Food Supply


Grunt
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In case you haven't realized it yet, I'm somewhat of a prepper.   Not the kind you see on the documentaries with hidden food and bunkers, but just general self-sufficiency.  Most people wouldn't even notice it.  There are so many aspects to self-sufficiency but here is what I've found to make the most sense, particularly for those starting out.

1.  Most disasters aren't the apocalypse.  Most disasters are an injury that lands a family member in the hospital for multiple days.   A power outage for a week.   Getting snowed in.  

2.  Always keep a bug out bag for those small emergencies.  Toys to entertain kids.  Snacks.  Change of clothes.  Cell phone chargers.  Things you use daily and would miss if your whole family is stuck in the hospital with a sick child.

3.  Food supply is important.  MREs stink.  Do you want to eat them for 90 days?  They also have a shelf life.  When was the last time you needed extended food stores?  You don't want to replace your entire storage every "x" number of years.

4.  Set up a food pantry.  Can racks work GREAT, too.  The freshest is always on bottom.  Make a place to easily store food where rotation is natural.

5.  Track what you use.  Since most people don't eat the same meals every week, I suggest you track it for a month.  Every time you use something, write it down.  EVERYTHING, to include paper products.  At the end of the month, you now know what your typical food usage is for a month.  Duplicating this is "one month's supply".

6.  Buy what you use.  Do you eat canned beans a few times a week?  Every time you shop,  buy a few extra cans.  Buy only what you typically eat.  Don't buy peas because they are on sale and make a good prep item.  Buy what you use.

7.  Store these items in your can rack or pantry.  Continue to eat normally, using your stores.  Keep shopping on your normal schedule, buying a few extra cans each time and adding the new food to the back of your stores.  Since you're buying what you eat normally, you are constantly rotating your own stock.  Newest in the back, oldest on the dinner table.  Most importantly, should you ever NEED your stores, you just continue eating normally.  You bought the meals your family typically eats.

8.  Water filtration.  Stored water is fine, but it takes up a ton of room I don't care for the taste.  Sometimes it's necessary, so it's important in at least small quantities.  Have a well?  Buy a hand pump.  Buy water filtration so you can get your water anywhere.

9.  Start a garden.  Many people are turning their backyards into food production.  I have a friend who earns a living off 1/4 acre of fairly urban land.  That's it.

10.  Buy chickens.  Just a few hens can produce enough eggs for a family and they are almost zero work.  I know people with chickens in the city and suburbs.  If needed, they can also find most of their own food.

These are just inexpensive and simple ways to start.  I have rack plans, coop plans, chicken tractor plans, etc if anyone ever gets super crazy.  Add a rooster or two and now you sustain your own flock.  Save the seeds from the best plants and now you foster your own garden annually.  Graft trees and now you have multiple fruits in limited acreage.  Becoming self-sufficient isn't that hard or that much work.  

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2 hours ago, Grunt said:

In case you haven't realized it yet, I'm somewhat of a prepper.   Not the kind you see on the documentaries with hidden food and bunkers,

What's wrong with hidden food and bunkers?:P

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2 minutes ago, Grunt said:

Easy now, I never said there was something wrong with it.  You just don't want to advertise it.

A funny side note:  A moving company came to my house to give me an estimate.  When the estimator got to my storage room he said,"Oh.  You guys are Mormons, aren't you?"

Yes.

OK.  You might want to find a way to move this portion by yourselves.  We charge by the pound.  And these boxes and cans are neatly stacked and easy to transport. But they weigh a lot.  You could same some money if you moved this yourself.

We did.

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21 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

A funny side note:  A moving company came to my house to give me an estimate.  When the estimator got to my storage room he said,"Oh.  You guys are Mormons, aren't you?"

Yes.

OK.  You might want to find a way to move this portion by yourselves.  We charge by the pound.  And these boxes and cans are neatly stacked and easy to transport. But they weigh a lot.  You could same some money if you moved this yourself.

We did.

See, @Grunt, even the moving company think you should be Mormon! :P

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See, this is my challenge - writing out all of what we purchase in a month would consist of, I say, 1/4 of them being "storable".  Our normal consumption is fresh stuff - fresh fruit, fresh veggies, fresh meats.  These things we can't store.  We don't eat canned stuff on a regular basis except for spam and corned beef.  So, my food supply is nothing but an emergency supply - things we don't normally eat.  And, in an emergency, we don't mind eating spam and rice everyday for 90 days.

So yes, I am trying my best to get this urban garden going but I don't know what it is... I just really suck at it!

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6 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

See, this is my challenge - writing out all of what we purchase in a month would consist of, I say, 1/4 of them being "storable".  Our normal consumption is fresh stuff - fresh fruit, fresh veggies, fresh meats.  These things we can't store.  We don't eat canned stuff on a regular basis except for spam and corned beef.  So, my food supply is nothing but an emergency supply - things we don't normally eat.  And, in an emergency, we don't mind eating spam and rice everyday for 90 days.

So yes, I am trying my best to get this urban garden going but I don't know what it is... I just really suck at it!

I'll help you with urban gardening as much as I can if you have questions or issues.  Unless there is a health reason for not eating canned (beyond fresh is better) then buy canned as a substitute.  We can many things ourselves, but my emergency supply consists of things I eat but in the canned form.  If I buy a bag of fresh carrots, I'll buy a can of carrots.  I rarely eat them, but there are times I will.  Since I already have them, I use the can and then replace it.

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18 minutes ago, Grunt said:

I'll help you with urban gardening as much as I can if you have questions or issues.  Unless there is a health reason for not eating canned (beyond fresh is better) then buy canned as a substitute.  We can many things ourselves, but my emergency supply consists of things I eat but in the canned form.  If I buy a bag of fresh carrots, I'll buy a can of carrots.  I rarely eat them, but there are times I will.  Since I already have them, I use the can and then replace it.

Because canned has to be cooked or brined or pickled.  We eat fresh.  As in raw.  Out of the tree and into our stomach.  (My kids will eat carrots like an apple).  Or grilled.  Or broiled.  Well, fresh deli - cooked by the guys at Boarshead.  :D

So, we had this Food Storage class at church and they taught us how to can (actually jar) things like zucchini and squash, etc., even chicken.  We love zucchini and yellow squash so I took one of the jars home.  We had it for dinner and nobody ate it.  Unfortunately.

So, my food storage right now only has spam, corned beef, vienna sausage, chef oyardee raviolis, canned sweet peas, canned sweet corn, and rice.  We can live on that for a month if we need to.

Oh yeah... and bullets.  :D

I have lots of seeds too.

And I'm hoping to get this black soldier fly colony going so my chickens won't starve if we ever won't be able to buy chicken feed.

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9 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

Because canned has to be cooked or brined or pickled.  We eat fresh.  As in raw.  Out of the tree and into our stomach.  (My kids will eat carrots like an apple).  Or grilled.  Or broiled.  Well, fresh deli - cooked by the guys at Boarshead.  :D

So, we had this Food Storage class at church and they taught us how to can (actually jar) things like zucchini and squash, etc., even chicken.  We love zucchini and yellow squash so I took one of the jars home.  We had it for dinner and nobody ate it.  Unfortunately.

So, my food storage right now only has spam, corned beef, vienna sausage, chef oyardee raviolis, canned sweet peas, canned sweet corn, and rice.  We can live on that for a month if we need to.

Oh yeah... and bullets.  :D

I have lots of seeds too.

And I'm hoping to get this black soldier fly colony going so my chickens won't starve if we ever won't be able to buy chicken feed.

I wish I could do soldier fly colonies here.  I do red wigglers and am trying to get a meal worm colony going, but it takes up considerable space.

Have you tried dehydrating or bagging?  Both are great methods for storing fresh foods.  

Another good add on is a power inverter for your car if you don't have a generator.  Your vehicle IS a generator.

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8 minutes ago, Grunt said:

I wish I could do soldier fly colonies here.  I do red wigglers and am trying to get a meal worm colony going, but it takes up considerable space.

Have you tried dehydrating or bagging?  Both are great methods for storing fresh foods.  

Another good add on is a power inverter for your car if you don't have a generator.  Your vehicle IS a generator.

I'm in hurricane-prone Florida.  Having a generator is State Law.  I lied, no, it's not... but it seems like it is, because most everybody has one.  I wouldn't be surprised if there are more Floridians who own generators than there are Floridians who have healthcare.  LOL.

Haven't tried dehydrating or bagging at all!  Well, I used to have this Food Saver machine but I stopped using it because I got tired of buying the bags so I sold the thing.  I just used it for stuff like storing marshmallows in the pantry or storing meat in the freezer and such (as seen on TV!  LOL.  I'm easily sold on infomercials).  My dogs eat prey-model raw meat so I have tons of meat in the freezer.  I haven't thought of using it for food storage though!

 

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3 hours ago, Grunt said:

You don't want to get me talking about my walk-in gun vault.

Yes I do.

I just bought my third handgun (Sig SP2022).  My wife was wondering why.  I just thought it is easier to have more guns than it would be to reload magazines, etc.  I also just like them.

We have four long guns if you count the shotgun.  Five if you count the break-stock pellet gun.  This is just enough to warrant a safe (not a vault -- sigh).  So, we were talking about getting a safe.  My first question was,"Where are we going to put it?"  We really have nowhere we can put it without getting rid of something.

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11 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

Yes I do.

I just bought my third handgun (Sig SP2022).  My wife was wondering why.  I just thought it is easier to have more guns than it would be to reload magazines, etc.  I also just like them.

We have four long guns if you count the shotgun.  Five if you count the break-stock pellet gun.  This is just enough to warrant a safe (not a vault -- sigh).  So, we were talking about getting a safe.  My first question was,"Where are we going to put it?"  We really have nowhere we can put it without getting rid of something.

My 13-year-old has more long guns than you.  That's not right.  You'll need to correct that.  :)

These are awesome.

 

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6 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

My 13-year-old has more long guns than you.  That's not right.  You'll need to correct that. 

There's also these.  Jump to 3:34 for long guns... oh, and I edited my last post regarding your long guns. 

"I" need to correct that?  Your kids are spoiled.  One of my long guns is an SKS that I got for $90.  I don't buy expensive.  And if he's got three long guns what kind of work does he do that he can afford that?  My kids want a piece of that action.

I've got too many tables and furniture in my house.  But I honestly can't think of what I can really get rid of.

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I'm lucky.  My house has an addition that was put in 7 years ago to add another living room, bedroom, and bathroom.  A basement is under it and rather than extending the existing basement they cut a doorway between the two.  Install a vault door and voila, 21 foot by 21 foot concrete vault with climate control and separate alarm system.

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27 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

"I" need to correct that?  Your kids are spoiled.  One of my long guns is an SKS that I got for $90.  I don't buy expensive.  And if he's got three long guns what kind of work does he do that he can afford that?  My kids want a piece of that action.

I've got too many tables and furniture in my house.  But I honestly can't think of what I can really get rid of.

My kid got his VZ for $100.  He got his Mosin Nagant for $200.  He got both of them from a friend of ours whose ex-wife fleeced him of all his money so my husband offered to buy his rifles that he inheritted from his grandpa so he can go get an apartment.  The .270 Winchester he got for Christmas.  Dunno how much that was.  The .22 plinking rifle he got for his 12-year-old bday.  Dunno how much that was either.  His shotgun and his AR15 he bought himself.   He trades stocks with his grades money (yes, he's a weird kid).  Donald Trump has been great to him lately.  He has a pellet gun too.  His grandpa got it for him 2 Christmases ago.

P.S. Grades money =  he has 8 subjects.  Each A = $10, B=$5.  So he has the potential of earning $80 every grade period.

Edited by anatess2
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