Question for Preppers - Food Storage | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 45736939 United States 08/25/2013 05:21 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Deer Jerky Quoting: Anonymous Coward 45735170 You can dehydrate salmon, albacore tuna and fruit. Dehydrated meat can last up to a year with a vacuum sealer. I use my vacuum sealer for everything, even short term storage! Well worth the investment. I seal everything with the oxygen absorbers then put them in the freezer. Should last a lot longer. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 45736939 United States 08/25/2013 05:24 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Hey Bioreaper, I scored an 8 tiered food dehydrator yesterday at a garage sale for 12 buck brand new! Though of this thread, and had to report in on my new undertaking :-) Got any suggestions on books, websites, or recipes I should follow? Quoting: calidruid In particular, I've got a load of hot peppers that have just come off the plants. Any advise? Thanks a mil! :-) Matter of fact, Cali, I do. I love to take all kinds of peppers, habenero, ancho, jalapeno, bell, and anaheims and run them through the dehydrator and then grind them into a fine powder and then use that in recipes. You can also mix em. I take dried tomato powder, mix it with chicken bouillon and dried chili powder (all homemade) and then use that to flavor noodles and stews. As for books and websites, just get on google and hunt. That is what I did. There are literally a ton of ideas out there. And good job on finding the dehydrator for 12 bucks! I wish I had found mine that cheap :D Thanks Bioreaper!! Can't believe I scored the unit that cheap ether! I'll start searching around Google and see what I can find. I really like the pepper powder. I had taken a sample of my mariachi pepper and WOW, that's hot! So, I think in powder form, that's my best bet for using the peppers I grew. You will love it. Doing it that way opens up many more ways of using your peppers :D A little note, use it sparingly, a little goes a long way. For some reason it makes hot peppers even more potent |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 45736939 United States 08/25/2013 05:25 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Deer Jerky Quoting: Anonymous Coward 45735170 You can dehydrate salmon, albacore tuna and fruit. Dehydrated meat can last up to a year with a vacuum sealer. I use my vacuum sealer for everything, even short term storage! Well worth the investment. After I got the dehydrator, I was thinking that a vacuum (the the mason jar lid adapter), would make a great compliment to the system. I may spring for one this week. :-) Do it! it is definitely worth the money |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 45665074 United Kingdom 08/25/2013 05:32 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
LT Prepper
User ID: 45239391 United States 08/25/2013 05:51 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I'm wanting some input on food storage. When tshtf, do you plan on one meal a day, two meals a day, or just how you eat now with no change. Do you count calories, or just buy stuff randomly? Or do you actually have a meal plan that you set up and buy ingredients for? I've been buying a little here and there and I'm finding it difficult to plan out meals 6 months to a year ahead. Any ideas? Quoting: BioReaper You may not be ambitious enough to do a full meal plan, but you absolutely *MUST* be doing a caloric budget. If you don't know how many calories per day you're going to need for your family, and how many you have stored up, then you really have no idea how long your preps should last... In addition to your calories, make sure you have plenty of Salt Sugar Vinegar Baking Soda Dry yeast Vitamin supplements |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 36998602 United States 08/25/2013 05:55 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Deer Jerky Quoting: Anonymous Coward 45735170 You can dehydrate salmon, albacore tuna and fruit. Dehydrated meat can last up to a year with a vacuum sealer. I use my vacuum sealer for everything, even short term storage! Well worth the investment. After I got the dehydrator, I was thinking that a vacuum (the the mason jar lid adapter), would make a great compliment to the system. I may spring for one this week. :-) Do it! it is definitely worth the money I bought both the large and the smaller mouth jar top thingys. It is great for convenience to dry the veg or whatever, pop into the jars right out of the dryer...pop in a little oxygen packet absorber thing and then vacuum the jar, date, mark and hide away. I do not think it could be done any better or safer...or cheaper. One thing I like to do is steam some chunks of onion, carrot, celery, peas, and when just barely soft I buzz them all up into a paste with chicken base and just enough water to make it work. That makes it very salty. Then pour it all out on the food dryer's leather trays or some plastic wrap put on the dryer trays. Dry it to a nice tough leather, strip it off the trays...pack it into fruit jars, add O2 absorbers, vacuum pack it and identify it. Later you toss some chunks into boiling water, maybe rice, beans etc. and you have a great soup or well flavored rice etc. Almost anything can go into leather like this. Not just fruits. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 45736939 United States 08/25/2013 05:55 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I'm wanting some input on food storage. When tshtf, do you plan on one meal a day, two meals a day, or just how you eat now with no change. Do you count calories, or just buy stuff randomly? Or do you actually have a meal plan that you set up and buy ingredients for? I've been buying a little here and there and I'm finding it difficult to plan out meals 6 months to a year ahead. Any ideas? Quoting: BioReaper You may not be ambitious enough to do a full meal plan, but you absolutely *MUST* be doing a caloric budget. If you don't know how many calories per day you're going to need for your family, and how many you have stored up, then you really have no idea how long your preps should last... In addition to your calories, make sure you have plenty of Salt Sugar Vinegar Baking Soda Dry yeast Vitamin supplements Good advice, LT |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 36998602 United States 08/25/2013 05:59 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
wait....what?
User ID: 45486031 United States 08/25/2013 06:08 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Bioreaper and everybody else on this thread.... if you haven't already you should go through Tinygreen's old thread! A LOT of great tips and recipes and etc. on canning and dehydrating. Thread: >>>>Sustainable Living PLUS Canning and Dehydrating Food<<<< |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 36998602 United States 08/25/2013 06:10 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I learned something about seeds you may want to know. When you clean them out of ...say a cantaloupe...dump them in a small bucket of cold wter and mash um and break up the clinging fruit threads with your hands. Stir them up and have good amount of water in the bucket. Let them sit a bit. Then any seeds that float...discard them...they are useless. Now dry the seeds on the cooler blow so they do not cook in the food dryer. Then pack away. I dry all the squash seeds, tomato seeds, pepper seeds, peas, beans etc. I can get. You can eat them if you have to. Last year I spent $2.20 for a lousy 10 seeds of one item! I save tomato seeds by dumping ones that fall out of the tomatoes onto paper towels. I cool-dry the seeds on the towels. I fold them up and store as usual. In the spring I just take out a towel, cut the towel into pieces with several seeds on it and plant the paper. Easy as pie. |
wait....what?
User ID: 45486031 United States 08/25/2013 06:12 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Bioreaper and everybody else on this thread.... Quoting: wait....what? if you haven't already you should go through Tinygreen's old thread! A LOT of great tips and recipes and etc. on canning and dehydrating. Thread: >>>>Sustainable Living PLUS Canning and Dehydrating Food<<<< also Nine's thread is a good one!! Thread: Using Your Food Storage......Recipes and Ideas |
wait....what?
User ID: 45486031 United States 08/25/2013 06:15 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I learned something about seeds you may want to know. When you clean them out of ...say a cantaloupe...dump them in a small bucket of cold wter and mash um and break up the clinging fruit threads with your hands. Stir them up and have good amount of water in the bucket. Quoting: waitn4end Let them sit a bit. Then any seeds that float...discard them...they are useless. Now dry the seeds on the cooler blow so they do not cook in the food dryer. Then pack away. I dry all the squash seeds, tomato seeds, pepper seeds, peas, beans etc. I can get. You can eat them if you have to. Last year I spent $2.20 for a lousy 10 seeds of one item! GREAT tip!!! I never knew this! thank you so much! |
LT Prepper
User ID: 45239391 United States 08/25/2013 06:15 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Any flour I buy goes into the freezer for a couple of weeks before I do anything else with it. ^^^^THIS^^^^ A good hard freeze will neutralize *most* bugs, including their eggs/larvae. Then, while still frozen, transfer to good 3 or 5 gallon pails and either 1. add the correct size oxygen absorber, or 2. displace the oxygen with carbon dioxide before sealing the bucket. I prefer CO2 - great thing about CO2 is that it is also kills damn near every insect known to infest food stores. Period Gamma-Seal lids are essential for the buckets which will hold your "working stock" in the kitchen, but I wouldn't necessarily spend the extra money to put them on all your long-term storage buckets. (but have some spareGammas laid in in case one of your working set gets damaged, you under-estimated your needs, and/or for barter) |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 45750035 Uruguay 08/25/2013 06:19 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 43464976 United States 08/25/2013 06:19 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I divide my efforts into two categories. I have a long term storage "core". This is stuff that lasts a decade or more. Quoting: Unixlike The other part is what I call my working stock. It is mostly regular food that I keep in otherwise unneeded quantities. I don't put too much thought into this. It's size fluxuates. I've at times completely used up this part of my stockpile when we had an economic emergency in my home (doom doesn't have to be on a grand scale). The core includes things like whole wheat berries sealed up with O2 absorbers, lots of beans, rice, etc. The working stock includes things like canned food including a lot of canned meats, powdered milk, potato flakes, pasta, canned cheese, canned butter, etc. As far as how many meals I'll eat that will depend on my assessment of the situation. Is the doom permanent? How much food do I happen to have at the time? As a general rule I try to keep enough food on hand to live perfectly normal for 3 months. That's 3 meals a day and some treats, too. At two smallish meals meant to sustain life I could go 6 months at least. In a bug in situation I wouldn't do one meal a day. Two is way better, even if it means just dividing the one meal up into two and maybe throwing in an extra side like green beans or corn. My wife and I are sufficiently overweight that we could stand to go on a 600-800 cal per day diet with some vitamins thrown in. I've got probably 6 months worth of stuff between long term buckets I've bought and "regular food" for my family of five. |
calidruid
User ID: 41238644 United States 08/25/2013 06:19 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I also use the tiny fruit jars to vacuum dried seeds that I have saved. I also put a strip of good duct tape around these little jars to keep then from cracking together and maybe breaking. Quoting: waitn4end Seeds are going to be so needed...maybe. You have some great advice! Thank you for the share :-) "Big waves are nature's way of flipping out" - Corky Carroll, surfer dude “This is a fierce bad rabbit; look at her savage whiskers, and her claws and her turned-up tail.” ~Beatrix Potter |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 45750035 Uruguay 08/25/2013 06:20 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 45736939 United States 08/25/2013 06:23 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 45736939 United States 08/25/2013 06:24 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Any flour I buy goes into the freezer for a couple of weeks before I do anything else with it. ^^^^THIS^^^^ A good hard freeze will neutralize *most* bugs, including their eggs/larvae. Then, while still frozen, transfer to good 3 or 5 gallon pails and either 1. add the correct size oxygen absorber, or 2. displace the oxygen with carbon dioxide before sealing the bucket. I prefer CO2 - great thing about CO2 is that it is also kills damn near every insect known to infest food stores. Period Gamma-Seal lids are essential for the buckets which will hold your "working stock" in the kitchen, but I wouldn't necessarily spend the extra money to put them on all your long-term storage buckets. (but have some spareGammas laid in in case one of your working set gets damaged, you under-estimated your needs, and/or for barter) Everything I dehydrate goes into the freezer :D |
Garman906
User ID: 25820704 United States 08/25/2013 06:25 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I'm a big proponant of bread. Wheat lasts a long time, is cheap and is almost nutritionally complete. For a very long time bread represented half the diet or more of most people. Quoting: Unixlike One big issue is the energy required to bake it. It probably isn't best for some people. Although you can also sprout wheat and eat it as a cereal. You can also fry bread if you got a little oil. It takes less energy to fry bread than to bake it. My mom used to make biscuits in her cast iron skillet. They were delicious. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 45736939 United States 08/25/2013 06:25 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Bioreaper and everybody else on this thread.... Quoting: wait....what? if you haven't already you should go through Tinygreen's old thread! A LOT of great tips and recipes and etc. on canning and dehydrating. Thread: >>>>Sustainable Living PLUS Canning and Dehydrating Food<<<< :bbuds: Awesome thread! thanks! |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 45736939 United States 08/25/2013 06:26 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I'm a big proponant of bread. Wheat lasts a long time, is cheap and is almost nutritionally complete. For a very long time bread represented half the diet or more of most people. Quoting: Unixlike One big issue is the energy required to bake it. It probably isn't best for some people. Although you can also sprout wheat and eat it as a cereal. You can also fry bread if you got a little oil. It takes less energy to fry bread than to bake it. My mom used to make biscuits in her cast iron skillet. They were delicious. Yep. I still remember my great grandmother's skillet bread. Salt, flour and water! |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 36998602 United States 08/25/2013 06:33 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I'm a big proponant of bread. Wheat lasts a long time, is cheap and is almost nutritionally complete. For a very long time bread represented half the diet or more of most people. Quoting: Unixlike One big issue is the energy required to bake it. It probably isn't best for some people. Although you can also sprout wheat and eat it as a cereal. You can also fry bread if you got a little oil. It takes less energy to fry bread than to bake it. My mom used to make biscuits in her cast iron skillet. They were delicious. Yep. I still remember my great grandmother's skillet bread. Salt, flour and water! I store a lot of Pilot Bread. I vac-pac it with the absorbers. Each one is 100 calories. You can use your nut butters, canned cheeses and they are a great companion to hot soups. |
Garman906
User ID: 25820704 United States 08/25/2013 06:56 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I'm a big proponant of bread. Wheat lasts a long time, is cheap and is almost nutritionally complete. For a very long time bread represented half the diet or more of most people. Quoting: Unixlike One big issue is the energy required to bake it. It probably isn't best for some people. Although you can also sprout wheat and eat it as a cereal. You can also fry bread if you got a little oil. It takes less energy to fry bread than to bake it. My mom used to make biscuits in her cast iron skillet. They were delicious. Yep. I still remember my great grandmother's skillet bread. Salt, flour and water! I store a lot of Pilot Bread. I vac-pac it with the absorbers. Each one is 100 calories. You can use your nut butters, canned cheeses and they are a great companion to hot soups. Now I'm hungry. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 45736939 United States 08/25/2013 07:02 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Yep. I still remember my great grandmother's skillet bread. Salt, flour and water! I store a lot of Pilot Bread. I vac-pac it with the absorbers. Each one is 100 calories. You can use your nut butters, canned cheeses and they are a great companion to hot soups. Now I'm hungry. Me too! lol |
Unixlike
User ID: 45353097 United States 08/25/2013 07:07 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I'm a big proponant of bread. Wheat lasts a long time, is cheap and is almost nutritionally complete. For a very long time bread represented half the diet or more of most people. Quoting: Unixlike One big issue is the energy required to bake it. It probably isn't best for some people. Although you can also sprout wheat and eat it as a cereal. You can also fry bread if you got a little oil. It takes less energy to fry bread than to bake it. The one thing I have is plenty of flour and cornmeal. I started buying basic staples because I know that as long as you have the basic four, flour, sugar, salt and cornmeal, you will survive. You might be better off getting hard wheat. It will last 30 years. Flour will only last 10 years. I am not sure if this is the most updated list, but it gives you an idea of prices and how long items can be stored. If you can find a cannery locally, it is way cheaper to go in and can the items yourself. [link to providentliving.org] I heard a while back that some canneries closed their doors to the public, but I think you can still order much of it online. [link to store.lds.org] Those are just the basics. There are calculators that help figure how much and what items you need to store for a years worth of food for your family. They've been doing it for a long time. Adjust totals for more years. No I am not Mormon. lolol Also, you can do your own dehydrating. [link to dehydrate2store.com] She has a ton of videos. [link to www.youtube.com] I keep flour in as big a quantities as I can usein 6 months. Beyond that I have whole red wheat berries in long term storage. We bake a lot ofbread in this house and can easily go through 10 pounds a month. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 2248256 United States 08/25/2013 09:10 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | "Easy as pie." ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Pie, is an all-day extravaganza? And then you can never get the crust right. Or, there is too much liquid. Or, there is not enough liquid. I have an overwhelming number of "Pie" catasrophies? Nothing is easy as "pie". Even the number Pye is an tranandental number, with no end. "Easy as Pie" .... WTF? |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 45177824 United States 08/25/2013 09:21 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I'm wanting some input on food storage. When tshtf, do you plan on one meal a day, two meals a day, or just how you eat now with no change. Do you count calories, or just buy stuff randomly? Or do you actually have a meal plan that you set up and buy ingredients for? I've been buying a little here and there and I'm finding it difficult to plan out meals 6 months to a year ahead. Any ideas? Quoting: BioReaper Canned protein and fat will be key to survival, canned tuna, fish, chicken and meat. Peanut butter etc. There will be no wild game within about two weeks, it will be wiped out and very rare. you better count on 500 calories a day or less if you are lucky. Yes but after the die offs, won't the animal population come back rather quickly? It is not a die off you worry about, survivors will kill daily and kill fresh, tons of wasted meat. they will decimate all wildlife populations to extinction in many states. Migratory birds will be your only readily replenishable wildlife. And dont forget that those who head for the wildlife areas were already living there and know the areas, they will also kill anyone who encroaches. Your survival will depend on bugging in, hidden supplies and home security and neighborhood watch groups. Remember everyone will be after their own survival at any cost and the rogue government alphabet agencies will come to loot what you have as well. This alone tells you why the government is dividing the people and the races, the religions and families... |
SweetLilTT
User ID: 27789462 United States 08/25/2013 09:23 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | canning supplies to save anything fresh or out of a garden.. and LOTS of rock salt for any game killed. Quoting: Dace It helps if you're in the country... I also have an old small barn that can be converted to a smoking shed. I live in the country and I have buildings I can use for smoking, curing etc. I'm leery of canning though. Too much risk of getting sick from eating turned food. And in a shtf scenario, going to the doc is gonna be out of the question. Don't be leery of canning, just learn how to do it properly. ANYTHING can be canned- all vegetables, fruit, meat and dairy products. You can even can your own soups, chowders, stews and stroganoffs. The "trick" is having the proper equipment- good jars and lids and a pressure canner for all low acid foods, Done properly, most foods will last a MINIMUM of a year. SweetLilTT |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 45754113 United States 08/25/2013 09:23 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | canning supplies to save anything fresh or out of a garden.. and LOTS of rock salt for any game killed. Quoting: Dace It helps if you're in the country... I also have an old small barn that can be converted to a smoking shed. I live in the country and I have buildings I can use for smoking, curing etc. I'm leery of canning though. Too much risk of getting sick from eating turned food. And in a shtf scenario, going to the doc is gonna be out of the question. Funny you say that, I feel leery of home cured meat, etc. Canning I have under control and have eaten home canned most of my life! |