Topic: Food Storage Photos

[trapeze]

Yeah, I read that article this afternoon. Almost stopped at the liquor store on the way home to buy another bottle for storage but I just didn't have the time. Next week, I suppose. At some point I am going to have to develop a taste for liquor, I suppose...can't just let the stuff pile up without enjoying it. I've always been a beer drinker and that stuff doesn't have any shelf life at all. So...wine and liquor are the ticket.

Received my order of Mountain House this week and it was six #10 cans of freeze dried ground beef. I think that June's long term storage purchase is going to be somewhat different, though. I think that instead of freeze dried meat I am going to opt for pre-cooked canned stuff from Survival Cave. It looks tastier and it is supposed to last for fifteen or thirty years. I am going to budget for about $200 per month for about four to six months worth of purchases.

I am also looking at a solar oven so that I will be able to cook without any fuel at all. We have a staggering number of sunny days here. It's almost like Phoenix in that regard so a solar oven makes a lot of sense. I am looking at this one. Food and water storage have to come first, though, so it may be a while before I get one.

Short term food storage is coming along nicely. I am guessing that I probably added about $400 worth of short term food to the storage room in May. Maybe more but certainly not less than that. I am going to have to add some more shelves soon to keep things organized properly. If I can keep up the purchasing pace I think that I will (maybe) have a year's worth of food put away by the end of the year. I hope. I was thinking six month's worth before but now I'm aiming for a longer term.

Sure wish I had more ammo put away, though.

I don't know when things are going to go bad but I'm pretty much convinced now that they will.

[Libertas]

Liquor will be a good barter item, general anesthesia and disinfectant.  Vodka probably makes the most sense, or a nice clear moonshine.

 

We've got some solar ovens stashed away, not sure of the manufacturer, might have to check on that.  Good back up item and barter item too.

[John Florida]

  Well I wasn't going to admit to this screw up but I always bring back my favorite brands of canned maters and as ususal I went out and bought 5 cases of maters only to find out that my father had done the same for me so I now have in total about 150 cans in the house and the ones I bought are dated 2015.

 The good part is that I didn't pay over 1.00 a can.

[Libertas]

Heh. I guess you get to mix up a lot of sauce!

[John Florida]

Heh. I guess you get to mix up a lot of sauce!

 Hell yes!!But they get used in all kinds of soups and stews,pot roasts,short ribs and all kinds of stuff

[Libertas]

Heh. I guess you get to mix up a lot of sauce!

 Hell yes!!But they get used in all kinds of soups and stews,pot roasts,short ribs and all kinds of stuff

Nummy! 

[trapeze]

I think that I am probably going to turn this thread into my personal prepper blog so the thread title may change soon.

Yesterday I ordered a British Berkefeld water filter. Should have it in a couple of days and then I can strike that off my list. That thing is supposed to be able to filter a gallon per hour via gravity so that is way more than my family needs. Plus it is also supposed to be completely renewable (i.e. no spare parts needed) so there is no foreseeable upper limit on gallons produced. Knowing me (and I do), though, I will probably purchase a spare set of ceramic filter cartridges for it anyway. Just in case.

Still working on water storage, though. If we had more rain here I could work on water collection but it doesn't seem to be worth the effort at this point. In the winter there is a virtually inexhaustible supply of snow in all directions so I am pretty much covered for about five months, maybe six, out of the year. I have a stream that is active for one to two months in the spring (longer when there is rain) that is downhill about a third of a mile off. There is also a lake that is within a mile. Long way to walk for water but it's better than nothing. So, my plan is to build up enough water storage to make it through those times of the year when there is no rain and snow. If I can't get enough stored indoors then I will probably resort to digging a big hole for a cistern in the back yard. I'm not crazy about that idea, though.

I am getting enough food stock into my storeroom now that I think I will have to build more shelves. Maybe this weekend. I need more shelves because as the existing shelves fill it becomes more difficult to organize and take a proper inventory. I haven't been keeping a record of how much I have spent on food stocks but it has to be approaching $1.5K...probably more than that when you figure in the wine and liquor.

Should have enough bottled propane on hand to cook for a year which is okay. Not great but okay. The wood burning stove would become the primary heat source in the winter and it could be used to cook on during those months. That said, I am also looking at fabricating my own solar oven. We have a staggering number of sunny days in south central Colorado and a solar oven should be able to do very well under these conditions. I found a pretty good blog on how to construct one. I would need to obtain a square of tempered glass and some sort of super reflective material but I should be able to lay my hands on most every other component without too much trouble. I will probably look around on the web for more DIY pages and try and consolidate the best ideas and designs into my own design. The insulation looks to be a bit of a challenge. I know that I could use fiberglass which has the benefits of being cheap and fireproof but I am wondering if there is something else that would work better and increase the efficiency (less heat loss means faster cooking). One thing I will do for certain is start with the bakeware and create the oven around those pieces. Doesn't make sense to me to build the oven first and then try and find stuff that would fit into it. The other design challenge is also size related and that is whether the thing should be portable or semi permanent. Perhaps I should try to make one each way so that a portable one could go on the road in the event of a necessary evacuation.

So...where do I stand with my preparations?

First a rating system. Bad means that I haven't done a thing yet. Fair means that I have started but I am not close to goal. Good means I am close to goal. Excellent means that I am at or past my goal and approaching barter status.

Guns: Fair to good
Ammunition: Fair to good
Short term food: Fair
Mid term food: Fair
Long term food: Fair to good (and I say that only because where I live the food literally walks past the house)
Cooking equipment/supplies: Fair
Water storage: Fair
Water filtration: Excellent
Shelter (includes winter heat): Excellent
Transportation: Fair to good
Communication: Fair
Power generation: Bad
Medical/First Aid: Fair
Library: Fair to good
Tools: Good
Misc. Supplies: Fair to Good
Personal knowledge/skills/abilities: Good (way better than average, anyway...in some areas at or near barter status)

Not a comprehensive list but it's a start and I will probably add stuff to it.

Right now the weakest area is definitely power generation. I have almost none at all. I could use the vehicle batteries to charge personal electronics and that is about it. So I'm thinking that I will probably start out with a cheap and portable solar cell to deal with charging the iPhone and maybe even the MacBook battery. After that I will need to work on a more powerful and long term solar power solution. The trick there would be to invest in something that isn't junk. China is supposed to be dumping a lot of cheap and largely defective solar cells on the market and what with solar companies failing and going out of business it's not likely that I would be able to get a refund if I ended up with a non-functioning cell or cells. Gotta put more thought into that one.

Solar hot water generation is also something I am thinking about. It would work well here for the same reason noted above re the solar oven. The problem then goes back to mass water storage (and probably how to pump it which goes back to power generation). There isn't much point in having the capability to generate hot water (for bathing, anyway) if there is no water or not enough water to run through the system. Gotta think about it some more.

Getting back to the thread title and subject: I will post some more pictures of the food storage area before and after I build new shelves.

[Weisshaupt]

Still working on water storage, though.

Why not a well? If the State won't permit one, why not move to a nearby  property that already has one? Yes I understand why that might not be desirable.  What is even less desirable  is trekking through he woods with 5 gallon containers in both hands when people might be wanting to shoot you.

A lot of Solar Hot Water DIY  designs are here

Long term food: Fair to good (and I say that only because where I live the food literally walks past the house)

It won't for long.  Game will become very scarce. Most places in Colorado cannot provide food for the number of people who live there, and they will deplete the game populations before they die.  Longer, longer term  game might become a more  reliable source. I would look at Rabbits and or Chickens to maintain a source of meat during the time in between . 

After that I will need to work on a more powerful and long term solar power solution. The trick there would be to invest in something that isn't junk. China is supposed to be dumping a lot of cheap and largely defective solar cells on the market and what with solar companies failing and going out of business it's not likely that I would be able to get a refund if I ended up with a non-functioning cell or cells. Gotta put more thought into that one.

So far the Solarworld panels I purchased have been performing wonderfully. They are American made and they qualify for the Tax credit ( if your taxes are high enough, Helicopter Ban  pays for 1/3 of the panel)   For most houses you will need at least 4000 Watts of panel generating capacity, but you can also start smaller and add as you are able.

The Solarworld  270s ( I have 240s)  are less than $400 a piece ( I paid $600)   - so less than $1.50- a watt.   The inverters have gone up..
A 8000 watt Radian inverter  runs around $4300  but a prewired system with breakers, charge controllers etc  etc runs around $8800 -- I like the Radian because its high capacity system that you can build forever on, but its a chunk of change to throw down  and you still have batteries to buy. The older model  smaller systems (3200 watt continuous)    prewired are in that $4300 range.  I have a dual inverter system- for 6400 watts continuous and  cost on that is up $1000 - $7500.   These are all grid-interactive systems - so in normal operation you sell power to the grid, and use it at night, and only run on batteries when no utility power is available. So a "Small" system  consisting of Deep Cycle marine batteries (say 100 AMP hr - for 4.8 kw-hrs of backup ) a 3200 Watt prewired system and a string of 3 panels for  800 watts of generating power ( about 4 kw-hrs a day in Colorado)  would run around $5800 - $6000.

If you do Battery only (magnum) , or grid only (Fronius)  things are slightly cheaper. But PV is just expensive, even with the government paying 1/3 of the cost.

[trapeze]

I am pretty sure that I can't do a well due to HOA rules or something. I will have to check into it. But even if I did put one in (not cheap at about $9 a foot just for the hole) it still has to have power to operate it. So the power thing would have to come first.

As far as walking for water goes, I am not all that concerned about it. The population is not too dense here and I could do it under cover of darkness if I had to. A lot of homes here are unoccupied. They are vacation homes, retirement homes, rental properties, time share properties, etc. I think that there may be a dozen homes on my street but only four or five of them are occupied on a regular basis.

There are actually several lakes in the area so it's not like there is competition for using them or a need to pick one. But that gets back to the water storage issue. I think that if I can put away something like 300 to 400 gallons I will be able to survive those times when there is nothing coming out of the sky or lying around on the ground. I mean, there is just no way that I drink a gallon a day so if I calculated three gallons/day for three people we would be able to make it on 300 gallons for three months or so. And that's being pretty generous with the theoretical consumption.

Solar I will get to someday. Water and food come first. When I have enough of both put away then I can get to work on power and other issues.