100Acre
Samsquinch the Terrible Magic Bean Manipulator
Lifetime Member
Club Contributor
OK, at the behest of @Hondasxs , I decided to start a thread for those of you who are interested in preparing for whatever emergency may arise. Wether it's weather related, Abysmal recorded harvests and forecasted harvest models for the years to come, global pandemics or simply because of job loss. Back to the time around and prior to WW2 Many people had their own gardens to supplement the rationing for the war effort and just make make ends meet, or to barter with neighbors for other goods and services. Many of the small town markets and general stores kept a well stocked larder in the back room to resupply themselves before they could get another delivery. Which, is in opposition to todays just in time daily deliveries from a main hub system. The current system only allows for todays grocery chains to hold enough food for the typical American household of about three days worth of food. What if you had to hunker down in your homes for an extended period, how would you feed your families?
In the event of a hurricane or threat of a snow storm accompanied with black ice conditions, the stores here almost get legally looted by the locals of all things like bread water cheese and so on. Just imagine what it would be like on a national scale due to civil or social unrest. Now imagine worst case scenarios. It only makes sense to put away some stores for the future as prices continue to rise and the packages get smaller.
Over the course of the last few months, I have heavily researched environmental, meteorological, astrophysics, and so many other sources of news reports and agency articles journals and reports that show we are headed I to a major food shortage. Just to name a few things:
potatoes
sugar beets
sugar cane
corn
soy beans
wheat
beans
onions
horseradish and quite a few others.
There are many sources of canned and dry goods available right now while we still have some national stock left in all the warehouses across the country.
CANNED GOODS
1 Canned food can be effected by temperature changes and typically has a nutritive value up to 2- 5 years if stored in a cold dry location in your home.
2 Don't throw out the water that the food is in as chances are all the vitamins and minerals have leached out into the water.
3 Pop-Top cans are already weakend by the pop top and are subject to loosing their seal resulting in higher yields of spoilage. I would not store them for long term especially in warmer climates
DRY GOODS
1 The average adult requires approximately 750 lbs of grains per year and children about half as much
2 Grains stored properly and in their unrefined form as seeds, typically have a much longer shelf storage life. An example is Hard Red Winter Wheat Berries (seeds) stored properly can last 30 years and still retain much of their nutrition and viability for planting. Ground wheat flour only nutritionally lasts about 2 years on the shelf.
3 Consider other grains to change your diet and not suffer Appetite Fatigue (you need a varied diet)
4 Ancient Grains like : Amaranth, Millet, Barley, Quinoa, sesame and sunflower seeds too.
5 Rices; some rice is more storable than others. Take for instance, Brown rice. While much better for you nutritionally, because of the fatty acids. It also will go rancid faster due to those same fatty acids. Look into white, long grain, basmati, Jasmine and others.
6 Wild Rice is actually a grain. Very nutritious
Consider sources for food to store besides the grocery stores. I often go to the big farmers market even in the off season to buy cases of honey, Apples, potatoes and whatever strikes my attention and that I can figure out a way to store it by Canning in mason jars , running stuff through the dehydrators or if you can afford one, by freeze drying it yourself.
MRES
Meals Ready To Eat
1 Really high in calories. Expect to gain some weight unless you're heavily exercising. These are after all made for the military.
2 Shelf life is like the canned food of not much better than 7 or so years and can be affected by heat.
DEHYDRATED FOOD
1 Is shelf stable 2-5 years depending on how much moisture is removed and proper storage.
2 When I do apple slices I 1st soak them in a lemonade or ascorbic acid solution to retain color and sweetness.
3 You can dehydrate fruits and veggies as well as various types of jerky.
FREEZE DRIED FOOD
1 Over all, it's the best option for storing food long term. It's not effected as much as the others by extreme temperature.
2 It retains it's nutritive value and flavor over a much longer time
3 Requires clean and usually hot water to rehydrate
4 Always add a little emore water than what it call for, stir well and let sit 5 minutes prior to eating to ensure full hydration and to reduce chances of bodily odors.
Some companies that sell FD entrees and veggies are as follows;
1 Mountain House. Tends to be higher in sodium but if life is strenuous like backpacking, the sodium is welcome.
2 Backpackers Pantry
3 Thrive. Less sodium
4 Augason Farms. The Walmart brand but still good quality. Mostly see in for sale in Utah and other Morman areas
5 My Patriot Supply Last I heard, they're getting some gov agency contracts.
6 Emergency Essentials
7 Wise-- Last I heard, they were getting sued about not telling the truth about recommended daily allowances in their products.
8 There are A FEW others you just have to look and read the reviews.
I hope this helps everyone to get ahead of the game and invest in keeping your families safe and well fed. If you have any other questions, feel free to comment.
In the event of a hurricane or threat of a snow storm accompanied with black ice conditions, the stores here almost get legally looted by the locals of all things like bread water cheese and so on. Just imagine what it would be like on a national scale due to civil or social unrest. Now imagine worst case scenarios. It only makes sense to put away some stores for the future as prices continue to rise and the packages get smaller.
Over the course of the last few months, I have heavily researched environmental, meteorological, astrophysics, and so many other sources of news reports and agency articles journals and reports that show we are headed I to a major food shortage. Just to name a few things:
potatoes
sugar beets
sugar cane
corn
soy beans
wheat
beans
onions
horseradish and quite a few others.
There are many sources of canned and dry goods available right now while we still have some national stock left in all the warehouses across the country.
CANNED GOODS
1 Canned food can be effected by temperature changes and typically has a nutritive value up to 2- 5 years if stored in a cold dry location in your home.
2 Don't throw out the water that the food is in as chances are all the vitamins and minerals have leached out into the water.
3 Pop-Top cans are already weakend by the pop top and are subject to loosing their seal resulting in higher yields of spoilage. I would not store them for long term especially in warmer climates
DRY GOODS
1 The average adult requires approximately 750 lbs of grains per year and children about half as much
2 Grains stored properly and in their unrefined form as seeds, typically have a much longer shelf storage life. An example is Hard Red Winter Wheat Berries (seeds) stored properly can last 30 years and still retain much of their nutrition and viability for planting. Ground wheat flour only nutritionally lasts about 2 years on the shelf.
3 Consider other grains to change your diet and not suffer Appetite Fatigue (you need a varied diet)
4 Ancient Grains like : Amaranth, Millet, Barley, Quinoa, sesame and sunflower seeds too.
5 Rices; some rice is more storable than others. Take for instance, Brown rice. While much better for you nutritionally, because of the fatty acids. It also will go rancid faster due to those same fatty acids. Look into white, long grain, basmati, Jasmine and others.
6 Wild Rice is actually a grain. Very nutritious
Consider sources for food to store besides the grocery stores. I often go to the big farmers market even in the off season to buy cases of honey, Apples, potatoes and whatever strikes my attention and that I can figure out a way to store it by Canning in mason jars , running stuff through the dehydrators or if you can afford one, by freeze drying it yourself.
MRES
Meals Ready To Eat
1 Really high in calories. Expect to gain some weight unless you're heavily exercising. These are after all made for the military.
2 Shelf life is like the canned food of not much better than 7 or so years and can be affected by heat.
DEHYDRATED FOOD
1 Is shelf stable 2-5 years depending on how much moisture is removed and proper storage.
2 When I do apple slices I 1st soak them in a lemonade or ascorbic acid solution to retain color and sweetness.
3 You can dehydrate fruits and veggies as well as various types of jerky.
FREEZE DRIED FOOD
1 Over all, it's the best option for storing food long term. It's not effected as much as the others by extreme temperature.
2 It retains it's nutritive value and flavor over a much longer time
3 Requires clean and usually hot water to rehydrate
4 Always add a little emore water than what it call for, stir well and let sit 5 minutes prior to eating to ensure full hydration and to reduce chances of bodily odors.
Some companies that sell FD entrees and veggies are as follows;
1 Mountain House. Tends to be higher in sodium but if life is strenuous like backpacking, the sodium is welcome.
2 Backpackers Pantry
3 Thrive. Less sodium
4 Augason Farms. The Walmart brand but still good quality. Mostly see in for sale in Utah and other Morman areas
5 My Patriot Supply Last I heard, they're getting some gov agency contracts.
6 Emergency Essentials
7 Wise-- Last I heard, they were getting sued about not telling the truth about recommended daily allowances in their products.
8 There are A FEW others you just have to look and read the reviews.
I hope this helps everyone to get ahead of the game and invest in keeping your families safe and well fed. If you have any other questions, feel free to comment.
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