How to build your survival pantry with long-lasting food from the supermarket

[OrPackrat]

Besides the usual canned meats freeze dried meals and such....

Some items I've been stocking.

Chia Seeds
Quinoa
Peanut butter powder
Vanilla Protien powder
Gerber Rice Cereal
Gfuel powdered mix

A good fast meal with decent nutrition is a mix of 60% Rice Cereal to 40% vanilla protein powder, mixed to a preferred consistency with milk, water, or water and milk powder with a tablespoon or 2 of chia seeds mixed in...

The gfuel is am energy complex powder that mixes with just about anything in the dose you want, I call it a mix between an monster ultra and 5hr energy.

 

[OrPackrat]

I need to relocate my closet to the garage as I can't fit anymore in the closet.

 

[FourTeeFive]

I vacuum-sealed them in 1-quart mason jars.

I use a Foodsaver vacuum bag device I got at Costco. Nice because it reduces packaging bulk to an absolute minimum.

 

[Alexx1401]

Wife and I have LONG kept a good supply for the "just in case". Here the only big thing I ever worry about is a good shake. One that really brings things to a halt for a week or so. The simple solution to me has been mostly caned goods. We just keep a LOT of the stuff we eat anyway. Rotate it out as we use it, there is always a lot there. Freezer in the Garage that Wife keeps full. If we lost power we could keep it running for a week easy assuming the house did not fall down. Then also keep a couple buckets of the stuff that is supposed to last decades. This stuff will mostly be kept until I just toss it and buy more. It's a last resort stuff although the Mountain House, that I found out about here, is shockingly good for "survival food". It will not win any awards but, the damn stuff is something I would eat without having to starve first. Last time I got some MRE's that stuff would be the ticket if I wanted to get back to the weight I was 40 years ago. All I would have to do is only have that choice. Over eating would be a thing of the past.

 

[FourTeeFive]

I do think that a REALLY big shaker could put us out of commission for more than a couple of weeks. Things could get very ugly with massive damage and casualties, bridges collapsed, etc.

We've got quite a bit of what we eat daily, and some guilty pleasures like good quality ramen, dried pastas, etc. And then there's the Pilot Bread and SPAM for if we really got desperate. And of course lots of instant coffee. We're near a good water source and I've got both large and small water filters available. And some nice patches of nettles that are around at least half the year. So we can go for a good amount of time before I start thinking about shooting squirrels out of the trees. Honestly one of the bigger issues for us is dog food but I always keep at least three weeks worth on hand.

 

[The Heretic]

I do think that a REALLY big shaker could put us out of commission for more than a couple of weeks. Things could get very ugly with massive damage and casualties, bridges collapsed, etc.

I recall hearing/reading that a 9.x quake would put us on our own for 6 months, more or less.

I am building up my meds again (let it go down when my insurance stopped paying for them - $7 per pill for statins - now I pay about $50 a month for all my meds thru Amazon) - got about two months worth now. By the end of the year I should have ~4 months worth. Saw three deer the other day mozying across my property.

 

[Alexx1401]

I recall hearing/reading that a 9.x quake would put us on our own for 6 months, more or less.

I am building up my meds again (let it go down when my insurance stopped paying for them - $7 per pill for statins - now I pay about $50 a month for all my meds thru Amazon) - got about two months worth now. By the end of the year I should have ~4 months worth. Saw three deer the other day mozying across my property.

If we in WA were "on our own" for more than a week they would have to have Marshal Law here. The vast majority have NOTHING backed up. If the Feds did not start showing up in a week, probably less, they would have to send the Military in here. Those with nothing would form roving bands of looters.
When we were getting close to Y2K I did not believe anything would happen. Wife heard so much of the sky is going to fall stuff she started to get worried. We had what we have now, enough to get by, added a little more. She started wanting to go overboard. Talking about people who had one entire room in their home with food and such stacked up. I told her most of those people forgot one important thing. If they did not have a means to protect that year's worth of food, others would just steal it. So since we were set we could just get them to feed us in exchange for protecting them and their year supply of food and such.

 

[RedRover]

So since we were set we could just get them to feed us in exchange for protecting them and their year supply of food and such.

In my hood we call that a 'protection racket'.

 

[FourTeeFive]

At least on the western side of the mountains we are incredibly lucky to have fresh water, flora, and fauna in abundance. I've taken a foraging class from Earthwalk and found it to be an eye opener.

EarthWalk NorthWest

Earthwalk Northwest offers programs focusing on earth awareness, wilderness survival and ancestral living skills, including primitive bow making, fire by friction, wild edibles, and much more. Our unique courses provide in-depth, hands-on experience, allowing participants to deepen their understandi

earthwalknorthwest.com

 

[Legion489]

Check out the Kurt Saxon videos and publications, he did a lot of survival eats, sprouting, how to stuff.

If you have an Aldi's close, their stuff is top-notch and often the same make as Wally, only cheaper.

 

[OldBroad44]

I have found that dried beans have a number of problems:

1) They take a long time to cook/rehydrate
2) They can get too dry

I prefer lentils which store a lot longer (never had them go bad or get too dry) and they take a lot less time to cook. Dried split peas - ditto - but longer to cook than lentils.

Black eyed peas and other cow peas can be cooked without soaking overnight. So can soup peas and lentils. That can be handy in a survival or camping situation. When I was doing a lot of cool weather camping, my major staples were slab bacon, cheese, brown rice, lentils, blackeyed peas, dry soup mixes as a base for soups and stews, and olive oil (both for cooking and hand lotion, lip balm etc. And oily paper towels got put in plastic bag until needed for fire starters. Any edible greens I found and the occasional rabbit or fish rounded out the menu. And dry dog food, since I had a dog with me. But she got part of my dinner too, of course.

Its not that the beans get too dry. Its that they get too old. Old dead beans don't rehydrate very well. Prime beans are usually two years old or less, live vigorous seed. Beans can be cooked without pre soaking, but they don't taste as good and tend to cause more digestive issues (f@rts, the runs). Dry yellow soup peas taste totally different from green soup peas, by the way.

 

[oneday1]

Knorr sides (formerly Lipton) are small, cheap and pretty shelf stable while also being more enjoyable than the freeze dried stuff in my opinion. Add a few packs of Idahoan instant potatoes and throw them in a bucket and you have a Agusten Farms food pack for a fraction of the price.

 

[OldBroad44]

Lipton sides (formerly Knorr) are small, cheap and pretty shelf stable while also being more enjoyable than the freeze dried stuff in my opinion. Add a few packs of Idahoan instant potatoes and throw them in a bucket and you have a Agusten Farms food pack for a fraction of the price.

Right. I think it was mostly Knorr onion soup I took camping.

These days I would also include yellow split peas and instant oats.

 

[OrPackrat]

Lipton sides (formerly Knorr) are small, cheap and pretty shelf stable while also being more enjoyable than the freeze dried stuff in my opinion. Add a few packs of Idahoan instant potatoes and throw them in a bucket and you have a Agusten Farms food pack for a fraction of the price.

Love the knorr and instant potatoes, I have a box of them in the kitchen for sides on a regular basis plus a lot more in storage.

 

[Howard1955]

Growing rice in my backyard vegetable garden

Growing rice is easier than you think! Plus, the plants are very attractive with arching foliage and pretty seed heads. Learn how to grow upland rice!

savvygardening.com

 

[The Heretic]

Growing rice in my backyard vegetable garden

Growing rice is easier than you think! Plus, the plants are very attractive with arching foliage and pretty seed heads. Learn how to grow upland rice!

savvygardening.com

I use wild rice to help flavor some rice dishes - it is completely different flavor and smell. I put in maybe 5% wild rice and cook it separately - it is best, IMO to do it that way since the flavor is so strong.

Wild rice - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[OrPackrat]

Reorganizing my closet into the garage, initial steps, tons more to transfer over... Handful of basic items, not the most appetizing but it has plenty of nutrition for the body.

 

[cigars]

Wife and I have LONG kept a good supply for the "just in case". Here the only big thing I ever worry about is a good shake. One that really brings things to a halt for a week or so. The simple solution to me has been mostly caned goods. We just keep a LOT of the stuff we eat anyway. Rotate it out as we use it, there is always a lot there. Freezer in the Garage that Wife keeps full. If we lost power we could keep it running for a week easy assuming the house did not fall down. Then also keep a couple buckets of the stuff that is supposed to last decades. This stuff will mostly be kept until I just toss it and buy more. It's a last resort stuff although the Mountain House, that I found out about here, is shockingly good for "survival food". It will not win any awards but, the damn stuff is something I would eat without having to starve first. Last time I got some MRE's that stuff would be the ticket if I wanted to get back to the weight I was 40 years ago. All I would have to do is only have that choice. Over eating would be a thing of the past.

Beware though, I priced some AF stuff on Amazon and the lowest they had for what I looked at was 4x more than the local LDS storehouse for equivalent.

I'm not a Walmart corporate shill but they are competing with Amazoooon and will try hard to garner the market share. Just be aware that they also let the open market sell on their website. Walmart has great online prices and free shipping over 35 bucks. They allow outside vendors on their website to give more buying choices. Usually the Walmart listing are the best deal though. If you don't know how to use a search box you are pretty much screwed. All I'm saying is, buy your stuff now before the next "crisis" hits.

 

[cigars]

I need to relocate my closet to the garage as I can't fit anymore in the closet.

View attachment 853560View attachment 853561

You're doing great and are likely better prepared than many others. Just keep plugging away at it and keep stockpiling as much as you practically can. Everybody's situation is different.

 

[SUPER X]

I have found that dried beans have a number of problems:

1) They take a long time to cook/rehydrate
2) They can get too dry

I prefer lentils which store a lot longer (never had them go bad or get too dry) and they take a lot less time to cook. Dried split peas - ditto - but longer to cook than lentils.

Split peas and bacon or (spam in a pinch ) sticks to the ribs.