[formulass670]

I was hoping some people might be able to chime in as to some questions I had regarding long term storage, hopefully I found the proper thread

-Batteries, I try as much as possible to not rely on electronic devices, but I have a few such as flashlights, radios etc. I have all my devices using AA batteries and would like to load up on some duracells that are on sale, whats a shelf life on a duracell battery, I have ultras and regulars, and whats the best way to store them? vacuum package and kept in a cool dark place?

-Food storage, is there a general guidline to how long the basic foods will last when packed in food storage containers and mylar bags to know when to rotate it out? I want to be sure I dont waste, or have things go bad before I use them, is everything packed in mylar bags and buckets around the 20 year mark? Ideally I can set something up with minimal rotation.

Last, if there is anyone in Canada on here knows of any good online shops based in Canada or will ship to Canada that I can get the mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, general quality survival supplies I would appreciate letting me know, I don't know of many around here.

Thanks!

 

[MikeK]

-Food storage, is there a general guidline to how long the basic foods will last when packed in food storage containers and mylar bags to know when to rotate it out? I want to be sure I dont waste, or have things go bad before I use them, is everything packed in mylar bags and buckets around the 20 year mark? Ideally I can set something up with minimal rotation.

The storage life depends on the ingredient. Some, like brown rice or whole wheat flour, just don't last long. Baking mixes generally last 5 years or so. Other foods like powdered milk and eggs, grains and beans, can last for decades.

I've seen some lists of estimated times. Maybe someone will be kind enough to post one. The estimated times are proving to be very conservative, as some of the foods, when stored properly, are lasting much longer than expected.

As for batteries, you might look into rechargeable and inexpensive solar battery chargers. They pay themselves off after a few uses and are really the only long term solution. Even my old school nicads have lasted from the mid '90s until now. The new Eneloops are a better technology yet.

I don't know that I'd vacuum pack batteries. That creates a pressure differential between the inside and the outside. It could possibly cause leakage or damage.

 

[felicia]

I was hoping some people might be able to chime in as to some questions I had regarding long term storage, hopefully I found the proper thread

-Batteries, I try as much as possible to not rely on electronic devices, but I have a few such as flashlights, radios etc. I have all my devices using AA batteries and would like to load up on some duracells that are on sale, whats a shelf life on a duracell battery, I have ultras and regulars, and whats the best way to store them? vacuum package and kept in a cool dark place?

-Food storage, is there a general guidline to how long the basic foods will last when packed in food storage containers and mylar bags to know when to rotate it out? I want to be sure I dont waste, or have things go bad before I use them, is everything packed in mylar bags and buckets around the 20 year mark? Ideally I can set something up with minimal rotation.

Last, if there is anyone in Canada on here knows of any good online shops based in Canada or will ship to Canada that I can get the mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, general quality survival supplies I would appreciate letting me know, I don't know of many around here.

Thanks!

You do not say where in Canada you are from.

Below is the list of LDS Canneries in Canada. You can purchase mylar bags & o2.


AB - Calgary
Phone (403) 571-3762
FAX (403) 571-3768
7040 Farrell Rd SE
Calgary, Alberta T2H 0T2
AB - Lethbridge


Phone (403) 320-7114
420 34th St South
Lethbridge, Alberta T1J 4H8

AB - Sherwood Park
Phone (780) 464-6151
49 Cree Road
Sherwood Park, Alberta T8A 3X9

BC - Vancouver
Phone (604) 882-7586
9355 198th St 105B
Langley, British Columbia V1M 3J9

ON - Toronto
Phone (416) 741-3253
85 Queens Plate Drive
Etobicoke, Ontario M9W 7K4

 

[wasniper]

Some foods will last 20yrs but flour about 7yrs rice about the same if you mylar&02 keep in a cool place most batteries should last 3-4 yrs without losing much power. Wheat berries will last 20 yrs if stored properly also they will retain most of their nutrition, grind when you need flour. JT

 

[formulass670]

thanks for the replies so far, to be more specific, I planned on the following for basic supplies, putting them in mylar with the o2 absorbers and food grade pails or #10 cans

Hard White Wheat
Hard Red Wheat
White Rice
Quick Oats
Honey
Dreid Black Beans
Dreid Kidney Beans
Dried Lentils
Dried Pinto Beans
Dried Red Beans
Dried White Beans
Dried Soybeans
Dried Split Green Peas
Salt
Shortening
Skim Milk Powder
Sugar
Dried Blueberries
Dried Bananas
Dried Peaches
Dried Cranberiies
Baking Soda
Baking Powder
All purpose yeast

 

[JRD505]

Make sure you don't put O2's in salt and sugar when you package them in Mylars. There useless and does alot more harm than any good.. :thumb:
I would think most online companies that sell mylar would maybe ship to Canada???
I buy all mine from www.usaemergencysupplies.com - There great company and have had nothing but great service with them! THere mylar bags are extremely cheap and they give you more of a variety for every size than any other website i've been too! GL

 

[infinityshock]

I was hoping some people might be able to chime in as to some questions I had regarding long term storage, hopefully I found the proper thread

-Batteries, I try as much as possible to not rely on electronic devices, but I have a few such as flashlights, radios etc. I have all my devices using AA batteries and would like to load up on some duracells that are on sale, whats a shelf life on a duracell battery, I have ultras and regulars, and whats the best way to store them? vacuum package and kept in a cool dark place?

regular alkaline batteries have crap for shelf life, even when stored in a refrigerator. the internals of a battery are in a constant chemical reaction and my wild guess is that a vacuum packing wouldnt be very good for them. duracell bats that ive kept refrigerated had zero charge after about 18mos.

i stockpile lithium batteries which cost $16USD for a pack of 8. from what ive seen they store nicely in the fridge and ive used some that were 3 years old that worked perfectly in a camera flash.

 

[ShaynaGirl]

Hi and welcome to the board!

After looking over your proposed list, I have a question for you -- is this similar to your current menu?

The reason I ask is because when I was new to the idea of food storage, the biggest mistakes I made were not storing what I typically used. For example, you have a lot of beans on this list, and so did I. However, I didn't regularly eat beans and later found that I could not tolerate any in my diet.

If you eat like this now, please disregard these comments. Otherwise, you may want to consider less beans and more variety in other proteins.

Best of luck to you!

thanks for the replies so far, to be more specific, I planned on the following for basic supplies, putting them in mylar with the o2 absorbers and food grade pails or #10 cans

Hard White Wheat
Hard Red Wheat
White Rice
Quick Oats
Honey
Dreid Black Beans
Dreid Kidney Beans
Dried Lentils
Dried Pinto Beans
Dried Red Beans
Dried White Beans
Dried Soybeans
Dried Split Green Peas
Salt
Shortening
Skim Milk Powder
Sugar
Dried Blueberries
Dried Bananas
Dried Peaches
Dried Cranberiies
Baking Soda
Baking Powder
All purpose yeast

 

[patriot101]

Make sure you don't put O2's in salt and sugar when you package them in Mylars. There useless and does alot more harm than any good.. :thumb:
I would think most online companies that sell mylar would maybe ship to Canada???
I buy all mine from www.usaemergencysupplies.com - There great company and have had nothing but great service with them! THere mylar bags are extremely cheap and they give you more of a variety for every size than any other website i've been too! GL

First of all, thanks for the info! My question is if you buy all these mylar bags, does the plastic buckets that you store the mylar bags filled with food have to be food grade plastic too?? Food grade plastic is harder to come by and more expensive. If they just need to be regular 6 gallon buckets, that would be great!

 

[MikeK]

First of all, thanks for the info! My question is if you buy all these mylar bags, does the plastic buckets that you store the mylar bags filled with food have to be food grade plastic too?? Food grade plastic is harder to come by and more expensive. If they just need to be regular 6 gallon buckets, that would be great!

It doesn't have to be, but it's highly recommended. You may need those buckets later on for drinking water, fermenting kraut or kimchee, storing your home harvested and dried or pickled foods, or any of a dozen other food related purposes.

And food grade buckets are generally much cheaper if you ask around at your local bakeries, delis, sandwich shops, donut shops, ice cream shops, fast food places, etc. Some of them will give them to you for free. Others might charge a buck. But it still works out cheaper than buying new buckets.

 

[MikeK]

thanks for the replies so far, to be more specific, I planned on the following for basic supplies, putting them in mylar with the o2 absorbers and food grade pails or #10 cans

Hard White Wheat
Hard Red Wheat
White Rice
Quick Oats
Honey
Dreid Black Beans
Dreid Kidney Beans
Dried Lentils
Dried Pinto Beans
Dried Red Beans
Dried White Beans
Dried Soybeans
Dried Split Green Peas
Salt
Shortening
Skim Milk Powder
Sugar
Dried Blueberries
Dried Bananas
Dried Peaches
Dried Cranberiies
Baking Soda
Baking Powder
All purpose yeast

Your grains should last for decades. Not sure on the quick oats. But I've gotten good life out of them. Beans too, though as they get old, they can dry out where they won't cook soft using normal methods. Pressure cooking might help and should be used anyway since it saves fuel. You can always grind them before cooking. I do that now sometimes, just for the variety and speed.

Salt, honey and sugar never expire. Just keep them dry and keep bugs out of the sugar and honey. Baking soda lasts for years but baking powder doesn't. However you can store the ingredients to make your own baking powder and just make it on demand. It's just baking soda and cream of tartar. Cornstarch too, if you won't be using it immediately.

Yeast doesn't last too well. You can get years out of it frozen. But only a year or maybe two once it's thawed out. There is some info on the web about being able to keep a yeast culture alive, and someone posted info a while back on drying your own yeast. But I don't have a link to either. Google is your friend.

You can always make sourdough culture for your breads too. You can keep that alive indefinately.

Shortening seems to store pretty well. 5 years or so maybe. But it's sure not very healthy. Lately, the big rage has been coconut oil. It stores just about as well and has a lot of positive health benefits. The downside is that it's costly and can be a little hard to find.

 

[GAdixiedarlin]

First of all, I do store some batteries. However, I also ordered two solar powered lights that will stay charged on a high setting for about 8 hours and a low setting for about 18. (Amazon.com). I also have a solar battery charger for a 12 volt battery which will run my RV (bug out home) for a while as long as I have batteries to charge. As for the "food grade" buckets, I could not find any locally so I purchased clean 5 gallon buckets from Lowe's for about 2.95 ea (no lids) and put my sealed mylar bags in them with a gamma lid on top. If this doesn't work, then I will be up the creek without a paddle, however, my thought is the bucket is only to keep the mylar bag from getting punctured so hopefully it will last a long time. I also ordered my wheat berries/corn already packaged for long term storage. You can "Goggle" "shelf life of foods" and get numerous replies....all different but take an average and go from there. My theory is this.....if/when the SHTF storage is important, but self-reliance is MORE important. There is no way you can store up enough stuff to survive "the rest of your life". You are going to have to produce/hunt/gather at some point in your life so concentrate on those skills and gather up heirloom seeds to plant. GOOD LUCK!!!!:thumb:

 

[Ryn]

First of all, thanks for the info! My question is if you buy all these mylar bags, does the plastic buckets that you store the mylar bags filled with food have to be food grade plastic too?? Food grade plastic is harder to come by and more expensive. If they just need to be regular 6 gallon buckets, that would be great!

There has not been any real studies regarding mylar bags and foods after being stored in non food grade buckets. Why take the chance on adding toxic mold spores to you foods over time. I get them for free from local diners or I buy them from Winco or online. Beside I also plan on re using them in the future. I know that I can also use them for water or honey or any other type of foods I want to store later.

 

[Illini Warrior]

No Studies? ..... FDA has Volumes & Volumes & Volumes

There has not been any real studies regarding mylar bags and foods after being stored in non food grade buckets. Why take the chance on adding toxic mold spores to you foods over time. I get them for free from local diners or I buy them from Winco or online. Beside I also plan on re using them in the future. I know that I can also use them for water or honey or any other type of foods I want to store later.

Food & pharma packaging is one of the most extensively studied and tested industries there is ...... Food Grade buckets are a requirement for dozens of reasons ...... when you use regular buckets from Home Depot, Lowes, Menards, Ace Hardware it's a total crapshoot ....... when you reuse buckets that originally held paint, drywall compound, chemicals ect, I wish you the best luck ......

 

[proactivecanning]

LDS is discontinuing the practice of letting you can at their facility in September.

 

[Filthy_McNasty]

Make sure you don't put O2's in salt and sugar when you package them in Mylars. They're useless and does a lot more harm than any good.. :thumb:
I would think most online companies that sell mylar would maybe ship to Canada???
I buy all mine from www.usaemergencysupplies.com - They're a great company and have had nothing but great service with them! Their mylar bags are extremely cheap and they give you more of a variety for every size than any other website i've been to! GL

Thanks! I was not aware that putting O2 absorbers in salt and sugar wasn't necessary..

 

[kev]

-Batteries

-Food storage

Batteries - store energizer lithium batteries, they have a shelf life of 10 - 15 years.

Food - for your basic food preps, rice, beans, other dried foods, your looking at 15 - 20 years if stored properly in a cool place.

List of threads about storing food in mylar bags - http://www.survivalistboards.com/tags.php?tag=storing+food+in+mylar+bags

 

[goose3]

I've got some of the Energizer Lithiums--they have an expiration date of 2025.

I also have a fair number of the Eneloop rechargeables. They can be charged w/ a solar charger, and the beauty to them is unlike most other rechargeables, they can hold that charge for a long time.

I also have some other batteries with shorter expiries, out to about 2015. I simply rotate them as I buy new ones.

 

[soapsurvives]

Shortening seems to store pretty well. 5 years or so maybe. But it's sure not very healthy. Lately, the big rage has been coconut oil. It stores just about as well and has a lot of positive health benefits. The downside is that it's costly and can be a little hard to find.

Im not sure what the prices of oils are where you live, but I purchase some of my oils for soap in larger quantities from online suppliers. Check out Soapers Choice/ Columbus Foods you might get a better deal.

http://www.columbusfoods.net/

 

[formulass670]

Thank you all for your replies, I appreciate it, its taken me a few days to digest all the information, but alas I have come back with a few other questions

Food Storage - I would like to build up a 6 month supply of freeze dried foods as well as my basics, I have already started this with 7 cases of mountainhouse #10 cans, but before getting more I wanted to see if any members had a bargain site for them? I think the price is pretty good, between $150-$220 CDN for a case of their #10 meal cans with free shipping. I have also come across a few other brands which seem to be cheaper, most notibly THRIVE foods, how are the other brands since they seem to be a bit cheaper? Any other recomendations that ship to Canada for freeze dried?

Food storage containers - I have asked around at about 15 different restaraunts and none have any food grade containers for me, my next step is ordering some online, any idea how much shipping runs on 20 - 5 gallon buckets? I would imagine its not cheap! Any other recommendations, or where I can get some in British Columbia Canada? Another member earlier mentioned a LDS near me, but I am not a member of the church, do you have to be? Are the special expensive gamma lids a requirement? or simple snap lids will do since they are also in mylar?

Equiptment, is there any good recommendations for a grain mill? And for a question of all questions, anyone have an idea on what the Radium Engineering EC 7016-8 shelters run? strictly out of curiousity, they look nice!

Water - Any good recommendations on a filter? there are so many out there its very confusing! Would be looking to filter rain water/river water as you may know we get alot of rain here!

Thank you again, this is all very overwhelming to start out which I am sure you folks hear all the time, so I appreciate the help.