Food Supplies
March 19th, 2008As you know, Becky and I maintain an emergency stockpile of food as a matter of routine. From my personal experience with our food supply preparations, and upon consulting with some close Cryptogon readers (in private) about this matter, it is clear that we are now in a phase where food shortages are present in the marketplace.
I’m not interested in making a bad situation worse, so it’s better not to go into specifics. Hint: Grains. * Woops, it slipped out *
I’ve tried running advertising for long term storable food in the past, and the lack of interest was remarkable. Survival Acres ran paid advertising for a couple of months and I think he got something like two orders via Cryptogon.
I have posted my affiliate link to Nitro-Pak.com, for those of you who may be so inclined now. I’m more of a bulk and buckets kind of guy, but my friends, who are into dehydrated foods for survival prep, all use Nitro-Pak and swear by that company. If you want to do your own grain, legume and pasta storage, which I recommend, Nitro-Pak sells the “good” buckets with the Gamma Seal lids. They’ve got it all. One stop shop.
There are lots of businesses out there who sell this type of stuff. The only reason I went with Nitro-Pak as an affiliate is because I have seen closets, rooms and garages full of food and supplies from them. I don’t need to talk up Nitro-Pak. Their length of time in the business and size speaks volumes. By all means, don’t take my word on any of it. Do your own research.
I’m quite sure that most of you have either done your preparations, or won’t do anything at all. So, I’m not going to preach about this. I haven’t brought it up much, even on Cryptogon, and won’t in the future.
But, just this last time, if there are any of you who have been thinking, “Maybe I should get a few extra things,” consider executing your plan now.
DBA’s on sale this week too.
I agree that a prudent person should have a food stash of food put by. While I don’t mean to “dis” on people who sell food for long-term storage, I don’t see this as the way to go–except maybe in a small way. There is no need to have packages of stuff that will allow you to eat turkey dinners and Swedish meatballs with a side vegetable.
What you need to put away are mostly whole grains and legumes: pinto beans, lima beans, lentils, split peas, garbanzos, black beans, brown rice, wheat berries, barley, oatmeal, oat groats, etc. Dried fruits are essential. You get the picture. For veggies, I’d go with canned–preferably home canned–and stock up on dried seaweed, such as nori and hijiki. And seeds. And be familiar with wild greens.
The list could be MUCH longer, but this stuff is available at your grocery store cheap–and it’s available in bulk at health food stores and Asian markets. You can get whole-kernel dried dent corn at the feed store–and probably a lot of other stuff, depending on what your local feed store stocks. (I’m still trying to figure out if the steel-crimped oats they sell for horses is palatable for human consumption. I’m too embarrassed to ask.)
The local and cheap availability of traditional storable foods like these is probably the reason for Survival Acres and others finding it difficult to interest people.
Lots of the beans and grains–provided you get whole grains–have the additional advantage of being seeds you can plant. When you stock up on bulk grains and legumes, you should be thinking about this.
Maybe for some people this kind of diet is a bit austere, but it’s what you’ll probably be eating after your fancier stored foods are used up–if there really is a serious crisis situation.
This is also a HEALTHFUL diet. You should be eating this way, anyway–or at least easing into such a diet gradually, thus minimizing the shock to your system. And you’ll save money and learn to cook–learning to cook being another essential skill you can’t acquire too soon.
There is a thread over on maret ticker forum where people (including me) have provided long lists of storables. I’ll see if I can find the thread (with me luck!) and post it.
@ jon
I’m watching DBA with glee! I’ll be looking to re enter if daily stochastics and RSI can get extreme.
@ sharon
Like I said, “I’m more of a bulk and buckets kind of guy.”
But the already prepared stuff can offer a stop gap measure for people.
The problem with whole grain foods is that for DIY long-term storage, they must be stored correctly, with desiccants, oxygen absorbers, proper (low) levels of moisture to begin with, or you’re opening a pail of bug-filled, perhaps toxic fungi. Not so yum. So the offerings at Nutri-Pak and Survival Acres are great for those of us who have other things to worry about than fitting in a crash course in safe food storage. It’s convenience and peace of mind. And in a crisis mode when electricity’s down, you don’t want to be facing pails and pails of dried peas or beans that take an hour of boiling at least to become edible.
I just recently purchased many, many kg’s of BD wheat, rye and spelt with some more stuff on order. We’ve been drying figs like mad lately – the tree gave a bumper crop (as figs usually do, I guess), along with carrots and celery, caps & onions (the last 3 make great powder).
Kevin (or anyone else here), do you bother about filling the grain buckets up with nitrogen yourself, or just fill em and put the lids on?
Pookie’s right: Buckets and bulk takes much more effort. Here are some things to read re: doing the storage yourself:
http://www.survivalblog.com/2007/03/letter_re_measuring_volume_for.html
The appropriate Nitro-Pak thingy (rust):
Oxygen Absorbers 500cc Size – 100 Pack
These amazing oversized oxygen absorber packets have totally revolutionized the storage food industry. It used to be that home storage dry pack canning was nearly impossible to do without expensive vacuum packing machines and welder-size bottles of nitrogen to flush the oxygen out. Not anymore! These new U.S. Military-spec packets will remove up to 99.8% of the residual oxygen from sealed containers, leaving an optimal nitrogen atmosphere.
With the oxygen removed, storage foods keep their freshness and nutritional value much, much longer. The remaining in the container is 95% nitrogen which is safe for long term storage.
…
Here’s A Quickie Lesson On Oxygen Absorbers–
Over the last 15 years the advent of oxygen absorbers has brought a revolution to the entire food storage industry. Their use has increased the storage life of foods and has made the job of putting away food for long term storage much simpler. Most Oxygen Absorbers will last about one year after they are manufactured. This is important for you to know so that you do not buy a bunch of oxygen absorbers, pack them away for several years, and expect them to do their thing when you finally open them. Once you open the outer bag holding the absorbers, you can generally leave them out for about 15 to 30 minutes before they reach their minimum absorbing capacity. Because our absorbers have their own moisture built into them, they start absorbing oxygen immediately once opened.
So How Do Oxygen Absorbers Work?
Oxygen absorbers perform their action through a chemical reaction process. They contain iron powder and salt which reacts with the oxygen in the air causing the iron powder to rust. When all the iron powder has oxidized, the oxygen absorbers are “loaded” and the absorbing action stops. Remove the oxygen from an active absorber and the chemical reaction stops (such as resealing in an air tight bag). Put them back in the air and the reaction starts again until the iron is gone.
I store food too, but I have to agree with Pookie. In my younger years when I used to be a vegan, I prepared my own beans. KEE-REIST. You have to soak them overnight, then boil them for hours,etc. What if I’m hungry now? Actually that’s the way my life is. I don’t have the time to cook a meal for myself when caring for Mom. I reach for soups or meals stored in the freezer, or that I’ve canned.
But when the freezer might go on the fritz re a long term emergency (I have one that can run off of a battery), I’ll be reaching for the easiest, least energy consuming prep meal in a minute.
At the very least, you should put aside two or three weeks worth of can food and dry goods (mostly grains) for momentary supply disruptions that often accompany major economic dislocations. If the apocalypse erupts full on right away, I’m ready for my number to be up. 🙂
Whole grains can be kept free of bugs by mixing in a little food-grade diatomaceous earth. It is completely non-toxic to humans. For the short term, you can store grains in the freezer. I have never seen any sign bugs or mold in legumes stored at room temperature. I’ve never seen signs of mold in whole grains. Whole wheat flour should preferably be in the refrigerator or freezer. I am guessing that small amounts of diatomaceous earth could be mixed this, as well.
There is no problem with storage.
If the prospect of cooking without electricity is daunting to you, this means you have no wood stove, Coleman stove, gas grill, charcoal grill, or hibachi, and I guess no fuel of any kind, and no access to firewood.
Getting real here, devices of this kind are essential. Most people have one or more of these. If they don’t, their neighbors do. Most people are also capable of building an outdoor campfire and setting a pot on the fire.
I’m not sure what to say to people who find the prospect of cooking beans overwhelming.
A pot of dry beans was the standard fare of pioneers, forty-niners during the gold rush, and hobos of the 30s. Dry beans got farm families through the winter in the days before refrigeration, and in the days before weekly or even daily trips to the grocery store were feasible.
People have not always had refrigeration and cars. Trips to the general store may have been no more than once a month–and probably less often. When they went to the store, it was to buy baking powder, salt, white flour, white sugar, and yard goods–and not, generally speaking, to buy groceries.
This is how humans have survived for millenia, so there’s nothing new or un-do-able here, no need to re-invent the wheel. No need for elaborate technology, special materials, or for any skills that weren’t familiar to you grandparents.
Wood burning stove! Hallelujah! Just another reason to move out to the rural remote…for one thing, how many cities and suburbs have ordinances against “high carbon footprint” things like wood burning stoves? How about ALL OF THEM?!?
But if carbon footprint stuff is really that important to you, do the PC thing and get yourself a stove or stove top that does electric AND propane (or butane), and, as long as you have lots of stored propane or it is easy to come by, all you have to do when the grid goes out is to light a match when you flick on the burner.
A hint: have a big store of matches!
http://www.somethinghappeninghere.net
BTW: this past winter (I don’t remember what made us do this) we actually did cook a stew on our wood burning stove, with great results!
sharon, the standard life of pioneers did not include decades of elder care, which I assure you can suck up almost your entire day, year after year. When a growing percentage of us middle-aged women have 2 or more parents or in-laws in the over 85 age group and even into their 90s to care for, and you add incontinence to the mix, there’s not a lot of time left for meal preparation. Not one of my elderly parents or in-laws had to do any elder care themselves, let alone years or decades of it — people rarely lived into their 90s in their generation. Not so now, because of the “miracle” of modern medicine. I see it more and more — women my age sinking under the elder care morass. For me at least, the “already prepared stuff” is essential.
Wow! You guys are wierding me out with your objection to cooking! Especially to cooking beans!
In some quarters, a pot of beans is called “Washday Soup.” This is because the prep time–in terms of stuff you must actually DO–approaches zero. Hence, beans were a good choice if you were planning to spend your day doing the family’s wash with a wringer-washer or washboard and hanging it out to dry.
Actual prep time involved in cooking beans: Less than one minute to add water to two cups of beans. Go to bed, as usual. Prep time the following morning will involve bringing the pot to a boil and then turning the heat down to simmer. This should take about five minutes. You may now go back to sleep until dinnertime, if you wish. Total prep time is probably less than six minutes. It takes longer to microwave most stuff.
At some point you will probably want to add salt and vegetables or seasonings to your pot of beans: dried onion, savory, and celery salt, if you don’t feel like chopping onion and celery. This may take as long as two minutes. Add epazote if you would prefer not to become a public menace.
Said pot of beans will probably feed your family for two days–though you may want to bake cornbread to go with it (15 minutes prep time, 20-30 minutes to bake). Or you may want to prepare rice. Use a rice cooker–preferably the kind with a built-in vegetable steamer. Put in the rice and water; put raw vegetables in the basket; turn the thing on. It will switch to “warm” when it’s done. Go about your business and eat whenever you feel like it.
I think the idea that there is a lot of time and trouble involved in this kind of cooking is a result of never having done it. It’s much less trouble, and much less time-consuming than the way most Americans cook now.
There is dried refried bean powder. I view coleman or wood fuel as more difficult to obtain than beans and grain.
I just got a great job, but for lower than average pay in the most expensive city, Santa Barbara, by their fancy shopping street- a total culture clash for me. I’m looking for an apartment and am seeing $1100 studios in someone’s attic that have a hotplate and minifridge w/ no kitchen sink. In the newspaper, they profiled mentally disabled hoarders with stacks of newspapers and video tapes in their small rooms. They definitely have a problem, but picture the same reaction if they stockpiled cans of food. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/03/18/MN5UVJJMU.DTL