Survival foods from the grocery store

[Branth]

I've been thinking about what kind of foods I could theoretically put in a basement and store until the world ends. Since I don't have a whole lot of capital to lay out into scads of freeze-dried foods or MREs, I've been focusing my efforts on things you can pick up at the grocery store, or a few special-order items that are needed to make stuff at the grocery store. Here's a couple of ideas I've come up with.

Obviously, flour, sugar, and salt all have long shelf life and will come in handy, and I plan on stocking up especially on salt, since it's so cheap and useful in preserving. Also, powdered milk, eggs, and butter can be used for cooking.

Instant potatoes with canned beef stew over the top is a good, hearty meal that can keep forever, so I'll have some of that....

Mac and Cheese with canned peas and tuna could be an option, too, if you use powdered milk and butter in the recipe.

Ramen Noodles, the college staple, would keep well, and Yakisoba (upscale Ramen) is quite a bit tastier.

While powdered milk is nasty on it's own, it makes a decent chocolate milk when mixed with Ovaltine, and can be stored pre-mixed in bags for chocolate milk on the go.

Kool-aid and crystal lite can add a little variety to your water supply, and mask mineral tastes.

Soup mixes should keep for a while, and would be easy to make.

Rice is cheap and useful for 1001 different meals, and in a pinch, rice and soy sauce could fill your stomach.

Spices have a nearly indefinite shelf life, though they lose their potency over time, and could be worth their weight in gold for some people.

Baked beans are great for protein, and generally come canned.

Does anyone else have some stuff they pick up at the store that can be turned into a proper meal in the PAW?

[Blitzen2k5]

Rice and Beans. You have rice listed. But also get dried beans. Pinto, black, etc. Then get the knorr packets for stock. Chicken, pork, and beef. You got a good hearty meal right there. Add some dried onion and garlic and your good to go.

Hard tack is another one I love. My grandmother used to make it. I think the recipe is 4 cups wheat flour, 4 teaspoons salt, and 2 cups water. But dont quote me on that. I just make it. So used to doing it I really dont even measure anymore. Anyway it lasts dang near forever if you store it properly. And it can be the delivery system of all sorts of things. My grandmother would make the dough with sweet things like peaches and strawberries. Or savory with chicken and onion. Though if you do that it wont last as long. So best to make that when you want it. But you can make the basic hard tack and I believe shelf life is like a year properly stored.

Dont forget honey. That stuff I dont think has an expiration date if stored right and can be used in a lot of recipes. Even over the above mentioned hard tack.

EDIT: I forgot one more. Gatorade powder or similar power drink powder. Really good if your suffering from dehydration.

Blitz

[polliedes]

most canned foods have quite a bit longer shelf life than what they are labeled with.
Tomato products don't have as long as most others, but 1-2 years after expiration and you should still be good to go (watch for can swelling).
Spam lasts a long time.
Crackers last quite a long time also.

[dukman]

About how long are you expecting for that?? A lot of store-bought preps are only good for a couple years unless repacked (dry-ice oxygen displacement and o2 absorbers, etc) You might want to check out the "Near Death Experiments" thread to see other members experiences with expired foods, as some are good for long after the expiration date while others should be constantly rotated.

Some of the items you mention actually don't have much of a shelf life depending on the packaging. The powdered milk I see in the grocery stores has a best by date of only about a year, many instant potatoes actually have dates of less than a year. Also you might want to check the dates on the soy sauces, kool-aid, etc etc. (yes, they can go bad). I have heard horror stories about Ramen and other pastas being overtaken by weevils.

I have stored away some canned meats. The 1lb cans of ham are usually good for at least 2-3 years. Some of the bagged meats are good for up to a year.

When buying spiced, try buying unground stuff. Peppercorn lasts longer than ground pepper, for example.

[Towanda]

YMMV, but I find that powdered soymilk has a better flavor, consistency, and shelf life than powdered cow's milk.


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[Doctorr Fabulous]

Instead of trying to sac away foods for ever and ever, why not just buy a few extra of what you normally buy every week. Extra beans one week, extra whatever the next. Keep going like that, and rotate out the foods as they begin to expire. Look into canning, smoking, and dehydrating as well.

[Branth]

We've got limited shelf space in our apartment, but my grandparents live minutes away and have a place for us to store some food. Ideally, we wouldn't dip into it unless in an emergency.

[Cavediver]

FWIW, if you're stashing instant potatoes that are packaged in a cardboard box, repack them ASAP. We opened one a few months ago and found that they taste like cardboard. Bleh. Lesson learned.

(We haven't had this problem with our boxed pastas, but I'm going to start repackaging those just in case...)

Flour supposedly looses a good bit of nutritional value over time. Given the over-processed nature of most commercial flours, that's not good... We invested in a mid-level hand mill a few years ago, and really like using fresh-ground flour when we can. I know that seems like a big leap when you're just getting into food storage, but it's worth it if you can work it into your daily diet / food habits. If it's not something you're likely to do, just make sure you rotate your stored goods (true for all stored goods,not just the flour).

Salt and sugar: Win.

YMMV, but I find that powdered soymilk has a better flavor, consistency, and shelf life than powdered cow's milk.

Is that something you can find in your regular stores, or do you have to order it?

We've got limited shelf space in our apartment, but my grandparents live minutes away and have a place for us to store some food. Ideally, we wouldn't dip into it unless in an emergency.

You don't have to limit yourself to shelf space, especially when it comes to long-term storage items. Get creative with your storage options.
Flats of canned food will slide under a regular bed frame pretty easily. If you've got the room, add another shelf up above the regular shelves in your closets.
Non-foods can be stashed in the utility closet around your water heater and furnace IF you take care to do it safely and not interfere with air flow, etc. Also make sure it's easy to move so that the maintenance guys can do their job without a lot of hassle.
Behind the couch, under the couch, behind books on the shelves, etc. These may seem like tiny spaces, but if you add it all up, it really helps. It also may seem a bit goofy, but stored food is better than no food...

Also consider water storage. I know you are asking about food, but you've got to have a solid water plan to work with your stored food, otherwise it's all for nothing.

[Ryder358]

Have you thought about getting long term food from a Latter Day Saints Cannery? Number 10 cans if the basic survival foods most with a 30 year shelf life and sold at cost.

You can find locations here:
http://www.providentliving.org/location/map/0,12566,2026-1-4,00.html

I wrote a thread in the ZSC:035 sub forum about them, its listed here:
http://zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=128&t=93130

The post includes cost sheet and some videos. Most of the time you don't need to be a church member, I'm not. The one in Omaha I know doesn't require that and is open Tuesdays Thursdays and Saturdays. I'm planning on getting 6+ months of food for 3 for around $850, about half of that is the 48 cans of powdered milk (6 gallons a week for 6 months @ $2.88/gallon) we want to get so you could prolly do 6 months for 3 for closer to $400.

[Branth]

There's no LDS cannery in my state, but I may consider stopping by one when I travel. I may think the Mormons have some right strange beliefs, but that doesn't mean we can't all get along. They definitely know how to prep, at least.

[Meleri]

to add to this. I lived in Utah for a while they believe that you need 5 years of food storage. They have some great sales during the stock up spring. ::smiles:: one thing I found was a program called Cook'n orginizer It is a computer program that you can plan out meals for a year or more.
http://www.dvo.com/gtry-cookn.php?CID=G ... tgodlV8oSQ
the point to this is to rotate the stored food out, buying fresh food so nothing goes bad. it also has places to store your recipes and a way to make your own home cook book of your favorate recipes. I am not good enough at orgianizings to use the weekly menu but if you are good at keeping things on track then it is a good tool. also you can type in somthing you want use like chicken and it will pull up all it's chicken recipes. You can easily type your own recipes. Convert a recipe from 2 people to 10 people.