SHTF food

stickman61

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What are you guys doing for a food stash? I have a fair amount of canned soups, fruits and veggies but I'm considering Thrive freeze dried foods. They're supposed to be gluten and gmo free so they seem like what I'm after.
I don't know much about this so I'd rather buy a 3 month supply rather than picking and choosing.
What think ye?
 
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Wise has a good shelf life but am told mountain house tastes better. MREs are good short term item.

I got a deal a couple of years ago on some wise brand package and bought it. I figure if shtf then taste won’t matter as much. I have filter systems to be able to clean local water supplies.
 
Some have suggested long pig. Just remember not to accept invites to a bbq if SHTF. Book of Eli. "Let me make you a meat sandwich."

Stock some bbq sauce as it may come in handy. See Fried Green Tomatoes. "Secret is in the sauce."

Some may perfer dog. Some like cats.

In a starvation situation you have to get past what it is for what value it gives. Some POW's in Japanese camps refused to eat the rats that infested their camp. Subsequently they died of starvation.



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I have beans, rice, tons of canned goods(watch date and rotate out) and enough MRES to last 3 people a year. I have loads of powdered Gatorade mix. Water filters. And seeds. I might fail miserably but it’ll take me about 2 years to do so if i live that long
 
What are you guys doing for a food stash? I have a fair amount of canned soups, fruits and veggies but I'm considering Thrive freeze dried foods. They're supposed to be gluten and gmo free so they seem like what I'm after.
I don't know much about this so I'd rather buy a 3 month supply rather than picking and choosing.
What think ye?

I believe the further you are from a grocery store the better the MRE tastes.
 
"What are you guys doing for a food stash?"
3 things:
1. wife says "i want to be miserable while eating Oreos"...so we stash Oreos. they don't go bad within 2 years, and she enjoys rotating stock.
2. from personal experience: packaged gravy mixes make everything taste better. they're good enough by themselves, and store for years.
3. we really like canned chicken and tuna. total can count? 150? it's based on the grocery store sales.

bottom line: buy a lot what you like when there's a sale.
 
Like to have a mix- MREs, Dry Goods( Beans/Rice), Can Goods, and LTS (WISE/ Auguson Farms).
 
I have a mixture of freezer dried, canned and food stored in mylar bags. The mylar bags are then stored in 5 gallon buckets. Cheaper foods, like rice, can be used to add weight and bulk to freeze dried entrees. Also don't forget items like salt, pepper, sugar, etc.

@turkeydance mentioned gravy. Not a bad idea to store something to make all the rice and beans taste better. Gravy, seasoning packets, and cans of soup can help you do that.
 
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There are options cheaper than Thrive. Check out LDS Food storage, And Honeyville.
LDS has a warehouse in Greensboro where you can pick up, but shipping is only $4.
Also Wally World's Augason Farms.
 
Thrive is real good as far as taste is concerned.
A lot of the brands obviously are going to be more expensive and most likely a better quality but it boils down to your budget.
I have found it's easy to allocate 10-20$ a week for long term food plans than buy it all at one time.

That being said I have mountain house and wise along with some canned goods that we keep in rotation.
It's always good to have some chickens and goats too.
 
Go to Lowe's and buy you some of the "BPA free" Food grade buckets and the tamper proof lid. Total cost is $6-$8.

I feel like I could make "survival" or emergency buckets that will have a 10-15 year shelf life myself for much cheaper.

Fill that bucket with as much dry goods in bags as you can. Bags pack better in a bucket than boxes. Some things come in a box that are bagged on the inside. I'd take those out of the box and put the inner bagged item in the bucket. Cut the directions etc off of the box, and slide in in the bucket down beside the wall. Rice, beans, pasta, grits, flour, cornmeal, sugar, tea, dry mixes of whatever kind you like. Salt, pepper, other spices etc. Throw in a couple books/boxes of matches inside a ziplock bag.

Some recommend freezing all of your flour, etc to kill the weavels or eggs that may be in them. I found that it makes the stuff cake and lump after being frozen due to condensation when it thaws. Maybe I did the process improperly, but then I began to worry about mold. I think a couple of seconds in the microwave would kill any unwanted life, but I have not researched that. Next time I just vacuum sealed each item to at least contain any critters. Not found any yet though. A good vacuum sealer is invaluable.

Pick things that you know your family will eat. Knorr pasta packs, instant potatoes, instant grits, oatmeal, lipton dry soup mixes, dry milk, etc. The key All of those things are easy to store, and you can get a pile of things in a 5 gallon bucket. When it is packed as tight as you want, throw a desiccant packet, and a O2 Absorber in the bucket and seal the lid. List the contents on the outside and the date sealed

The idea is that the stuff in the bucket is all dry and shelf stable to begin with. It should help extend other provisions that have also been stored. Every one likes gravy. Rice goes a long way, and beans do too. We garden and home can lots of vegetables. I hunt and we can deer meat. Even chicken, pork, and beef on occasion. Store bought canned meats and vegetables tend to store well. Especially tuna, salmon, canned ham, spam/treat meat, etc. Check the "best by date" on cans. Pick the cans with he longest best by date. Those dates are not accurate representations of how long the food will last, but they are good indicators of what the manufacturer thinks it will last. Many will be good 2-3-4 times as long as the date, and then some. A few comfort items thrown in like powdered drink mixes, tea, jello, etc would make a nice treat.

I guess you could put a few cans of meat items in the buckets, but be aware that in a sealed bucket you will not be able to examine the cans for rust or swelling. Put the cans in the bottom and put each one in its own sealed bag to contain any potential failure.

You should be able to put 25-35 pounds of dry goods in a bucket. Probably for less than $50 if you're a good shopper. I am also pretty confident that they will last at least 10 years when stored in a cool dry location.

When the contents are used you can then use the bucket for water transport or whatever.

I make no guarantees expressed or implied that this will work for you, or me for that matter, but at least I feel like it's an economical proactive way to put a stash back. Make a bucket every 2-3 months, and then after 5 years start using the oldest buckets for regular cooking, refill and reseal. If the need ever arises that you have to leave, then you'll at least have portable sources of food that is water, dirt, vermin proof. It's not going to be "instantly" useable like an MRE and will generally require cooking, but then again at least it's something.

You can also buy those buckets and get a screw on sealable lid. Use that to store generic first aid stuff. Pick the generic store brand items up. Band aids, ace bandages, gauze, tape, finger nail clippers, etc. Dry tablet over the counter pain, cold, nausea, etc meds. I'd try to stay away from any liquid stuff. Tampons, extra tooth brushes, or anything you might think would be useful if you couldn't get to town for a week or two.
Get a few extra dollars worth each trip to Walmart and then toss into the bucket. I've had to use stuff out of mine several times when we ran out in the house.

Just an idea/suggestion
 
Bunch of cans goods here,,, store brand ravioli, spaghetti, etc have long shelf, high in fat and
Calories. If you shop aldi you can usually get them for under .70 a can. I also buy a lot of canned meat. I try to buy stuff that doesn't need water to prepare. Too each his own though
 
There's a hog farm and a turkey farm about a mile away, and a corn field out back... Does that count?

My kids don't even know how to roll down a window in a car if there's a crank. They're pretty much screwed.
 
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Unarmed neighbors.

When we were looking for mountain property we found a place that was started by some Nashville music producer or something that was marketed like a nice hippee commune. Every lot had space for a garden and there was even a community organic garden area or some such thing. I told my wife we should build there because there would be a bunch of unarmed neighbors with lots of food. :p
 
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We have beans, rice, canned veggies, canned tuna and chicken, ramen, cup o soup, spices, liquor, sardines, crackers, gravy mix, ranch dressing mix, Italian dressing mix, water and some breakfast type and protein and granola bars. And of course water. Probably need to stock up on some more stuff. This thread has reminded me I need to check stock.
 
Not a lot, honestly.

Some dry food. Like rice, for example.
Some MREs
Some other camping style foods
Some canned.
 
What @nc_reb said is a lot of what we do. We get 25lb bags of beans and rice at Sams or BJ's. I use my vac sealer with O2 absorbers for longer bug proof storage of dry goods. Avoid anything with fats or oils.
Store in new food grade buckets. The wife includes a few pencils and pads, cards, small games for kids to do. Avoid any soap or paper products that have added perfumes or scented. The food will still absorb the smell.
Buy and store foods that you use and rotate them out. Store salt and sugar without O2 absorbers, as they will make it clump and get hard as a rock.
 
You can also keep 2 liter bottles, wash and dry them out and fill them with dry goods like grits, and add an O2 absorber. Great way to store food.
 
The Ball Blue book, most anything edible, and lots of elbow grease. Anything canned(glass or metal) should be fine for 25+ years as are home canned goods. My oldest country ham is 20 years old and after a good rehydration will be as good as young swine. And lots of non GMO heirloom seeds...that is if the sun is still shining. Keep the canned stuff away from any sunlight and temp controlled if you can. I find that a good well will be most important and a way to test what comes out of it. 40 days and no food....dead, 10 days and no water....dead

Rooster
 
Why do I need to stock food? Surely the government that wants my guns for a safer America is going to feed me when SHTF. Right?
 
Several years ago I filled 7 (was just what I had at the time and a good size for a test batch) 5 gal food grade buckets to bury. I used mylar bags with oxygen absorbers and some with desiccant, depending on what it was. I sealed them with a handheld heat sealer that worked quite well. Unlike some people I knew at the time who were doing this sort of thing I was not preparing for a large extended family or a community, only myself and my girlfriend. Therefore in each bucket went a bag of rice, one of beans, wheat berries, dried split peas (and I think possibly bags of one or two other dried vegetables I can't remember now), cayenne peppers, sugar, salt, powdered milk, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, multi vitamins, antiseptic ointment, bic lighters, and probably some things I forgot about.

Everything was sized proportionately and all together made for a pretty tight full bucket. I figured that when the time came rather than having multiple buckets of things we needed open and prone to spoilage it would be better to have a little of everything in each bucket. I included nothing with any moisture content that could rot and/or bloat, leak and contaminate the inside of the bucket. Everything was mylar bagged and sealed. I "temporarily" put the buckets unsealed in the basement where it never freezes or gets past 70 degrees until I could add a couple more small items: non-hybrid seeds and antibiotics (i.e. fish-mox, etc.).

Guess where they still are. Unsealed (not that they really need to be), unburied, and still without the two additional items. :( And the worst thing is, the project stalled, I doubt those will see us through more than a month or so, if that much. There needs to be many more.

For a while I was also storing canned goods in the basement but not rotating. Be careful doing that in a non-climate controlled environment. Some cans will begin to rust.
 
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Lets see what I have for SHTF barring a nuclear meltdown blocking out the sun:
a garden, horticultural tools, knowledge and experience, a canner, and a cookstove. Lots of jars. Some even have food from years back in there.
I think there's a box or cans of Mountain house for short term emergencies. a variety of ammo for trade.
 
Jealous! They'll be real tasty after the radioactive fallout though. :) Worst case you might need a backup stash of tasteless dehydrated foods like the rest of us!
If there's fallout involved, you had better be worried about breathing and drinking water before getting hungry. Because it's likely you'll die from rad sickness / dehydration well before thinking about food.
 
If there's fallout involved, you had better be worried about breathing and drinking water before getting hungry. Because it's likely you'll die from rad sickness / dehydration well before thinking about food.
Breathing will not be an issue so long as you aren't out walking around while the fallout is actually falling. The plan would be to live in the basement for weeks before venturing out to catch any fish, lol. I have food and water there. BTW the 5 gal water bottles from water dispensers stack great with plywood between the levels and make nice shelves and/or tables. Buy them straight from the water companies, full and sealed.
 
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Breathing will not be an issue so long as you aren't out walking around while the fallout is actually falling. The plan would be to live in the basement for weeks before venturing out to catch any fish, lol. I have food and water there. BTW the 5 gal water bottles from water dispensers stack great with plywood between the levels and make nice shelves and/or tables.

Do you have 3 feet of soil over top your basement? If not, GFL.
 
For dry goods... Flour, corn meal, etc, we have a YouTube video on how to dry can in the oven.

Go to YouTube.com and search for OldWaysNewTimes, then on the channel search for "dry canning flour and cornmeal", that will be way faster than me trying to explain on this phone with friggin autocorrect.
 
I will check that out @carolinaboy! Ive not heard of dry canning in the oven...

R
 
I have canned that I rotate according to expiration date.
I have Wise and Mountain House freeze dried. Although Mountain house is kinda pricey, it tastes pretty good.
I have MRE's.
Also have a sister that is Mormon. She has helped me accumulate some canned dried beans from their canning facility.
Before stocking on any of the freeze dried food, I ate some. Most companies will have a sample that you can get and try.
You want something that is palatable.

Not mentioned, but if you want some bottled water, try LeBleu. Their bottles are not flimsy as some are.
They also don't expire. They use a distillation process that purifies the water nicely.
In case you aren't aware, the expiration date on bottled water is mostly in regards to the plastic bottle. Most will begin leaching plastic into the water and you will take that in when the water is drank if it has some age.
 
I vaccum seal powdered milk and store it with the flour/rice/cornmeal/grits in the buckets. I pack bulk whole spices in the same manner.

I also can butter (yes it is possible).

These are a few of the "nice to have items" that will enhance the flavor of freeze dried or canned foods.
 
I have canned that I rotate according to expiration date.
I have Wise and Mountain House freeze dried. Although Mountain house is kinda pricey, it tastes pretty good.
I have MRE's.
Also have a sister that is Mormon. She has helped me accumulate some canned dried beans from their canning facility.
Before stocking on any of the freeze dried food, I ate some. Most companies will have a sample that you can get and try.
You want something that is palatable.

Not mentioned, but if you want some bottled water, try LeBleu. Their bottles are not flimsy as some are.
They also don't expire. They use a distillation process that purifies the water nicely.
In case you aren't aware, the expiration date on bottled water is mostly in regards to the plastic bottle. Most will begin leaching plastic into the water and you will take that in when the water is drank if it has some age.
The Mormon canning facility is also in Greensboro. They sell to the public and are open 1 or 2 days a week. Look up LDS foods for more info.
 
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