Pre-Prepared long storage food ideas?

[hotarcher]

I have just started getting my survival stuff together, it started with the guns and then today I just went to lowes and spent over $300 on tools that could be needed from a list that another person posted on here. My next step is getting together a lot of long storage food and I saw somewhere that there was a book of all sorts of different recipes for dry food meals canned in jars and all that was needed was to add water and cook them.
I really like this idea but was going to take a different approach and use my food saver to vacuum seal the meals then I would put those into 5 gallon buckets with air tight lids on them for storage, my question is do any of you know of any long lasting good recipes for meals like this. Buying survival food can be very pricy so I was wanting to just buy bulk of the things I needed to prepare these meals and just spend a couple of weekend with my lady getting them together and storing them away. Any help would be great! Also what are good food items to stock up in bulk?

[Mr. Beretta]

Mountain House gets my vote & my money.

Outstanding product, long shelf life and great taste!

I like these.

http://www.mtnhse.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=0080698&Category_Code=MHEFK

Spend your money wisely. Get the best!

[hotarcher]

These are great, I have had these before.

I'm after something not so pricy.... I would like to stock up on 6 months supply for two so I need a lot of stuff. I'm after ideas on home made recipes from supplies I can easily and affordable get

[DanDaDude102]

Stock up on rice, its cheap and if you store it as you described it will last for a very long time

[Ripon83]

See what Costco can give you....

[IEShooter]

Food storage

Personally, I'm a firm believer in the concept of your long term food storage items being the same foods you eat every day.

It is relatively easy to begin buying extra of all the foods you normally purchase, then just rotate the stock so what's at the back always has the longest expiration date.

For example, we buy most of our groceries at Costco or Sams, so when I buy cases of chicken stock, instead of buying one, I buy three. Same goes for cases of canned tomatoes, corn, peas, mixed veggies, diced chicken, tuna, beef, peanut butter, pasta, mac-n-cheese, etc. These are the things we and the kids normally eat, so in the event of an emergency, I really prefer to maintain a diet that is as close as possible to what I'm used to.

We don't normally eat canned veggies, instead preferring frozen as it simply tastes a lot better. If we lose power due to a major earthquake, my frozen veggies won't be an option, so I'll just substiture canned or freeze dried. Same goes for milk, which is about all my kids drink besides water. Powdered milk is available as well as cheese, butter, etc. Freeze dried corn is darn tasty. I have a #10 can open in the cupboard now and pop the stuff in my mouth like candy.

You can easily store 6 months of food this way and if you rotate as you should, nothing will ever go bad or expire.

I like making my own bread from hard wheat, so I bought a hand grinder and have stocked up on #10 cans of hard red and white wheat from Honeyville Farms as well as dough conditioner, vital wheat gluten, yeast, shortening powder, honey, etc. In an emergency, I can use the propane powered oven in my travel trailer. If this isn't an option for you, a solar oven may be a good choice to build or buy. Honeyville and others sell them, or you can find plans on the internet and do it yourself.

Freeze dried meats and TVP are nice to have as well as they have a shelf life of over 10 years. For most of these meat items, I prefer #10 cans over larger containers. For freeze dried chicken and beef, you need to use it up within 30-45 days of breaking the seal. I can't eat 5 gallons of meat in a month.

Having said that, hard wheat, beans, pasta, oats and similiar items are a good choice for 5 gallon buckets as they have at least a year shelf life after you break the seal. You can also insert more oxygen absorbers and re-seal 5 gallon buckets if needed, unlike #10 cans.

Don't forget salt, sugar, and plenty of spices. Food get's pretty bland without it and large containers of powdered garlic, onion, chili, cumin, pepper, etc., are cheap at Costco.

Most important of course is to ensure you have ready access to potable water. Here in SoCal where we live, that means storing it ourselves. Between the water in my trailer, water heater, and numerous 5 and 1 gallon jugs, I have enough to last us at least 3-4 months, which is the time frame I plan around. Because I had space for it, I just bought a 55 gallon drum from Honeyville yesterday, sanitized it, filled it and it now lives in one of my outdoor sheds. It will serve as additional water in an emergency. Even if I don't need it, my neighbors might. They only cost $45, are designed for water storage with a permanent lid and two screw on, small caps. For another $10, you get a matching hand pump with long hose that fits over one of the caps. I just left it in its plastic sleeve and leaned it up against the drum along with the wrench you use to tighten and remove the caps. Pretty slick.

We have a large pool, and will use that water for washing clothes, showering, and other uses. If you don't have a pool, consider storing yet more water, unless of course you are lucky enough to live near a reliable source such as a large lake, river, etc.

A good water filteration system would be a good idea as well. I bought one of these:

http://www.stpaulmercantile.com/index.php?action=store&item=Aqua210

They use the Doulton filters, which are arguably the best out there. Might be wise to buy a few extra candles (filters) too for spares or to make a smaller, more portable unit should the need arise.

Don't forget your vehicles. Each of mine have a 2-3 day supply of water and emergency food (2000 calorie bars). This will come in handy should you be 50 miles from home when a major quake strikes. You may wind up walking that 50 miles to get home.

I have a CCW, so I'm always armed when away from the house. If this isn't possible or isn't something you're interested in obtaining, it is perfectly legal to carry an unloaded pistol in your vehicle as long as it is properly secured. May just come in handy on that 50 mile walk home. Just be sure to transport it legally both in your vehicle and on your person should the need ever arise.

Don't forget to keep at least a 30 day supply of any medication you or other family members require. I take a pretty conservative approach and have a 90day supply as well as a wide assortment of antibiotics and other necessary first aid items.

You might also consider training in CPR and advanced first aid. Immediately following a major disaster your local hospitals may very well be overfilled, if you can even get to one. I don't want to think about my young children suffering due to being injured because something fell on them during an earthquake, so I went and got trained on advanced first aid. Something to consider. I'm also fortunate in that my neighbors are doctors and a paramedic. Nice to have, but I didn't want to rely on this resource.

Sorry to have written a book, but speaking of which, there are good books out there about how to store food, water and other necessities. You're probably beginning to understand that its not all about guns or food. There are many, many other things to factor in.

Good luck!!!!

BTW, you do have plenty of toilet paper stored, don't you? It'd be a major bummer to run out.

[Ripon83]

Great post IEShooter.....I learned a few things....

By the way have you thought of that chemical treatment for pool water? It's about 15 bucks on eBay and can treat.10,000 gallons to drinkable water....not alkali,l at once but since you'd have such a reservoir. Why not?

[IEShooter]

Pool water

Great post IEShooter.....I learned a few things....

By the way have you thought of that chemical treatment for pool water? It's about 15 bucks on eBay and can treat.10,000 gallons to drinkable water....not alkali,l at once but since you'd have such a reservoir. Why not?

I wasn't aware such a thing existed. I'll have to look in to it. I've done a fair amount of research on drinking pool water. To sum up what I learned, if the choice is to dehydrate and die, or drink pool water, drink the water. Short of that, I was going to avoid it. My kids and I swim in that stuff and even being a salt water system, it still has that chlorine smell to it. Still, I've thought of this and drain and fill the pool every other year. It was last drained just last fall, so it is relatively fresh. Still, I can't help but think of the occasional dead mouse or rat I find floating in it.....

I clicked on my own link earlier today and see that Doulton now sells filters that will also filter out lead, heavy metals, petroleum and other inorganic materials. I wonder if these would help with pool water.