good mix of food, just keep on plugging away

 

Wow...I wish that I could say the same speedvision. It looks like you have a good mix. You probably have it, but salt is important to have. I keep thinking that powdered eggs would be important to have as well. You're way ahead of me. Keep up the good work

 

Great start! Continue to put in a mix, like you are doing. Don't forget to vacuum seal some of the dried goods so they last longer. We take our powdered milk and put it into small vacuum-sealed bags so that if something happens to one bag, the rest isn't tainted. Keep it up!

 

Nice pantry, I would say you've got more than 1 month for just you and your wife there, figure 1 lb of pasta or rice per person per day. About twice the size of mine and I've got 8 in my family, not much space to store it is my problem. You've covered the same areas I have though.

I'd suggest some desert, I've stocked some pudding mix with my dry milk as well as a couple of Coleman's freeze dried desserts to help keep sanity. Oh, and snack sized items(granola bars, energy bars) that you can throw in a pocket to keep on you, I personally keep about 20-30 energy/meal replacement bars and about 50 granola bars/snack packs on hand. Also, extra dry milk and cereal if that's what you eat, it's cheap and a 'normal' meal has a good psychological effect.

 

I think I'd add some cooking oil for the needed fats and some spices and seasonings so you can turn those foods into different meals. A few cookbooks are always handy to have.

 

Nuts- almonds, cashews. (tree nuts)

 

Do you need any flour and yeast to make bread or, at least some Bisquick for biscuits? You have jelly and peanut butter so I'm thinking you'll want something to put it on.

 

Yep wheat if you know how or want to learn how to use it, i lean to rice more than wheat due t ease of cooking

 

I don't see cornbread mix, Bisquick, pancake mix w/ syrup, flour.

^^^CRC spotted the hole too^^^^

 

Up the water 10X or more.

 

Nice start.
That looks fairly similar to mayny of the stuff in my cellar.
3 months worth of woodstuffs doesn't take up really a lot of space.
Being also fairly new to this, I have tried to work out what one needs to produce 3 meals a day.
For us it looks like:

Breakfast: Either bread or musli/cereal
This meant for us getting a hand mill for the flour, storing various grains etc

Middayasta, rice etc

Evening:Bread

Not dreadfully interesting but there are ways...lots of herbs. Either grow your own or freeze dried, spices.
To be honest if you are "only" looking for a 3 month supply carry on as you are. You probably need more pasta/spaghetti and at least one can of tomatoes per meal.

Good luck

 

Great, makes mine look like a days worth!

 

You're doing great. Add some spices and bouillon cubes. Plain rice takes so different cooked in water with chicken flavor.

 

As mentioned by a couple other posters, you've got good stockpile started there. :thumb:

Just going from your list, it seems a dangerous gap is water. If you don't
already have one (or several) I'd make getting a water filter (berkefeld or
similar) a priority. Water filter, and keep a fresh bottle of bleach (maximum
shelf life of 1 year, tops). Otherwise, 34 gallons won't run you very far.
A decent water filter and a gallon on plain bleach will allow you to treat
literally thousands of gallons of otherwise unsafe water.

If you've got the water treatment angle already covered, I'd say you got the
food angle by the tail, at least for the short to medium term. Eventually
you start running out of storage space. To push out into the long-term,
you need to start looking at replenishable food supplies. Have you got the
ability to start a garden? And/or get educated on what local plants grow
naturally in your area that could be used to stretch your stored supplies.

//drat! Re-read your post -- you mentioned getting a Berkey filter.
Me -- not paying attention...

 

Looking good, speedvision!

Definitely some more fats and/or oils, which are very necessary in SHTF. I recommend a bottle of olive or coconut oil for many purposes, including salad dressings and stir fries, and possibly a large can of butter-flavored Crisco for frying foods.

Add salt...both iodized and plain, maybe canning or pickling salt...as salt is necessary to life. After your canned foods are gone, you can still find food from the land, but salt will be harder to find unless you live by an ocean. It is also a preservative.

Spices are good in increasing the variety of your foods and most are also medicinal in one way or another.

I'd get some honey, not only for comfort, but also because it has antibiotic qualities. I also like to have molasses and brown sugar, molasses for iron, brown sugar for making syrup and using for white sugar. (Brown sugar syrup - Dissolve brown sugar in barely enough water to do the job, simmer until the right consistency of syrup, add a drop or two or maple flavoring if desired...great pancake syrup!)

Other comfort foods that go a long way, like jello that just takes water and is a good way to mix in fruits from the wild.

Flour or a source of flour, such as whole red winter wheat. You would need a flour mill to process wheat berries, but it would be well worth it. You can get one for about $50 that will do the job. I buy 50 pounds of whole red winter wheat at the local feed store for $8, and it is just as good as any other wheat. The flour mill would pay for itself quickly at those prices. You need something for that peanut butter!

Bulk beans and split peas, again a cheap source of food that increases your protein. If you stayed with small beans, like lentils, split peas, and other small beans, it will cook faster.

Seeds for sprouting and growing. Sprouts are great ways to add vitamins in the winter and a little bit goes a long way...a tremendous increase in bulk after they are sprouted. (1 tsp of seeds can be sprouted to fill a quart jar!) Can be used in stir fries, sandwiches, salads, etc. Remember beans and wheat also sprout and can be planted too. Seeds can be ground and added to breads and pancakes for more nutrition. So can beans. (BTW, sprouting beans a little takes away their gas quality and makes them cook faster).

Once you get basics, you can fill them in with other foods for more menu choices.

You are doing good! Keep us posted on progress.

 

Thanks for the tips. I guess it could be worthwile to mention I live in an apartment, so all this stuff is being stored in my spare bedroom closet (which we use that room as an office/exersize room/catchall for things that do not belong in the rest of the apartment. I am able to easily close the door to that closet for OPSEC. In fact, with the way things are placed in the closet, you would have to go inside the closet to see whats in there.

I have really been wanting to pick up a hand mill so I can store wheat long term, but before I make that step, I intend to brush up on my cooking skills to get better at baking. I would like to be able to whip up a loaf of bread, busicuits, or make my own pasta from fresh ground wheat. Of course yeast would be neded for bread.

I forgot to mention i have perhaps 6 cans of wet dog food, and an extra 22lbs of dry dog food to feed those two hungry dogs of mine, but thats not quite enough for a month for them. :thumb:

 

I have piled up quite a few dry goods and canned foods. I feel like I have at least a two month supply if it all goes to **** one day. But I had holes too. Think about how many things that you WOULDN"T be able to make without cooking oil, milk, spices, and eggs.
The eggs are my main concern right now. I need to find a dried product that cooks up like the real thing and doesn't taste like crap. Imagine how much salt you use on a daily basis (garlic salt around here), and how you would have to grease your pans and season your meals. Also, get barbecue sauce. I could choke down a cat turd if it had enough KC Masterpiece on it!

 

Get envelopes of pancake mix that only need water, same for mashed potatoes. The small packages will be easier to store than boxes and you won't have so much open at one time. Also with limited storage space go for the packages of tuna & salmon vs cans. Good mix!

 

Looks like you're off to a good start. Congradulations!

 

I've been working on this about 2 years...and the skill that still escapes me is the ability to look at a list like yours to see if there are any gaps.

My suggestion would be to create a 2 week menu using the items on your list.

I got bold and made a 12 week menu plan because I didn't want the same items every week...some meals appear every other week, some appear every 3rd week and there's room for adding new items. Behind each week's menu is a detailed list of -all- ingredients needed to make the meals...down to the salt, pepper, spices, etc. From there, I added up what was needed for the 12 weeks and checked these amounts against my master grocery list. I found the gaps soon enough.

 

Great idea! I've got about 9 months worth, but like the OP I worry about gaps.

 

That's a great start!! Very impressed, and I agree with others that I think you have more than one month. At this point, I would go for more variety.

I, too, have about the same kinds of foods, although not yet as much. I am trying to diversify my list and think more in terms of "meals to make" that would be hearty and filling. And even though "freezer prepping" isn't ideal in summer months, long term or during a grid failure, I do want to have some frozen items stocked up. Not to mention too much "canned food" is high in sodium (except for pricier organic brands) and of course, there's the nasty BPA in the can linings. Always go for glass jar tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce.

So therefore, I'm now in the process of adding:

--Chicken and beef broth
--Lentils (easy to cook, no soaking needed and great for soups or added to rice)
--Spices and condiments
--Tuna and Mayo
--Olive oil/canola oil
--Frozen veggies and greens and berries
--Oatmeal
--Sugar/brown sugar/honey
--Dehydrated veggies (if you don't dehydrate your own, you can find them online at places like Atlantic Spice Company)
--Jerky (make your own if you can!)
--Baking goods (flour, cornmeal, baking powder, yeast)
--Spaghetti sauce

The key (for me) is to get creative so that I don't have 30 boxes of the same kind of spaghetti in my pantry. I like variety, and I want to rotate and use what I store, and I know I'll get sick of the same old thing. So I'm concentrating on getting things like orzo, different shaped/flavored pasta (love whole wheat and spinach!), basmati or brown rice, etc.

Oh, and I'm also prepping my getting my hands on a couple of cookbooks. I, for one, needed a good breadmaking cookbook. Same thing with one for soups and stews. Camping cookbooks or old Amish/Depression Era cookbooks are great.

Good luck! I love all the suggestions and ideas. So many threads and postings have helped me tremendously...

 

............. Not to mention too much "canned food" is high in sodium (except for pricier organic brands) and of course, there's the nasty BPA in the can linings. Always go for glass jar tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce.

...

If you have the means to can your own then you solve all of these problems and it is way cheaper to buy fresh and can your own than it is to buy those teeny cans of stuff. I can pinto beans, black beans, spaghetti sauce with meat, vegetable beef soup, chicken soup, whole tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken breasts, pork loin, and beef cubes. As well as the usual jams, jellies and mustards.

Of course, canned food in jars is not a portable resource, so you will still need some lightweight MREs in case you have to bug out. But for a bug-in situation, you can't beat canned food. I've been home canning since 1981. And I highly recommend it. Buying a pressure canner and contacting your extension agent for canning advice can save you money, it's healthier and it's fun! (at least, I think it's fun )

 

Yep. Good start. We have been stocking for a long time now. We have things in 5 gallon buckets that we don't even know what's in them. We have 12 buckets from 4 years ago. I hope it's all still good. We went shopping yesterday and went nuts stocking up. Anything lke flour, sugar, salt, powdered milk, cereals, instant potatos, gravy and spice or cheese mixes, corn meal ect we are putting in freezer bags so it's easier to fit in buckets. We have enough spices to probably last forever. And condimets. Mustard, relish, ketchup, mayo, lots of vinegar and lemon juice, olive oil and Crisco,(Not vegetable oil) Crsico lasts longer. BARBECUE SAUCE. I need a recipe for that. We buy gravy and soup mixes and take them out of the boxes and put in ziplock bags for easier storage. My roommate gets all upset when we have to rotate stuff. He does all the hauling. Tomorrow we have to do the canned goods then sort through all the buckets. Ugh! LOL

 

Thanks for posting your list... I love to read exactly what others are storing. I have alot of "add water only" items...mashed pots, corn bread mix, pancake mix, soup mix, pizza dough. I also have a good mix of cream of soups as well as hearty type soups like beef pot roast and chicken gumbo that would go well over rice. Chicken and dumplings, chicken ala king.... lots of canned stuff as well as the dry beans and rice and pasta. I guess the only thing I am stressing at the moment would be the eggs and milk. I keep wanting to order them but cant decide on which ones! I have the Honeyville canned butter, and a few other cans of mountain house stuff, but they really arent very cost effective... although ALL the reviews are positive about them. I just keep plugging away on a weekly basis while we both are blessed with incomes. I also have stored some booze and wine. I know I have gaps... one day I may post my list of items... but thanks for sharing.

 

Have you included comfort foods that you like.

 

I would add 25-50 lbs of oats and/or malto-meal, rice cereal, grits or "breakfast" food. They cook up fast and are filling. Don't forget brown sugar and raisins.

More canned fruit. At least as many cans of fruit as you have vegetables. And some good cobbler recipes.

Comfort foods are good to have--pudding mix, hard candy, etc.

I'd also get more canned beans. Sure, they cost more per pound than bulk beans, but they're ready now, no soaking, no long cook time. A can of beans, a packet of (precooked)rice, a can of roast beef, and you have a fine meal for at least 3.

You'll want more flavoring packets--at least 1/2 packet per day. Beef, chicken, turkey, mushroom, country gravy. Chili, taco, enchilada, sweet-n-sour, sloppy joe, spaghetti, stroganof flavoring.

I don't see any kind of bread or substitute--some Bisquick, cornbread mix, or even flour and baking soda--anything to make biscuits, soda bread, or flatbread would be nice. It rounds out a meal of beans and rice, or chunky soup with extra corn/vegetables/potatoes added.

Where's the caffiene? And canned milk/creamer if you use it. Can't face any kind of SHTF situation without coffee...

Looks like you have a good start--keep going!