Hi all, I am new here and decided to jump right in. I have been thinking hard about food storage and decided I wanted to try to have a 2 year supply of food accumulated by the end of this year. My assumption is that I will not have a stove/oven or fridge - just a camping stove. (Is this a crazy assumption?) Many of the plans I saw included a lot of baking supplies and were quite complex. I kept it as simple as I could. That said, I would appreciate feedback on anything I may be missing. The plan covers 2 meals a day and snacks (the way we usually eat). Year 1 is my 'grocery store' supply year: B'fast: 2X a week - Instant oatmeal w/powdered milk 3X week - granola/cereal w/powdered milk 2X week - freeze dried eggs w/grits every day: canned fruit, coffee or tea Dinner: Pouch of tuna w/mac and cheese and canned veg Spaghetti w/freeze dried cheese and canned veg Chicken curry w/rice and canned veg Canned seasoned black beans w/rice and canned veg Canned chili on rice w/ canned veg Thai soup and Thai noodle dish and canned veg Salmon (pouch) w/lemon juice on rice w/veg Canned beef stew on instant mashed potatoes Chicken dinner (several varieties) from Target - has can of chicken included (This should give us enough variety and I can use much of this on a rotating basis. Veg would be sweet potatoes, spinach, peas, etc...and maybe I should use freeze dried instead of canned? I would hope to suppliment w/home garden.) Snacks: Nuts, ramen noodles, nutella, rasins, miso soup, campbells soups, dried fruits, chocolate, hot chocolate, PB and crackers, hard candies, jerky And plenty of powdered fruit drinks, sugar, some spices, etc. A few jars of gravy and misc stuff like that. Year 2: All freeze dried. I understand that Mountain House is the best tasting?? I have purchased some from Walmart to try this week. There you have it. Thanks for any feedback and it's a pleasure to meet people that are, as I am, wanting to prepare for what may be ahead of us. Thanks very much!
I am glad to see you are leaning towards the prepper lifestyle. There is tons of info here to answer your question. Do a search for food storage and read for a bit before you ask this complex multifaceted question. Just looking into the archives here is another way.
My first attempt to link some info here on this subject turned into a nightmare and I had to enlist the aid of a moderator to delete and kill it. . This is what I quickly found in the archives to help you. . thread title . "shelf life and food storage information" by Rightand 09/23/2006 . "100 items that disappear first in a panic situation" by melbo 09/10/2005 . Also you might check out Backwoods Home Magazine, hard copy, or online at www.backwoodshome.com . Check out Jackie Clay's column, and or the new book by her "Growing and canning your own food". . I hope this helps. It is just the tip of the iceberg here though.
Of course we are presuming that you have a camp stove and fuel, you may want to check into the Coleman co. as they used to make a small portable oven that was matched to their original white gas camping stove. Thermometer and all , and actually worked quite well. Great for making bread and bisquits etc.
Good for you for thinking like this. I would only suggest that you might want to look at some alternatives for the second year. Freeze dried meals are handy, but high in salt and other questionable ingredients that help the taste. Also, the calorie count of a typical meal won't be anywhere enough to keep you going if you're under stress and working hard (which you certainly would be in the second year of a survival scenario!) For the cost of a true year's supply of freeze dried food (roughly 2-3 times what they say because of the calorie issue) you could have all the dry ingredients (sprouting seeds, wheat, rice, beans, rolled oats, sugar, etc.) you'd ever need, plus the best equipment to prepare it with, plus a fuel supply and a means of cooking - probably propane and a gas stove. You'd probably still have some money left over after all that, which could go to that garden you want to start. I have some freeze dried food in pouches, in my vehicles. Otherwise, my storage program is a lot healthier and less expensive. There's a lot of info here, and everyone likes to help. My suggestion would be to start accumulating the store-bought items you're comfortable with right now, while researching your best options for long term. And welcome aboard!
You know I had wondered about this. We will be finished with our basic one year surplus that we will work from by the end of this year and will start on longer-term food items then. You have given me something to consider, for sure. Thanks.
Yup, Sam's is a great resource. I buy several things there in bulk, and then the challenge is storing it properly. The upside on it, is you are buying what you eat, and you are actually cooking with those items currently. The other challenge is to do powerless weekends, and see if you can still cook your foods primitively before you have to. On that note, has anyone any experience in using the Volcano stoves?
Great advice. For dehydrated food, I do it myself and then vacuum seal it. Grain can be bought in bulk and then stored v-sealed. Don't forget to get a hand grinder and the extras you need to make bread. Dehydrated potatoes in bulk are also good if you can find them at the right price and then v-sealed. I also check out the Dollar Store, Costco and Food For Less for deals on canned food.
Some ideas to consider, based on how I did it: 1) Find the nearest Mormon dry pack cannery. That's where I canned most of my dry food. You don't need to be a member of the church (I'm not) to go there. The prices are outstanding. Go to Provident Living Home and click on the home storage order form in the right hand column. Most of their food has a 30 year shelf life, and it is of high quality. At the dry pack cannery, I canned up dried apple slices, hard red wheat, hard white wheat, dried onions, dried carrots, dried milk, potato flakes, rolled oats (recommend the regular oats as the gluey texture of quick oats gets old), white rice, pinto beans, black beans, white beans, sugar and refried beans. I really like the refried bean mix, which is tasty and filling eaten dry as a snack. It cooks up in minutes in water, although I add dried onions first, let them soften, then add the bean flakes and some salsa. Sometimes I pour in a can of black beans (rinsed) for interest too. For compliance and insurance reasons, you can't bring your own food into their facility, but they will sell you empty cans, lids and oxygen absorbers, and they have a portable electric can sealer people can check out. I went that route and canned up a bunch of bulk millet, quinoa, amaranth, lentils, red beans, split peas, tea bags, kidney beans, jasmine rice, sticky rice, brown rice, brown/wild/red rice medley, etc. in order to flesh out my menu. Some of these things I added have a short shelf life, even canned with oxygen absorbers, so I store them in a cool dry basement room. In the winter I open that room's window to refrigerate them! 2) Start eating from your stock right away. A delicious breakfast is rolled oats with some apple slices, both from the Mormon cannery. If you wish, you can mix up some of their powdered milk, too, but regardless be sure to add in some cinnamon. There are all sorts of things you can do with beans and rice, with my favorites ranging from mexican to cajun. The hard red winter wheat can be soaked overnight and cooked for breakfast. Or, you can keep rinsing it every few hours and have wheat sprouts, which you can eat or bake into your bread. You'll need a good hand grinder for wheat. There's the Country Living Mill, and then there's the rest. Do this right the first time. Then learn to bake bread. Bread is becoming quite expensive at the store, and there's nothing at the store that's as good as fresh home baked whole wheat bread, particularly when the homemade stuff costs less than a buck a loaf to make and puts that wonderful fragrance into your house. There's always more, but if you build up a supply of the store-bought stuff you like and find a handful of recipes you enjoy that use your dry stocks, you'll be in dang good shape.
Gillman, GlockGirl and I have been talking about a trip down to Costco (her folks have a membership) just to check it out. If it turns out to be a worthwhile endeavor, I will holler at you. We could take the Suburban down and do a "group" buy for anyone who can't make the second trip down. GC and I have actually decided to order one of those Volcanos. I will let you know how it goes.
Costco is a good resource, although I'm quite upset at them over the shooting of Erik Scott at a Las Vegas Costco, and their dishonesty about their corporate anti-CCW policy. (Scott was a West Point grad, honorably discharged, who went on to earn an MBA at Duke. He worked for a medical device company servicing pacemakers and defibrillators for patients. A CCW holder, Scott was shopping at Costco with his girlfriend when an employee spotted his gun. Long story short, Costco called the police (Las Vegas Metro) who killed him just outside the store's front door. The whole thing stinks. While I support the police, I'm increasingly challenged to maintain respect for them, and this kind of escalation to lethal force is one reason why that is so. There is plenty of blame to go around, but the bottom line is that Erik Scott should be alive today, and his death was the direct result of Costco corporate policy, the liberal weasels. In subtle ways, Costco carries a number of higher quality goods than Sam's club, which is unfortunate in light of what kind of corporate citizen they are. Survivalists who happen to be CCW holders should be aware of this, and Costco should hear from all of us about their disrespect of our rights. When I get back later I'll try to post a list of the prep things I buy at Costco and why.
I bought a brand new Volcano Stove at a garage sale, and promptly did the same thing the previous owner did: I put it on a shelf and never used it.! It looks like a VERY efficient way to cook, particularly if you have a cast iron Dutch Oven that fits it properly. Guess I'll have to drag it out and cook something on it...
Thank goodness I am not the only one ... we have several things that I really should take out and "practice" with. Have a dutch oven and a fireplace but never have the two have met! I need to remedy that this winter. Have a brand spanking new tent, but have never put it up. That kind of stuff -- I would really like to see how this tent and my sleeping bags perform in cold weather. I wonder if I could talk the hubby into a camping "trip" in the back yard this winter.
It's good to have a plan, and to get started on food storage. I have a few tips for you. First, a camping stove requires fuel-heavy, expensive volatile fuel. Cast Iron cookware can be used on a gas or electric stove, BBQ grill, camp stove, or campfire, making it very versatile. I would get a dutch oven or two and learn to use them. Beans and rice are cheap, and a 5 to 1 ratio of rice to beans forms a complete protein capable of sustaining life. Don't forget some kind of cooking oil. Good luck, and don't become discouraged by the task before you.
My favorite is long grain white rice with lots of hot chili and beans over the top, then mixed good and ummmm is it good. I have even put it on bread while camping to make a chili-rice cold sandwhich. Not to bad really. Try it
