Food Preparations For At Least A Year

I'm trying to prepare in case the Yellowstone volcano blows. I'm not sure for how long I need food. I want to stock pile a little here and there with each pay check. What are some good emergency foods that will last a long time that will feed 6 for at least a year?

I'm not even sure how long the darkness will last with a super volcano eruption or if a years worth of rations is even remotely close to what I need. I've looked at some of those food buckets and the problem with those are they are sealed in large pouches that are not resealable and I'd need about 100 or more of them for 6 people for a year minimum. Are MREs the way to go? What's a good value and economical?

I think that takes care of my questions for now. TIA!

 

What you stockpile will also be dictated by whether you are a decent cook or a ready meal type of person. It will depend on whether you have knowledge of hunting and foraging to help your stores last.
Think! Will you need vitamin supplements? Water purification chemicals? Medicines?
Check the shelf life and storage conditions of everything that you're thinking of buying and as LW suggested "rotate" out old stock before it's bbe date and replace it. You can't just buy the stuff and say "job done, now I will survive the Holocaust" it is an ongoing process to control your stock of goods.
You will need to provide 1500 to 2500 Calories per person per day, depending on how active you are likely to be. (Less active=less calories) Balance your meals between protein, carbohydrates (in the form of fats, sugars and fibre) and not forgetting vitamins and minerals

 

What Keith said

Only thing I'll add is that if you put dried beans, pasta (we like the tiny macaroni), rice, already dry foods like this into sealed jars, before putting the lid on, throw in one or two deoxygenizing packs. Seal up Kool-Aid packs and sugar also. Don't forget water purifiers -- both charcoal and ceramic filters (Katadyn).

Oxygen Absorbers for Food Storage
https://www.amazon.com/Oxy-Sorb-Oxygen-Absorbers-Storage-100-Pack/dp/B0028AG8RO

Find the best buy on the product above.

Look into powdered milk, powdered cheese, "other" foods for balanced diet. Dehydrated fruits would be a healthy addition. The Latter Day Saint Church folk are friends to make. They put back food for a year, many do. They have food packing centers where your LDS friends might take you; it's worth a try. You may find their beliefs odd, however the people don't seem to be. I've had a few LDS friends over the years. They don't bite. All world religions speak of the End-Times, new Prophet showing up, calamities, Earth changes, wars, all that mayhem stuff.

 

The other great thing about having friends amongst the CoJC&TLDSts is you'll save on sharing your beer.
They were some of the very first people to respond to major disasters like Katrina, making the State and Federal authorities look completely incompetent.

 

Church of Jesus Christ and the Later Day Saints, Mormons to most of us in the UK.

 

I think they prefer the name the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints these days. I know a few, once they gave up trying to convert me and I gave up offering them coffee we get on OK.

 

Thanks for the input. Dry goods sound interesting. What's the typical shelf life?

I lived in Utah for a year and am all too familiar with Mormons. LOL Though, I am not.

The Yellowstone super volcano has been on my mind for a long time, and we just don't know when the hell it will go off. But I do know it's over due. Knowing my luck and in my lifetime it will go off. I'm now 37 so I gotta about 43 more years to go if I'm lucky. Wouldn't mind seeing tri-centennial in 2076, but that places me at 95 years old. Doubt I'll make it that long.

Where do y0u buy your dry goods? And how do I know how many calories they have? During what I'm preparing for we'd probably be pretty sedentary so 1500 calories per person is what I'm aiming for.

I have heard that about 2/3 of the U.S. will become inhabitable, and there won't be deer or anything either. Not even fish since the ash will, pollute the water. So water storage is going to be a major issue. I do plan on buying a bunch of those Lifestraws though.

 

I just tried editing my post for a sentence fragment and I got an alert about me being a spammer. That code needs looked at I reckon.

 

You can buy dry goods in the USA from commercial supply warehouses for a lot less if you are wanting it in volume. I worked in one of those when I was young and was amazed at how cheap things were when you bought it in 50 or 100 pound bags. A lot of things that you buy in stores in small fancy packages are priced higher because the package cost more than the contents.

When you hear the saying about something being packed in like sardines... sardines are packed tight because they are the cheapest part of the package. The oil cost more than the sardines and the can costs more than the sardines. I worked for Consolidated foods for five years and got an education in the value of buying in quantity packaging. When I worked there I bought cheese in 20 pound waxed chubs for about a third per pound of what it costs in the stores.

A hundred pound sack each of rice, pinto beans, popcorn, whole wheat, and a few 50 pound bags of flour, cornmeal and baking mix along with 5 gallons of lard and 10 gallons of peanut oil will feed a lot of people for a long long time. I also usually have a few hundred pounds of shelled deer corn that can be used as animal feed or after running it through a grinder people feed. at 14 dollar for a hundred pounds it is supper cheap food that can be used in a lot of ways along with baiting deer.

Don't forget the spices. A few hundred pounds of salt and a few gallons of pepper and such can make the uneatable eatable. Being raised in South East Texas I also consider hot tabasco sauce a staple and buy it in gallons. I'm serious about my peppers and raise my own and will be able to make my spices from those plants and a large herb garden. Spices are not a must but there is a reason Columbus was trying to find a shorter path to the spices from Eastern Asia. That reason was spices. The Roman soldiers were paid in salt. If you don't live near the coast you probably need to think about salt.

Another valuable tool is a BIG smoker that has sausage racks and the tools for butchering and making sausage and smoked meats. Mine will smoke a hundred pounds at a whack and isn't a really big one. Hand powered meat and grain grinders are worth their weight in gold in hard times as are really big cast iron pots. I have a couple of cast iron wash pots that are huge and we used them for making and canning soups and such. With the beans grains and such all you need is to get meat and you are fed. A woodburning stove makes a nice porch heater now and then will cook for you if you ever need it too. I also have rocket stoves for that too after the various petrochemical powered fuels are gone. We may not eat fancy but we will never be hungry.

 

Actually, I'm LDS. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I can honestly say we prefer to be called LDS rather than Mormons. Mormons is just a nickname that others gave us. Back in the day, it was derogatory. People who hated us called us that.

That said, I agree with what's been said in regards to preparation. Yes, there are a lot of LDS that run preparedness sites, unfortunately if you just ask any LDS person, that doesn't guarantee that they'll know where to get prepping supplies, unless they're a prepper themselves.

How much to prepare? Because everyone eats different amounts, I say calculate how much you use per meal. Say you had green beans for dinner. How much did you make for your entire family? Then you figure out how often you eat green beans. Then, you use that to calculate how much dried green beans you'll need (or whatever format).

Same thing for flour. How much flour do you need to bake bread? How much bread do you go through in a week? (If you don't bake bread, now's the time to start doing so so that you can calculate how much you need. How much wheat do you use for other things? Then, calculate it to how often you'll be using it over a years span, and you'll know how much you'll need.

Of course, I always say err on the side of caution and add a little extra, just in case, and to make sure you don't under calculate.

Dried may be best, but there are also canned goods. That might be a bit easier. Say, you open a can of green beans, how often each month do you eat it? How many cans? Add a little extra. That's how much you'll need per month.

This is just my opinion.

 

A couple of other things that I buy and store a lot of is those little canned hams and Spam. They make things like beans and soups taste better and add a ton of calories. Since I live in Texas and we have a lot of Hispanics there are a lot of things available here that you don't see everywhere. There is a soap that is called Zoot Soap that is basically a snow white commercially made lye soap. You can wash ANYTHING with it and even grate it for use in a washing machine. LOL, it also makes a pretty good catfish bait since it is mostly made for grease they like it. Here it is dirt cheap but I see it online sometimes marked up about 500%. We also have cheap access to things like Masa which is a fine flour made from corn and a lot of Mexican foods like black beans that are super good for survival use because they are higher in content than most other beans.

One of the things that people need to understand is that the food you buy from the stores, whether it is fresh or canned, is there because it is cheaper to grow and/or ships better than other tastier and more nutritious similar foods. Tomatoes are an especially good example of this. We grow a lot of heritage plants that you never see in stores. Bloody Butcher tomatoes are exceptional as is their corn. The thing is it is thin skinned and doesn't ship well so you never see it. The Black Krim is another heritage tomato that we grow and once you get used to eating a black tomato the flavor is incredible. The thing about heritage plants is that their seeds are viable and you only have to buy them once and can gather your own seed there after.

 

I have several LDS friends and they have access to a lot of great things that are not available to everyone. They have a cannery not too far from here and you can go there and work and can your stuff as part of a share system that is GREAT. You also have people available with decades of experience to help you learn and how to keep and rotate your goods. In the event of a massive system wide break down the LDS will be well set to come through while most others will starve to death. They also are automatically a part of a group that is by nature well suited for working together during hard times. If I was going to be a part of any organized faith based just on its worth and not its philosophy LDS would be at the top of my list. Another group that has proven their worth down through the many years are the Freemasons. They are good about taking care of their own in hard times.

 

I love tomatoes!

There's also home canned and home dried that one can do. I want to learn how to do those someday.

 

My understand is people can still by from the cannery, whether or not they belong to my religion. At least, when I lived in Kansas, that was the case. Perhaps it's not that way in other regions.

That's cool that the freemasons take care of themselves.

What do you think about the Amish? They live a pretty self sufficient lifestyle. Do you think they'd make it through?

 

The Amish and many of the other odder faiths that reject a lot of the modern ways will probably do well if they can adapt and defend what they have.

Freemasonry in America is/was a little different from its European roots. It along with the Oddfellows and the Woodsmen were more middle and lower class than in Europe where it was more often a richer persons club. The big thing they all did was insure that if a man died that his wife and children would be looked out for. Even today their public focus is in hospitals and programs that take care of children, widows and older Masonic people.

Nowadays people can buy insurance where in the US until the middle 20th century you had to depend on your brothers both from blood and heart to care for their widows and kids. With the advent of insurance and the disappearance of honor being important the Masonic lodge is struggling and will probably go down the road of the Oddfellows and Woodsmen in another generation or two. The world is now run by and for the benefit of women and minorities and honor is an alien concept to them. I was raised to believe that a mans word was his bond and you NEVER broke a promise. Women were raise with the rule that a woman could always change her mind without penalty and lets face it a slave couldn't afford honor if he wanted to survive and so for many it was never taught to their kids even after they were free.

 

Rice, beans, and greens. You won't die. Throw in a bit of meat when available -- you'll be fine.
We used to mix poke greens with curly mustard; throw in some streaked meat.
Find a food supplier to Asian restaurants. I did. These folk will sell your burlap bags of rice. You got American dollar, they'll weigh-down your pickup with rice.
You can find at least 25lb. bags of dried beans most everywhere.
Remember to store in quart glass canning jars with 2 packs of O2 absorbers inside.

 

Canned food, mres is good for storation for at least a year. If you want to know how long does canned food last, you can find it here.

 

I agree with the buying dried food , but i came across this which is a good starter
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IW1NQD..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=1713835751726239774&

 

We store and use a lot of dry food stuffs. Also use a dehydrator during the summer when the garden and fruit trees are producing more than we can handle.
Last month, we purchased a Harvest Right freeze dryer and have kept it going almost full time. Next year, our new orchard should be producing more fruit and much of it will go into the freeze dryer. It has been fun.

 

Hi. I just finished canned goods marked 2009/2010. So, now I'm on 2012 year.
Don't make the mistake of actually believing those best by dates.
My problem is that I don't eat a lot of canned foods. I cook...every day.
My stockpile began with a case of green beans and my 'program' was...what did I use today that I can stockpile and it has a long shelf life??

First thirty minutes of my day was first...soap, washcloths, tooth paste/toothbrush, toilet paper, hair brush....and that's just the bathroom!!!
I did this for a few weeks, progressing through the day, breakfast needs, cleaning needs, etc,...made a list...and husband and I fulfilled that list that weekend.
When I finished, I had 5 or more years of food and lots of preps.
But, I had 4 bedrooms and only used two, so had lots of room, and a storage room with this house.
I didn't rush--worked on it daily.

I have buckets of rice on CL now--way too much rice!!!

 

Ok, this is going to be controversial but it needs to be said. The expiration dates on foods and medicines are mostly legal statements rather than nutritional or actual statements of fact. They have several reasons for the expiration dates and none of them actually have much to do with the actual reality of the useful life expectancy of the products.

The first thing that they want to insure is that if someone does get food poisoning from their product that they can't be nailed in court for some sort of negligence. The expiration date is based on the absolutely WORST possible conditions and then the time is cut in half or more. If they have an expiration date of a year you can probably bet that you can put it out in the sun for that year and still be safe. If on the other hand you store it in a cool, dry amd dark place the usable life will be massively extended.

The Government recently did an in depth study having to do with the REAL shelf life of properly stored drugs as compared to the manufacturer's recommended expiration dates. They found that the drugs would last as long as ten times the recommended lengths of time as the recommended before there was a 10% decrease in potency.

The second factor in the expiration date is that they don't want you to hold onto their products. They want you to throw them away and buy new ones as often as possible. They don't make a lot of effort to be realistic.

The truth is that if something is canned correctly and stored in a cool dry dark place the danger of getting poisoned is extremely minimal. What suffers most is the taste and then some of the nutritional value. If anything starts to ferment and grow in a can it will swell up. NEVER even open a can that has swollen up. If it smells bad throw it away. Take a small taste and swish it around in your mouth. If it tastes sour or bitter spit it out and throw it away. If it looks good, smells good and tastes good then cook it and eat it.

I'm not talking about what you do NOW. Canned food is too cheap to take much of a chance on in normal situations BUT in a TEOTWAWKI situation you can't afford to waste resources that are 99% probably fine.

 

Great example of one way to put back food for the future.

This plus clean water / purified water and you are protected against famine.

 

Two observations on two topics that F22 started with:

First, if the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts (as it did approx 0.5M, 1.3M and 2.1M years ago), it will be a global event on par with extinction of the dinosaurs and most life in North America will end, as well as much life elsewhere on the planet. An eruption of such magnitude will put thousands of times more ash in the atmosphere than the Mount St Helens eruption in 1980, and MSH was measured (via scientific instruments) globally as its ash cloud enveloped the planet in within two weeks (although not thick enough to cause issues like sustained temperature drops). Hardly worth trying to prepare for, however, that doesn't mean that food storage in general is unnecessary. There are other survivable threats, and with almost infinitely higher probabilities of happening than Yellowstone, so save now, and worry about exactly why you need to save later. Even if nothing bad ever happens, I suspect you'll still be eating food in good times.

Second, as I've also recently started down this path (recognizing a need to store food, specific reasons not withstanding) and having an interest in nutritional content, the most discouraging factor I've seen across MREs, canned food, and freeze dried prepared meals (e.g. Mountain House) is high sodium content. I believe that anyone expecting to last a year on these foods will end the year in questionable health. Likewise, prepared meals (MH, Augason, Wise, Chef's Banquet, Patriot, Valley, Emergency Essentials, Thrive, Food Insurance, Honeyville, and on and on) have too many highly processed ingredients and near-zero protein. It's frequently bleached wheat pasta dishes and meat "flavored" sauces, soups, or stews. If you're interested in freeze dried, stick to whole foods, as you can buy every type of whole fruit, vegetable, and meat and then create your own meals. The ideas offered by others here about dried food are great because they are both both cost effective and real food (beans, oats, peas, barley, etc). And even better to can your own, as you know what's in it. For me, time and space point to storing freeze dried, but its been very disappointing seeing how much of what's offered commercially is not fit to be eaten for longer than a weekend camping trip.

 

very disappointing seeing how much of what's offered commercially is not fit to be eaten for longer than a weekend camping trip. I hear you , lots of carbs, little protein , but it is cheap to buy , i have 200lbs of this stuff , hope i never have to use it. but it is better than nothing, also i can augment it with real fruit and veg and wild game and fish .

 

As we have improved in our understanding of genetics one of the things that has popped up is the fact that somewhere about 50,000 years ago something almost wiped out the human species. At that point in time forward all humans were the progeny of no more than 5000 people.

The current most likely theory has to do with a period of volcanism that occured about then. There is some discussion that this was connected to a possible asteroid strike. It seems that when a big rock hits one side of the planet the shock wave passes through our liquid core and causes a massive volcanic eruption on the other side. They now find that after the Dinosaur killer hit in the Yucatan in the Caribbean and there were HUGE lava flows at about the same time in Siberia.

If Yellowstone were to do a total blow there would be no real chance of surviving anywhere within a thousand miles. You would be buried in ash. Then there would be years of darkness and cold followed by acid rain that would strip most of the plant life down to nothing. Long term survival by individuals will be mostly more by luck than planning. There are national bunkers in most nations that will allow the special chosen few to go underground and hopefully insure the survival of the species.

My efforts are towards things that I feel I can probably survive if I am prepared for it and strong. World class extinction events just can't be prepared for by individual people of norman financial means. Some will probably survive but it will be the odd group that is in some special place that might survive.

 

We prepped for survivable events, the uncontrollable events that fall short of being extinction events. Obviously there are going to be events that we simply can't survive, we still intend to try.

 

TexDanm and Ystranc, you both make excellent points that brings us slight off-topic. Prepping is a lifestyle choice just like any other that people make. But it's never a guarantee of success. No different than saving instead of spending, it doesn't prevent you from being hit by a bus before you get the chance to enjoy your reward. But especially shortsighted are the billionaires who buy million dollar bunkers or land in New Zealand. The expectation that they will have time to evacuate to either is really delusional, so at best we can thank them for spending their money and keeping the economy moving in those local areas.

A recent forum held by tech millionaires (I'm not one of them, darn it, so only repeating what was written about it secondhand) to discuss global affairs, investments, and technology eventually got around to coping with SHTF. Apparently the hot topic was how to maintain the loyalty of your workers (none of them will get their own hands dirty killing a chicken or an intruder) when money (and gold!) become worthless in a global collapse. No solution was reached, but it certainly highlights the weakness of thinking that money today will buy survival tomorrow.

 

Prepping, Survival. being self sufficient...whatever you want to call it is a choice. It is a choice that is going to have effects that will affect your entire lifestyle if in no other way than that your priorities in the way you spend money will be effected to a more or lesser extent. I figure that if I took all the money time and effort that I have put into this I could be living in a small mansion and driving a fancy sports car. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm an extreme case. I like my life and my lifestyle. It for sure isn't for everyone...maybe not many even among preppers.

I enjoy my guns, knives, fishing, camping, craft and hobby hand tools the same way Imelda Marco liked her shoes. LOL!!!
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=imelda+marcos+shoes&FORM=HDRSC2

I'm maybe a little excessive but it makes me happy and my wife likes it too. If nothing else when I die someone is going to have a hell of a garage sale.

 

LDS

 

I would opt on the side that Prepping is a life style choice, albeit one that I very much enjoy. There is a comfort level in knowing whenever I go someplace I will be prepared for most eventualities. Except if I have to fly. It is comforting to know that my family will have food, water, shelter, and security even if I am not there. It is comforting to know, and experience when others are panic buying, and wondering what to do, you can remain calm and check a few minor things because you are ready.

TexDanm: I'm not disagreeing, but maybe questioning. Yeah, if we spent the money a different way we could have different stuff, but would we be happier? I really enjoy all of the gear I have amassed. Lord, I know I have never seen a pocket knife I didn't love. I don't think I would want to spend it another way. Yeah, when we are gone they might have a hell of a garage sale, but I also hope that we will leave the next generation, the people we care about the most, that much better prepared. Maybe they will put it all to good use.

O.K. maybe they will pitch all those old Saltines I stored, but the gear won't go bad.

 

Your post, although a year old, has been on my mind, but not to give you the answer you are asking for. When it comes to preparedness and food storage, we are each different. We have different needs, abilities and interests. There is no way any of us can ever give someone the "right" answer to a post like this. There are way too many missing pieces. Even if we knew the OP personally, we would not necessarily have the right answer.

When it comes to building up emergency preps of any sort, we have to know what works for us. When it comes to food, there are many factors:
1. Cooking ability--Some people do not cook, never learned, never developed the skill, or don't like to.
2. Health and allergies--Some people have to be careful about their diet. Maybe they have celiac, diabetes, food intolerances.
3. Budget--Some people have the financial ability to order $1000s of food. Some people may have a $5 a week budget.
4. Likes and dislikes--food preferences--Some people cannot stand the MREs and would not eat them if they were starving. Some people cannot stand beans. Some people are very picky about what they eat and how it is cooked. Store what you eat and eat what you store is very important in what you store. Some people eat a can or box of something, and go to the store and purchase two to start and build their stockpile.

When each of us is working on creating a stockpile of food preps, it is wise to do research about all the options. The internet has many, many examples of blogs, web sites, YouTube videos, food companies that need to be searched out. Make a plan of what you want and how much you need for your situation. A notebook where you make your plan and keep track of purchases and consumption is very helpful. Observe the day to day consumption of food in your family, and make sure you have all the fine nuances of food--spices, condiments, etc.

Set goals of 3 days of food, a week's worth, two weeks, three weeks, a month, two months, on and on. Make shopping lists of what you need when you reset your goals, and watch for sales on items you know you eat.

Many people start out buying rice and beans, and build on that. They will fill the gaps when there is little else, but will get old fast.

 

Many people stock up on large quantities of flour and cornmeal. They will begin to get “old” flavored and will be susceptible to bugs in powdered form. I personally prefer to store grains in whole form to be ground as I would need them. I have a small electric grain mill I bought used on eBay a few years back, and I also have a Lehman’s non-electric grain grinder. If I run low on wheat berries, I can grind rice, pinto beans, oats or corn to make bread.
I also home dehydrate large quantities of vegetables and fruits. They can be ground into a powder and added to soups, breads, or rehydrated into their original form. You can store large quantities in a very small space. A lot of people store huge quantities of cans of store-bought food, which I did in the beginning, but now I prefer to dehydrate and home can food in mason jars. It’s just a matter of personal preference, and as has been suggested above, people should store what they’ll eat.

 

The only way you could really keep flour and cornmeal fresh tasting would be to keep it in a freezer. Maybe some people have flour and cornmeal stored there, but it would take up so much space. With a celiac in my family, wheat berries can be sprouted and eaten that way, as sprouts or added to juices, and like you, rice, beans, oats, and corn can be used to make bread.

 

Good morning F-22,

You're definitely on Roman Numeral I: prepare.

Our colleague TC in NC/ my neighbor...presuming "NC" isn't New Caledonia...introduced an IMPORTANT aspect to your food(s) planning.

Review TC's "Survivable threats...with almost infinity higher probabilities of happening than Yellowstone...

Thus, I recommend you continue your food stockpile efforts - and also - add some types of carry cases, eg duffels, in case of a needed evacuation. That airport at Jackson Hole, Wyoming where the US Central Bankers fly into for their conferences might be closed and you've got to vacate the premises - GOOD - "Get Out Of Dodge" ASAP if not faster.

Let's call this factoring in "mobility".

......

No one's into coffee and honey ?!

 

I have mentioned Honey in several posts. It is a staple of life. I keep it in my BOB, my GHB, all of my food stores, even have a jar on my desk at work. Eat it everyday. The Viking chicken soup. Arguably the best last forever food there is.

 

M101,

Great emphasis on honey.

"Viking chicken soup" is now in my collection of subject-matter terms !

 

I have a question . I have been told corn meal will not store long term because there is a weevil "bug " in the cornmeal even before it is bagged up . Is this true ? What is the shelf life of non frozen cornmeal ?

 

Probably. I am not someone who consumes much cornmeal, so for years, if I bought some and used it, then maybe a month or two later, it would be buggy. I do believe many grains have bugs. The way to deal with cornmeal would be to put it in the oven on a low temperature for a while, before letting it cool and then packaging it in glass jars or some other solid container. I cannot give you specifics about this, but I'll bet if you searched, you would find that somewhere. I know that some things with sharp edges, like cornmeal, cause tiny punctures in mylar. I have had some problems with garbanzos and other things in mylar, so a second container, such as a 5 gallon bucket is added insurance.

 

I have found bugs in my cornmeal. It will also go rancid though that takes much longer.

You can freeze your cornmeal for a week or two to kill the eggs. If you can get the O2 down to 3%, i.e. vacuum pack/ O2 absorbers, the eggs will not hatch. If you can bring the CO2 up to 3% the eggs will not hatch and this might be easier.

Here is what I recommend. Line a five gallon bucket with a mylar bag. Put 3"-4" of dried corn kernels like popcorn in the bottom of the bag. Drop in a small chink of dry ice then top off with more popcorn. Seal the top seam leaving an escape hole for the air. The CO2 is heavier than air so as it sublimates it will lift the air out of the bag. Once the dry ice has sublimated push the bag down tight and finish sealing. Place the top on the bucket. This works well with beans, rice, wheat, etc. If you seal the bag completely before the dry ice fully sublimates you will create a ballon and your mylar can burst.

I have a bean/corn auger as well as a wheat auger for my grain mill.

 

I want some hives. I love bees and as soon as things go down I'm going to hunt down some hives. I've dealt with bees before and have no problem handling them. If I see a swarm I'll go to it and slide my hand into their ball of bees and find the queen and move her someplace that people won't bother them. I did this last year when we were camping on vacation. My Granddaughter just totally freaked and then got interested. I carried her and the swarm out of camp and then shook them off gently into a bush. Not even one of them tried to sting me. We kept about 15 hives on the family farm and I've never used a bee suit to rob the hives. Our bee suit was tight t-shirts, a rubber band around the ankles of our pants then tucked into our boots and a ladies stocking on our head down to our ears.