What food should you store?

I have used the Costco mre's at work....most you don't have to cook yo heat....heats up using a chemical reaction....kinda like those hand warmers u can buy...it forest touch your good...costly but they are in my bug out bag...5 each per family mbr..they thought of everything even instant coffee, cookies, jams a very sugary energy bar...tastes bad...but after hiking all day without stopping tastes like God himself gave it to you

 

It's really important to stockpile food in case of emergencies that come without warning. I remember a couple of years ago when, without warning, terrorists stormed into our city and for a week all the grocery stores were closed so we had to rely on whatever food we had at home. Only then did I realize the importance of keeping emergency food! The best ones to stock up on are those that are great sources of energy, and also those that don't get stale right away even after opening. (Like cereal)

 

I think you can store beans, nuts, some dry fruits. You can also store some of the beans powder which can be later used in soup. Corn flour and some other grains powder can be stored. You can't store milk products. Except some cheese variants. Rest of them have limited lifespan. That's for sure you can see.

 

Any kind of seasonal food is a great start. Herbs and vegetables from your garden are a great example for cost-savvy families.

The potential is deep. We've made pancake mix with dehydrated egg, which is perfect for camping trips or long-term storage. Just add water, and you have delicious food.

 

I store a few pantry’s in the basement full of preserved fruits and vegetables from the garden produce or I’ve foraged. Have elk, deer, beef, chicken, grouse, waterfowl and fish all in a freezer with a backup power source for if the power goes out. Keep some MRE’s as backup but prefer having food that I collect yearly.

I also have a food grab bag that consists of different types of jerky, dried fruits and vegetables and variety of seeds I harvest every year. These foods I choose to keep ready to go as they are easy to eat while still moving and no heating is necessary.

 

Just one or two slight issues about beef jerky. While it fulfills a lot of criteria it is hardly a balanced diet in itself. Secondly for your body to process any high protein foods it also needs a disproportionately large amount of fresh water compared to other food groups such as fat, sugar or fibre based carbohydrate...all of which will be necessary for long term survival.

 

"Keep a jar of bouillon cubes with you wherever you go. I've always been able to find some rice."

I dedicate the above to a Battalion Sgt. Major now residing in Valhalla.

 

I store mainly rice and spice.
I also store dried goods to go with the rice but very little meat as that will be the most available food later on.

 

I have a store of rice, pasta and beans. throw an O2 obsorber and it will last a pretty good while. In conjuction with that I also can chicken with broth so I can later make some chicken and noodles or rice or a chciken and bean soup.
just sampled some chicken wings i canned back in 2011 and the where pretty good. Although the bones were a little soft.

 

I agree that if you have the skills meant will be easier to get later on and protein can be gained through other means as well. I stick up on the same as Pigpen lots of rice, pasta and pickled vegetables and canned fruit. If you rotate your stock regularly you can have others as well I have Jared chicken/beef soups at my place that I make fresh batches of every year and eat the oldest batches I actually look for ward to it.

 

Dawn and I have been canning since we moved to Idaho, and have a workable canning setup in our pantry room. If things get difficult in the summer and early fall, of course we'd go into high-rate canning and dehydrating of whatever was in the garden.

But for food storage (and we're working on a year's supply based on suggestion by our LDS friends and neighbors) we have built our storage around
2 50# bags of wheat, one hard red, the other white
one 5-gallon bucket of honey
four 2# cans of peanut butter
1 5-gal bucket of corn meal
1 5-gal bucket (each) of brown rice, pinto beans, navy beans, red lentils, yellow lentils, etc.
4 1-gal cans of powdered whole milk (if you can get it; more nutritious than skim milk)

What we're basing our year's supply on (more or less, customized to our tastes) can be found here.

 

Someone needing to store food on the cheap may want to consider hardtack , its just flour and water cooked to a hard rock like brick , reputed to last for decades . It was used a lot in the American civil war mostly by the southern side , during the American Mexican war and have read where it was used by roman soldiers . Honestly I have never ate any . Have read where it was often soaked in a available beverage or water and may need some busting up with a rock or hammer .It's pretty much guaranteed to taste awful and keep you alive .

 

Now that was some of the best gardening advice I have read. Don't fight a garden battle you can't win. Choose your gardening battles wisely.

 

Keith I watched the video on making ship biscuits / hard tack and now have some cooking on my wood heater . I have lots of 8 year old survival flour I plan to convert to the ship biscuits . It will no doubt take months for me to cook up all my old flour but will cost me nothing .

 

What you are talking about Keith is a difference that people will need to shake in a survival situation. You are growing food. Most people that garden are growing things that they specifically like and for the pleasure of hobby gardening. I am amazed when I see the things that the "survival" seed collections have in them. A lot of times almost half of the seeds that are in the package are low or no calorie vegetables. This are nice if you have plenty to eat already but lettuce and tomatoes just won't keep you alive and fed. A survival garden is about providing you with not just calories today but also an easily stored food for later. The cute but nutritionally deficient vegetables are usually raised in a small second kitchen garden.

Everybody likes wheat but where I live it just won't grow. we grow rice and corn. Millet grows well here too and is generally considered food for livestock but is a good easily grown grain in a lot of places. Honestly a lot of the grain plants that are used for animal feed would be a better crop for food that you can eat. Often the things that people eat that they buy in the stores are there because they ship well or produce faster. Often heritage crops are a lot better tasting and more nutritious plus their seed is genetically stable unlike hybrid plants.

As far as storing food I am a big believer in the basics. Beans, rice, corn, oil and spices will keep me going until I can bring in my first harvest. I also keep a lot of canned hams and Spam and other canned fish and meats that I will use to season the beans and rice meals.