where to begin

[jolee65]

I dont know how or were to begin, plus I was told to rotate the food and it sounds like alot of work its going to be just my husband and I, soon and we dont eat that much really but when it comes to the time we need food im assuming my kids will be around.

Any helpful hints to were and with what I should start with.

[BenRaines]

Most bulk stuff has been shown to have a life beyond 30 years if maintained right. Right means properly sealed. Not stored in a hot or humid garage but in the house somewhere.

Canned goods can have a very long shelf life too. Some lose taste or taste odd but still have nutritional value.

ProvidentLiving.org would be a good place to start.

We rotate tuna, canned beans, tomato sauce, flour, sugar and a number of other things. We store wheat, sugar, beans, rice, powdered milk, etc.

There are just the two of us too but we have four children and three grandchildren and I can't imagine turning them away in a time of need. That in mind we store more than what we need for just two people.

Ben Raines

[Palerider]

Most bulk stuff has been shown to have a life beyond 30 years if maintained right. Right means properly sealed. Not stored in a hot or humid garage but in the house somewhere.

Canned goods can have a very long shelf life too. Some lose taste or taste odd but still have nutritional value.

ProvidentLiving.org would be a good place to start.

We rotate tuna, canned beans, tomato sauce, flour, sugar and a number of other things. We store wheat, sugar, beans, rice, powdered milk, etc.

There are just the two of us too but we have four children and three grandchildren and I can't imagine turning them away in a time of need. That in mind we store more than what we need for just two people.

Ben Raines

we do everything Ben just stated....and we recently bought a 25lb bucket of stuff that has over 200 servings...its called Emergency Food Supply...

[lestertheemt]

It is just the two of us as well. Start small with an extra can here and an extra can there or when things go on sale. It first it may not seem like a lot, but it adds up quickly. Don't forget water! Another good place to start is creating a 72 hour kit for you and your husband.

[hankpac]

Since you don't "eat that much" your total volume of storage won't be all that much. Rotating doesn't mean just switching position on the shelf, it means taking the oldest stuff, and cooking it, and buying new stuff to put in the back of the pantry, slowly and gradually rotating to the front.

If you are thinking it is "too much work" consider how much trouble it will be when you need it and don't have it.

What ever little work it is to set up, is far and away worth the trouble.

[teddyk]

Someone gave me a case of MRI's last christmas,I still got them.The other stuf is what I eat from day to day, so its not a problem gettig old, or strange tasting,the MRI's dunno, don't even know if they are still good, or if its forsale any where, or if its legal to have them...hope the black helocopters don't land out back.

[jolee65]

Someone gave me a case of MRI's last christmas,I still got them.The other stuf is what I eat from day to day, so its not a problem gettig old, or strange tasting,the MRI's dunno, don't even know if they are still good, or if its forsale any where, or if its legal to have them...hope the black helocopters don't land out back.

Im not sure what MRIs are , im thinking medical but im sure thats not it.

[BenRaines]

MRE is the acronym for Meals Ready To Eat. They are what the military use when out in the field. I have purchased some from beprepared.com and they are very good. Well seasoned and about 300 calories per meal.

Ben Raines

[hankpac]

MRE: "Meals, rejected by Ethiopians". Yers they are legal to own. Good Grief.

Anyway, the key is STILL that they must be rotated. don't just put them in the garage and think they will be fine until 10 years from now, and you are going to pull them out and eat them after the flood (or SHTF as we say in the preparedness world). Plan on eating one meal in the summer and one in the winter for your "Live off the 72 hour kit" drill weekend. And plan on eating the rest on your next camping trip, and buying another to replace them, or not at all if you decide, "Yuck, we aint eatin' that mess again!".

If you don't know what stuff tastes like, don't store it, because you don't want the height of the storm to be the first time you try one (no mater what it is).

I mentioned a biannual drill.

Once a quarter I say, ""It's drill night" (ok, so it's a lot more often than biannual). We pull our 72 hour kits out, and live off that. Or we pull out new equipment, and put it up in the dark, or like next week, we will try to build an igloo, and spend the night. We do this in our own back yard, so that if things are getting out of hand, we can just come inside, and figure out what went wrong, without risking anyone's health. We did this all through the kid's childhoods, and had a great time.

Far better to practice with things like tents, camp stoves, new forms of foods, sleeping bags, space blankets, fire starters, dutch ovens, lanterns, flashlights, and other accouterment under controlled conditions, than to find out under duress that "This piece of crap isn't going to work!".

Tomorrow, just for grins, I am going to put up our mountain tent, and try to cook lunch outside: two feet of snow, 18 degrees this morning. It is still snowing.

Edited December 31, 2008 by hankpac

[Elgama]

My advice is start by learning to cook with food storage items, then make a list of what you think you would need just for 1 month then try and live off it with just things like fruit, and some fresh veg added.

Ask for recipes. After we lived off our storage I had a much better idea of what I actually needed. Now we are building up 12 boxes with 1 month at a time and then I can rotate the boxes easier

-Charley

[Palerider]

another important thing to rememeber.....you can start your own and you do not have to drop alot of money at it....try to find ways to get things inexpensive....

[BenRaines]

hankpac, you sound like a kindred spirit. All that storage and preparedness stuff does you little good if you don't know how to use it. All of our camping and outdoors stuff was purchased with the thought in mind WITSHTF? While some rotation of goods is necessary I think that some people overdo it. Written logs, etc.

We too have our weekend emergency in the backyard. One year we even had a portapotty to use when we had emergency weekend with another family. Better than trench latrine. :)

Ben Raines

[LDSVALLEY]

Food Storage can be purchased for free, and it is a great way to save money. As to starting do it slow. Work toward a weeks food storage then keep going.

The free and money saving part.

Say you eat 1 can of soup per day. So each week you buy 7 cans at $1.00 per can. that is $7.00 per week. Once in a while it will go on sale, lets say .50 so you buy your 7 cans and save $3.50. Now the food storage way instead you buy 14 cans for your normal $7.00 eat 7 and put the other 7 on a shelf. Next week buy your normal 7 cans, put them on the shelf and eat the 7 cans you put there last week.

We found something interesting, when we did this often enough we reached what I called critical mass food storage (we are no where near a years supply) Critical Mass food storage is when we only have to buy soup on sale. We found our grocery budget can buy 20% more food for the same money when we have enough stored that beyond the basics that are perishable, we only usually buy what is on sale.

When we moved six years ago I started renovating and being tight for space we let our food storage get below the critical mass level and after a year I couldn't figure out why our grocery bill was going over budget all the time. It took us 4 or 5 years, family of 5, to get back that critical mass level and our budget for food is on track once again.

[dalepres]

Rotating your food is easy if you remember that there are community kitchens, food banks, women's shelters, homeless shelters, etc. that always need a donation of food. At 25% remaining shelf life, load up a box and drop it off for the needy - problem solved.

[Palerider]

you can also do some rotation when its "Scouting for Food" time...:)

[hankpac]

Well, the tent went up fine, the igloo was poorly made, due to the type of snow (too fluffy). Pretty cold. Lots of fun!

That was my birthday project!

[amightyfortress]

Easy rotating:

Get 12 of those Rubbermaid storage containers. Label them January, February, March, etc. Then put stuff in each container. When the January container is empty, it gets moved to the end for refilling for next year.

Or, have 12 shelves, label them for each month of the year. Same thing.

[amightyfortress]

Oops, I already posted and just noticed Elgama's similar post re: 12 boxes for rotating food storage.

[Hemidakota]

Only to add, buy only what will be used or eaten. Anything else is a waste of money.

[amightyfortress]

Only to add, buy only what will be used or eaten. Anything else is a waste of money.

If I find an outstanding price on something I really don't eat I sometimes buy it anyway because you may end up with some guests showing up on your doorstep and can give them those items (or donate them to a food pantry when they get closer to expiration.) For instance, I'm not a big fan of macaroni and cheese, but almost everyone (especially children) like that stuff and it's cheap. So I have several cases of it on hand. I got a great price (4 for $1) so each case of 24 boxes was only $6. Having 72 boxes of mac-n-cheese for only an $18 investment seemed like a good trade-off.

[minuet]

A real easy way to start is to make a 2-week menu plan for all three meals. Plan meals you are already eating. Then make a shopping list of each item you'd need to complete each meal. To have a 3-month storage of every foods like the churches teaches us, all you do is multiply each meal by the number of times you'd eat it in 3 months. For example: if you eat spaghetti once a week, you'd need 12 cans of sauce, 12 packages of pasta for 3 months.

[Bethie]

There is just two of us, but we have begun to build a 3 month supply of the foods we regularly eat. My question is...we always have a fresh salad every night....lettuce, spinach, celery, etc. What is the best way to duplicate that in food storage? I don't know how to can vegetables, but I've never heard of canned salad veggies, anyway.

This week I planted two red lettuce seeds in an indoor pot to see if growing indoors

would be a good option for winter. Any other suggestions?

[amightyfortress]

In a long-term situation, you may not be able to have the usual fresh salad every night. You may have to make some modifications/substitutions. However, you could grow sprouts and then you're getting some fresh food in your diet. Depending on the time of year, you'll be able to garden (if you have the space) and could also consider building a root cellar. Lettuce and spinach will not hold up in a root cellar long-term, but you can make a winter salad instead with cabbage, sliced beets, onion, apples, etc. or other items which store well in a root cellar. Depending on where you live, a cold frame for growing spinach might also work. The other option is switch from fresh salad to vegetable soup during the times of year when fresh salad might not be an option. Your indoor growing option will help supplement your desire for fresh items also.