What types of Food To Store-up

[411man]

Over the years I have spent long hours trying to prepare a plan for the optimum Food selections to put into store for preparing for various disasters and emergencies.

I have been told to not put all my eggs in one basket in my efforts to achieve my goals on food preps.

As a result of that wise advice I began to look at food focusing on the nutitional and morale aspects in a major disaster type situation.

From a nutritional stand point it was obvious that a variety of meats, vegetables, and fruits would be necessary to lay up in store. That meant that I had to determind if relying upon long term store type foods (ie Dry, freeze-dried, MRE, Nitrogen, etc.) would be best or if consumer wet can type should be included as well.

I have read and discussed with people who have decided to rely primarially upon Dry goods such as rice and beans along with seasonings the limitations on vitamins and nutrition provided by such a diet quickly became apparent.

It seemed obvious that a combination of all food types would provide the best overall approach not only for the sake of nutrition but cost as well. So I set about to procure the widest possible variety of meats, vegetables, pastas, and fruits I could.


With regards to the issue of morale, food can and would play a indispensable role in the maintance of a positive mindset under the very stressful and trying circumstances of a disaster.

Snacks, cookies, crackers, peanut butter, jams, jellies, along with as great a variety of main dish type foods became my goal. Keeping the diet as normal as possible would no doubt also aid in the reduction of digestive medical problems.


Food and sanitation are vital to the maintance of both health and moral in a disaster.

[Goldenspurholderx2]

I try to keep a large pantry. Growing up in farm country with 8 kids we always had a good sized one in case of being snowed in. Now I live in the suburbs(can't wait to get back to the country) I still keep a well stocked pantry of foods I eat every day and replenish as things go on sale with rotating the stock. I could probably go about two months with what I have in my upstairs and basement pantry alone. I can cook these foods with items I already have(Dutch oven, grill, unleaded gasoline stoves). This is as far as I've gotten, the basics, but I do plan on putting up some long term storage items to supplement my garden.

I have put in a small garden this year to get back to the "feel" of having a garden and plan to expand it next year so I can put up canned vegetables and such. This in addition to cherry trees and strawberry plants on my property will add variety.

I'm starting out so I put my resources a little at a time where I can. I have only had "the mindset" for the last three years, two of them I was deployed, and the wife has no mindset when it comes to this at all. So I work at it on my own and not in a way to strain the family's finances or harmony.

BTW 411man do you mean morale as in high spirits? Not moral as in making a moral decision?

[411man]

Yes, I am in reference to maintaining High Spirits.

I would welcome any ideas on commercial can foods which would add variety to my survival pantry.

[Goldenspurholderx2]

Yes, I am in reference to maintaining High Spirits.

I would welcome any ideas on commercial can foods which would add variety to my survival pantry.

The key to my pantry is it's stuff that I eat all the time. This isn't my dedicated "survival pantry" it just happens to be large enough to have stores to see me through about 2 months. My upstairs pantry is the one I cook out of, the "Every Day" one if you will. Say I run out of tomato puree upstairs (Italian Wife, we use LOTS!) I'll run downstairs and grab ten cans off my "Basement Pantry" shelf and bring it back up stairs. When we go to SAM's Club monthly I'll look in the Basement Pantry and see I only have 1 case of tomato puree on hand (maybe we had an unusual amount of pasta this month) I'll pick up 2 more cases and rotate them so the new 2 are under the 1 old. We usually go through about 1 case a month, so I know if SHTF at the end of next month before I go to SAM's Club I'll still have 2 months worth on hand.

Here is where is gets a little tricky. We eat fresh fruit, not canned. The same with most vegetables and the Velveeta I keep in the Basement Pantry. I keep 2 cases of canned fruit(cocktail, peaches, pears, some pineapple) with varying expiration dates. A couple of months before the expiration date on the peaches and pears they go into the Rumtof(sp?) It's a German fermented fruit thing I picked up from my brother-in-law, it never goes bad and is great on ice cream or cake(it gets used). Cocktail and pineapple(sometimes we use it in cooking) goes to the Church Food Pantry where it will be used before three months is up. Vegetables get used up if they are corn(I love canned corn) or beans they go into a casserole with the Velveeta. Anything left goes to Church.

The trick is to find the canned substitutes for what you eat then find a use for them even if they aren't your favorite so they don't go to waste before the expiration.

Some other things I keep that are canned and rotated:
Tuna
Clams
Oysters
Chipped Beef
SPAM(I love it with eggs, or just fried on bread)
Beans
Evaporated Milk(cooking)

Not canned, but sealed:
Pop Tarts
Tabasco
Peanut Butter
Jam
Crackers
Pepperoni
Gatorade Mix

You get the idea, pretty much a normal shopping list.

Edited to add:

I almost forgot some of my best meals in Iraq were prepared over my Multi fuel stove using JP-8 and consisted of some cheap seasoned rice packets boiled with water with some canned chicken and Velveeta mixed in!

[Jonas Parker]

We've pretty much stopped home canning and gone to drying fruits and veggies. We try them out regularly, and other than my wife getting sick from eating an entire mason jar of dried apples (probably equal to a couple of dozen apples before drying) we've had pretty good luck with the food dryer.

The basics, stored in 5-gal. sealed plastic buckets are pinto beans, rice, corn, and wheat. We have a hand grinder for the corn and wheat.

We have both pear and pecan trees, and keep the larder stocked well too.

[ARMORER]

I vac pac any thang in a bag,rotate my canned goods,and also dehydrate alot,I also stock up on soft pac foods,and lately those boxed meals with every thang including meat in them re pac and vac,I don't can much(need pressure cooker)have some FD,and MRE's,next thang is soup mixes,chili and stew to dehydrate and put up-we stock up on alotta mixes-pudding,jello,biscuit,potato,rice,noodles that just need water no milk,we have powdered milk for those items that need it-we buy on sale and some internet(buy those shakers of herbs when on sale cheap) we have apple trees and soon I hope cherry,peach and pears-big garden each year dehy what we can-ARMORER

[411man]

It may be of interest to some here that I and many of my family, freinds, and associates have eaten commercial brand name can goods years past their expiration dates without ill effects of any kind. I'm talking about can chili, stew, vegetables, fruit, baked beans, etc.

What I did notice was that water often separated out of the product and some loss of taste was incountered with those that reached 3 or more years past expiration date. I have eaten name brand can goods 5 and 6 years after their expiration dates without problems. Of course these can goods were stored in a dry shed without climate control but with temperatures ranging from 50s to 70s.

[Goldenspurholderx2]

Yeah, I don't know what is exactly safe, probably a case by case issue. I would have no problems eating past date goods if the cans weren't dented or bulged. If they are dented the air inside had to go somewhere (outside) so that means a break in the seal. If they are bulged then that is a sure sign of botulism, which a dented can won't give you because the seal is already compromised. If it was past date I'd just give it the smell test, if it passed that then a little taste, if everything tasted as should then dig in!:)

[TheOtherChris]

The key to my pantry is it's stuff that I eat all the time.


Give that man a kewpie doll!

Store what you eat and eat what you store!

My family has been "storing" food for generations.
We store the foods we eat on a daily basis. Our 'cupboards' just happen to be large enough to have a year's worth on hand.

Some of the reasons why it is important to make your storage part of your regular diet is that in a crisis are:
Food is more comforting if it is what you're used to. Studies have shown that many young children will starve rather than eat food they're unfamiliar with or don't like.
It is much easier to learn preparation methods that YOU like before the crisis. There are many spices and methods to prepare beans or rice and you might as well find the ones you really like rather than just the ones you can stand.
Some people's digestive systems can not adjust to a radical change. If you were to switch to the high fiber of a 100% whole wheat diet, you may find that the nutrients pass through you VERY quickly and are not absorbed. Or, you may find allergies when certain foods are consumed in higher quantities than when you 'experimented' with the idea.

It doesn't cost any more to keep a year's supply of food in basement than to keep a week's worth in the cupboard. You buy food every week anyway, just buy more than you use and eventually you'll have storage.

Just remember that when you take something from the pantry to the kitchen, you need to put it on the grocery list for replacement.

[lew]

Store what you eat and eat what you store!



That's my thought, too. My emergency rations are, for the most part, synonomous with my regular pantry. That is, store up enough food to last a long while, and draw from the food stock for normal consumption. Food is regularly replaced and cycled through so as to maintain an adequate supply and freshness.

[Jim West]

Yes, I am in reference to maintaining High Spirits.

I would welcome any ideas on commercial can foods which would add variety to my survival pantry.

Canned butter,cheese, and meats. The butter and cheese are from New Zealand. So the taste may be different to us. Also the meat selection here varies.

www.internetgrocer.net

[411man]

Great post TheOtherChris.

Jim West, I shop at a Oriental food store owned by a Phillipino. They carry from the phillippines Kraft brand can cheeze. It isn't cheap but I am going to add it to my pantry for the variety of taste it would add to the survival diet.

These oriental stores have can cookies and crackers in addition to a wide variety of other items not available in cans or tins here from US commercial sources. I highly recommend the "SkyFlakes" brand crackers which one can purchase in the big 800g (1lb 12.2oz) tins which I buy in 12 ct cases. I prefer the Export type packaging as the crackers are individually wrapped inside the tins and store longer with better flavor. These crackers are less salty and taste much better than our saltine type and they do not have the air bubbles in their cracker.

I encourage everyone to go in your area and comparison shop those stores for ideas to add to your survival pantry.

[BRONZE]

I once had a shopping cart half full of nothing but can food.

Got a few weird looks.

Once I found canned fruit on sale and got asked if I needed help. Reason being I had pulled all the front cans out of the way to get the fresher back cans.

Anybody have problems keeping their wives out of their shtf pantry. When I by food I rotate it through my pantry first and then that food goes to the pantry by the kitchen.

I told my wife I was going to put a lock on my pantry she said she would out a lock on the refrig.






She won. :(

[mr fixit]

Just did a search on food storage and found an interesting place to start.

http://www.providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,2003-1,00.html

It is a site by the Mormons about food storage, how much, what kinds etc.

I am not Mormon, but I know they have been into fod storage and preparedness for years.

[bsdmon]

yea i lived in utah for a few years. if they're praciticing mormons they keep a years supply of food and water on hand. my friends family had a room for it and kept the water in a spare room. and mormons also (again if they truely practice) dont consume caffiene or alcohol. theyll probably outlast us all.

[411man]

Here is information on the Kraft Brand canned cheddar cheeze I mentioned found in Oriental stores as well as a Online source to order it from.

Link below:

http://www.internet-grocer.net/cheese.htm

Here is that sources home page link, check it out. Look under Products.

http://www.internet-grocer.net/index.htm

They also carry canned Meats and Butter.

[Goldenspurholderx2]

Good thread 411man, this weekend I made a "survival recipe" for the wife to see how she would react. A one pan dish with Spanish rice mixture, canned chicken and Velveeta. She thought it was good but not her favorite, I can handle that. I know these mixtures from my time in the sandbox and I might serve them once a week so she doesn't have a food shock if SHTF.:)

[411man]

If you tried the canned Kraft cheddar do you think it might make your recipe more to her taste?

[Goldenspurholderx2]

No, I'll look for it next time out! Thanks! We always use stuff in the pantry mixed with fresh foods, that is where the shock comes from. If I threw in fresh broccoli she would have had less adversion. We always have spaghetti and meatballs, I wonder if I served cubed SPAM with this instead of meatballs what kind of reaction I'd get?:D

I also like the Velveeta because it isn't canned, I like to have some versions of food in the lighter foil packets in case my bugging in turns to bugging out. I have some of the more expensive packets of chicken, tuna, and oysters just for this occasion, I HATE MREs!:p

[Jim West]

Here is information on the Kraft Brand canned cheddar cheeze I mentioned found in Oriental stores as well as a Online source to order it from.

Link below:

http://www.internet-grocer.net/cheese.htm

Here is that sources home page link, check it out. Look under Products.

http://www.internet-grocer.net/index.htm

They also carry canned Meats and Butter.

This is what I was refering to. Some folks dont like the taste and colour of the butter and cheese. Ive eaten local cheese and butter. I prefer it. Some folks would say that it doesnt taste like landolakes. Well its not going to. I guess it takes a bit of sand to eat warm cheese from a mom and pop store in Tuskeegee Al in August:eek: Ive never been ill. The reason I brought up canned butter and cheese was for cold weather. Even though Americans have a very high fat diet, they do not realize that fat plays a vital roll in the winter months IE comfort foods. I can work in freezing temps on a big bowl of bacon grits with lots of butter, maybe with a bit of cheese on the side or even better melted in with the mix. Butter and cheese can be very vital as souces of palatable fat. I dont know about you, but take a swig of Canada oil. Not very good. I prefeer EVO. Also as an aside, Since canned bacon has left the USA market place, you might look for canned/tinned meats at sites that cater to British expats. Ive seen canned hot dogs and Canadian bacon at some of these sights. Do a google for British expat foods, and go from there. I am on a new computer. My bookmark file from the old HP is on hold for a long while. I had a link from Frugals about old time cured bacon. This is the stuff you hang from the rafters and its good for a year or more. If anyone has a link it would be most appreciated. I think its from a buckskinning sight or historical re-enactors sight. Jim

[jerrymrc]

You can can just about anything. I can my own butter and cheese along with everything else.

I have a mix of home canned, MRE's, bulk sealed items, store canned items and dehydrated items.

One of the tricks is to take a look at what you have and what you need. If you like bread it is no good to have 50lbs of flour and no baking powder and yeast to go with it.

[411man]

Great point jerrymrc.

One of the most difficult things that must be a part of preparing is to track and rotate items and see to the replenishment of rotated items.

[Hillbilly]

Got a quick question. How long will rice and beans stay good if they have been vac pac and put in a freezer? We stored several pounds of rice and various beans before Y2K. I rotate everything , but i'm still working on that batch of rice and beans from 6 yrs ago. If there is a better way to store them please let me know.

Thanks

[411man]

I'd say if you keeped them in the freezer all this time they should be just find. Look for freezer burn when you go to use them.

[Goldenspurholderx2]

I'm sure they are OK to eat. You might want to check the inside of the bag real good for condensation after you open it. Going from the freezer to warmer temperature(if there is any moisture inside the bag)will cause condensation and possible mold problems if not allowed to dry. I'm not speaking from experience here, just an idea.:)