Author Topic: Long term food storage  (Read 1827 times)

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Offline Glock32

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Long term food storage
« on: October 13, 2014, 10:22:31 PM »
What recommendations do y'all have for long term food storage?  Suppliers?  This is one area I have, to my detriment, neglected in favor of other preparations.  I do have some sample packs I've acquired from various sources, but I remain dubious of their quality and shelf life.  I'm thinking for my purposes something like MREs would be best.

I'm now rather worried about the possibility of needing to self-quarantine for an indeterminate amount of time, as it seems our illustrious government doesn't have a hope in hell of actually containing the spread of ebola.
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Online Pandora

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Re: Long term food storage
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2014, 10:35:58 PM »
Can't say about MREs; no experience.  We have bought from http://beprepared.com/#default and what we've tried has been fine, mostly Mountain House goods.

We can PM if you want more info.
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Offline Glock32

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Re: Long term food storage
« Reply #2 on: October 13, 2014, 10:54:29 PM »
Thanks for the link.  I ordered the "best seller" kit of Mountain House packages, just to get an idea of which ones I want to buy in larger quantity.  I do have some freeze dried stuff put away, I was just not wild about what I have tried so far.  Not just the funky taste, but the caloric content was highly optimistic to count as a meal for an adult.  This was the stuff from My Patriot Supply.

I've heard good stuff about Mountain House.  People say they have the best taste of any long term food.
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Offline trapeze

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Re: Long term food storage
« Reply #3 on: October 13, 2014, 11:45:24 PM »
My understanding is that MREs do not hold up for a terribly long time. Freeze dried is supposed to have the longest shelf life (as compared to "dehydrated").

My own personal food collection is a mixture of everyday canned stuff that I rotate into the kitchen. Lots of canned vegetables, meat, soups, etc. Lots of pasta, rice, potato flakes, powdered milk, sugar, flour. I have been putting certain items into washed 2-liter bottles. Not a small amount of work goes into this activity. Most fun is collecting high end distilled liquors and wines...I figure that some day I will really enjoy consuming those. Or someone will.

But, yeah, I have quite a bit of freeze dried material on hand. Mostly in the canisters but lately I have taken to grabbing a few of the meals in envelopes that can be found in Walmart's sporting goods area. The problem is that all of that stuff is pricey. I find it hard to shell out several hundred bucks at a time for it.
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Offline Libertas

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Re: Long term food storage
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2014, 06:41:39 AM »
Yeah we stocked up mostly with the Emergency Essentials stuff too, lot of the big pails and boxes of smaller tubs of powdered this and that, we whipped up some eggs and other stuff to try out, it isn't bad and I think nutrition wise they offer as much as anything.  We store that at our BOL and control the humidity to extend the viability as much as we can, at some point we'll have to start drawing on it and replenish with new stocks, but are a ways away from having to do that, much of this stuff if stored properly will last a long time.

And just to have some simple crap to toss into the trunk I get a box of these energy bars, they last about 5 years and are pretty cheap, cycle in a new batch every 4-5 years and you have sustenance in a pinch if caught away from home or BOL.
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Offline AmericanPatriot

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Re: Long term food storage
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2014, 09:01:55 AM »
I have rabbits and chickens and lots of seeds.
Oh, also Ewell Gibbons foraging book
 ;D

I plan to provide my own long term food solution

Offline Alphabet Soup

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Re: Long term food storage
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2014, 08:44:41 PM »
Quote
Not just the funky taste....

Silly, that's what Tabasco is for!

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Re: Long term food storage
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2014, 09:18:33 PM »
Quote
Not just the funky taste....

Silly, that's what Tabasco is for!

... and ketchup and canned gravy and soy sauce.  The cream of ______ soups are good as well; I like cream of chicken on rice.

"Be Prepared" sells a particular brand of potato buds in mylar bags.  They're pretty good; drier or creamer made to taste w/water and/or canned evaporated milk.
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Online Pandora

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Re: Long term food storage
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2014, 09:19:29 PM »
I have rabbits and chickens and lots of seeds.
Oh, also Ewell Gibbons foraging book
 ;D

I plan to provide my own long term food solution

That's the best plan.  The food storage is to get one over the hump until harvest and such.
"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." - Mark Twain

"Let us assume for the moment everything you say about me is true. That just makes your problem bigger, doesn't it?"

Offline AmericanPatriot

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Re: Long term food storage
« Reply #9 on: October 14, 2014, 11:07:36 PM »
The rabbits are new to me and not ready to breed.

I read somewhere that rabbit is the best protein investment for your buck. I mean dollar.
My buck is starting to figure things out.

My numbers may be off but something like one breeding pair will make up to 72 rabbits a year.

Offline AlanS

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Re: Long term food storage
« Reply #10 on: October 15, 2014, 05:51:28 AM »
The wife started our first garden this year with plants in 5 gallon buckets. Cucumbers, tomatoes, Cayenne, and Jalapenos.

We never got a cuc and only a couple tomatoes. The plants didn't do squat. From everyone I talked to, it was a bad season for both.

The peppers REALLY took off, though. ::whoohoo::
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Offline Libertas

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Re: Long term food storage
« Reply #11 on: October 15, 2014, 07:16:19 AM »
With all the rain and cold our season got off to a crappy start...tomatoes were OK, spuds not as good as last year but we harvested some, carrots mostly sucked (stunted, few), corn sucked completely, mellons died of neglect (hey, I can't do EVERYTHING!), strawberries were only OK, most everything else failed...but the peppers were really strong - red, green & cayenne.  It was a weird season.

Gotta get my BIL going on the rabbit thing, he's our resident expert on those critters.
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