretty awful from a nutrition standpoint. I prefer basmati rice for a nuttier flavor, or jasmine for a more fragrant sweeter flavor. (see mentioned appetite fatigue)

There's a LDS cannery in Worcester, you can bring a truck and have a pretty good jump on storage in 1 trip, with stuff canned and stored that is immediately ready for long term storage.

Last tip....buy LOTS of can openers; it would suck to have all those cans and no way to open them

Great post.... Where do you buy salt in 25# bags?

 

[ToddDubya]

Another consideration for the rice and bean storage. Keep in mind that beans take a long ass time to cook, even after soaking overnight. So if you plan on cooking them on a little camp stove you'll go through gas quickly. They also require a lot of water, first to soak (you don't want to keep that water), then to cook.

 

[Smokewagon]

Great post.... Where do you buy salt in 25# bags?

Sam's sells 25lb bags of table salt.

 

[Smokewagon]

Another consideration for the rice and bean storage. Keep in mind that beans take a long ass time to cook, even after soaking overnight. So if you plan on cooking them on a little camp stove you'll go through gas quickly. They also require a lot of water, first to soak (you don't want to keep that water), then to cook.

I've always wondered about the bolded part, one grandmother tossed the water, the other kept it. Personally I pick through my beans and discard any shrivelled beans, rock/dirt chunks, and whatnot. After picking them over they completely covered with water, stirred, drained then I repeat the same process 2 more times, then they get put in a collander and rinsed. I don't always soak either. When I soak I never toss the water, It stays with the beans, in goes a ham hock or two and an onion or two. This seems to result in a much more flavorful pot of ham and beans. Now this only pertains to beans I'm making into ham and beans. For instance If I am doing chili or red beans and rice, the soaking water gets tossed.

 

[JayMcB]

Great post.... Where do you buy salt in 25# bags?

Sam's sells 25lb bags of table salt.

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/morton...ag/160341.ip?sprodId=160341&_requestid=391118

It's even listed as Kosher. You'll have to decide if you want your long term salt to be iodized or not. If I were storing, I would have a quantity of both, as iodide is a very necessary ingredient for thyroid health.

FWIW, I do not use iodized salt to preserve anything, but I do use it at the table if I'm not using a coarse sea salt. Ya gotta have salt for your eggs, esp if they are rehydrated.

 

[enbloc]

.

 

[ToddDubya]

I think the emphasized "do not save soaking water" is based on what leaches out of the beans into the water. It's the part of the bean that gives you the most farts. So the Interwebs are full of people (wives) saying to toss it because nobody likes (other peoples') farts. If I had to survive on rice and beans, I might be concerned about giving away my position with loud/stank nasty farts but otherwise it would just be more fun.