Food Storage Information

[Weedygarden]

At one time as long as I had a bunch of food in the cupboard I was happy. When I got serious about prepping I paid more attention to what I ran out of. I hate running out. We ran out of Comet cleanser, which we use very little of, so we bought two cans. Little by little we increased our inventory to the point where we rarely run out.

Partly my storage is around what I eat because I'm prepping for everything going along pretty much as it is and partly because I want to avoid changing my diet any more than necessary. Dietary changes only adds to the stressors of any disaster.

This is me. When I emptied my olive oil bottle on Sunday, I went to the cabinet and got the next one out. I watch for sales and when I see things that I know I will use, I buy a few, depending on what it is.

I agree about storing what you eat and eating what you store. One of my favorite things to eat is a salad made with baby greens, avocado, oil & vinegar dressing and a few other fresh items. My challenge has been how to store salads? And avocados? I do have some avocado plants growing, but may never pick any fruits from them.

I know, store seeds for greens. I have a bunch. There are many things that can interrupt the growth of greens--temperature, availability of water, adequate light. Sprouts are an alternative.

I have some of the LDS food for security, but have other foods as well, more of what I eat regularly. I know that I have a thing for the LDS food storage plan which comes from taking a food storage training at an LDS church. There are many LDS members who have web sites and who work their plan and share their knowledge. If anyone wants to know about food storage, a search on the internet will take you to more information than you can read in a day. My LDS food may never get eaten, but it lets me know that if I need food, I will be good for a while.

 

[Terri9630]

Thank you both! I will keep posting.

Backpacker, beans is an interesting subject. I have met people who do not like them in any form. There are so many things that can be done with beans.

I don't like them. I grow and can them for hubby.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Likewise I wait for most things to come on sale and then stock up then and use 16.66% off discount e-vouchers I buy off eBay once every 3 months and then couple that discount with any up to 50% off weekly grocery shop sales I see when we do our monthly shop.

Most of our basics here in Australia rarely come on special such as flour, butter, powdered milk, sugar, cocoa etc so I get these cheaper with our e-vouchers. I also get rewards points from our local supermarket and that gives us $10 off when you accrue a certain amount of points and this I also use to stock up on things to increase our food storage.

For those who are building up their food storage look at all options such as restaurant supply companies that often you can get bulk items cheaper from, Asian grocers for herbs, spices and certain tinned fruits, LDS canneries if you have them in your area. Investigating prices in lots of different places, making a few phone calls and doing internet searches for companies in your area certainly pays off so you can save and build food storage faster and cheaper.

 

[Weedygarden]

This is a one year supply list for one person, that is more of a grocery store list. Some sections have food, such as meat, broken down to one month increments. As they say, quantities are estimates and should be adjusted to individual needs and desires.

I'm going to print it out and add it to my food storage binder.

(moderator note: this link no longer works, so we were asked to remove it)

 

[hiwall]

I sometimes think about cooking oil storage. All kinds do have a shelf life and do go rancid at some point. No one in my area has pigs so lard after SHTF is unlikely. I could shoot a bear and render the bear fat but that would be an iffy proposition. Does anyone have cooking oil ideas? Here is a chart of shelf life...............
Oil Expiration Date
(Unopened) Pantry Fridge
Avocado Oil lasts for 9-12 Months 1 Year
Blended Oil lasts for 2 Years --
Canola Oil lasts for 2 Years --
Coconut Oil lasts for Months-Years --
Corn Oil lasts for 1 Year 1 Year
Chili Oil lasts for 9-12 Months 1 Year
EVOO(Extra Virgin Olive) lasts for 2-3 Years --
Grape Seed Oil lasts for 3 Months 6 Months
Hazelnut Oil lasts for 1 Year 1 Year
Macadamia Nut Oil lasts for 2 Years 2-3 Years
Olive Oil lasts for 2-3 Years --
Peanut Oil lasts for 3 Years 3 Years
Sesame Oil lasts for 1 Years 2 Years
Safflower Oil lasts for 2 Years 2 Years
Sunflower Oil lasts for 2 Years 2 Years
Truffle Oil lasts for 1 Year 1 Year
Vegetable Oil lasts for 1 Year 1 Year
Walnut Oil lasts for 1 Year 1 Year

 

[Caribou]

This is a one year supply list for one person, that is more of a grocery store list. Some sections have food, such as meat, broken down to one month increments. As they say, quantities are estimates and should be adjusted to individual needs and desires.

I'm going to print it out and add it to my food storage binder.

http://www.restoring-america.com/Documents/One Year Supply Guide.pdf

That was a very interesting list. I would suggest that the storage times are very conservative. I don't agree with the "no contact with concrete". I have built and used concrete cisterns and a plastic bucket of water is stored on concrete basements everywhere.

 

[Weedygarden]

I sometimes think about cooking oil storage. All kinds do have a shelf life and do go rancid at some point. No one in my area has pigs so lard after SHTF is unlikely. I could shoot a bear and render the bear fat but that would be an iffy proposition. Does anyone have cooking oil ideas? Here is a chart of shelf life...............
Oil Expiration Date
(Unopened) Pantry Fridge
Avocado Oil lasts for 9-12 Months 1 Year
Blended Oil lasts for 2 Years --
Canola Oil lasts for 2 Years --
Coconut Oil lasts for Months-Years --
Corn Oil lasts for 1 Year 1 Year
Chili Oil lasts for 9-12 Months 1 Year
EVOO(Extra Virgin Olive) lasts for 2-3 Years --
Grape Seed Oil lasts for 3 Months 6 Months
Hazelnut Oil lasts for 1 Year 1 Year
Macadamia Nut Oil lasts for 2 Years 2-3 Years
Olive Oil lasts for 2-3 Years --
Peanut Oil lasts for 3 Years 3 Years
Sesame Oil lasts for 1 Years 2 Years
Safflower Oil lasts for 2 Years 2 Years
Sunflower Oil lasts for 2 Years 2 Years
Truffle Oil lasts for 1 Year 1 Year
Vegetable Oil lasts for 1 Year 1 Year
Walnut Oil lasts for 1 Year 1 Year

I believe that oil will be one of the most difficult things to acquire after a SHTF situation, and does have a shorter shelf life. There are oils that are better for us than others. I have given this much thought over the years and have no real solutions. I think if you can grow sunflowers, peanuts, grape seed, or any other that you can press oil from, it would be great. I have even looked at tools for extracting oil. I think raising your own hog and rendering lard would be one of the better possibilities as well. I have also thought that if one person had the resources to produce oil or lard for their village, their services would be in great demand.

 

[Caribou]

You can put up your own lard and it will last longer than you and your children. Can up as much as you want.
https://www.delish.com/food/news/a39005/64-year-old-lard-edible/

 

[Amish Heart]

Just saw a youtube by Little Village Homestead and she makes candles out of shortening. So if you have "expired" shortening, you might as well make candles out of it.

 

[Caribou]

Just saw a youtube by Little Village Homestead and she makes candles out of shortening. So if you have "expired" shortening, you might as well make candles out of it.

If you vegetable oil is rancid you can use that in oil lamps.
https://www.lehmans.com/product/merry-corliss-chamber-olive-oil-lamp/

 

[Weedygarden]

That was a very interesting list. I would suggest that the storage times are very conservative. I don't agree with the "no contact with concrete". I have built and used concrete cisterns and a plastic bucket of water is stored on concrete basements everywhere.

From what I have read, there are particular types of concrete that are preferable for creating water storage containers. I have to look for the article or articles I have read.

 

[Weedygarden]

I got this video in my YouTube feed this morning. It is 22 minutes long, but goes through buckets, mylar, sealing the mylar, contents, basic food, and more. It is as good as any information, shown in a concise manner.

YouTube: do you know that little gear icon on the YouTube screen? You can click on it and speed up or slow down videos. Some people speak so slowly that I can't stand it, so it is not uncommon for me to speed videos up. I remember one of the first YouTube videos I ever watched. It was a woman who was canning, and maybe it was her first video. It drove me crazy. Not any more!



Same guy, talking about food storage, more detailed, but 48 minutes long:

 

[Caribou]

We always ordered however many trucks of concrete that we needed. You had to pay real close attention to vibrating the concrete. Too little vibrating and you can have air pockets that will allow a cistern to leak. Too much vibrating and the bibber rocks will settle to the bottom and weaken the concrete.

 

[Caribou]

Thanks Weedy for the video. I saw one problem in that he added an O2 absorber to the sugar. I've always read that O2 absorbers make sugar or salt rock hard. I also prefer to fill my bags up as much as possible and I get between 30# to 35# per bucket. This reduces the cost in buckets and bags but more importantly it reduces the space required to store the same amount of food.

Thanks for the gear trick.

 

[Weedygarden]

Thanks Weedy for the video. I saw one problem in that he added an O2 absorber to the sugar. I've always read that O2 absorbers make sugar or salt rock hard. I also prefer to fill my bags up as much as possible and I get between 30# to 35# per bucket. This reduces the cost in buckets and bags but more importantly it reduces the space required to store the same amount of food.

Thanks for the gear trick.

I missed that he added that. I have heard that. When I used to go to the LDS storehouse and can dry foods, that was the one thing that I was advised not to add oxygen absorbers to. I believe salt is another item that should not have them added to.

On the other hand, a container of brown sugar might turn hard over time. What do you soften it with? A piece of bread? A piece of apple? Both put in there when shortly before you want to use it, a day or so? I broke my KitchenAid by trying to use hard lumps of brown sugar. The gear to turn the blade probably broke. Another piece of plastic, made to fail, when it could have been steel.

 

[SheepDog]

The reason you don't add oxygen absorber or vacuum pack sugar is in its chemical makeup. It is CH4O2. One Carbon atom, 4 Hydrogen atoms and 2 Oxygen atoms, or more bluntly 1 carbon atom combined with 2 molecules of water. Remove the oxygen and you have an unstable hydrocarbon, remove the water and you end up with carbon.
Now this won't happen all at once because sugar is a very stable chemical but if you want to do a fun experiment use a dehydrating agent like sulfuric acid and add it to some sugar. Sulfuric acid is used to remove water from nitrate products like ... nitroglycerine. In sugar it removes the water producing a lot of heat and a column of carbon rises out of the sugar mix. If you do this read up on the reaction first, wear face protection, acid resistant apron and long sleeve gloves. It's not dangerous but small spills or splashes of sulfuric acid can ruin your clothes and burn your skin - by the time you feel it it is too late.

 

[hiwall]

sugar is in its chemical makeup. It is CH4O2. One Carbon atom, 4 Hydrogen atoms and 2 Oxygen atoms, or more bluntly 1 carbon atom combined with 2 molecules of water.

I wonder if that is why you can use sugar instead of charcoal when making black powder?

 

[Caribou]

I can usually break up brown sugar enough to use it. Also, there is usually water to be added so I'll take some of that water and add it to the hardened brown sugar and let it sit for a few minutes. I have also just added water when I didn't want added water just to soften the brown sugar but that requires paying special attention so that is my last choice. I'm not patient enough to wait a day or two for the bread or apple to do their work.

 

[Weedygarden]

I can usually break up brown sugar enough to use it. Also, there is usually water to be added so I'll take some of that water and add it to the hardened brown sugar and let it sit for a few minutes. I have also just added water when I didn't want added water just to soften the brown sugar but that requires paying special attention so that is my last choice. I'm not patient enough to wait a day or two for the bread or apple to do their work.

I have considered using the straight edged canning jars for brown sugar, that are 1/2 cup, 1 cup, etc. so that if the brown sugar is hard, it won't matter so much. I can tell you, I won't ever use hard brown sugar in a mixer again. I will break it up with a grinder or something first.

 

[Amish Heart]

I don't store much brown sugar, but do store a lot of white sugar and molasses to make my own. It's cheaper. Dollar Store sells molasses.

 

[Weedygarden]

Food storage cookbooks: This list is far from complete, but these are some of the published books, some that I have collected over the years, some on my wish list, besides some of the ones I have found online and printed out and put into a binder.

It looks like Peggy Layton was quite knowledgeable about food storage and cooking with it, and has put her work into print. She is not alone. I just ordered a couple more of her books today. She has books about powdered milk, powdered eggs, and more. Her books have ideas about how much to store, how much to use basic goods, preparedness, substituting, medicinal plants and more.

1. Emergency Food Storage and Survival Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Keep Your Family Safe In A Crisis, by Peggy Layton. Used available from $1.75
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0761563679/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

2. Cookin' With Home Storage, by Peggy Layton copyright 1991
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1893519015/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

3. The All New Cookin' With Home Storage, by Peggy Layton, copyright 2000
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1882723392/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

4. Food Storage 101, Where Do I begin?, by Peggy Layton (a couple available for under $2.00, but many in the $5 - $6 range
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1893519007/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

5. Cookin' With Beans and Rice, by Peggy Layton
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/189351904X/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

6. 366 Delicious ways to Cook Rice, Beans, and Grains, by Andrea Chesman. There is an older version for sale for more than $100 and a newer version for less than $1.00, if you are the early worm.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0452276543/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

7. Bean By Bean: A Cookbook: More than 175 Recipes for Fresh Beans, Dried Beans, Cool Beans, Hot Beans, Savory Beans, Even Sweet Beans! by Crescent Dragonwagon, copyright 2012, paperback
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0761132414/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Amish Heart]

I really like Peggy Layton's books and have a number of them. Who knew you could make cheese with powdered milk?

 

[Weedygarden]

I really like Peggy Layton's books and have a number of them. Who knew you could make cheese with powdered milk?

I ordered the powdered milk book today. I want to try to make cheese from p. milk.

 

[Amish Heart]

Daisy Luther's book is good. So is "The Preppers Pantry" by Anne Lang. I have 3 by Layton: Powdered milk, potatoes, and beans & rice. I really like the meals in a jar books and must have at least a dozen of them. They sure helped me put together a few years of mylar bag meals. I skip the jar part. They are my "fast food".

 

[Bacpacker]

We have book 2 & 3. Had them for years now and use them just every now and then.

 

[Weedygarden]

Daisy Luther's book is good. So is "The Preppers Pantry" by Anne Lang. I have 3 by Layton: Powdered milk, potatoes, and beans & rice. I really like the meals in a jar books and must have at least a dozen of them. They sure helped me put together a few years of mylar bag meals. I skip the jar part. They are my "fast food".

Meals in jars is something I have seen. I have seen some variations on that idea. One person used bags, gift bag type bags, and organized a meal inside each bag. They just have to grab a bag and all the contents for a meal is inside-canned goods, pasta or whatever foods to make the meal that are shelf stable.

I have some freeze dried foods, and I believe that is what would work for meals in a jar or meal in a bag.

This is a video series about meals in a jar.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWoOHAKAkb_06yUR1vkRfoCJNhJftalNq

Honeyville has several videos about meals in a jar as well.
https://www.youtube.com/user/HoneyvilleFoods/videos

 

[Amish Heart]

I use a lot of home dehydrated ingredients for my meals in a jar (in mylar). Also, when seasonings are called for in the recipe, I put them in a snack sized baggie in the mylar so they don't end up all over the place. Honeyville does have good recipes, but I substitute their product with my own.

 

[Amish Heart]

Have you ever seen Wendy DeWitt on youtube? Her food storage video was done a long time ago, but is excellent.

 

[Weedygarden]

Have you ever seen Wendy DeWitt on youtube? Her food storage video was done a long time ago, but is excellent.

I have watched all of Wendy DeWitt's videos, some of them more than once. She is LDS, so know that you will hear that perspective.

 

[Weedygarden]

Wendy DeWitt's handout (pdf)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B06YYNupBx59UldzSmhoOXNHYlE/view