[Carnut]

I hope to be buying a farm and starting to grow my own food later this year, but in the meantime, I want to start doing food preps. I'm curious what the typical % breakdown of food preps is. What's optimal/most manageable?

How much would/do you put towards:
1. dry goods like rice and beans, sugar, flour etc
2. self-canned foods, including veggies and meats
3. canned foods purchased from the supermarket
4. shelf-stable long-term freeze-dried stuff like Mountain House.

I guess it's pretty personal as there's obviously a trade-off to be had between money spent, time invested, etc. and that will vary per person, but I am curious to see what other people doing, and why, as I begin to make my own food storage plans.

 

[IamZeke]

All the info you want has been posted here many times.

You just need the instructions in my sig in green below.

 

[Carnut]

will do. I ran the site's built-in search and got no results but you're right and I bet google does better.

 

[IamZeke]

will do. I ran the site's built-in search and got no results but you're right and I bet google does better.

Yep, site native search really sucks.

Google parses the phrases better and gives better suggestions.

 

[nicktide]

Welcome to the boards. I am big on storing cheap, bulk foods first. I recommend rice first. Stored in 2 litre soda bottles will last for 20 or so years. $35 per 100 pounds and 1 pound is roughly a day's calories. So 50# = 50 days (calories only. Not all vitamins or fats). Build from there.

 

[omegaman13]

I always tell people to start out with the LDS preparedness manual. PDF readily available via Google search. I'm not a Mormon or anything, but those folks know their stuff. The manual gives guidelines as to how much of each bulk item per person in your family or group.

Some people rely too heavily on Mountain House and other freeze dried options. While I do store some, I wouldn't eat more than 1 entree a day. A more recent example of this is a recent Buzzfeed video where 2 people ate nothing but Mountain House for 72 hours. They both got sick on the second meal of the second day. Not the biggest sample size, but that's just a recent example, there's more out there.

 

[beaner]

Most people (my self included) don't want to waste money. For dry goods, it's not hard to do mylar bags with O2 absorbers and its a lot cheaper than freeze dried cans. Doesn't cost too much per bucket. Also, I recommend buying the canned goods that you normally eat. Just buy more and rotate. It's easy to build up to months and months worth of food that's in the rotation. You could do a small fraction of the total food preps as commercial freeze dried but if you have a garden and can then I would put more effort there.

 

[IamZeke]

Stored in 2 litre soda bottles will last for 20 or so years.

If all you care about is oxidized empty calories. Otherwise only about 2 or 3 years if you store it that way.

 

[Hick Industries]

I hope to be buying a farm and starting to grow my own food later this year, but in the meantime, I want to start doing food preps. I'm curious what the typical % breakdown of food preps is. What's optimal/most manageable?

How much would/do you put towards:
1. dry goods like rice and beans, sugar, flour etc
2. self-canned foods, including veggies and meats
3. canned foods purchased from the supermarket
4. shelf-stable long-term freeze-dried stuff like Mountain House.

I guess it's pretty personal as there's obviously a trade-off to be had between money spent, time invested, etc. and that will vary per person, but I am curious to see what other people doing, and why, as I begin to make my own food storage plans.

I started out buying 60 individual MH entrees, which combined with rice or pasta, make a good solid dinner. I added enough rolled oats (plus raisins and B. Sugar) for breakfast, and 2lbs trail food per day. A 10 day food supply weighs 15 lbs and fits into a 4 gal plastic pail.

I now have (6) 4 gal platic pails which should feed me for 60 days, or feed my wife and I for over 30 days.

Ten Day Food Pail (15 lbs)
2.5 lbs (10) MH Entrees @ 4oz
5.0 lbs (10) Cups Rice/Pasta @ 8oz
4.0 lbs (10) Cups Oatmeal @ 4oz, 1.5 lb B Sugar/Rasins
3.5 lbs Lunch/Trail Food/FD Coffee (Jerky, Cheese, Chocolate, Granola)

 

[hardcalibres]

I hope to be buying a farm and starting to grow my own food later this year, but in the meantime, I want to start doing food preps. I'm curious what the typical % breakdown of food preps is. What's optimal/most manageable?

My split is about:
1. 60% dry goods like rice and beans, sugar, flour, powdered milk, eggs, oats, fruit leather, etc I also have a lot of spaghetti because it is very compact per calorie, cheap and stores LT
2. 0% self-canned foods, including veggies and meats - because I don't currently have enough time as per your comment below
3. 30% canned foods purchased from the supermarket - covering a wide variety of meats, vegetables, fruits and dairy
4. 10% shelf-stable long-term freeze-dried stuff like Mountain House - which is great for bugging out where weight to calories ratio is important.

I also have a few % of my food as MREs (mostly broken down into individual components) which are handy for times when you need food you can eat straight out of the package.

I guess it's pretty personal as there's obviously a trade-off to be had between money spent, time invested, etc. and that will vary per person, but I am curious to see what other people doing, and why, as I begin to make my own food storage plans.

Exactly, what works for retired folks will not be optimum for people still with day jobs and vice versa.

 

[Aerindel]

I guess it's pretty personal as there's obviously a trade-off to be had between money spent, time invested, etc. and that will vary per person, but I am curious to see what other people doing, and why, as I begin to make my own food storage plans.

Yep. Thats is very true so not super useful to other people.

And keep in mind even when we tell you what we are doing, it may not mean what you SHOULD be doing, just how things have shaken out.

Anyway...based on servings....here is about where I am at.

2% mountain house, MRE type stuff.

60% dry goods. Beans, Rice, Pasta, etc etc. About 20% of that is long storing fresh foods, onions, potatoes, carrots, apples.

30% commercially canned, mostly vegetables but also a lot of 'force multipliers' ie, stuff that flavors bland food, Salsa, hot sauce, soy sauce, ketchup,...things like that.

8% home canned, mostly pie filling type stuff.

 

[IamZeke]

The problem that reading what others are doing for food storage is that it never works the best for you.

Every family eats different. Even what you eat changes over time. Personal tastes are personal. The food that guy in Detroit get finds affordable is not the same foods the guy from Tuscon finds affordable. Cooking skills vary and that makes certain foods easier to manage than others. All kinds of dietary restrictions out there. Different size families need different quantities.

The point being is that when you face a question of a half dozen variables, no one comes up with the same right answer.

The key to getting it right is self education. This takes time reading. Not just one thread or a dozen. More like hundreds of threads.

The one sure way to get it wrong is to ask a couple questions, take a handful of answers, and open the wallet.

The list of people who loaded up a bunch of food fast and found they had to start over later is legion here.

Better to put aside a month of common canned goods you already buy normally and then settle in for a few months of evening reading here. The month of food will deal with 90% of emergencies that typically happen.

Food in large volumes is expensive. You might as well spend the time to get it tailored for your family needs.

 

[charliemeyer007]

Shop on sales. Store what you eat, eat what you store. Keep a list with the quantity and the rotation dates. Spices can help with food boredom. I have salt, black pepper, cayenne, and dehydrated onion.

You need other stuff like clean water (have a filter) and cleaning supplies (Dr. Bronner's Peppermint is my favorite) and fuel to cook with.

I consider supplements like a multi-vitamin with minerals and fish oil essential.

The only freeze dried food I have is in the bug out and the get home bags. I'm not packing cans on my back.

Pressure canned meat with multi grain noodles or rice is cheap and easy to fix. I put about 1 3/4 pounds of chicken breast or pork loin in a quart wide mouth. Less than $4 and day of the week, perhaps only $2 on sale. To cook, I heat the jar in boiling water, then wrap it in a towel to stay hot while I use the hot water to cook the noodles or rice. then I dump the meat or stew on the rice - dinner.

In the winter I grow sprouts. Takes a week from start to harvest. I use 7 quart wide mouth quarts 1 each day and made my own rinsing lids. They need to be warm. Soak overnight to start. Rinse and drain well at least twice a day from then on until harvest - keep shaded until day 5. I grow a mix of alfalfa 1/3, red clover 1/3, mustard 1/6 and radish 1/6. I buy the seeds online.

Sprout shelf in the bathroom above the door, warm and dark enough for the jars in the coffee cans. I rotate the cans from left to right as harvest.

 

[Eagle Scout Survivor]

My plan is 1 can of food split between 2 people a meal with filler dried food added to it. So can of beef stew plus some dried instant potatoes make a good filling meal.

I stock what I currently use in a year for canned goods. Which is roughly 300-400 cans. With rotating my waste is less than 10 cans a year. That is usually caused by poor organization and finding way to old of can in back of a shelf.

I am currently switching from MRE to mountain house meals. I am trying to buy 2 weeks worth every year for 1 person. Helps with cost and rotating to prevent waste.

The bulk of my food is dried stuff stored in 5 gallon buckets. Rice pasta potato flakes, beans, ect. I don't rotate this stuff and consider it life insurance. If it goes bad before I can use it the comfort it bought me was worth the price.

Finally I planted a bunch of fruit trees and bushes that take minimal effort to produce food every year.

 

[Aerindel]

Sprout shelf in the bathroom above the door, warm and dark ? enough for the jars in the coffee cans. I rotate the cans from left to right as harvest.

When I do sprouts I keep them under a grow light....

 

[IamZeke]

Sprouts have photoreceptors.

If no light is present then the sprout thinks it is still underground and keeps putting the tip higher.

When it feels light it forms the binary leaflet to begin photosynthesis.

From what I've read it all depends on the kind of plant you are sprouting whether to keep in the dark or not.

 

[Cuteandfuzzybunnies]

I’m focused mostly on MH type stuff. BUT i try to store lots of single ingredients , like meat and eggs , not just prepared meals. It’s about 60/40 ingredients vs meals.

I also have a decent storage of grains and pasta. With some canned sauce and veggies.

My goal is 2 years of freeze dried food. And maybe a years worth of grain, salt , oil ,etc.

I also keep a years worth of multi vitimens. Just rotate them out every year or so. They don’t last long. But if I have to eat rice and beans I can take a multi and no I won’t get scurvy or other problems like that.

 

[Christian]

As far as I am concerned, the only product that MH makes that I consider cost-effective is their freeze dried beef. Everything else that they sell can be gotten cheaper elsewhere.

Beans, rice, oats, and such I get from https://www.webstaurantstore.com/

https://www.augasonfarms.com/ is OK.

 

[lasers]

By calories about 70-80% of my food is dry goods such as grains and beans. By $$$ probably 80% of my food is canned goods, 15%+ is frozen foods and less than 5% is the grains and dried beans.

We also store quite a bit of pasta (we find small shells are very multi use and can be used in ways other types of pasta maybe wouldn't work so well in)

For me cost is a huge consideration I find the biggest bang for my buck is beans and grains. A few years ago we fell on somewhat tight times and beans became a part of our diet 8-10 times a week and very little meat. Now that we have money again we found we like that diet and pretty much stick with it with the exception of a lot more fresh vegetables added in. For $3-$4 we can make a big meal for a family of 7 (that we all enjoy)and have leftovers to pack a lunch the second day using. In doing so we get lots of practice in using our preps, keep our food budget down and arguably it is a more healthy diet than lots of meat every day.

 

[biathlon]

I'm not a big fan of canned food OR mountain house for a few reasons. Mountain House is WAAAAY overpriced and all their egg products contain pork. I buy in bulk from Emergency Essentials with better selection and quality than Mountain House. Lots cheaper too. Look for their Provident Pantry brands. I sometimes get e mails from Auguson Farms and snap up some good deals from them too.

Most commercially canned stuff has way to much salt and added crap. The cans can swell and even burst at sub zero temperatures. After they've been frozen and thawed a few times the consistency is similar to baby food. MUSH!

Canned food is heavy too and you need some sort of tool to open it.