Preparations Update

[Grizzleyette___Adams]

Ingredients


GROUND WHOLE GRAIN CORN, MEAT AND BONE MEAL, CORN GLUTEN MEAL, ANIMAL FAT (SOURCE OF OMEGA 6 FATTY ACIDS (PRESERVED WITH BHA & CITRIC ACID]), SOYBEAN MEAL, NATURAL FLAVOR, CHICKEN BY-PRODUCT MEAL, DRIED PLAIN BEET PULP, SALT, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, BREWERS RICE, GROUND WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT, CHOLINE CHLORIDE, CALCIUM CARBONATE, DRIED PEAS, DL-METHIONINE, ZINC SULFATE, VITAMIN E SUPPLEMENT, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE, L-TRYPTOPHAN, YELLOW 5, YELLOW 6, DRIED CARROTS, BLUE 2, NIACIN [VITAMIN B3], RED 40, D-CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE [SOURCE OF VITAMIN B5], COPPER SULFATE, SODIUM SELENITE, POTASSIUM IODIDE, VITAMIN A SUPPLEMENT, RIBOFLAVIN SUPPLEMENT [VITAMIN B2], VITAMIN B12 SUPPLEMENT, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], VITAMIN D3 SUPPLEMENT, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE [VITAMIN B6], FOLIC ACID.

Outside of the freezer, dry dog food such as this has a very short shelf life before going rancid (the fat content is the main culprit). It's also prone to molding, insects, etc. It is one of the hardest things I have ever tried to store for an extended period of time.

.

 

[Morgan101]

O.K. call me crazy, but why would you buy 500 pounds of dog food? Wouldn't that money be better spent on something that would store just as well, and you could be sure you could eat?

Maybe it has another purpose, and human consumption is the fallback dire emergency position. Not trying to be nosy, but that much dog food is a head scratcher.

 

[LadyLocust]

Having sold a lot of cattle at sale barns I should point out… Injured cattle are often sold alongside healthy animals but they get a special designation. Injured, sick or otherwise questionable animals are destined for pet food only… and a much lower price than beef for humans. At least the farmers get some money, if only a percentage.

See… meat for pet food is legally processed at much higher temps than meat for human consumption to kill anything bad that might be in the meat, like an infection from a broken bone.

Processing meat like this also destroys much of its nutritional value.

Food for thought… pardon the pun.

A professional cattle buyer explained all this to me at a sale once. Said he purchased injured/sick beef everyday that was destined for pet food.

I’m not sure how it works for chickens, swine etc but it’s probably the same.

Good point, we used to call the dog food factory to come get dead cows if something happened. Sometimes they would be there a couple days, all bloated up before they would come and haul them off to go in dog food.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Good point, we used to call the dog food factory to come get dead cows if something happened. Sometimes they would be there a couple days, all bloated up before they would come and haul them off to go in dog food.

In my youth I did tire work and service calls, worst call I ever got for for a tire repair on a Commodities (that's what they called those guys who carried the bloated cows n horses) truck in the southwest desert on an August afternoon (120F).. I could go into the details, but I wouldn't be able to eat for a week...

 

[CalicoKatie]

. . . . I suppose I can start stocking up on food even if it's only one can here and there. . . . .

Sounds like you have a good plan. Food and water are the #1 things to prep for survival. Even if it's only a couple of dollars a week, you can gradually build up a supply that would get you through a few weeks at least. Consider what you can buy the most of for the least amount of money.

I think most people start with beans and rice because it's filling and you get protein from the beans. If I could only start with two food items, my preference is beans and cornmeal. It just depends on what you have available. I don't know what challenges there are in trying to store food in a tropical climate. Maybe canned goods are the best choice because of humidity and temperatures. It would be interesting to hear about your progress. Good luck to you!

 

[angie_nrs]

But......would you consider eating fresh "wild game" meat to stay alive.....???

There's no comparison between wild game and dog food. We choose wild game over pretty much everything when we can. Venison and fish are a frequent treat for us. Thankfully hubs likes to fish and hunt. He just wishes he had more time for it. It gets cooked like it's supposed to, and we've never gotten sick eating wild game.

kd4ulw nailed it. I would much rather put up LTS foods than turn to dog food. I still stock as much dry dog food as I can without it going bad for my logs, but it does have a relatively short shelf life. My LTS foods might be a little more expensive, but they last way longer and give me peace of mind. Like Amish Heart, I likely won't touch any of my LTS stuff unless it is an emergency situation.

 

[Sourdough]

O.K. call me crazy, but why would you buy 500 pounds of dog food? Wouldn't that money be better spent on something that would store just as well, and you could be sure you could eat?

Maybe it has another purpose, and human consumption is the fallback dire emergency position. Not trying to be nosy, but that much dog food is a head scratcher.

"BAIT"

 

[Morgan101]

"BAIT"

In your area that is a great idea.

 

[Amish Heart]

So big ol bears eat dogfood? Would rather eat the bear any day than the dog food.

 

[Sourdough]

And deer and moose and coyotes, fox, wolves, wild pigs, bald eagles, squirrels, hawks, ravens, geese, ducks.....etc..

So big ol bears eat dogfood?

 

[kd4ulw]

But......would you consider eating fresh "wild game" meat to stay alive.....???

ummm, yeah. Wild game isn’t dog food, unless I’m missing something.

 

[viking]

If I had to judge how well prepared one has to be by just what's going on with the weather around here in S.W. Oregon, I'd say you better have all your ducks in a row and if anything just be topping off. From just the month delay of fruit trees blossoming, the black walnut tree finally getting leaves and a friend a 1/4 mile west calling and saying that it looks to go down to 33 degrees tonight, I'd say we're in for some troubles. A few days ago I replace the stove pipe from the stove to the ceiling connection, the old pipe was really thin wall but was stainless steel, the big problem was the elbow had slip joints to adjust for angles and because of that they leaked liquid creosote into the room, the replacement pipe is twice as thick and the 45 elbows are accordion like bends, anyway it's good that I replaced it when I did as we have been heating with the stove the past few nights. I also have a new fiberglass rope door gasket to replace the old one, even with the doors closed and the air vents closed tight the stove was getting too much air and was running overly hot. I've been delaying planting much of a garden due to the cold nights, the soil is just not warm enough to get the proper growth of seedlings, I do have a hill of black zucchini and another of yellow straight neck, neither are growing all that much and I have been putting off planting a bunch of Bluelake bush beans, on the other hand, it does feel good to be as prepped as we are, things are looking a bit hairy as to what this year will bring about, I feel sorry for those that are not prepped and for those who thought it was crazy to do so. In the end, water is going to be far more important than can be imagined, that and a very good water filter, it may be that we may have to use some really bad looking water.

 

[Sourdough]

ummm, yeah. Wild game isn’t dog food, unless I’m missing something.

Dry Dog Food........"Bait" for many-many-many delicious wild animals.

 

[Grizzleyette___Adams]

Dry Dog Food........"Bait" for many-many-many delicious wild animals.

If you can get some empty liter sized plastic soda pop bottles, you might want to try one of my favorite bait tricks:

Put some dry bait (I use dry corn) into the bottle then lay it on its side along with a handful of the bait on the ground near the bottle.

The bottle protects the bait from the weather while the target animal is prevented from gobbling it all up in one or two sittings. They will only get a small amount at a time as they paw and worry the devil out of the bottle.

No more raccoons stealing piles of corn!!! The deer (and everything else) will kick and roll that bottle for a long time, lol.

And a little bait goes a long way; no need to fill the bottle up. Eventually some rain will get inside causing mold etc, so you may need to clean it out and start over with another fresh small batch.

It would work well with dog food, I’m sure.

 

[Sourdough]

Alaskan bears would eat the whole bottle. Really they would. Watch some of the You-tube videos. The big Alaska Brown Bears "CRUSH" steel 55 gallon drums to get the food/bait out. People just can't grasp the power of a Bear that can weigh up to 1,600 "Pounds". Has 6" long claws.

Edited to add.......Actually it is interesting to view some of the videos an baiting bears. Even if you find it disgusting.......might be a useful tool.......post catastrophic SHTF.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Hey @CalicoKatie and @Newbri way back when (over a decade ago) I was helping people identify foods for food storage I did a comparison of a few foods based on cost/1000 calories, my take away is that you can store a little extra of what you already eat, and still make yourself a little more secure. The other thing is that it may be more cost effective to invest in a few basic foods, rice, beans, pasta, sugars, oils than buying MREs and Dehydrated Emergency foods. My final advice is to learn to eat what you store and store what you eat, even the stuff with a 10 year shelf life. WATER IS LIFE, most foods need water and you have to have it, at least a gallon a day. The first plan I would make is how can I get or treat enough water to meet my needs, a water filtering system like back packers use is a nice start, no money keep an extra jug of water in the fridge and a spare on the floor. If you use a CPAP machine, they need distilled water and those jugs are great for water storage, remember to cycle your stores (Beans may last forever, but you might not be able to eat them without breaking a tooth). Here is an image of my one of my old charts, it's old so prices have gone up but everything is relative.

 

[CalicoKatie]

Yep, I have some of those beans. I have a few #10 cans of beans, rice, oats, etc. that I bought from the LDS online store about 12 years or so ago. They're my real LTS that I don't intend to use until there's nothing left. By that time, I'll probably have to soak the beans for a week before I can cook them. I don't buy the MREs or dehydrated dinner type stuff. Just some of the basics that are supposed to be good for 30 years. Other than that it's just regular food that I rotate.

 

[Amish Heart]

Got 10 lbs of mashed potato flakes (Idahoan) for five bucks at the amish discount store, so packaged that. Three pound box of grits for $1.29, so repackaged that, too.
Beans are just great things to store. They're cheap. Provide protein. You can cook them, plant them, or if they get old, you can grind them up and use it for flour.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Like I said way back when (just after I got of the Arc) I spent a lot of time gathering information on food storage and goals setting. Back then the LDS church had some software to help families do planning for a year's supply of food. Anyway I got hold of their software and reverse engineered the quantities and values out, put it into a spreadsheet with variable targets, then made an inventory that I could populate using the foods that I normally use. Your post got me to looking for it, and poof... This is what I used back then. it helped me set goals and identify food groups and holes in my planning. Just an old dude sharing what we did back before running water.

 

[CalicoKatie]

I used to keep an eye on this calculator to get an idea of the goals I should work towards. It was more of a guideline and some things on the list I didn't buy because we didn't eat stuff like soy beans or lima beans.

Food Storage Calculator (thefoodguys.com)

 

[Bacpacker]

Like I said way back when (just after I got of the Arc) I spent a lot of time gathering information on food storage and goals setting. Back then the LDS church had some software to help families do planning for a year's supply of food. Anyway I got hold of their software and reverse engineered the quantities and values out, put it into a spreadsheet with variable targets, then made an inventory that I could populate using the foods that I normally use. Your post got me to looking for it, and poof... This is what I used back then. it helped me set goals and identify food groups and holes in my planning. Just an old dude sharing what we did back before running water.
View attachment 67910

Urban that spread sheet looks interesting. Any way you could share that? I'd be glad to send my email if that would work better. I'm a spreadsheet guy, use them for tons of stuff.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Urban that spread sheet looks interesting. Any way you could share that? I'd be glad to send my email if that would work better. I'm a spreadsheet guy, use them for tons of stuff.

I would be happy to... just send me a conservation note. I wish there was a way to just share a file so anyone could just grab what they want.

 

[Bacpacker]

Will do

 

[Caribou]

Urban that spread sheet looks interesting. Any way you could share that? I'd be glad to send my email if that would work better. I'm a spreadsheet guy, use them for tons of stuff.

BP, or anyone else, I have an LDS Preparedness Manual from ten years ago. If you are interested PM me your email address and I'll try to send you a PDF. It has spreadsheets plus much more.

 

[Bacpacker]

BP, or anyone else, I have an LDS Preparedness Manual from ten years ago. If you are interested PM me your email address and I'll try to send you a PDF. It has spreadsheets plus much more.

Thanks Car

 

[hiwall]

I got my new 90# steel anvil today. I'm calling that a prep item

 

[Peanut]

Over the last 10 days I've given the foodsaver a work out. I had to order more bags this afternoon. Anyway, I've sealed up 35lbs of beef, pork and chicken. That should last until the fall. Have to stop anyway, the both freezers are full. Well, almost, had to leave room for peas and okra that's growing in the garden now.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

Its time. Fuel is $6.00/gal and going up. Going for a very long drive to pick up a pretty big tank in the morning. With the world going to hades in a hand basket, and super inflation a very real possibility, its time to get super serious. Will be doing the same with propane as soon as the road restrictions are lifted.

We have a guy bucking up 50 cords of fire wood as well. Once the beef shows up in July and I get the chickens butchered, we can watch things implode while hoping we got it wrong. After this, we make do with what we got.

I take that back. I need there to be a good peach season in the Okanogan this summer. I want to can up around a 150 qts. I only have 3 jars left from 2014. Yes, they do keep that long without losing much quality.

Received the proprty tax bill today, $350.00 and in two more years it goes to $100.00. My farm taxes used to be $10,000. Its a relief to know I can easily pay the taxes if things get bad.

 

[UrbanHunter]

The wife can no longer take the sugar from canned peaches so I plan to buy a flat of them store bought (I can't justify asking the wife to can peaches she can't eat). I am planning a large shopping trip (will most likely be next Friday morning) to bring my stores up to 150% of my normal targets. I may have to spend several hours at several different stores to make it happen. Also need to visit one of those outdoorsy stores in an attempt to find some wsr/205/ 6 1/2 or what ever fill the bill....

 

[lilmissy]

@ClemKadiddlehopper what state you in that gas is $6 a gal? What kind of road restrictions do you have? Or is the tank an oversize load?

@UrbanHunter i can my peaches in only water. Sugar is not needed.