Where to put the food storage?


MorningStar
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  • 3 weeks later...

Here is how the Russian navy stored hundreds of cans on there subs. Basicly there was no place to put the cans. So what thay did was place the cans side by side and packed them tight together on the floor. Thay then put plywood over the cans and use them as a support for the plywood walkway.

Now I am not suggesting you do this but it is your choice. Also, there is space in the walls of homes. In areas that are out of sight put pockets in walls where the cans can reside.

I also would recomend growing your own veggies year round is possible. Go hydroponic. It will grow 3-5 times the volume of veggies for the same space as typical garden soil types of gardens.

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Hey MorningStar,

I actually represent a company that sells food storage and, absolutely, space is one of the biggest deals when it comes to food storage. Instead of wheat and beans and other staples (which most people don't even know how to properly prepare anymore and takes literally hours each day to cook) we have freeze-dried food that has all the water and oxygen removed so they are much, much more lightweight and compact. To give you an idea of the storage space required, a 6 month supply for 2 meals a day for an entire family of 5 can fit under a traditional twin size bed. Take a look at our website Daily Bread and let me know if you have any questions!

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Under the beds is a great place to store food. There is space behind the couch, and behind the TV. Also in the upper parts of cabinets, and in dressers.

The garage is hot, and has too many temperature swings which shortens the life of foods in any storage format (dried, canned freeze dried, whatever form).

A storage unit is worse, because it is away from your house, and also is subject to temp swings, and due to monthly cost represents a constant bite into the value of what you have stored.

It would be better to customize your food storage to your needs: iow: far more freeze dried, and far less wheat. Wheat is great if yoiu have the physical plant to utilize it. without grinders, and supporting food-stuffs (like salt and sugar and yeast, and an oven that you can use WITHOUT electricity) it is just heavy and poorly usable. On the other hand, Freeze Dried foods, can be eaten with just adding water, or even dry. the water doesn't have to be hot to rehydrate FD foods, so you can just soak it, and let it sit for 20 minutes while you change the baby, and get the older kids cleaned up, and viola, you are ready to eat.

Eat what you store, store what you eat, of course, but every single food item you store has to have an active thought with it when you put it on the list to purchase: "How am I going to put this to use?" That means, How will I feed it to the kids, with no electricity and how will I carry it 5 miles on foot, and what do I have to have to support this food item in order to feed it to someone?

I have talked with many people about storing wheat (which I have a LOT of) I ask them: "why do you have wheat?"

"So we can make bread."

"Have you ever made bread before?"

"No"

Or "what else do you have to make bread besides this unground wheat?"

"Uhhh."

Or

"Can you make bread without electricity, or without an oven or sitting in your back yard?"

Apply that kind of thinking to ALL of your preparedness.

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Is there an ideal temperature for storing food? Is it best to just shoot for a cool dry place? As mentioned above I know garages and even some outdoor sheds can have severe temperature changes so probably not a good idea.

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You can make a loaf of bread in a cast iron dutch oven w/lid that is placed in hot coals of an open fire. Bread only takes 45 minutes to bake. You can also fry bread on a skillet.

You make noodles out of flour. Pancakes out of flour. cookies out of flour. Flour is used for thickening.

To be prepared, one must also know how to cook with alternatives to the electric range/stove, bread machine, microwave, toaster, etc. One must also know how to wash dishes without the electric dishwasher and without running hot and cold water.

Instead of taking the family to Disneyland for your summer vacation, how about doing a week or two of at home survival. Turn off the electricity at the main power box, and live your two weeks without it.

Next year do the same thing, only this time turn off the main water too. Live off your food storage without electricity and running water.

I have had to do this every year, during the winter months from Oct to March. No water- my well went dry until the spring thaws. Had to haul it to the house from town.

Quite often during those winter months the storms would knock out our power from a few hours to one week.

I could still get into town, but money wise I could not eat in restaurants every meal. I did have to take my laundry into town to wash. IF I had electricity at home, I brought it home to dry, other wise I did it at the laundramat.

I hauled water from my creek (pronounced crick) to use to flush the toliet. No way would I drink or consume this water- beavers lived upstream. I filtered the bugs out and boiled it up to wash dishes with though. Because of the bugs, I kept the water outside. Didn't need them hatching inside the warm house.

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You can make a loaf of bread in a cast iron dutch oven w/lid that is placed in hot coals of an open fire. Bread only takes 45 minutes to bake. You can also fry bread on a skillet.

You make noodles out of flour. Pancakes out of flour. cookies out of flour. Flour is used for thickening.

To be prepared, one must also know how to cook with alternatives to the electric range/stove, bread machine, microwave, toaster, etc. One must also know how to wash dishes without the electric dishwasher and without running hot and cold water.

Instead of taking the family to Disneyland for your summer vacation, how about doing a week or two of at home survival. Turn off the electricity at the main power box, and live your two weeks without it.

Next year do the same thing, only this time turn off the main water too. Live off your food storage without electricity and running water.

I have had to do this every year, during the winter months from Oct to March. No water- my well went dry until the spring thaws. Had to haul it to the house from town.

Quite often during those winter months the storms would knock out our power from a few hours to one week.

I could still get into town, but money wise I could not eat in restaurants every meal. I did have to take my laundry into town to wash. IF I had electricity at home, I brought it home to dry, other wise I did it at the laundramat.

I hauled water from my creek (pronounced crick) to use to flush the toliet. No way would I drink or consume this water- beavers lived upstream. I filtered the bugs out and boiled it up to wash dishes with though. Because of the bugs, I kept the water outside. Didn't need them hatching inside the warm house.

Iggy, seriously you are truly amazing. Here I sit and gripe when a lightbulb goes out. I can't imagine the things that you have to do where you live. Your knowledge of food storage and such is also amazing. I wish I knew even a 1/10 of what you know.

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  • 1 month later...

Iggy certainly has it right. To find out what you really DO have and what you are missing, you have to experience the "emergency" first. I actually sell food storage to families as an occupation and it is ridiculous what some people think. A few days ago I had an appointment with a woman that couldn't possibly have more than enough food in her house to feed herself for two months, but she was totally convinced that she had enough to feed her whole family for 9 - 12 months (a pretty big spread if you ask me...)

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Iggy certainly has it right. To find out what you really DO have and what you are missing, you have to experience the "emergency" first. I actually sell food storage to families as an occupation and it is ridiculous what some people think. A few days ago I had an appointment with a woman that couldn't possibly have more than enough food in her house to feed herself for two months, but she was totally convinced that she had enough to feed her whole family for 9 - 12 months (a pretty big spread if you ask me...)

You are so right. I had a similar discussion with my mother who has one of those bookcases with doors on it she stores food in. She thinks she's stocked up. I pointed out she would need 365 cans of food if she was willing to "survive" on eating only 1 can of food per day for an entire year. You should have seen how big her eyes got. People have no clue just how much food they eat.

Thing is, she's got the money and she's got the space, what she lacks is the conviction and the belief that anything "bad" can happen in America. The previous homeowners were LDS and raised 4 kids in that home, so space is not an issue. The entire lower level is completely set up for food storage with shelving and everything. She just won't do it.

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15 5 gallon buckets will fit under a twin bed just get a bed skirt to cover it. Also IKEA is the best store to shop for furniture and home accessories it is geared for compact spaces.Welcome to IKEA.com I store most everything in my basement but i would gladly give up living space for food storage. The painting cans idea was awesome I think i will use that to put book shelves on one wall of my dining room. Ive been trying to figure out how to do that and spend the least amount possible.

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Iggy, seriously you are truly amazing. Here I sit and gripe when a lightbulb goes out. I can't imagine the things that you have to do where you live. Your knowledge of food storage and such is also amazing. I wish I knew even a 1/10 of what you know.

Pam, all of my experiences were when I lived on the Oregon Coast. I have been living in Arizona for the past 4 years, and I am terrified of losing power and water. What with the heat here I know I wouldn't last more than a few days without AC and water.

That is why I want so badly to get back to the coast. Back to the town I was living in and my Branch Family!! I know how to live there, to get back to basics and I really, really enjoyed my life there.

I loved baking my own bread, and even hauling my water from the crick to the house so I could flush the toilets and wash my dishes and even some of my clothes by hand.

I want to have a vegetable/herb garden again- even if it is only HUGE peat pots around the house or on the porch. NOTHING tastes better than snow peas picked fresh off the vine. OR fresh mint cut off the plant, shaken gently to get the little bugs off and then drowned in a pot of boiling hot water for 3 minutes max, poured into a cup and topped off with cold water so as not to scorch the mouth. MMmmmm good. Or when you thin the carrots and take those thinnings, rinse the dirt off and toss them whole into home made chicken noodle soup, or top ramen, or even into a from your garden green salad! Oh, have you ever eaten beet thinnings? Man oh man are they good. The first thinnings you put in salads or even soup. The the second thinnings you put in salads, or soup, creamed potatoes or even gently steam them and smother them with real butter greens and all!

Because my joints and back hurt me most of the time, I know I can't have a ground level garden. It will have to be raised up high enough so that I will be able to reach it easily as I sit in a lawn chair that I move around the garden. This will also help to keep the slugs out of the food and hopefully the racoons. To raise it up that high, it will have to be made up of plywood bottoms and possibly plywood sides. BUT the bonus to this is NO invasion of bugs from the ground up. Only the flying variety.

You work (manage isn't it) at a convience store/gas station. Are you in charge of ordering, or approving the orders? Then treat your food storage like that. Turn your kitchen food cupboards, and your storage shelves/cupboards into your mini-grocery.

What would you do to an employee who consistantly puts the new product in front of the old product? You would find a way to fire him. You end up throwing out the old, outdated and spoiled product. Costs the company money when that happens. Same with your food storage.

I am now down to 4 cans of veg soup. The cupboard holds 16. I am out of cream of mushroom/ cream of celery and cream of cheddar soup. I prefer to have 6 of each on hand. I am no longer going to buy Velveeta Shells and cheese. The cheapest I can get them is $2.50 a box. A bag of those spiral noodls cost me $2.79 and I can get three meals out of it. Cream of cheddar soup is 1.29 a can. For $2.22 I can have mac-n-cheese and it is creamier and doesn't spoil near as fast on me. (don't add water, just enough evap milk to within the first line from the bottom of the soup can, and use a narrow rubber spatula to get all of the soup and milk out)

I am also out of the small cans of stems and pieces mushrooms. I add those to lots of different dishes. The shelf holds 24 of them.

Pam, if you have any questions- heck, fire away and I will do my best to answer you.

Actually, if any of the forum members have any questions, fire away and I will do my best to answer them.

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I am in a similar circumstance. Don't count on the garage in a house, I put all kinds of stuff in the garage and the extremes in temperature ruined much of it. I didn't realize so many things could go bad, including commercial flour!

Anyway, some counsel that I received that made sense to me was to first focus on a 72 hour kit and a three month's supply. Have enough items to sustain your family in a catastrophe for 72 hours, then focus on enough for three months. I think the Lord knows you are trying and will bless you for those efforts. The other way to think of it is, should you be unemployed or otherwise in need of it, at least you have enough to get started on making other arrangements, you aren't starting at ground zero

Just my two cents

:o)

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:roflmbo:

Martha would probably build a big food storage shed out of popsicle sticks. :P

:roflmbo:

I am still a newbie here, reading what catches my interest. I have been doing home storage since I joined the church in 1971. Where do you store it?...EVERYWHERE. You have to be aware of the climate and weather condt'ns in your area. I would not recommend storing grain in your garage if you live in Phoenix, AZ. If that is the only space you have, then get some plywood or something build a small unit and insulate it.

What to store? Store what your family will eat/use. If you have not introduce your family to cracked wheat cereal, the week of no paycheck is not the time to do that. I store a variety of items. Some freeze dried, some I dehydrate, some canned (my own efforts and store sales), I store grain. I became the unofficial food storage peep for our branch. I get a lot of deals online, and I use my resale ID to get us good prices. We have a commercial sealer, so when we order in bulk, we just seal our stuff with that into mylar bags. I store a lot of mylar bags floor in totes. Mice do not like to chew thru plastic.

On lds.org under provident living, you will find a chart of recommendations for per family member items..the chart can be modified for your own family needs.

Remember..you need to use the stuff you store. At the cost of powdered mike, you do not want to have it end up as a 50# hockey puck. I keep an inventory list on the outside of my freezer(s) and all the areas I store things in the house. It is pretty much like a mini warehouse. From my years in trucking I have been in many warehouses..so I got some good ideas for what works. I try to keep a small separate savings acct, I say try because in tough times that is the one we raid first, for opportunities that come up to add to our storage. I KNOW you are all familiar with this: "Sisters, we have an opportunity to get XXX at this really great price, BUT..we need to order today.

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Is there an ideal temperature for storing food? Is it best to just shoot for a cool dry place? As mentioned above I know garages and even some outdoor sheds can have severe temperature changes so probably not a good idea.

If you can insulate your garage like you do your house and then put space heaters in there for winter and window AC for the summer, then you can use your garage.

Cool, dry place is the ideal.

I have two rooms that have two big windows each and no AC or heat to them. They get about 10 to 20 degrees hotter than it is outside. I have yet to put that UV film on the windows- to cut the glare and the heat coming in. I would use one of those rooms for food storage. Paper items ( p-towels, T-paper, bath soap, maybe even boxed dinners that I have vacuum sealed first. We do have a window AC but Husband doesn't want to increase our already high electric bill by using it. The other room is storage for our books (they are in plastic tubs) and the kitty litter boxes, large tools, and yard tools.

We are going to be moving in approximately two years anyway, so I am a bit reluctant to go to all that expense and work.

If you live in the Pacific Northwest where it is wet a lot (understatement) consider getting a dehumidifier for your garage, and a good radiant space heater.

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