What did you do today to prep?

[The Heretic]

Happens. We try to donate foods reaching BB dating which we more than likely won't use. Helps us avoid having to throw out food, something we absolutely abhor, but do on occasion.

As towards food storage, it is generally better to store foods in a controlled environment. As in an insulated house/shop, where there are less likely to be wide temperature swings at either extreme (not too hot, not too cold).

An over simplified example being swings of say 50-90 are far better for foods storage than swings of say mid thirties to over 100. A constant 70-80 even better.

This is why I don't store anything that can freeze in my shop. It is not heated and only lightly insulated. It sometimes gets below freezing here in the winter, and while I have not had anything freeze there yet, it could if we had a real cold snap (it was once below freezing, down in the 20s, for about a week once).

My next shop will be heated and well insulated, preferably earth bermed with a hydronic geothermal floor, so I can work in the shop and store things there in the winter and be comfortable. Also the shop will serve as a backup shelter for family/etc. who are refugees/etc., that I decide to allow to live there until they can get better shelter. Also, as backup shelter for me if my house/primary shelter is compromised due to fire, wind/ice or earthquake.

 

[The Heretic]

Got my new freezer, put the styrofoam boxes and gel packs in to get them cold. Put some salmon in one of the boxes. The rest are empty for now.

Daughter came over today and cleaned up/organized some of the pantry. Putting things in containers so mice can't get to them.

 

[hellotyler]

I'm thinking of purchasing a freeze dryer. At $2,500 I'd have to turn it into a business, but I think I could probably freeze dry some 'hood strawberries' or other popular oregon berries in season, something niche and that I can charge yuppies 10x what I paid re-selling them.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I did buy a major item yesterday in prep but you would have to know my addiction to caffeine to understand why I wanted this and wasn't going to risk a shortage of it in the future. I bought cases of RedBull. My friends say I am full of bull and don't need to buy this but its going to be my coffee alternative in a pinch. Normally wouldn't drink it but a power drink might come in handy at times.

That stuff is NASSSSTTTTYYYYY!!!!
Good luck.

 

[EPS]

That stuff is NASSSSTTTTYYYYY!!!!
Good luck.

Try the Russian piss test.
Lol Red bull and Stolis vodka.
We were at a bar years ago in Tacoma.
My ex was drinking Stolis and red bull.
The bar tender said we need a name for this drink.
And I said .
How about RUSSIAN PISS TEST

 

[The Heretic]

I'm thinking of purchasing a freeze dryer. At $2,500 I'd have to turn it into a business, but I think I could probably freeze dry some 'hood strawberries' or other popular oregon berries in season, something niche and that I can charge yuppies 10x what I paid re-selling them.

I would have to figure out the amortization on a freeze dryer vs just buying MH FD food on sale.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Try the Russian piss test.
Lol Red bull and Stolis vodka.
We were at a bar years ago in Tacoma.
My ex was drinking Stolis and red bull.
The bar tender said we need a name for this drink.
And I said .
How about RUSSIAN PISS TEST

The only white liquor Caveman ever drank was Bacardi 151 rum, it was always bourbon whiskey…

 

[The Heretic]

Still going thru the pantry - throwing out most of the food - e.g., canned food that is more than 5 years old. I have a hidden pantry my daughter doesn't know about that has overflow canned goods I stuffed into lower cabinets in the kitchen, with cans that are not so old. Not going to tell her about that cache. It is only a couple years old and I will start using it up when we are done here, not stocking up anymore at the grocery store until I run out of a give kind of food.

I learned my lesson with canned goods - kind of dismayed how much is being thrown out because I hoarded so much. I need to pay more attention to what I have and rotating it thru my gut instead of just buying more. Also, not buy so much, and not buy food that I already have - i.e., keep an inventory on my phone so I am not tempted when in the grocery store.

It is interesting to note which foods store longer. I am opening some of the cans to see how some of it stored. I will try to make notes, but so far fruit doesn't seem to fare as well. Some soups do, some do not - I need to rotate those faster and use less, making more soup/stews/etc. with ingredients instead of starting with canned soup as a base - now that I am retired I have a lot more time to spend on food preparation instead of just throwing something in the crock pot or nuking it. Got to change my prep and spending habits.

 

[The Heretic]

I forgot to mention, bought a BUNCH of the clear plastic storage bins to keep the pantry foods safe from the mice. The mice get on top of the canned food too, then you have to rinse off the cans before opening them, even if they don't leave their nice little turds on top to tell you they have been there, they probably still have. It is amazing how high they can get on shelves by climbing on top of items and then jumping to the next shelf - they have gotten all the way to the top 5' and four shelves high with a gap between the shelves and nothing vertical except the wall to climb up.

In the shop, they climb up the posts of the walls and the industrial grade shelves to the top then leave turds on top of stuff. But there is no food for them to get into out there so they have caused less destruction - they do get into equipment and make nests though - I have found them in my flail mower several times, and yesterday when I moved my truck one jumped out of somewhere in the truck and ran away.

I have seen where they got into unused open storage bins that have 2' high sides - most of the time they can jump out, as they are gone, but I occasionally find one dead inside who didn't manage it. I have ordered a spinning trap lid for a 5 gallon bucket (coming on a slow boat from China) and I will put it on a bucket and put enough water in it to drown them, but not enough where they can get out.

 

[The Heretic]

I forgot to mention another thing. I have mentioned this elsewhere before - I think.

I am no longer going to buy bulk foods from the bins where you scoop them out (been doing this at Costco).

I have found that the food does not store well when I do that.

1) Many foods eventually have an after taste - things like dried/roasted corn are just not palatable. I don't know why, but some of it was in plastic bags inside a container, some inside a food grade container alone - neither tasted good - my daughter confirmed the taste test (although she wasn't too eager about it).

2) I have found that items like the corn, nuts, wasabi peas, etc., have pests in them, that eventually manifest themselves. I have found the same to be true of any nuts like cashews or almonds that come in plastic jars (not bulk) that I have opened for consumption and after a while (months) the pests are seen in the jars. My conclusion is that at some point the pests have gotten into this food - in the bulk bins probably before I bought it - in the sealed jars of nuts/etc., after I have opened them and not consumed all of the food (not likely to consume several pounds of cashews in one sitting).

I think once I get reorganized I will only buy such foods in sealed containers, then if I open them for consumption, I will put the remaining contents into vacuum sealed bags for storage in a freezer.

 

[Howard1955]

I forgot to mention, bought a BUNCH of the clear plastic storage bins to keep the pantry foods safe from the mice. The mice get on top of the canned food too, then you have to rinse off the cans before opening them, even if they don't leave their nice little turds on top to tell you they have been there, they probably still have. It is amazing how high they can get on shelves by climbing on top of items and then jumping to the next shelf - they have gotten all the way to the top 5' and four shelves high with a gap between the shelves and nothing vertical except the wall to climb up.

In the shop, they climb up the posts of the walls and the industrial grade shelves to the top then leave turds on top of stuff. But there is no food for them to get into out there so they have caused less destruction - they do get into equipment and make nests though - I have found them in my flail mower several times, and yesterday when I moved my truck one jumped out of somewhere in the truck and ran away.

I have seen where they got into unused open storage bins that have 2' high sides - most of the time they can jump out, as they are gone, but I occasionally find one dead inside who didn't manage it. I have ordered a spinning trap lid for a 5 gallon bucket (coming on a slow boat from China) and I will put it on a bucket and put enough water in it to drown them, but not enough where they can get out.

I think a lot of us are having similar experiences with mice and long-term food storage.

One of the things I'm trying in my 5-gallon buckets of grain is 'food-grade diotamaceous earth'. It's supposed to be death on any insect that might hatch out in the stored grain, but be harmless to us.

I also put some oxygen absorbers into the Mylar bags, before sealing them up. The bag keeps it airtight, and so far the rodents haven't chewed through any of the plastic buckets. So far, so good.

Rodents are the worst. My wife and I were living in a hotel for a few months, while our house was being remodeled. While we were away, the mice did a lot of damage - including crawling all through our electric stove. Of course, they pee and poop wherever they go. The first time we turned on the oven after getting home, the smell was absolutely unbearable. We replaced the stove.

Those 'walk-the-plank' drowning buckets work pretty well. Good luck!

 

[The Heretic]

FWIW. Sweet Home granola



Probably has a shelf life of about 5-6 years, but probably no more. I just opened one with a best used by date of 2016 and it was palatable, and crunchy, but not as sweet as more recently bought granola. The cartons are thicker than milk cartons and wax coated inside and out - so even though it was exposed to light rain last night, the contents were still dry while the outside was damp. Much longer though and it would not have held out the rain.

I usually buy a less expensive brand for immediate use, but this brand is good IME

 

[The Heretic]

I have had mice chew thru mylar bags - the HD kind that you get starbucks coffee in. If they have the time and they smell the food, they will chew thru anything they can. I had them chew into a glove box and chew up a rubber armor around the emergency cell phone I kept there. I read somewhere that their genes are setup to make them chew thru stuff, which is why they can do havoc on automobiles. They also nest anywhere they can, including right near humans. Insects are easier to control but often you don't know they have gotten into something until it is too late.

Putting something in the freezer to kill pests is good, but don't go with just a few days - do it for weeks; it takes time for a large item to get well below freezing and then I give it more time to kill things.

I see Harbor Freight has 70 mil 5 gal buckets on sale for $3.18 today (last day of sale) and lids for $2.

 

[Camelfilter]

I have had mice chew thru mylar bags - the HD kind that you get starbucks coffee in. If they have the time and they smell the food, they will chew thru anything they can. I had them chew into a glove box and chew up a rubber armor around the emergency cell phone I kept there. I read somewhere that their genes are setup to make them chew thru stuff, which is why they can do havoc on automobiles. They also nest anywhere they can, including right near humans. Insects are easier to control but often you don't know they have gotten into something until it is too late.

Putting something in the freezer to kill pests is good, but don't go with just a few days - do it for weeks; it takes time for a large item to get well below freezing and then I give it more time to kill things.

I see Harbor Freight has 70 mil 5 gal buckets on sale for $3.18 today (last day of sale) and lids for $2.

The freeze method is widely debunked. Consider that there simply wouldn't be insects where there are hard freezes. After a thaw. There are, same as anywhere.

May kill hatched insects, but not eggs. The eggs in stored bulk foods are what cause the infestations. Using oxygen absorbers either kills the eggs, or simply doesn't allow for a hatch phase.

So in short, freeze method is a waste of time & resources. Plus moisture occurring amidst / during the proccess may cause spoilage.

 

[The Heretic]

Opened some ~7 year old sardines. A bit mushy but palatable. I would put best used by at less than 5 years.

 

[BrentN]

Still going thru the pantry - throwing out most of the food - e.g., canned food that is more than 5 years old. I have a hidden pantry my daughter doesn't know about that has overflow canned goods I stuffed into lower cabinets in the kitchen, with cans that are not so old. Not going to tell her about that cache. It is only a couple years old and I will start using it up when we are done here, not stocking up anymore at the grocery store until I run out of a give kind of food.

I learned my lesson with canned goods - kind of dismayed how much is being thrown out because I hoarded so much. I need to pay more attention to what I have and rotating it thru my gut instead of just buying more. Also, not buy so much, and not buy food that I already have - i.e., keep an inventory on my phone so I am not tempted when in the grocery store.

It is interesting to note which foods store longer. I am opening some of the cans to see how some of it stored. I will try to make notes, but so far fruit doesn't seem to fare as well. Some soups do, some do not - I need to rotate those faster and use less, making more soup/stews/etc. with ingredients instead of starting with canned soup as a base - now that I am retired I have a lot more time to spend on food preparation instead of just throwing something in the crock pot or nuking it. Got to change my prep and spending habits.

Good call on rotating, this is important for efficiency.
Got a pack of lifestraws, a sawyer, and a fire starting kit. Some basics that were lacking.
Also.plan to pick up a few extra containers of salt and pepper. Would really hate to run out of these things in tough times.

 

[Camelfilter]

Good call on rotating, this is important for efficiency.
Got a pack of lifestraws, a sawyer, and a fire starting kit. Some basics that were lacking.
Also.plan to pick up a few extra containers of salt and pepper. Would really hate to run out of these things in tough times.

Salt is a super easy one to stock up on. Inexpensive & lasts indefinitely. Just keep it away from moisture / humidity or it will brick.

More important as a prep than sugar, IMO, insofar as quantity to have etc.

Of course, as in everything, folks situations, locations and thought processes will vary. Someone living trekking distance to a reliable natural salt source wouldn't need near on as much as folks without such a source.

In my opinion.

 

[The Heretic]

Salt is a super easy one to stock up on. Inexpensive & lasts indefinitely. Just keep it away from moisture / humidity or it will brick.

More important as a prep than sugar, IMO, insofar as quantity to have etc.

Of course, as in everything, folks situations, locations and thought processes will vary. Someone living trekking distance to a reliable natural salt source wouldn't need near on as much as folks without such a source.

In my opinion.

Yup, found three pounds of salt. An easy and cheap one to stock up on.

Found some cans of veggies and fruit (mostly off brands like Hy Point I think it was) that were expired (2013) and some starting to maybe swell, some obviously swelling. Found one can with best used by 2010. Pretty much most anything over 5 years old gets thrown out. Daughter is arranging them by type and putting oldest in front to be used first.

Found some more cans of Nido - some dated back to 2013. It is dried milk (whole) so I think it is still good. Going to leave one (the oldest) accessible so that when we get all done I can make some up and see how well it has stored. I am betting it will be fine, and that will be good to know as milk is something that a lot of us use.

 

[Longwalkhome]

I picked up a rain poncho at a garage sale not too long ago and tested it out today. Thinking I like my raincoat better but the poncho has more versatility.

 

[The Heretic]