Canning up the Honeyville bulk food (pics)

[problemchild]

I went back today to HV to pick up some buckets, lids and more food. My wife was pissed I went without her on Friday. I must say she has really picked up the survival bug. She can shoot steel targets at 600 and help me can up food. What a gal.......

Anyways heres some pics of todays work. I canned (buckets) up 325lbs of food. I will also post some handy info the HV store gave me while there. Very nice place with helpful staff.

Eggs


Brown rice


16 bean soup mix


Folding the bag until I can borrow a sealer


Steam Table oats (good for granola and granola bars)


Buttermilk Pancake mix

[problemchild]

Cornmeal


The obligatory dog in the picture picture


What fits in what size bucket


How much of what to buy
Im thinking they mean after hydrated weight on the dehydrated food amount. Otherwise you would need to buy 8,000 cans as it only weighs a little.

[GrizzlyGuy]

Im thinking they mean after hydrated weight on the dehydrated food amount. Otherwise you would need to buy 8,000 cans as it only weighs a little.

I think those are actually the dry weights. They are close to what the Mormons recommend in their Essentials of Home Production and Storage document. The grain and legume weights are also close to the amount that Emergency Essentials sells in their one-year supplies (in superpails).

The numbers might seem high but keep in mind that those are true 1-year supplies for one person at 3000 cal/day. A lot of the 1-year supplies that you see marketed are junk (or at least misleading) because they use a much lower cal/day number. Survival Acres talks about those here:

They average only 1300 calories or less which is really "starvation" level of calories (the "Freedom" is around 1800 calories). At best, they are six month food supplies -- at substantially higher prices then our generous 1 year food supplies.

If someone's idea of survival is ending the year looking like they spent it in a concentration camp, then I guess they are OK. I plan for 2400 cal/day for myself and 2000 cal/day for my wife. Of course I'm assuming that most of our time will be spent sheltering in place and waiting for the short-term crisis to end, vs. working harder in a true TEOTWAWKI scenario like the Mormons plan for.

[Joewy]

There is really something to be said about those psycological foods. I spent a lot of time overseas and you really do miss certain things.
Also look at spices. at least the minimum of oregeno and garlic and lots and lots of salt.

[problemchild]

There is really something to be said about those psycological foods. I spent a lot of time overseas and you really do miss certain things.
Also look at spices. at least the minimum of oregeno and garlic and lots and lots of salt.

I need to stock up on those items. I wanted to spend the bulk of my cash on food to fill your belly.

I think the thing we go through here most are paper towels, toothpaste, soap and shampoo.

[devilinblack]

You can seal the mylar with an iron. What I've been doing is throwing in the proper number of oxygen absorbers then sealing all but a couple inches using a small hobby iron and a 1x2 piece of wood so I have something to iron against. I then use the crevice tool on my canister vac to suck out most of the air and then seal the last bit.

[joe84780]

Other than the LDS canneries, are there any places like Honeyville in NorCal??

[CSACANNONEER]

I've been buying 25lb boxes of granola (rasberry and creme, blueberry and creme, etc.) for 7.99 from a local 97 cent store this last week. Now, I need to figure out a way to repackage them to keep them fresh and protect them from rodents. How are you sealing your buckets?

[problemchild]

I've been buying 25lb boxes of granola (rasberry and creme, blueberry and creme, etc.) for 7.99 from a local 97 cent store this last week. Now, I need to figure out a way to repackage them to keep them fresh and protect them from rodents. How are you sealing your buckets?

The bucket lids are twister lock with a red lock to keep them from untwisting. They also have an O-ring to seal out air. They have a Gen3 lid which pounds on the lip and then the center twists out but they were out of stock on those lids.

[problemchild]

Other than the LDS canneries, are there any places like Honeyville in NorCal??

Get a pick-up truck and drive down. Fill the truck up with food and drive back. Better bring lots of cash as it adds up quick. Two trips to the store and I spent 1k.

[GrizzlyGuy]

Other than the LDS canneries, are there any places like Honeyville in NorCal??

I don't know of any, but fortunately we can get the same types of food delivered to our door from companies like Emergency Essentials, Walton Feed or Survival Acres. Buying bulk food that way is like buying bulk ammo: you have to pay attention to both price and shipping costs. The shipping costs can get high in a hurry.

Survival Acres has some packages that look similar to what PC bought at Honeyville:

1-year Basic Food Supply (2372 cal/day) in Superpails - $1006.71 including shipping

1-year Deluxe Food Supply (same Superpails as above plus 66 #10 cans, 2830 cal/day) - $1674.88 including shipping

The extra 66 #10 cans that you get with the deluxe version are described here. A superpail is the already-completed version of how PC is going to package his food: bucket + mylar bag + oxygen absorbers.

Those are the best deals I've seen for the 1-year units when you take into account calories (some don't provide enough) and shipping costs.

[1 SIG fan]

Ok. Wtf do you do with all that. I don't cook. I can read and follow directions but wold die hungry INSIDE the HV store.

That's why I bought dailybread. However it IS low cal count.

Amy good sites/info/books about what/how to use the bulk food storage?? Thanks

[9-12]

What scenario are you anticipating that you'll need these kinds of rations or that you see the need to prepare for?
Are you monitoring calories, protiens, carb's, vitamins, etc, or just putting together food that will quell your hunger??
Sincere questions...not trying to be negative other than to say you realize these people are making a fortune off you....

[logdon]

This looks like it will work.

[CSACANNONEER]

What scenario are you anticipating that you'll need these kinds of rations or that you see the need to prepare for?
Are you monitoring calories, protiens, carb's, vitamins, etc, or just putting together food that will quell your hunger??
Sincere questions...not trying to be negative other than to say you realize these people are making a fortune off you....

Some people live in areas where there is a very real possibility of being trapped at home for prolonged periods of time just because of weather. Then, factor in other natural disasters and the possibility of human caused problems with distributing supplies to stores, can one ever be completely prepared? Of course, there are also religious reasons and the basic TFH crowd as well. Personally, I try to keep at least a few months worth of food around my home and a few months supply at the family vacation cabin at Tahoe. I don't monitor calories now so, why would I do it with my emergency provisions? For me, it's the same food and I just rotate it.