A lazy anti-motivational approach to long term food storage

[drunkensurvivor]

My prepping is pretty off and on again. I'm obviously much better prepped than the average Joe, but I sometimes fill in gaps or do things in spurts like a lot of people also tend to do. For example, in 2008 when it looked like there was going to be a potential complete financial system collapse I went full bore and started getting some preps taken care of. In hindsight nothing that I bought or did was stupid. I didn't panic buy, I just bought a lot of stuff that was on the back burner for a long time to fill in holes in preps. However, the point is that I'm not the guy with a spreadsheet and a well detailed plan for everything prep related. I'm a little OCD on a lot of things, but generally not on prepping where I'm a little more lackadaisical.

Now one of the things that I bought was bags of rice from local grocery stores. I bought them with the intention of eventually sealing them with mylar and oxygen absorbers and putting them into buckets for long term storage. I should emphasize eventually, because that was well over two years ago and I still haven't done it. I've been an all out procrastinator on it, because there really isn't any deadline or urgent need to get it done quickly. Bugs in general aren't a problem here for sealed grains, and white rice seems to last a long time on the shelf without long term storage treatment. Still, bugs are always a potential problem and I could see rice go to waste if bugs/rodents got into it.

So this has made me think about a long term food storage setup for the procrastinator type... a plan of action that would have gotten done easier and more all at once without a shit load of steps and continued work. I generally think 2-3 weeks food storage is fairly adequate, but 2-3 months would be even better. Past a few weeks of general food shortages, I would think specific items would be lacking more than food in general in most SHTF type situations. In that type of situation having your own supplies would give you variety, food you like and can cook yourself, and somewhat proper nutrition(vs government cheese, FEMA type food, foreign ration bags, or whatever is left in grocery stores or is allowed to each person from rationing rules).

First, a few cases of MRES. These are self contained, don't require much water, require no cooking, and can be easily thrown into a car for getting out of the city. I would rotate one case out a year or so to keep two relatively fresh cases on hand at all times. I've basically been doing this already, keeping MRES on hand as grab and go food. Alternately totes can be filled up non-cook food like peanut butter and crackers, soups in cans, ravioli, etc... but putting them together and rotating them and keeping them fresh requires more work and attention than monthly eating a single MRE and annually ordering a new case.

Water. I generally don't see water being cut off for more than a few weeks, but treatment could go downhill and orders to boil or general water quality could definitely go down.
military 5 gallon ones containers, these are nice as discussed here: viewtopic.php?t=12019

Keeping a half dozen or so 5 gallon containers filled should suffice for short term water use, and they are equally easy to grab and go with as are mres. For long term water issues a big berkey filter with black filters would probably be more than sufficient: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... vi-content or http://www.amazon.com/Big-Berkey-Water- ... B003W5VBL2 I might also think about stocking a little calcium hypochlorite http://www.azpartsmaster.com/Products/S ... 11510.aspx as talked about on this page http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/ ... ect-water/ in case the water situation gets really, really, bad.

Long term food. If I could go back again, I would consider buying pre-bucketed rice: http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.as ... 77&topnav=

Now, I'm not necessarily endorsing that, because it isn't clear if that is mylar packed or just in a bucket. However, you can buy mylar packed rice for a similar price. That bucket of rice gives you about 35 days worth of calories at 2000 calories per day: (376*190)/2000.

Products like the following give you prepacked meal pouches that are already set up for long term storage. They would be easy to add things to, and would give you easily made meals with some variety. I'm sure they aren't the tastiest, and I know they aren't the healthiest(trans fats and artificial ingredients), but they are a good lazy man's solution:
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.as ... 77&topnav=
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.as ... 77&topnav=
Ultra long youtube review of one of the above buckets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r64FpgYBR2Y


I would probably buy some canned meats to add to some of the meals above and/or go over rice.
http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/the-241 ... eef/Detail
I've tried the beef chunks and they are pretty decent. You can make a pretty good gravy with them... They would definitely beat going meatless and could be added to the prepackaged meals in the buckets above. You could also get canned meats from the grocery store(getting too labor intensive!).
http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/the-269 ... %2C/Detail

Having some fish in the diet is important IMO for essential fatty acids. Canned salmon, kippered herring, sardines, etc would be a good thing to fill in this gap. Now we are getting labor intensive and this takes some motivation, but you'd probably want to stock up on these from the grocery store.

Having fruits and vegetables in your diet is important. Fresh beats canned, but we're talking long term storage here. Mixed fruits, pineapple, any other canned fruit, spinach, kale, collard greens, etc, etc. Once again you're probably going to have to make a few trips to the grocery store for this, but its necessary in order to have a rounded food supply.

Since we have plenty of natural gas domestically I doubt long term cooking would be a problem, but for short term disruptions some propane burners and a couple of tanks of propane would be smart to keep around.

Pretty much everything listed here stores perfectly for a decade or two. MREs should be rotated, water should probably be rotated(but probably would be fine through a berkey even if it wasn't rotated), everything else should be fine if kept sealed and in a dry and cool place. Keeping some extra spices and condiments on hand might be a good idea, but for the lazy among us that requires rotation, and honestly while I could see some spices from overseas becoming scarce in a chronic shtf situation, I don't see all spices disappearing for a long period(probably just your favorite ones). Most of this you can buy, put on a shelf in a cool, dry, and dark place and not have to worry about your food situation for a long time.

This has been a lot of typing for a guy like me. I think I need a nap.

[none1]

Great points. The standard mantra is "store what you eat, eat what you store". Which is great, if you actualy cook / eat most of your meals in, instead of just order pizza and chinese take out most nights.

I think a small store of xx weeks of long term storage food is a good idea. MRE's, freeze dried meals, freeze dried ground beef, powdered milk, etc. are all things that can be stored for 10, 15, or more years, and can be purchased prepackaged, ready to sit in storage. I don't see as much need to rotate some of these things in an out. I have access to all the fresh milk I want at the corner grocery store right now, so I'm OK letting the powder milk stay in long term storage in case an emergency hits.

You are right, this can be a quick, easy, lazy way to get some stock piles of food that will keep you going for a couple weeks. It's great too, for those that all of a sudden decide they need long term food storage, and they need it starting next week.

For real long term (12+ months), I'd still recommend planning meals out and mylar bagging some bulk foods. The "lazy way" can also be expensive. I, personally, am OK having some xx weeks of my preps be more expensive, ready to eat or simple heat and eat. For those going for a full 12 months + of food stores ... I think the non lazy way could be way cheaper.



Good thoughts drunkensurvivor!

[WhoShotJR]

I'm pretty lazy when it comes to food storage also, here's the plan I finally settled on that serves me well.

I set up a few Rubbermaid tubs with one month's worth of portable, "bug out" food. MRE's, MH, canned beef stew, canned salmon, etc. If I have to leave my house for some reason, and have 30 mins to load a vehicle, these come with. Five year storage life.

Nine months worth of basic, keep me alive staples with a 20+ year shelf life. This is LDS cannery (rice, oats, wheat, etc), sugar, salt, rice, dried beans, honey, baking soda, pastas, etc. Nothing exciting just a set and forget way to keep myself fed if things go way south. These items I don't rotate, they're stored well, require no ongoing work on my part, right up my lazy alley.

Then the part that requires a little bit of effort, but not too much. I maintain several months worth of foods that I actually eat on a regular basis, and a few things that have to be rotated that I don't use. For example:

Things I use- PB, pasta sauce, frozen meats/fruits/veg, jams, nuts, crackers, dried fruits, corn meal, Bisquik, etc. These get rotated because I use them often.

The only part that's any real "work" to me is things I like to keep on hand, but don't use. Evap milk, NIDO, instant mashed potatoes, etc. Every three months or so I donate these to people who will use them and replace my stock. My mom loves NIDO in her coffee instead of creamer, my cousin's kids like the instant spuds, grandmother uses the evap milk....

It's actually a lot easier than I make it sound, once you have it set up there's nothing to it.

[drunkensurvivor]

For real long term (12+ months), I'd still recommend planning meals out and mylar bagging some bulk foods. The "lazy way" can also be expensive. I, personally, am OK having some xx weeks of my preps be more expensive, ready to eat or simple heat and eat. For those going for a full 12 months + of food stores ... I think the non lazy way could be way cheaper.

Yes, the lazy way is definitely more expensive. If you are going for a year or more of food for multiple people the cost would be pretty high for any method other than traditional bulk storage. However, I personally don't see that much food as being necessary. I could see if you are stocking a blast shelter or preparing for something that IMO is equally unlikely as nuclear war. A year+ worth of bulk food would be good if food prices went up by 500%+ or so due to something like a failure of crops and/or dollar crash(much more likely than nuclear war), but to me its too much of a pain in the ass(and I don't have the room) to store that much food simply as a hedge against much higher food prices. Precious metals and the like could probably hedge against rising food prices just as well with a lot less hassle and space(though I'm not recommending metals at these prices). Even if food prices went up five fold the average person could still easily afford bulk foods(well, grain-based bulk foods at least). I don't see the payoff for storing that much food as being worth it, but definitely think a month or two is a pretty good minimum. Opinions on how much food is necessary obviously vary though. I'm not going to lie though, I would kind of like a year+ worth of food, its just not practical for me so the lazy method's cost isn't prohibitive with how much storage space I have.