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5 “Musts” When It Comes to Storing Food
1. How much space will it take up?
Finding space for food storage is an important consideration. Many mistakenly feel that they don’t have enough space. That would be true if you are buying large bulky buckets and sacks of food. However, if you buy freeze dried food, not only will your food be light, it will also fit in a much smaller space. We package our cases with 6 #10 cans. This allows for a convenient slim box that is stack able. You can fit this box under the bed, or in the closet.
2. How long is the shelf life?
If you are stacking and storing away your food storage, you might be thinking “But how will I rotate it?” Freeze Dried Food can last for 20-30 years. Most people will never have to rotate it. You can see the dates on the cans that will tell you how much longer your food will last. This will let you store the food and forget about it until that job loss or natural disaster happens.
3. How difficult is it to prepare?
Imagine you are in a disaster situation. Do you really want to expend your energy grinding wheat and taking hours to prepare your meals? We didn’t think so. With freeze dried food you have have a delicious, nutrient dense meal in minutes. All you have to do is add water. Stir it up, and you are ready to eat. This will also help you conserve your fuel and other energy sources.
4. Will my family eat it?
Note: Do not buy food storage that your family will not eat. The food needs to be as close to your normal diet routine as possible so that your family will be able to enjoy it during hard times. It’s essential that everyone gets the right amount of vitamins, minerals and nutrients during and after a disaster. You don’t want unfamiliar food to be a road block in making sure your children are fed properly. Freeze Dried Entrees come in many of the meals you are already eating.
5. How does it taste?
Lastly, If it doesn’t taste good, you won’t end up eating it (unless it’s the only option). So make sure you only buy food storage that is delicious. One of the main problems you are going to have with Freeze Dried Food is that you won’t want to store it. You will want to eat it instead! My family uses it almost every day because it is so easy and it tastes so good. Don’t invest in food storage that you won’t wan to eat!
I disagree with your comments about wheat. Wheat is a valuable part of long term food storage begause of the nutritional value and the ability to store it for extreme periods of time. It is also a very nutritionally dense food. The only down side of wheat is learning how to use it.
Flour ground from wheat kernals has to be mixed with white flour. Also as with any type of baking, the ingredients need to be measured precisely, or the product will not turn out the way you want it to. I have learned to bake many breads and desserts using our wheat storage, but it has taken time to learn how to do it properly. But now I make white, whole wheat, rye, pumpernickle and a number of variations of German breads and desserts. I give them to friends and neighbors during the holidays and they love them, especially when they are just out of the oven.
If people don’t want to go through the learning curve of using wheat in their food supply, freeze dried and dehydrated foods work and store very well. But if someone wants to have a complete food storage program, they need to use and store wheat as well.
October 25th, 2010 at 12:27 amI have a combination of foods in my storage.
October 25th, 2010 at 12:54 amCanned foods are for shorter-term, simply because they are easy to prepare and aren’t shocking to the system. Canned foods are easy to cycle.
I have a number of the freeze-dried foods to optimize the total supply. I don’t buy the “dinners” because of a lot of really strange ingredients like soy and hydrogenated oils. Instead I focus on single items like veggies, meats, eggs, and fruits that I can make my own recipes from.
@Richard
Unless they have a food allergy to wheat. I definitely respect the writer’s words about dehydrated food. They are based upon having few, if only one, resource….fresh water. To have a “complete food storage system”, you’re dependent on more than just water. Time, energy (heat source..whether it be fossil fuel, wood, solar, etc) and skill maybe lacking.
October 25th, 2010 at 1:16 amI agree w/ Suzanne. Emergency or not, I avoid unnecessary chemicals, genetically altered foods (like non-organic soy, corn & canola) & partially hydrogenated oils! (these actually coat the lining of your intestines & prevent nutrient absorption.)
October 25th, 2010 at 3:33 amThese seem difficult to avoid w/ prepared instant meal “dinners”. Cheap ingredients & fillers unfortunately infiltrate into even emergency foods, just when you need nutrients most, and NOT nutrient-robbing additives.
My sons asked me the questions about how much space would it take and about grinding wheat. They expressed some confidence that the food would always keep coming. Here was my response to all these.
RE: Storage and food cost. You are preparing for an event that MAY happen. I want you to have the mindset of a person for whom the event HAS happened. Would the costs or storage space be consequential then? No! Besides, the cost is always minimal because storable food is not only insurance but an inflation protected investment. Its not like an insurance premium you pay every year.
Respecting the likelihood of a shortage, consider the following:
The probability is small. But whatever it WAS two years ago has multiplied a hundredfold, a thousandfold or more.
I could cite reasonably plausible settings where we would have a profound food shortage.
You start out with a scenario of millions of families with NO FOOD BACK UP whatsoever, who have absolute confidence in the continued availability of day-to-day food, and a just-in-time (look up term, just-in-time) food supply with little warehouse slack. Throw in a few empty shelves because of fuel shortages or extra consumer demand for home inventory to protect against hyprinflation, and possible shortages. These are, in general, a reduction in confidence, and you have demand far exceeding supply – for a long time until the population has back up food to relieve their concerns. Increased demand by only 10% of the nation for a six month back up, would overwhelm our supply system.
Have you ever seen what happens before a blizzard or a hurricane? Its it is usually orderly. But if family preferences change, increasing families’ need for a larger individual backup supply, then that could well create massive runs on the stores. We have never seen our food supply concentrated into such a few places serving so many. That concentration in itself reduces combined food storage on the shelves per person, reducing the safety buffer.
October 25th, 2010 at 5:56 amMust’s 1 & 2 are the ones that matter!!!
While Must’s 3,4 & 5 are just ‘Likes’ you want!!!
Here is Why:
3. Doesn’t matter, as long as you can do it!!
4. It’s Survival and Humans have gone cannibal in the past!!
5. Repeat of 4.
It’s amazing how naive people really are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 25th, 2010 at 6:25 amI agree with Richard on storing and using wheat. Wheat berries in a sealed container have a long storage life and is an integral part of our family’s short-term and long-term storage. We keep the buckets in the back corner of the closet so they’re out of the way yet convenient to access.
We quit buying store bought bread several years ago. The homemade bread tastes significantly better and freezes well. OUr grinding mill can be used with or without electricity. Everyone needs to know how to make homemade bread. It’s just not that hard. You’d be surprised at the variations you can do with a single bread recipe.
October 25th, 2010 at 6:52 amIn survival, balance and redundant options are a must. Things will fail and or break. Balance simply means you must not overstock in one area and under stock in another. Having options will continue to allow you to live.
Personally we stock a lot of this freeze dried food. Must it is not enough for a well balanced diet. We also stock raw wheat, oats, rice, lintels and many other beans types. Seasoning are a must to last as long as the bulk products will last. Keeping chickens around provides eggs which are a great source of good food.
Those are just some of the things we stock to survive a crisis with. If you have pressurized public water and the grid goes down you will not be able to prepare your freeze dried food, flush the toilet, take a shower, heat the home, rehydrate yourself and in the end…. someone else will end up with all your stuff
Balance also means a location which will work 24/7/365 to consume all this food you talk about…
October 25th, 2010 at 7:07 amWhat is said is true…think NO electricity. How would you prepare the foods & how would you have clean water? Think NO electricity, Think NO electricity.
October 25th, 2010 at 7:46 amMake a chart: wants, needs, must have for survival
Think NO electricity
Think NO electricity
Think NO electricity
Ex: how are you going to heat that BIG ole house?
how are you going to travel? bicycle, walk
how are you going to cook the foods?
how are you going to protect your self? barking dog
how are you going to keep track of time?
how are you going to entertain family? books, games
how about other family members? They be at your door?
action is better than words…
Think NO electricity!
Keep the door of communication open for new ideas.
Alright, that’s it!
Thanks.
Please note…if you live on pressurized water from a public supply or private and the grid fails the Fire Dept will not be able to put out the fires which will sweep through the housing neighborhoods.
They will start as people try to heat with ways they do not understand…. Thanks to your neighbors your home will probably burn to the ground along with all your food inside
Location is as much a concern to be addressed as what’s for dinner Mom?
October 25th, 2010 at 8:04 amThe way I look at it, there must be TWO types of storage: in the event of loss of income and in the event of a natural disaster. They are similar plans, but different in some ways.
Loss of income – been there, done that. We still had electricity and could cook normally, on the stove and in the oven. Used up everything in the freezer, then the canned goods and finally broke into the #10 cans. The kids still turned their nose up at a few things that we were using from our food supply, but it saved us. We didn’t have a huge storage of food, but it got us through. Actually, we experienced a little tender mercy when we got a new job when there was only barley, mustard and tomato sauce left! NOW we are facing a huge drop in income and suddenly anything left over after paying the mandatory bills is being spent on food storage. Nothing like that to remind us of having nothing to eat except barley, mustard and tomato sauce. (BTW, if anyone has a recipe for those ingredients exclusively, it would be much appreciated if you shared it)! hehe
October 25th, 2010 at 8:28 amNatural disaster plans are different. For example, they need to include a cooking source such as propane, solar ovens and such. Never done that, but preparing for it. Also, the types of food and how you store them are different. Those are the foods that have a 20 year shelf life, although it would probably be wise to use them occasionally so your body systems and taste buds can handle them.
All you have to do to get motivated for that is to watch the news.
A disaster preparedness plan needs to contain flexibility and redundancy. Don’t go buy 5 55 gallon drums and think your water needs are taken care of – what if you have to leave your house?
Same with food. I think the freeze dried stuff serves a purpose, but shouldn’t be relied on solely. Grains, like others have mentioned, are important, as is growing your own veggies. I, like others, prefer organic foods, but in a survival situation, that won’t be much of a priority.
October 25th, 2010 at 12:47 pmThank you Sandra for your comments on wheat: I want to reinterate that I have nothing against freeze dried foods. They are great, easy to prepare and store. But these days you have to get as much “bang for the buck” as possible and grains and beans arey a good way of storing a lot of food to supplement the more expensive freeze dried and dehydrayted foods.
Variety is a must in food storage, especially if a family ends up having to use it over an extended period of time. All food storage is important and one type isn’t superior over another. We have freeze dried, dehydrated, grains and other kinds of food in our supply.
Another important thing to think about is power to run the wheat grinders and food processors. A small 1500W generator, a couple of deep cycle 12V batteries and a power inverter should be part of emergency planning.
October 25th, 2010 at 2:19 pmShouldn’t the temperature it’s to be stored at be a main consideration? It says on the can, “Avoid long term storage at temperatures over 72 degrees F.”
October 25th, 2010 at 6:59 pmSorry all I’m with Larry.Baking bread? How do you going to bake bread when you don’t have a working oven?
October 25th, 2010 at 7:28 pmYou have the wrong mind set for survival.
No power! No Gas! No running water!
Your city just got hit with a EMP!(Electro Magnetic Pules)It fries anything that uses electricity.What are you going to do?
It’s -1 outside and you have no heat to keep the house warm.You don’t have lights to see.The sink has no water coming out of the spicket.The lights are never coming back on.your car is dead and will never start.Welcome to the stone age.You will be eating that wheat by the hand full in the long run.If you have a wood burning stove to bake bread?The big bad guys with big guns are going to smell that cooking and be on your front portch blowing holes in your front door untill it comes off the hinges.Your life and your bread is now theirs!
1.Food
2.Water
3.Shelter
4.Fire
5.Security
The first 5.
Try to stay prepared for the “worst case scenario” where you live. That includes staying flexible, even redundant, when it comes to food and WATER storage. No, you can’t take five 55-gallon barrels of water with you everywhere, so portable water filtration and knowing how to use it is a must if you have to leave your home for some reason.
We try to categorize our own planning by the three “P”s for what would be a worst case scenario: Probably, Possibly, and Potentially.
For those folks who live in areas where hurricaines do happen, they Probably will happen again. Here in the central US, we have experienced ice storms resulting in power outages that have lasted for days. These things don’t happen all the time, perhaps years apart, but Probably will happen again. Usually we think of these things as temporary, even inconvenient, and most likely local. Most of us have experienced similar situations and can prepare for them with relative ease.
Other situations are Possible if you think about it ahead of time. We live in the New Madrid seismic zone where the largest earthquakes in the lower 48 states happened nearly 200 years ago, with 3 of the largest were over 8.0 on the Richter scale. Now, they say, they don’t expect those to happen but once every 500 years or so, but Possibly……You get the idea. Transportation and evacuation would be more difficult, and might affect a larger area. Also, we know of many food products that have been recalled for some contamination or other. Not all foods at the same time so far, but Possibly……So having enough food in storage for a longer period of time is essential! Such events may be rare, but the Possibility of these coming to pass warrants enough planning. If it HAS happened before, it could Possibly happen again.
Finally, there are things that could Potentially happen. Things we would rather not think about, because we may have never seen them happen before. An elecromagnetic pulse (EMP), possibly set off as an act of war or terrorism, would cripple the entire country. The nation’s electrical grid would be off-line, and even modern cars and household items we take for granted would be useless. May I suggest reading “One Second After” by William Forstchen. Also, social unrest, even if confined to local, but strategic points, could Potentially shut down interstate travel, and as a direct result, food distribution. Just don’t think it CAN’T happen!
October 25th, 2010 at 8:02 pmI encourage all survivalists to include a selection of “Dutch Ovens” for cooking. Wood is usually plentiful, charcoal is easier to use and fairly inexpensive. You will be amazed at what you can cook in dutch ovens and cast iron skillets. Early settlers always had a good dutch oven among their most prized posessions. We should take a lesson from them.
October 25th, 2010 at 11:07 pmWe have an electric oven. We have gas to the house and we live in Texas. Texas has LOADS of natural gas. It seems unlikely the gas will ever go off.
So we started to look for a gas range. Did you know you cannot buy a modern gas rage that works without power?! They all have electronic ignitions and you cannot use a match to light the burners. The oven too. In fact the thermostat on the ovens are electronic!
We finally found a range at Conns who had a ONE cheapo range in stock that looked like Mom’s range. This was the onl one we found that did not require electricity. We tried Sears, Home Depot and Lowes – no dice. So beware assuming anything aboyt your gas range during an electricity outage.
October 26th, 2010 at 10:21 amIn reply to James Presley and others that might be looking for.
October 28th, 2010 at 10:05 amYou might want to check out Lehmans Non-electric company. They provide for our Amish Friends and have a good inventory of natural gas appliances, etc. http://www.Lehmans.com/visit
Note… you certainly can make many types breads without an oven; you just need flour, a bit of water, and a superheated surface/container, (even a car hood or metal can will do!). Cakes/biscuits etc. can be put on a griddle/pan on an open flame, or in a lightly oiled coffee can and thrown right into the campfire!
Living alone at home, I find it wasteful to heat up the entire oven to bake for myself, so I always make pan cookies, biscuits, cakes, flatbreads (and even cakes/cookies from boxed mixes) in a frying/saute/omlet pan on my stovetop; and on foil in my grill as well!
“Flatbreads” do not have be flat, and cookies/cakes do not have to come out flat if you dont want them to; most will rise just fine if you cook at a medium-low temp, and put a lid on the pan! For high-rise cookies/breads, you can add levening, and/or just reduce the oil content in half, and add a less oily moisturiser like applesauce and/or an egg! YUMMY, healthier, and much, much quicker/efficient than oven baking if your only cooking a few! The timing/process is about the same as pancakes (flip them when they get bubbles all around, or just turn down the heat down a bit, and put the lid back on for another 3-6 minutes and the topside will cook like an oven cake)!
To find basic no-fuss recipies for such breads/cakes, search for flatbreads or “Indian breads” (like chapati, nan, phulka, roti, parantha), or “campfire breads”.
With a little experimenting/tweeking (to accomodate for your local humidity, altitude, pans, stove, burner, grain, gerind, recipies) you’ll be making fabulous stove-top cookies, breads, biscits and cakes too!
October 28th, 2010 at 10:25 pmAll of this has been very interesting. Giving me a lot to think about.
Sure would like to have more information about baking on stove top. If I don’t have specific information, I don’t know what to do.
October 30th, 2010 at 9:58 amGood suggestions, all. Having been through numerous hurricanes and one hectic monster wildfire I can endorse many. A reflective oven is simple to make and use, google it. Water purification pills are available even at ACE hardware, stock up. Drinking water is stored best in gallon jugs, in boxes (otherwise the weight will crush each other). Stay away from foil packed foods, rats love ‘em. A Dutch Oven is pretty inexpensive and works great for cooking anything from stews to pineapple upside-down cake. You can make mini-burners with tuna cans or cardboard egg cartons, your dryer lint, sawdust or woodchips and paraffin which burn slowly for hours. Emergency first-aid kit is a must, don’t forget sunblock and insect repellent. Waterless hand sanitizers are an invaluable part of your emergency first aid kit…you can get a gallon size from Costco that lasts indefinitely. You can get ‘risers’ that fit each leg of your bed and raises your bed about 6″ for loads more storage space – I found a set discounted at Ross for about $10.
November 13th, 2010 at 11:47 pmWe have a “Big Green Egg” grill/smoker and besides using it for it’s normal use, we have baked cookies, brownies, breads and pizzas on it. All tasted wonderful and had no smoke taste. We plan on utilizing this when all breaks loose.
December 24th, 2010 at 3:19 pmI think that the storage temperature is the most important thing to keep in mind…always
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:36 amAs Walt said: “Avoid long term storage at temperatures over 72 degrees F.”.
There is a reason why they put it on the can or not?: )