Dirtyharriet's old food stores room - want to see what 3000+ cans of food looks like

[dirtyharriett]

Now PLEASE keep in mind that these photos are old and seriously out of date. The number of cans in this room is probably a little over 3000. We now have over 4500 cans and are starting to move some of the stuff out of this bedroom. The weight of even this amount of food was so great that the floor started sagging and we had to use floor jacks to get it level again.

We are currently remodeling a large room downstairs and will then be able to get all 10 shelving units we are currently using into a single room (which is great for keeping it all in one place to keep cool). The room in the older pictures in this post only has 5 shelving units in there... that is all that would fit in that bedroom. I was going to wait and take pictures of the new larger food stores room but the rows are much longer and the walkway is very narrow.

There will be no way to get good pictures of that room without extreme photography skills and an exotic camera lens that I do not own. We still have a LONG way to go to get the amount of food we have planned on storing but we have gotten off to a good start I think.

The buckets of the bulk items like rice, wheat, sugar, salt and dried beans will be kept under the living room floor in a basement like area that can hold a little over 600 5 gallon buckets. We currently have over 5500 lbs of food for 5 gallon buckets.

We are also growing a hefty SFG (square foot gardening) method outdoor garden to supplement the canned/boxed/bucketed stuff with fresh vegetables and herbs. Hope to plant some fruit trees soon too. It's been hard to buy the food we really want and still keep spending money on all of the other much needed areas of prepping.

It always feels like you are neglecting one area while spending money on another... it's always catch 22 but that’s the nature of prepping. For those of you who are interested... I also posted an Excel spreadsheet system that calculates your entire food storage calorie amount to give you an exact picture of how long your food will really last on a 2000 calorie a day person diet.

It is buried somewhere on this site if you look hard enough you'll probably find it. Well best wishes to everyone with their preps... and take care... DH!

[Wildernessguy1]

you werent kiddin about 3000+ cans were you

NICE WORK

[vr6ness]

Wow, can't wait to see the end results if you are able to get some good pictures.

[ww2willysjeep]

How permanent is this storage? I mean, if you were to walk away tomorrow or leave or whatever, how long would all that food last. Or in other words, what food goes bad and do you rotate ALL of that inventory all the time to keep it fresh? VERY very curious as to what plan you have there. Nice storage setup though!

[az1]

will you marry me?:D

[Scruggs]

Stupid question of the year award - Got a can opener? Nice job! looks extremely organized.

[Dwind]

looks like the back bins at a grocery store- were there back stock these days

[Te Hopo]

Looking at those pics, I dont think your gonna get sick of the same thing each day, looks like you have a good variety of food there.

[Knight]

All name brand? Impressive food supply.

[Cryptophylaxis]

Wow! Now thats prepared. That must cost a fortune to rotate the stock before it spoils though.

[dirtyharriett]

Originally Posted by Scruggs

Stupid question of the year award - Got a can opener? Nice job! looks extremely organized.

We picked up TWO of the Edlund S11 solid stainless steel industrial can openers off of ebay for an average of the two for under $100. They sell new for $450 a piece. They are the Rolls Royce of manual can openers... DH.

[dirtyharriett]

Originally Posted by Cryptophylaxis

Wow! Now thats prepared. That must cost a fortune to rotate the stock before it spoils though.

Not at all. Each items maximum quantity is based upon maximum shelf life and how fast we normally consume it. Some canned items are really only good or a few years... others are good for 10 or longer. You just set your maximum stock levels accordingly. We also put a date on every case and rotate the stock by eating the older stuff first. Just use common sense... DH.

[Army 21Z]

Thanks for sharing!

[DocYoung]

New bug out plan, I'm going to your house.

[AAPEXX]

dam...thats a crazy amount of food. it's very intiminating! i know i need to stock up and been doin everything i can to prep up. i give you props HD for that much inventory! obviously i'm a NEWBIE, but i feel like i'm makin an OK amount of progress for how newly involved in the mindset i've become. how long did it take to get that much? i'm still in the process of deciding what things to get. my problem is i'm no where near a picky eater. so everything sounds good to me.

[farmerswife]

I agree with Doc,except I am flying to your house!

[dirtyharriett]

Originally Posted by AAPEXX

dam...thats a crazy amount of food. it's very intiminating! i know i need to stock up and been doin everything i can to prep up. i give you props HD for that much inventory! obviously i'm a NEWBIE, but i feel like i'm makin an OK amount of progress for how newly involved in the mindset i've become. how long did it take to get that much? i'm still in the process of deciding what things to get. my problem is i'm no where near a picky eater. so everything sounds good to me.

AAPEXX, for the actual food shown in the pictures... about 98% of it was acquired between Nov 2007 and mid Feb 2008... so about 3 1/2 months. Food was one of our weakest links till Nov 2007. We had been obsessed about acquiring guns, ammo and other types of equipment before that.

Like I have said many times before... trying to maintain balance is difficult sometimes when you like one prepping area more than another. We both are gun freaks so we got off to a really late start with the serious food acquisitions. It’s never too late to start getting it though so sooner rather than later should be the goal... DH.

[411man]

Finally some one who is serious about Long Term food preparedness for a SHTF or TEOTWAWKI situation. :D

I have a much greater variety and total count while not having the quantity of certain items show.

With over 100 - 40oz sized and 24 - 15oz sized can stew with cases of TP to go with it; I am on my way to reaching my minimum goals.

I am a BIG believer in LOTS of can veggies and fruit. Yes that means more cans of those than stew or chili combined.

I NEVER stop aquiring additional types of can goods in pursuit of variety.

My approach is to aquire the food to feed an Army then go get the Army.

[dirtyharriett]

Originally Posted by 411man

Finally some one who is serious about Long Term food preparedness for a SHTF or TEOTWAWKI situation. :D

I have a much greater variety and total count while not having the quantity of certain items show.

With over 100 - 40oz sized and 24 - 15oz sized can stew with cases of TP to go with it; I am on my way to reaching my minimum goals.

I am a BIG believer in LOTS of can veggies and fruit. Yes that means more cans of those than stew or chili combined.

I NEVER stop aquiring additional types of can goods in pursuit of variety.

My approach is to aquire the food to feed an Army then go get the Army.

Wow, we currently stock over 100 different items. Please keep in mind over 1500 cans were not in the pictures. Many different items are not shown at all in the pictures. If you stock more different items than that... even I am impressed. Thanks and good luck with your prepping.... DH.

[undisclosed]

Originally Posted by dirtyharriett

Now PLEASE keep in mind that these photos are old and seriously out of date. The number of cans in this room is probably a little over 3000. We now have over 4500 cans and are starting to move some of the stuff out of this bedroom. The weight of even this amount of food was so great that the floor started sagging and we had to use floor jacks to get it level again.

We are currently remodeling a large room downstairs and will then be able to get all 10 shelving units we are currently using into a single room (which is great for keeping it all in one place to keep cool). The room in the older pictures in this post only has 5 shelving units in there... that is all that would fit in that bedroom. I was going to wait and take pictures of the new larger food stores room but the rows are much longer and the walkway is very narrow.

There will be no way to get good pictures of that room without extreme photography skills and an exotic camera lens that I do not own. We still have a LONG way to go to get the amount of food we have planned on storing but we have gotten off to a good start I think.

The buckets of the bulk items like rice, wheat, sugar, salt and dried beans will be kept under the living room floor in a basement like area that can hold a little over 600 5 gallon buckets. We currently have over 5500 lbs of food for 5 gallon buckets.

We are also growing a hefty SFG (square foot gardening) method outdoor garden to supplement the canned/boxed/bucketed stuff with fresh vegetables and herbs. Hope to plant some fruit trees soon too. It's been hard to buy the food we really want and still keep spending money of all of the other much needed areas of prepping.

It always feels like you are neglecting one area while spending money on another... it's always catch 22 but that’s the nature of prepping. For those of you who are interested... I also posted an Excel spreadsheet system that calculates your entire food storage calorie amount to give you an exact picture of how long your food will really last on a 2000 calorie a day person diet.

It is buried somewhere on this site if you look hard enough you'll probably find it. Well best wishes to everyone with their preps... and take care... DH!

can i make your place my BOL? LOL i work without questions