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View Full Version : What's your goal for reasonable food storage for your family? And when?



Mark Ducati
03-09-2011, 08:22 PM
By summer 2012, if the panic hasn't set in already... I'd like to have 2 years of food for my family of 4 (2 adults and 2 small children).

When I look at these "Food For a Year" packages for $1000 bucks from Costco... Realistically, with rationing, I bet that could actually last 2 people for a year as long as you have plenty of water. I also plan to supplement our meals with local game (squirrels, ducks, deer, hog, rabbits, fish)... My BIL lives 1/4 mile down the road and has a fresh water spring that pumps freely with no electricity... If my 4 wheeler no longer runs, it'd be a chore for two people to haul a 5 gallon bucket each of water perhaps every 2-3 days. We've got closer ponds in our neighborhood, but that water would require boiling... the spring is clean.

I've been buying silver coins the last few months... my $2500 investment is now worth $5000 that Silver is almost $40 bucks an ounce... I only have about 130 coins. I figure thats enough to barter with for those that would even take them, now I want to focus on food.

http://www.patriotshelpingpatriots.com has a pretty good package of 381 mixed meal servings for $359... that's less than a dollar per serving. And the truth is, when I'm working, I skip breakfast, sometimes I'll have a piece of fruit for lunch then have a bigger meal at home... its the way my family feeds. But during stressful times and more physical labor, I can see that I'm going to need at least 2 meals a day if not 3.

The patriots site is interesting in that their food is dehydrated with low heat..... no chemicals, and no freeze drying. Then they CO2 pack/flush the package... this supposedly retains 92% of the nutritional value for 15 years, although longer shelf life is expected with cooler temps.

Chicken Pasta, Beef Stroganoff... the only thing I noticed was they are meatless... they some kind of vegetable substitute for all their meats... maybe this way eliminates the oils/fats that can shorten shelf life???

They will send you 12 free servings to try for $9.95 S&H.... I just ordered some, I'll post results when I get them.

M,

Flinter
03-09-2011, 09:10 PM
My suggestion is to skip the boxed food packages and just double the amount of groceries that you normally buy. That way you are getting food that you actually eat.

If you've ever spent any extended time living in the woods eating dehydrated food...ughh. It will tear your digestive track up in short order.

IMHO, you are much better off stockpiling food that your body is already used to. Besides, that way you can rotate your foodstocks and instead of a "prep" you have a pantry.

I keep 1 weeks worth of dehydrated food per person (2 in my house) just for travelling. I do a good bit of backpacking though...so it's regularly rotated.

O.S.O.K.
03-09-2011, 09:54 PM
Mark, we are on similar pages... weird. I have 95 silver coins... so far - but I don't intend to purchase many more either - as you say, just for insurance.

As to the food, I've purchased extra for the last 6 months or so - mostly items that we consume regularly.

Seriously, for shtf - cheapest insurance you can do is rice and beans. like 100 pounds of each.

But I personally deciced to branch out and include canned goods, pasta, mixes, staples, etc. along with the freezer full of meat. If the power goes, I have a generator and gas = at least for while to allow me to smoke, can, etc. the meat to preserve it...

I don't just want to survive - I want to have a healthy food source.

The gardening has commenced - and we are learning.

I think the survival meal packages are a scam - in that they are the absolutely most expensive way to stock up.

jojo
03-09-2011, 09:58 PM
I agree with Flinter on the food source. On average you can get cases of vegetables for less than $10 per case. The average shelf life is 3-5 years. I leave it in a spare room stacked up and if we have a food drive at church or there is any event that is taking up food for the elderly and unfortunate then I just buy somemore and donate the old stock.

Since I have about 80 acres of woods and a 5 acre pond I feel that I am set as far as meet goes. I would love to drill a well but have been putting it off. Firearms, ammo, fuel, tools, generator, tents, sleeping bags, seeds, gold /silver coins, etc... I am good on

The one thing that I am hurting on is first aid.

cevulirn
03-09-2011, 11:27 PM
To quote a old gunsnet thread...


"Why is your survival kit a suppressed 10/22 and a case of bullseye barbeque sauce?
Oh, don't worry about it... Say, how much do you weigh?"

gpwasr10
03-10-2011, 12:37 AM
I pick up about $10-$20 or so worth of canned goods whenever I go shopping. SPAM, Canned Chili, Dinty More Beef Stew, Boyardee Beef Ravioli, Canned Chicken, Tuna, Canned Turkey (SPAM), Canned Fruit, Vienna Beef, Canned Corned Beef, Canned Veggies, Canned Bread, Cheeze Wiz, Top Ramen to mix into the Stews and Chili to up the calories and make it stretch longer. I Have a pretty good supply right now... a lot of water too, but I need to get some more water storage soonish.

I'd like to have a couple months worth of stuff by the end of this year, along with a decent variety. Wal*Mart seems to have the best prices on this stuff.

Mark Ducati
03-10-2011, 07:59 AM
OSOK,

Yeah, interested how we are similar in our preps... I already have 20 gallons of rice and 20 gallons of pinto beans... I'm branching out right now too and doubling up on the canned goods we buy, and specifically I'm using a black sharpie marker and writing down a 2 year expiration date on the top of the can so I know when to rotate it out. Some cans already have that date on them, I just make it bigger, if I can't figure out the code then I just write a 2 year exp. date based upon the date I purchased it.

recon
03-10-2011, 10:06 AM
Working on a years worth of food and get the medical supplies up to par.

Mark Ducati
03-10-2011, 10:17 AM
My sister lives in Augusta in a private gated community.... almost a "stepford" community with their manicured lawns and such, big half to full million dollar homes.

She's got a pantry just like anybody else with Cheerios, Mac-n-Cheese and stuff, last time I was there, if the crap hit the fan, the first thing that's going to happen is that neighborhood (WestLake) is going to be over run by the inner city welfare folks... Daddy's got a 20 year old Glock 17 and perhaps a box or two of ammo.... but when the food runs out in the stores, she's got perhaps a month's worth of food, and maybe even a few weeks more if they eat year old pasta/rice on the back shelf, uncooked flour, etc...

My sister hasn't a clue... she thinks I'm crazy for stocking the way I do.

And even living up here in the mountains, my wife's "country" family thinks I'm a little crazy too. Some of the folks think they'll just hunt/fish and be fine... but EVERY bubba up here will be doing the same thing too.

So suppose I go hunting up in the Cohutta Wilderness (assuming my car still runs), I could care less about "deer season"... if I'm hungry, I'm taking the King's deer if I darn well please... so you get a kill, now you have to worry about some other hunter trying to take it from you.

Soon, the local deer population will be run out... what about the squirrels and rabbits in your neighborhood?

Got live traps? I'm thinking of catching some rabbits and throwing them in our big chicken coop and let them do what comes naturally... breed. Plenty of grass water for them.

O.S.O.K.
03-10-2011, 11:09 AM
I didn't asnwer your question - the goal is at least a year's worth of food - well rounded and healthy and I'm there. I am working on the other 'details' - I was going to put in my driven point well but decided that since I have the kit and everything needed, that maybe I should just wait - we might move before I need it and then I can take it with... picking up my wood burning stove tomorrow and it too will just be stored - along with the generator.

As to other people not "getting it" - I was in "lost wages" a couple weeks ago to work a trade show - and was having dinner with my boss and the guy that reports to me - I mentioned something about the gas prices and that I'd been seeing more and more predicitons of rapid inflation. I then asked if either of them had put any extra food up just in case - oh, they think that is so funny - that I'm silly for even worrying.

Good thing they both live a day's drive away cause I sure as hell won't be supplying any food to them...

Neither has any extra ammo put away either - basically, no prepps at all.

The one thing that may save my boss and perhaps the other guy is that our company has huge quantities of corn meal, parboiled rice, flour and such at the plant - which the owner's would most likely make available to them and other employees in a crisis situtation.

Maybe that's what he's thinking... who knows.

hawk1911
03-12-2011, 11:29 PM
I have been absent from the boards for a while working on this exact thing. So far it has involved alot of reading and researching. Stumbled across the LDS prepardness manual. Printed it out at work and have read it front to back. I can tell that I will not be as prepared as the manual suggest by this particular date. I am trying to start a garden right now, first time so everything is pretty much new and not much time I guess for a learning curve. At the same time I have already started some storage in 5 gallon buckets. Rice and beans, flour, tortilla mix etc. Got the mylar bags and oxygen absorbers and food grade buckets. The buckets I have learned you can get for free from the grocery store and other places. I would recomend the bakery, the first few I got were originally filled with pickles and took awhile for the smell to disapate. Collecting other none food items, live traps, rope, and genral tools and implements. Surprisingly the one area that has taken a real back burner has been anything firearms related. I would like to finish an AR that I have started and ammo up is about it. Budget and time are the main reason that I have been so slow.