Category Archives: Food Storage
Prep on the Cheap
To the beginning prepper with limited resources, the task of gathering supplies and stockpiling food seems daunting, and nearly impossible when it is difficult enough to have the money to pay bills and still have enough food to last until next payday. Having 3 days, let alone 3 weeks or months’ worth of food and supplies set aside seems like a pipe dream. However, with a bit of common sense, and careful budgeting, it is possible to plan for tomorrow’s meals as well as when the s**t hits the fan.
1. Incremental Prepping
Don’t feel as if you have to buy 5 year’s worth of food at one time. Concentrate on the staples first, such as rice, dried beans, oats, a gallon of water or two, etc. which have a very long shelf life, and can be bought fairly cheaply. Plan for the larger budget items one at a time, such as a hand crank radio, or a weapon. Even $5 a payday, though it seems small, can be saved for the larger items, which later on can at the very least defray the cost when you have more money at hand (such as when you receive your tax return).
2. Store what you eat – Sort of
In an earlier post, I talked about the importance of adapting your lifestyle now to be fit to survive later, and that storing things like Twinkies will only keep you fat and unhealthy for a longer period of time than the other survivors. HOWEVER, there is no point in stocking up on 5 years of hominy and anchovies if those are things you will not eat now. Adaptation is the key to survival, but so is common sense. It may be, and probably will be, necessary to eat a lot of beans and rice in a survival situation. In the meantime, why not come up with some favorite recipes which can incorporate them now?
3. One for now, one for later
When you are purchasing canned or dry goods or other items that will keep for long periods of time, or indefinitely, buy one more, just one, to set aside. It’s not necessary to buy a whole cartful, just one at a time will slowly but surely build your stockpile without breaking the bank.
4. Seize the deals
While buying in bulk seems to be the complete opposite of what I have been just saying, there are times when you have to take advantage of a really good deal. For instance, my wife and I were at the store last week and she happened to notice that fresh peaches were on sale for .25 a pound. We knew we would not see a deal like that again for a while, or possibly ever. So, even though money is EXTREMELY tight, we bought $5.00 worth. Since we are just getting started prepping, we do not currently have the means to can the peaches, so we did the next best thing in our situation, and we cut up and froze them. While they may not make it to the apocalypse, it will provide us with fresh fruit for some time to come. And for many of us, a SHTF situation does not necessarily involve the collapse of society. It may be the loss of a job, or an injury, or the car breaking down which pushes us and our families to the brink. And in times like those, bulk peaches can help a lot.
5. Don’t fall for the Dollar trap
It’s easy, we’ve all done it. “But it’s only a buck! What a deal!” Marketers count on us to have that reaction. They have engineered ever-decreasing sized bottles of soda, packets of pre-seasoned rice mixes, and other items boldly emblazoned with the one-dollar sticker just to have us waste our precious hard-earned money on scraps strategically placed at eye level or near the checkstands for our temptation. As preppers we think – “Wow – at a buck, I could get a bunch of these for storage! I could get 20 of them and fill a food-grade bucket!”
Stop right there, put down the rice-a-roni, and step away from the shopping cart. Now look carefully at the shelf tag, right on the corner or side of the price tag where it tells the cost per ounce. For .59 cents more, you can get a 2 lb bag of rice which will last far longer than that 8oz box of instant crap. You’re welcome.
Water Treatment: Ensuring That Your Water Is Safe
From RedCross.org
In addition to having a bad odor and taste, water from questionable sources may be contaminated by a variety of microorganisms, including bacteria and parasites that cause diseases such as dysentery, cholera, typhoid and hepatitis. All water of uncertain purity should be treated before use.
To treat water for consumption and/or hygiene, follow these steps:
- Filter the water using a piece of cloth or coffee filter to remove solid particles.
- Bring it to a rolling boil for about one full minute.
- Let it cool at least 30 minutes. Water must be cool or the chlorine treatment described below will be useless.
- Add 16 drops of liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of water, or 8 drops per 2-liter bottle of water. Stir to mix. Sodium hypochlorite of the concentration of 5.25% to 6% should be the only active ingredient in the bleach. There should not be any added soap or fragrances. A major bleach manufacturer has also added Sodium Hydroxide as an active ingredient, which they state does not pose a health risk for water treatment.
- Let stand 30 minutes.
- If it smells of chlorine. You can use it. If it does not smell of chlorine, add 16 more drops of chlorine bleach per gallon of water (or 8 drops per 2-liter bottle of water), let stand 30 minutes, and smell it again. If it smells of chlorine, you can use it. If it does not smell of chlorine, discard it and find another source of water.
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Source: http://www.redcross.org/prepare/disaster/water-safety/water-treatment
SHTF Water Sources
SHTF Water Sources – http://uscrow.org
“Emergency SHTF water sources are useful to urban dwellers who’ve bugged in, depleting their water reserves. The electricity is off, this means the pumps are no longer working and water’s nowhere to be found. Don’t sweat it; there are ways to get the water you need…”
Read More: http://uscrow.org/2013/02/15/shtf-water-sources/
Survival Water Storage
By Ken (MSB) | From ModernSurvivalBlog.com | On Saturday, February 16th, 2013
Emergency water storage should be a survival preparedness priority BEFORE you think about storing food.
We cannot survive without water for more than a few days, and rarely as long as one week.
The human body is approximately 60 percent water by weight. Not only do we get our water from what we drink but also from the foods that we eat and the way that we prepare them.
We can survive much longer without food than water. 3 weeks is an often referred number when asked this question, or as long as 6 to 8 weeks with attributing favorable factors such as remaining hydrated with water, climate, etc.
Because we will not survive a week without it, this is why it is so important to build a water storage supply first, BEFORE you think about food storage.
Survival Storage of Safe Drinking Water
A minimum storage recommendation is one gallon of water per person, per day. That’s 30 gallons for two weeks supplying two people. This may or may not be an adequate storage reserve depending on your proximity to a non-municipal fresh water source. If you live near a pond, spring, river or lake, you could haul water in a 5-gallon bucket on a wagon, and then filter and/or boil it for drinking or add to your reserves.
There are specific designed containers that are safe for drinking water storage, available in all sorts and sizes. An important consideration is the fact that water is heavy, and weighs about 8 pounds per gallon. You’re going to have trouble handling and moving containers that are exceeding 5-gallons (40 pounds).
An example of one solution to water storage is the use of ordinary 5-gallon buckets, but with one caveat… they should be ‘food grade’.
This five gallon food grade bucket, could be used with a convenient Gamma seal lid that screws on and off easily. The overall cost of this solution may be less than purchasing a specific water storage container, heavy duty enough to be adequate for long term storage.
When looking for a food grade bucket, look for a label (usually on the bottom) that reads HDPE #2.
Important: All food grade buckets are made of HDPE #2 (high density polyethylene) but not all HDPE #2 buckets are food grade. Buckets that are not food grade will slowly out-gas and leach into the container, to whatever is in the container.
HDPE #2 buckets that are not food grade will have been manufactured with a non-food-grade “mold release agent”.
A mold release agent is what is used to help get the newly shaped plastic off of the hard mold that it was shaped from during the manufacturing process. Without the release agent, during the manufacturing process the plastic will stick to the mold. Some mold release agents enable much faster production than others, but may be toxic to your health if later used with food and the like.
If the bucket is marked specifically as food grade or USDA approved (or FDA or NSF approved), then it is food grade. Otherwise contact the supplier or manufacturer to confirm.
How to store water for an emergency
First, be sure the storage container is CLEAN. Disinfect it if necessary by using a solution of 1 tablespoon of regular bleach added to one gallon of water. Clean and dump out the excess.
If filling the container with tap water, it will typically contain about 1 ppm (parts per million) of chlorine, which technically is adequate to ensure that bacteria germs and other organisms have been neutralized.
You can sample the chlorine level in your water by using a swimming pool chlorine test kit.
An ideal chlorine level for water storage is from 1 to 3 ppm. Without it, the water will be at risk to develop or grow bacteria or other unhealthy organisms.
My experience to boost 5 gallons of tap water containing 1 ppm chlorine to 3 ppm was to add 3 one-eighth teaspoons of regular household bleach (no additives, 5 or 6% sodium hypochlorite). One-eighth teaspoon is equivalent to 16 drops in this case.
Start by adding one-eighth teaspoon of bleach to the five gallon bucket of storage water, mix (stir), then measure the chlorine level (with a chlorine test kit). Add more as necessary to achieve your desired level (2 to 3 ppm). Once you discover the total quantity needed, the rest is simple. Just add that same quantity to all subsequent buckets.
5 gallon buckets can be conveniently stacked. Keep them in a darkened environment, away from direct sunlight and heat, so as to prevent growth of algae, etc.
Chlorine will breakdown over time (especially if exposed to sunlight), but so long as you started with purified water in a sealed container stored properly, it should be in good shape for 6 months to a year. Not that it will go ‘bad’, but it is advisable to renew and replace your water storage every six months to a year.
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This article was originally posted at http://modernsurvivalblog.com/health/survival-water-storage/
“So God Made A Farmer”
So God Made a Farmer was a speech given by the radio broadcaster Paul Harvey at a 1978 Future Farmers of America (FFA) convention. The speech was used in a commercial by Dodge Ram during Super Bowl XLVII.
The Prepper’s Kitchen: Choosing A Hand Grain Mill
By Ken (MSB) | From ModernSurvivalBlog.com | On Sunday, January 6th, 2013
The Country Living Hand Grain Mill made entirely in the USA.
How do I choose which hand grain mill to buy?
There are quite a range of prices for various hand grain mills, and it may seem difficult to decide which one to choose, but you can narrow your choice by considering two basic questions…
1. Do you intend to grind/mill into flour for breads (versus only for courser grinds)?
2. Do you intend to use it frequently?
If you will be milling wheat to make flour for bread, you will want to be sure that the mill will grind the wheat berries into fine enough flour. Many cheaper models apparently do not, although many claim that they do. Just read the reviews of the product in consideration and you will usually get to the truth.
If you will be using the mill frequently, then it will be important to choose quality construction that will hold up to the test of usage and time. Many of the cheap mills have reviews that indicate that the unit falls apart or fails in one way or another after a relatively short time.
The phrase, ‘you get what you pay for’, is usually true enough. Unfortunately it often requires a higher than expected amount of money to purchase a product that is at least ‘good’, and even more money for a product considered to be ‘excellent’.
It seems that nearly every grain mill priced under $50 has generally poor reviews. This hand mill however rated fairly well…
Victorio Hand Grain Mill, originally named the ‘Back to Basics 555′ (now called the Victorio Hand Mill), has fairly good reviews for it’s price range (~ $50). This might be a ‘good enough’ mill for the occasional user who isn’t too concerned that the flour may not grind as fine as more expensive mills or may not hold up as well under heavy usage.
This hand mill is apparently a quality mid-range choice…
Wonder Junior Deluxe Hand Grain / Flour Mill, which may be the best mix of value for quality and price. This hand mill comes with stone heads and stainless steel burr heads to accommodate different conditions, and will apparently grind fine flour (and everything else) without issue. It’s pricey though (~ $200), but will no doubt hold up to more heavy use.
The top-of-the-line hand grain mill on the market may be this one…
Country Living Hand Grain Mill, which will last generations and is built with the highest quality. It is very pricey (~ $400), but it may be the best, while you get what you pay for…
For those who are also interested in an electric grain mill, we have been using this one for years and have been very happy with it.
Browse around and read reviews. This will hone your choice. Keeping a hand grain mill is for the serious prepper who is preparing for the possibility of living without electricity for a time. Grinding / milling your own wheat is fairly hard work and it takes awhile to process the berries into flour. However the results will be unbelievably delicious and healthy. Don’t forget to stock up on wheat berries too!
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This article was originally posted at http://modernsurvivalblog.com/survival-kitchen/choosing-a-hand-grain-mill/
How to Use the Jar Attachment for a Vacuum Sealer
By DesertSafire | From Youtube.com
This video explains how to prolong the life of your dehydrated foods by vacuum sealing them in standard canning jars.
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“Cookin’ With Home Storage” Updated 2010
From http://ShelfRelianceOH.com | By Dawn M.
Shelf Reliance has your favorite cookbooks available! “Cookin’ With Home Storage” has been around and well loved since 1991. Shelf Reliance has the updated 2010 version! In this treasure trove of preparedness info, you will learn how much food to store, how to prepare family friendly menus with recipes as well as favorites from the pioneers. You will also find great insight into home remedies and household cleaners as well as baby food and much more.
Click the links below to order your copies today! Order extras to replace your old, worn out copies and give some as gifts.
The author, Peggy Layton has a bachelors of Science degree in Home Economics Education with a minor in Food Science and Nutrition from Brigham Young University.
Food Storage 101 Where do I Begin?
The original article is available from: http://www.dawnofdaycreations.com/thrive/?p=256
Top 10 Hair-Pulling, Eye Rolling Prepper Mistakes #8
The RS Top 10!
This is one installment of a ten-part series.
#8 Hair-Pulling, Eye Rolling Prepper Mistake: Storing massive amounts of grains but forgetting to also purchase a grinder.
There are varying suggestions available on the ‘net for how much you should store in terms of grains. For this article, we will look to the food storage gurus of old. According to the LDS food storage calculator, a family of five should store approximately 675 pounds of wheat a year. That does not include flour, oats, cornmeal, rice, or pasta.
Why would you want to store wheat in the first place? Why not just many, many, MANY pounds of flour? Storing flour is convenient, cheap, and easy. (At the risk of being a little sexist, we’ll say just like many men would want their first date to be.) Storing mass quantities of flour presents a few challenges. The most important of which is shelf life. The shelf life of commercially packaged long term storage flour is only about eight years with regular packaging being significantly shorter, at only about eight months if tightly wrapped in the cabinet. There are several recipes for making use of actual wheat berries. This is a great way to introduce more nutrients into your life, as the best part of wheat is stored in the hull. There is always a concern of infestation or the possibility of mice of other rodents finding your stash. Wheat, on the other hand is more naturally repellant to infestation as well as having an extremely long shelf life, up to thirty years if commercially packaged with an oxygen absorber. Wheat is reported to have been found in the pyramids and was actually able to be sprouted after its discovery in recent times.
We will be upfront with you and say that grinding wheat is a lot of work when done manually with a non-electric grinder. You can purchase an electric grinder at greater expense, providing that you have a way to power your gadget sans electricity in a post apocalyptic scenario. Electric mills tend to be significantly larger in price and physical size than a manual type. This can create a quandary for those who have limited amounts of storage space with a smaller budget. It may be more difficult to achieve a finer grind with a manual grinder, but this can be accomplished by grinding the product twice.
Learning to grind your own wheat may require a little practice to get from wheat berries to a finished loaf of bread. But we all know that preparedness types acquire new “hobbies” like a mangy old dog gets fleas. You can make it a family affair while everyone gets a turn on the grinder crank. Pounding wheat between rocks isn’t recommended, as the problem with shrapnel from stones is another story for another day. The moral of the story: Don’t forget to buy a wheat grinder!
Storage Tip: Buckets
Radical Survivalism’s RSOPerator discusses utilizing buckets to help organize your preparedness items. He also provides tips on how to acquire free food grade buckets for your storage needs.
