Food for storage

[kckndrgn]

The rule in our house - Store what we eat, eat what we store.

On that note many canned food items (beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, various meat items (tuna, spam, etc)) along with dry beans and rice. Hard red and white wheat is also kept as it will store longer in berry form rather than ground up. We also keep a supply of water on hand, along with a water filter.

All items are rotated as we replenish.

[Sheepdog]

The rule in our house - Store what we eat, eat what we store.

On that note many canned food items (beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, various meat items (tuna, spam, etc)) along with dry beans and rice. Hard red and white wheat is also kept as it will store longer in berry form rather than ground up. We also keep a supply of water on hand, along with a water filter.

All items are rotated as we replenish.

I gotta know--how do you eat the wheat berries?

I just ordered some, due to their reputed shelf life, protein content and nutrient retention, but I'm still not sure how I'm going to prepare it. If I can find a way to make it palatable enough to eat, I'll buy more of it, but this first order is totally experimental.

Oh, and if you've ordered lately, do you know of a good place to get it?

[kckndrgn]

Wheat berries are ground into either flower or "flaked" for cereal. I have a grain mill with 2 attachments - 1) grinder for making flower, 2) flaker for making cereal.

I've been getting my from www.beprepared.com My next order will be for some of their superpails and I will be getting red wheat, white wheat, beans, legumes, popcorn and a couple of others.

One thing that I did notice is that when using fresh ground flour the taste is SO much better

[midtennchip]

We have numerous cases of Alpine Aire and Mountain House long term food, but I constantly buy the 8 to 12 can boxes of vegetables and fruits available at Costco. I have at least 50 cans of each of the following at any one time (baked beans, corn, green beans, Chef Boyardee, oranges, pineapple, mixed vegetables). The price is slightly less than the grocery store price (i.e., about $.80/can for Del Monte), but they come in easy to store boxes. It makes writing the expiration dates on the boxes for rotation much easier. It also will provide some "regular food" to go with the freezed dried stuff to make life a little easier (especially with young kids).

There's another decent place to buy long term storage foods at the link below:

http://www.shelfreliance.com/

If anyone is interested, you can buy food grade 55-gallon water drums from Nashville Barrel (located in Fairview) for about $65 each. That sounds high, but every other drum I've seen is used. From the people I've talked to, used drums are not ideal for drinking water. But, that's just what I've heard.

Edited December 22, 2008 by midtennchip

[Jonsaiga]

LDS Food Storage Calculator - enter the number of people in the age range you are wanting to prep for and it gives you the LDS minimum suggested food to be stored.

Honeyvillegrain is a good source for some long term storage food. Their shipping price is one of the best I seen($4.49 flat rate regardless of quantity ordered).

If you are just getting started or looking for some good ideas on what food to store I highly recommend ]"]this book. Tells you what to store, has various figures/formulas to help estimate how much to store and has many different breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert recipes that are made from your food storage items.

[ls-vtec]

does anyone in this area know where to get food or potable water grade barrels ?

[Guest Revelator]

does anyone in this area know where to get food or potable water grade barrels ?

You might want to try Lit, the restaurant supply store in downtown Memphis. I'm going to stop by there when I get a chance and see what kind of food storage products they have. Maybe some vacuum seal bags and things like that. It's on Union near Third, just down the street from Autozone Ballpark.

[ZenDog]

If you are willing to spring for a brand new food grade water barrel, check out

http://www.bayteccontainers.com/waterbarrels.html

I bought one of their 55 gallon barrels complete with a faucet, bung wrench, and siphon. Fast free shipping from Houston. Feels good having 55 gallons of water stored just in case.

Edited December 30, 2008 by ZenDog
forgot something

[Guest Revelator]

Since I started this thread, every time I walk into the grocery store I think, "What would happen if all this went away? The convenience of having food and drink on the shelves for us to take, of having it all prepared and packaged for us, made nice and neat. What would people do without their ready-made food?"

This is what they'd do: they'd freak the hell out. Without readily available food, I think there would be an absolute collapse of social order. I've learned alot from the responses on this thread, and I'm continuing to fortify and develop my little stockpile. The chance of a major food shortage is extremely remote, but like Zendog said you have to look at it as insurance. And if you don't have it boy will you be screwed. And most people don't have it.

My goal is to have a 50-day supply at home and I'm pretty close to that. I'm not as ambitious as the 1-year's supply folks, but maybe when I have a bigger house. After that, I need to learn how to hunt, kill, skin and clean an animal. Once you can do that you'll never run out of food.

[Guest MinorKey]

Clearly if you are into the bible, there is a precedent there to have at least 3 years storage on hand. (due to sabbatical years and the possible jubilee year following)

but overall having at least a year is not that hard. we learned to make bread out of the wheat. (we use prarie gold for best results) i can send you a recipe that works really well. overall if you dont eat it now... it will be tough to then. if you have at least 1200 calories per day/per person, that will keep your butt alive! (not much else) meat will be hard to come by without the regular truck deliveries to the grocery store. we started cutting back our consumption to get used to it and became vegetarian. (the kind that still eats eggs and dairy whatever that is lol)

it is just a priority thing for us. we make preparedness our priority and as long as you have a prepared mindset, the details come in due time.

good idea to store: Wheat, Rice, sugar (ah! think of missing that!), beans and legumes of all varieties, oil (olive or cocanut are healthiest) Honey, peanut butter, heritage or non-hybridized seeds for gardening, etc.

also make sure to have low tech ways to prepare your meals.

We may be extreme in method, but the idea is to not need the umbilical cord to survive.

also have a good supply of medical supplies (anything you might need to use) and of course enough bullets to keep the above remaining in your posession.

KYPD,

-MK

[shirtshirt]

If food is unavailable to the public we are all going to have much larger problems than adapting to a vegitarian diet.

[Guest SUNTZU]

we learned to make bread out of the wheat. (we use prarie gold for best results) i can send you a recipe that works really well. overall if you dont eat it now... it will be tough to then.

Hey, would you mind PMing me that recipe? Thanks!

[ZenDog]

If food is unavailable to the public we are all going to have much larger problems than adapting to a vegitarian diet.

A good reason to stock up on food AND ammo.

[kckndrgn]

Hey, would you mind PMing me that recipe? Thanks!

Ditto!!

[dralarms]

Hey, would you mind PMing me that recipe? Thanks!

Yea, me too.

[Guest 70below]

I'd like that recipe too, maybe it would be worth posting given the interest? To touch on the medical supplies, definitely seems buying a bulk bottle of a few things (aspirin, ibuprofin, etc) may be wise to have as well as some antibiotic cream, burn cream, etc. I definitely try to keep some dried goods on hand such as beans and rice since they are so cheap, but it seems to be wise to have as much food with a high water content as possible to help you conserve any water that you have stored.

[Guest MinorKey]

I apologize it took a while to get back to y'all. the recipe has best results if you not only have the grain mill needed to make flour (a course milled flour works okay but a medium fine works best) but a Bosch or same style mixer with dough hook obviously. (there are hand crank versions out there) the manual way will take a bit more muscle of course. (and a bit of practice) Another thing to remember, you will get a huge health benefit if you use the ground flour less than 72 hours after grinding. the oils from the germ will start to turn rancid after that and most of the nutrition will be gone with it. *i cannot believe i am swappin recipes on TGO roflmao*

Best Bosch Bread Recipe (makes 6 loaves)

6 C. HOT water

1 C olive oil

1 C honey

2 T dough enhancer (vit C crystals or other) - we use blue chip brand

3 T gluten (1/3 C = 3 T) - also use blue chip brand vital wheat gluten

2 T sea salt

5 – 8 C fresh ground flour ( I use Prairie Gold) Will use 10-14 C total (my estimate)

5 – 6 T yeast -we use SAF but i am sure the others would work fine as well

Throw all of this into the bosh bowl (I’d recommend in the order given, yeast on top) and turn to 1. (you can stop it after incorporated and let the yeast do its thing for a few minutes) As its mixing, using ½ cup at a time, add additional wheat flour until it the dough pulls from the side of the bowl. After 4 or 5 C I have to turn mine to power 2. Continue to add flour if necessary. Let the dough knead 3 – 4 minutes to let the gluten develop. (If manual, double this time unless you are really fast:cool:) During this period I spray my pans and grease my counter and hands with something like Crisco. (Do not flour your counter with this method.) When the dough can ‘stretch’ some without breaking, the gluten is developed. Remove the dough onto the prepared counter, and I slam the entire dough ball seven times. (literally lift the whole thing over your head and slam it down on the table. good for gettin out that aggression) Cut in half, and form 2 balls, that you divide into thirds. These should be about 1 lb portions of dough. Slam each portion another seven times, form into a loaf, and place into pans. Let rise loosely covered with a thin cloth (anywhere from 10 mins – 20 mins my estimate) and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. The slamming reduces the air bubbles so you’ll have nice sandwich bread. If your bread turns to crumbly when you try to slice it, too much flour has been added. This recipe will also work without the dough enhancer and the gluten, but for best results, I recommend them. Also consider that your dough will continue to rise the first 10 mins in the oven, do not let it over-rise on the counter. A good quality baking pan can make a huge difference as well. (recommend Norpro dimpled 8" pans, the difference was amazing) anything I have recommended can be found on a number of sites on the internet. www.pleasanthillgrain.com for instance. we have our 11 and 9 Y/O kids doing this most of the time so it can't be rocket science. going on 3 years without store bought bread!

Enjoy...

-MK

[analog_kidd]

http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/

I have used this technique for backpacking. Just get some instant rice, and throw in a little seasoning, I like Taco powder, put it all in a heavy duty freezer bag. Bring along one of those chicken breasts in a sealed foil container, or some tuna. When ready to eat, mix it all up in the freezer bag, add boiling water, let it sit for 5 or 10 minutes and enjoy.

I also throw some oatmeal, brown sugar, powdered milk and a tablespoon of coffee creamer, all into a freezer bag. Add some boiling water and call it breakfast.

I was skeptical at first about the integrity of the freezer bag, but it held up great.

[Guest nraforlife]

Not worried. All my neighbors are unarmed and I'm not...

[Guest SUNTZU]

Not worried. All my neighbors are unarmed and I'm not...

So you're going to rob them?

[Guest nraforlife]

So you're going to rob them?

Barter system. I keep the wolves at bay they feed me.

[Guest SUNTZU]

Makes sense. Sorry for A$$uming.

[Guest MinorKey]

I was skeptical at first about the integrity of the freezer bag, but it held up great.

for fun we make freezer bag omlets. (i.e. drop in contents of 2 eggs and anything you like in an omlet in a quart size FB. seal and squish really well to mix. then drop in a pot of boiling water for 13 minutes and VOILA!)

we have used this to feed 17-20 folks breakfast when we had a bit of company. they are quite handy. (not sure what the BPA side effects are)

-MK

[Guest SMSTRICK]

Buy everything that you use and store enough to rotate in and out to where you never , ever run out on anything. I mean, enough to where you can buy when things are on sale in bulk rather that buying food, staples one to two items at a time.

I order mylar bags with O2 absorbers placed inside of food grade 5 -6 gallon buckets to store rice, beans, wheat, TVP, powdered milk, salt, sugar, oats, grains etc. etc. I have at least 50 cans of my favorite canned goods and even more of what I use on a regular basis , such as Ranch Stle Beans, Spam, Chicken Breasts etc. There are MANY sources out there to aid in long term food storage. They are turning very handy these days.

Edited January 26, 2009 by SMSTRICK

[Guest SMSTRICK]

Double post / sorry Edited January 26, 2009 by SMSTRICK