Food storage

[bigbabysweets]

I keep trying to get those close to me in on it. They just joke and say, " I'll just come to your house!" After hearing this about a million times I finally just give in and endure the awkward silence after I tell them how what I have is for my family and the only thing Ill give them is the warning to be prepared, which I just did.... I get angry looks when I tell my wife her sisters will starve before I take the slightest amount away from us. If they wanna drink, smoke, splurge, party and not care... Ill have no remorse should I be right.

It's the classic tale of the ant and the grasshopper. They better hope the jokes on me......

[Erik88]

If you guys need buckets go to your local Firehouse Subs and buy their 5 gallon pickle buckets for $2. It goes to a good cause and you get great buckets for just a few bucks.

 

I'm stocking freeze dried food from TheReadyStore.com among other things.

[Guest BBmG]

What are all of you using for bulk food storage? I found some USDA approved 5g buckets on Home Depots site for about $5 and was thinking about buying some gamma lids for them. Anyone ever use them? Thoughts, or other advice? Semper Fi!

Joe

 

Try going to your local schools and asking if they have any large, foodgrade buckets you can take. That's how I got some of mine. I also have some smaller ones from Home Depot, and they work great for bulk sugar, salt, rice, etc.

[Raoul]

Been meaning to check this place out for spices.

ICA Gourment Seasoning and Barzi

 

The freshest commercial spices I've found are those from Penzeys.

[Raoul]

Also I would suggest getting one of the foodsaver type vacuum sealers. We use ours for everything. Works great as a way to prepackage and protect any dried items,

[Caster]

These are all great ideas and the food is a wonderful investment BUT, can you replace it when the grid goes down?
I picked a 5gal bucket of green beans yesterday. A soon as the rain is done I have about five more(buckets full!) to pick. It will fill more mason jars than I have on hand. I would like to (I don't know if I can take it or not) to try my pressure canner over an open fire. That would be good to know that I can do it.

This is on top of a mountain of cucumbers and two dozen tomato plants and a few herbs; all packed into a 20'x40' raised bed garden.

I would quickly get tired of eating green beans but they will keep you strong. Edited July 5, 2013 by Caster

[Jamie Jackson]

Caster nailed it!

Food storage is a necessity, but home food production even more so.

 

We keep a variety of stored items in the bucket/mylar/ o2 absorber configuration...especially hard to self-produce items like rice and coffee.

 

But we grow and can a good amount, even in suburbia. Raised beds gardening is the way to go in my opinion.

 

There is definitely a learning curve to gardening. It's more challenging than just having seeds set back for when the SHTF.

 

Our focus this year is green beans for canning. But we grow a variety of other veggies for fresh eating, dehydrating and canning as well. 

[Dolomite_supafly]

My wife has used one of those hanging planters for years. They work extremely well and produce a lot given the amount of space they take up. I mentioned to her the other day about making a framework to hang 10 or so at once. They work so well because they retain the moisture. We recently bought one that has 15 openings around the sides and filled almost every one with a different plant and they all seem to be doing well. Be forwarned when everything is in full bloom those things weigh close to 100 pounds so you need a sturdy place to hang them. Right now it is hanging from a 1" metal pipe between two 4x4's.

[Caster]

My wife has used one of those hanging planters for years. They work extremely well and produce a lot given the amount of space they take up. I mentioned to her the other day about making a framework to hang 10 or so at once. They work so well because they retain the moisture. We recently bought one that has 15 openings around the sides and filled almost every one with a different plant and they all seem to be doing well. Be forwarned when everything is in full bloom those things weigh close to 100 pounds so you need a sturdy place to hang them. Right now it is hanging from a 1" metal pipe between two 4x4's.

I did that this year. I built an A frame for several topsey turvys. It's been a disaster. The plants are struggling to survive. At first I thought I was watering them too much so I backed off. Nope. I plants these weeks before the ones I put in the ground. The ones in the ground are three times as big now.

I don't know what I did wrong. Maybe too much sun, not sure. I know I won't be doing it again next year.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

You would have to have a stash of food to get you through the seasons where foodstocks wouldn't be growing,

anyway. Caster, if you're currently growing some foods, you could stockpile that much easier, and should. You

just don't know what kind of event you will have to deal with and a bunch of canned(store or home) food could

very well save your life. You can make those green beans taste pretty good, even if you eat 'em every day.

 

I have the opposite situation. I would have to cut down some large trees just to have enough sun to grow a decent

amount of vegetables in my yard. Depending on the situation, I may end up cutting several down, for firewood

and the sunlight.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Worst case scenario you need at least 9 months of food stockpiled. You never know when something might happen so if it happens in October you have at least 9 months before most plated vegetables are ready to be picked.

 

Here is a great alternative to the hanging planters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBh1fjMqjmI

[Guest USMC 2013]

These are all great ideas and the food is a wonderful investment BUT, can you replace it when the grid goes down?
I picked a 5gal bucket of green beans yesterday. A soon as the rain is done I have about five more(buckets full!) to pick. It will fill more mason jars than I have on hand. I would like to (I don't know if I can take it or not) to try my pressure canner over an open fire. That would be good to know that I can do it.

This is on top of a mountain of cucumbers and two dozen tomato plants and a few herbs; all packed into a 20'x40' raised bed garden.

I would quickly get tired of eating green beans but they will keep you strong.

 

 

Do you mean store some food and grow some like this...?

 

http://i1162.photobucket.com/albums/q522/Joe_n_TN/C995007_zpsd6663611.jpg

 

And have a few of these around so that the green beans don't get too boring?

 

http://i1162.photobucket.com/albums/q522/Joe_n_TN/Ceasar05JUN12.jpg

 

Semper Fi,

 

Joe

[swampnut]

Wow!!! a lot of good info here..... I've pretty much been stocking up on cases of can goods and just rotating them out. Also picked up some MRE's and other military rations. I like the bucket idea's and I'm going to check in to them.......