I’ve noticed that a lot people have questions about food storage. There’s a lot of good info on this forum I just thought I’d add some resources and share some of what I’ve learned. Also condense some of the info into one thread.
If you are just starting out you’ll want to add the basics first. It won’t be a great diet but it will support you. What I’m doing is accumulating 6 months worth at a time.
First I get grains & beans; because you can live on just these, though it is rather boring. Then dehydrated/freeze dried: milk, eggs, veggies, & fruit.
After you get a year’s worth of food add specialty stuff like; cheese powder, dessert items, spices, freeze dried meat, soup mixes, bread mix, etc. What is six months worth?? Well here are a few calculators.
http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm
http://www.providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,7498-1-4070-1,00.html
Basically it comes out to 25lb grains, wheat-rice-etc, and 5lbs of legumes, beans-lentils-etc. per person per month. Most of this info comes from the Mormon church, I’m not Mormon but do check out their websites because they are a great source of info.
Rice, beans, lard (it has a very long shelf life), and pasta can be had at Cosco or SamsClub cheaply. Wheat, barley, millet (similar to grits), and corn is available in bulk at feed supply stores or sometimes health food stores (usually expensive though). The Safeway near me has lentils and barley for less than $1 per pound!
When you get your rice, wheat, beans or whatever you’ll want to pack them in mylar & 5 gal buckets with oxygen absorbers for long-term storage. If you don’t then their shelf life will only be about a year.
Here are some good sources for packaging food:
http://www.youtube.com/user/delta69alpha how to
http://www.shopsimplerliving.com/ mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, etc
https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/emergency_supplies/mylar_food_storage_bags.htm mylar bags, oxygen absorbers
Why do I stock up on freeze dried milk, veggies, fruit, etc instead of canned?? Freeze dried can be expensive if you start getting pre-made meals but it is cheap if you just get the basic items; IE..1year worth of veggies for one person can be bought for $100. FD items are lighter, no water, and last longer, typical shelf life of fruits & veggies is 15-30 years. Canned goods have an average shelf life of 2yrs and they are heavy!
Though I stock up on FD fruits/veggies you should learn how to garden and get canning supplies; however, even if you can and garden you should get some freeze dried items.
I attached a good article on building up food storage. It even has budgets and timelines. Here are some suppliers:
http://www.yourfoodstorage.com/products
http://www.jrhenterprises.com/category.sc?categoryId=2
http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/StoreFront much more than just MREs!!
http://stores.ebay.com/Gwens-Store
http://www.shopsimplerliving.com/
http://www.nitro-pak.com/
Hope some of this helps you guys.
If you are just starting out you’ll want to add the basics first. It won’t be a great diet but it will support you. What I’m doing is accumulating 6 months worth at a time.
First I get grains & beans; because you can live on just these, though it is rather boring. Then dehydrated/freeze dried: milk, eggs, veggies, & fruit.
After you get a year’s worth of food add specialty stuff like; cheese powder, dessert items, spices, freeze dried meat, soup mixes, bread mix, etc. What is six months worth?? Well here are a few calculators.
http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm
http://www.providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,7498-1-4070-1,00.html
Basically it comes out to 25lb grains, wheat-rice-etc, and 5lbs of legumes, beans-lentils-etc. per person per month. Most of this info comes from the Mormon church, I’m not Mormon but do check out their websites because they are a great source of info.
Rice, beans, lard (it has a very long shelf life), and pasta can be had at Cosco or SamsClub cheaply. Wheat, barley, millet (similar to grits), and corn is available in bulk at feed supply stores or sometimes health food stores (usually expensive though). The Safeway near me has lentils and barley for less than $1 per pound!
When you get your rice, wheat, beans or whatever you’ll want to pack them in mylar & 5 gal buckets with oxygen absorbers for long-term storage. If you don’t then their shelf life will only be about a year.
Here are some good sources for packaging food:
http://www.youtube.com/user/delta69alpha how to
http://www.shopsimplerliving.com/ mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, etc
https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/emergency_supplies/mylar_food_storage_bags.htm mylar bags, oxygen absorbers
Why do I stock up on freeze dried milk, veggies, fruit, etc instead of canned?? Freeze dried can be expensive if you start getting pre-made meals but it is cheap if you just get the basic items; IE..1year worth of veggies for one person can be bought for $100. FD items are lighter, no water, and last longer, typical shelf life of fruits & veggies is 15-30 years. Canned goods have an average shelf life of 2yrs and they are heavy!
Though I stock up on FD fruits/veggies you should learn how to garden and get canning supplies; however, even if you can and garden you should get some freeze dried items.
I attached a good article on building up food storage. It even has budgets and timelines. Here are some suppliers:
http://www.yourfoodstorage.com/products
http://www.jrhenterprises.com/category.sc?categoryId=2
http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/StoreFront much more than just MREs!!
http://stores.ebay.com/Gwens-Store
http://www.shopsimplerliving.com/
http://www.nitro-pak.com/
Hope some of this helps you guys.