Get Started, Packing Food Long-Term is EZ!

[unionguy]

All those threads about cannibalism got me motivated!
Seriously...

For anyone out there who doesn't have some food stored long-term, figured I'd share my story to get you started...because it's a lot easier than I thought!

1. Just get some bulk rice, beans, spaghetti etc. Anything that is dry with a low fat content will last a long, long time.
2. I found some Mylar bags combined with oxygen absorbers online at Amazon. It may not have been the cheapest way to get this stuff, but it was easy...for less than $50 I ended up with bags etc to package 6 months of food for a family of four. I got a mix of 1-gallon and 5-gallon mylar bags (food grade). The 1gallon are a lot better in terms of fitting into a 5 gallon bucket and ease of moving them around. The 5gallon works for just 'sacking up' like 50 lbs of beans or rice at once.
3. Put the food and the oxygen absorber and seal the Mylar bag with your iron.
4. Put the Mylar bags full of food in a 5 gallon plastic bucket (ensures protection against rodents).

You're done! I couldn't believe how simple and easy it really is. It took me only about 2 hours to package up 3 months of food for a family of four.

Anyway, thought my tale might kick-start some fellow forum members.

Good luck.

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[trainsktg]

That's how to do it .

Keith

 

[Working 4 U]

Great info sounds easy a question though - Where in your house do you store it? Garage or back of a closet?


How I got Started:

I am in Eugene and I heard that if we have an earthquake and Hills Creek Dam goes then Lookout Point Reservoir is going to fail and then its the Dexter Reservoir will also go, so basically where I am at (Ferry Street Bridge area)
will be under water shortly. So I have a 3 backpacks with a few things in them. Some food (mountian house, progresso soups) and some supplies like wipes matches, flashlight, crank radio, can opener and some small drinks in the little pouches. I also keep 4 5 gallon jugs of water in my truck. Also have a med bag set up for minor to medium first aid stuff, I am a first responder and teach first aid and CPR at the local Red Cross. Please go get certified you never know when you need it. Its gonna be a race to get past the I-5 over the Willamette before the river takes it out. And if I go north I need to get passed the McKenzie before it back fills and or floods.


There are other things I want to add, but in time.

So in the event of a SHTF I grab 4 backpacks, rifle, shotgun, and pistol and family with dog and head either north or south to family which ever is a better route to go.

It does not hurt to be a little prepared.

 

[The Cheese]

people get intimidated by this stuff, but its stupid easy. Takes almost nothing to get a supply of basic stuff. Now you just need to start getting the spices and other ingredients to make all that beans and rice taste good day in and day out. That is where things get interesting.

 

[Decker]

people get intimidated by this stuff, but its stupid easy. Takes almost nothing to get a supply of basic stuff. Now you just need to start getting the spices and other ingredients to make all that beans and rice taste good day in and day out. That is where things get interesting.

For your buckets just go to the camping section of Freddies and buy one of those round spice things. It's like 4 bucks and it has salt, pepper, curry, cayenne, garlice salt and a few others that I can't think of right off hand. Toss 1 or 2 of those in and call it a day.

-d

 

[phathom]

For your buckets just go to the camping section of Freddies and buy one of those round spice things. It's like 4 bucks and it has salt, pepper, curry, cayenne, garlice salt and a few others that I can't think of right off hand. Toss 1 or 2 of those in and call it a day.

-d

Or as a cheaper alternative, go to winco, go to their bulk food section, you can get spices for pennies on the pound an pick up some shakers for them if you want for around $.30-50 each. You can pick the spices you normally use and store them ready to go/use for less than you can buy pre assembled spices.

I have recently started taking empty gallons of fruit juice (food/water grade, not milk grade) and filling them with water and a tiny bit of bleach to keep bacteria at bay and stock piling that. I add more everytime we empty a new gallon.

I also make sure to stock up on lots of canned food and dried food (vegetables, pasta, beans, rice) Even though my wife looks in the kitchen and says, "We have nothing to eat." I look at her and say, if there was an emergency, we would easily have a months worth of food for us. Right now, it's a matter of would you want it right now, but one day it will be a matter of, what could we eat to stay alive, and all that food looks delicious.

It's really a matter of keeping food on hand that will last long that you would normally eat, even in ideal or slightly less than ideal circumstances (too lazy to go to the store for something you would rather eat) Sure you don't want to eat Top Ramen everyday, but we all know what a little bit of spices can do to it.

 

[MA Duce]

I make it a practice to rotate the stored food I have. This accomplishes two things. 1.) gives me feedback on how the storage method is performing. 2.) ensures I have a fresh stockpile on hand. I keep a "Go bag" with survival gear and four days of MREs in each vehicle as well.

 

[tkdguy]

Mylar bags vs Zip Locs. I have been breaking down my dry food into Zip Locks and placing them into 5 gal sealed buckets. Is there a significant difference between Mylar and Zip Loc for storage over the next several years?
Thanks.

 

[Gunner3456]

Rodents will eat right through plastic buckets and right through Mylar. Gonna need an area sealed with metal screen door screening (not the fiberglass stuff they sell so much of now) and it has to be sealed tight. Rodents can and will get through tiny spaces if you leave a crack.

 

[THC101]

will metal screen really stop rodents though?
i've heard of them chewing right through concrete walls..

 

[Gunner3456]

I believe it will. We use it at the ranch to keep them out of grain silos where there are inevitable small openings and it works.

 

[tkdguy]

with canned meat, such as chicken, beef, turkey or tuna. You can add vegs as well. Makes a hugh difference.

 

[Father of four]

people get intimidated by this stuff, but its stupid easy. Takes almost nothing to get a supply of basic stuff. Now you just need to start getting the spices and other ingredients to make all that beans and rice taste good day in and day out. That is where things get interesting.

Yep it is stupid easy...I did it!

By the way...Got any more Mylar bags laying around you wanna sell?

Howard

 

[mxitman]

Yea, It's pretty easy to do. I got all my stuff from sorbent systems. SorbentSystems.com Their kind of pain to order some things from because not everything you can just add to your cart, but it looks like they have revamped their site...but if you take the time and make a list and give them a call... you will get exactly what you need.

I used to pack up everything in the large mylar bags but it's a pain for rotating. Plus if you want to give some away in a SHTF to a friend or neighbor you will need to open it and put it in another container. So after my first time around I now use the stand up ZIP SEAL mylar bags, you can tear them open and they reseal up... easy to package smaller amounts perfect for the pantry, go bag, camping etc.

I make my own soup mixes and use these perfectly, just write instructions on outside of bag. My basic chili for example has 1 cup dried black beans and 1 cup dried red beans, 1/8 cup chili powder, 3/4 cups dehydrated tomatoes, 1/2 cup dried onions, 1 tablespoon of garlic powder & 2 tablespoons of sea salt.

That's the basic recipe, I have some that I've added beef & venison biltong to as well, I just rotate these out every year otherwise the basic recipe will literally last forever. I've fixed some that was 7+ years old and tasted just as good as the new stuff.

 

[OPAWY]

After doing the food storage thing for the past 3 years, and rotating stuff out, I've noticed that I prefer some storage foods over others. I don't care for pinto beans, and can take only so much sardines, and then...so while some things may be cheap comparatively, I'd rather buy stuff that I enjoy eating. I know it sounds simple but I'm a slow learner. Of course, if a person is REALLY hungry, then prolly sardines would be heavenly.

 

[The Cheese]

After doing the food storage thing for the past 3 years, and rotating stuff out, I've noticed that I prefer some storage foods over others. I don't care for pinto beans, and can take only so much sardines, and then...so while some things may be cheap comparatively, I'd rather buy stuff that I enjoy eating. I know it sounds simple but I'm a slow learner. Of course, if a person is REALLY hungry, then prolly sardines would be heavenly.

store what you eat. And it evolves over time. Eventually you may get tired of certain things or your tastes change, what have you. We have gone through this a lot. We used to use a lot of cream of mushroom and tomato soup, but I can't tell you the last time I cracked into a can of either. But we started making more curries and stuff so we took the shelf space for the soup and threw in a case of coconut milk. If you never used or rotated through your storage then you would never learn these things. Very good stuff to learn.

 

[Burt Gummer]

A tip for you on the rice. All rice comes with eggs of little critters that come to life in about six months. So long term 6+ month storage of rice is a nice thought, but there will be little mites and tiny beetle things sharing your meal most likely. Some can be seen with the naked eye, some with a 2x-3x magnifier, by the thousands.

The trick is to take all the rice you buy in 5lb bags and rotate them through your freezer for 3+ weeks. In this amount of time the eggs will be neutralized. Then, and only then, are you set to store rice long term as in 5-10 years.

Even if you buy rice in sealed buckets the eggs are still there 98% of the time.

That may not 'bug' some people since you would be in a survival situation and you eat bugs in normal food all day long. If you have kids, etc, you might be concerned though.

On a side note, storing WATER is just as important as storing food, if not more. Untreated municipal tap water will store fine for a year (already has chlorine in it). Treat it with Purodene or another additive and it will good for 3-5 years. You can get free 5-gallon sealable buckets from Grocery Chain stores bakery managers if you ask. Don't go with over 20 gallon plastic food grade barrels, because they weigh a ton. Label each bucket/barrel with a fill date.

Get yourself a quality water filter. They will be worth their weight in gold some day. Some, like this one, allows you to get drinkable water from just about anywhere - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130415106051&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

 

[smurf hunter]

Has anyone attempted to audit their stored calories, or figure out how long their stores will really last? I've run through the casual math, and am overwhelmed with what I come up with.

I have a family of 4: 2 adults, and 2 kids under age 8.
Assume we're on some reduced intake (rationing): adult calories=2000 kid calories=1000 (6000 total per day)

If we multiply that out for 3 month, that's 547500 calories.

Suppose I wanted to store enough white rice (Rice, white, glutinous, cooked like you'd find in a Chinese restaurant) for 3 months.
Based on this table: Rice Calorie Counter (CalorieLab) It takes almost 1 pound of rice to yield 500 calories when cooked.

Maybe I'm missing something, but that means I'll need over 1000 lbs. of uncooked rice stored to give me 3 months of calories for my family. There's probably some margin of error considering 1 cup of raw rice cooks to a greater volume. I realize the nutritional consequences of exclusively eating rice are problematic, but it's just an example.

 

[unionguy]

That does sound off to me. I figured out 6 months for my family, close to a million calories and it wasn't 1000 lbs of rice. I did a lot of Bob's Red Mill and they have nutrition facts of all their stuff online. I think all my rice, beans, pasta, etc is in the hundreds of pounds, but I don't think it gets close to 1000.

Has anyone attempted to audit their stored calories, or figure out how long their stores will really last? I've run through the casual math, and am overwhelmed with what I come up with.

I have a family of 4: 2 adults, and 2 kids under age 8.
Assume we're on some reduced intake (rationing): adult calories=2000 kid calories=1000 (6000 total per day)

If we multiply that out for 3 month, that's 547500 calories.

Suppose I wanted to store enough white rice (Rice, white, glutinous, cooked like you'd find in a Chinese restaurant) for 3 months.
Based on this table: Rice Calorie Counter (CalorieLab) It takes almost 1 pound of rice to yield 500 calories when cooked.

Maybe I'm missing something, but that means I'll need over 1000 lbs. of uncooked rice stored to give me 3 months of calories for my family. There's probably some margin of error considering 1 cup of raw rice cooks to a greater volume. I realize the nutritional consequences of exclusively eating rice are problematic, but it's just an example.

 

[Decker]

A tip for you on the rice. All rice comes with eggs of little critters that come to life in about six months. So long term 6+ month storage of rice is a nice thought, but there will be little mites and tiny beetle things sharing your meal most likely. Some can be seen with the naked eye, some with a 2x-3x magnifier, by the thousands.

The trick is to take all the rice you buy in 5lb bags and rotate them through your freezer for 3+ weeks. In this amount of time the eggs will be neutralized. Then, and only then, are you set to store rice long term as in 5-10 years.

Even if you buy rice in sealed buckets the eggs are still there 98% of the time.

That may not 'bug' some people since you would be in a survival situation and you eat bugs in normal food all day long. If you have kids, etc, you might be concerned though.

On a side note, storing WATER is just as important as storing food, if not more. Untreated municipal tap water will store fine for a year (already has chlorine in it). Treat it with Purodene or another additive and it will good for 3-5 years. You can get free 5-gallon sealable buckets from Grocery Chain stores bakery managers if you ask. Don't go with over 20 gallon plastic food grade barrels, because they weigh a ton. Label each bucket/barrel with a fill date.

Get yourself a quality water filter. They will be worth their weight in gold some day. Some, like this one, allows you to get drinkable water from just about anywhere - Lifesaver Bottle 6000 Ultra Filtration Water Bottle NEW - eBay (item 130415106051 end time Mar-25-11 10:45:35 PDT)

Okay so here's the situation I have... I have poured all of my rice into mason jars... do I need to pour it back out into freezer bags and freeze it for 3 weeks or can I put the mason jars into the freezer and accomplish the same thing?

Ack!

-d