Three days' supplies are NOT enough. . . - Page 2

Blackrock · 03-23-2008, 08:43 PM

Your whole survival and preparedness needs to be tailored to your region and needs. For example natural disaster such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes or fire. How willl you survive outdoors in say Michigan in the winter or in my case outdoors in July here in sunny southern Arizona. Food supplys are critical but human needs and comforts rate right up there.

If our infrastructure and Government implode it will be more a case of getting out of Dodge to a safer place and fighting off the Zombies. Thats where firepower and other personal defense issues need be addressed. Once safely situated then the food supply will need to be addressed. Can you load and haul all the food you need for the duration? Maybe best to "Hunker in the bunker" and prepare to repel boarders.

But all said and done it is basically about stabilizing your present condition and providing for your day to day needs.

oldjarhead · 03-23-2008, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iflylow74

Ive read where several of yall mentioned dry rice and beans, does anyone know their shelf life?

As with any dried food, moisture will devastate rice and beans. Once the moisture sets in and allows the mold to grow, you'll be SOL. It's best to repackage these items in smaller airtight packages using food saver machines or even vacuum packing in cans.
Put rice and beans in one-day or two-day packs and then store the sealed packs in an airtight bug proof bucket. This will extend shelf life of dried goods dramatically.
Does anyone know where to get canned bacon or canned salt pork? I've gotten it several years ago but can't seem to locate it now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackrock

Your whole survival and preparedness needs to be tailored to your region and needs. For example natural disaster such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes or fire. How willl you survive outdoors in say Michigan in the winter or in my case outdoors in July here in sunny southern Arizona. Food supplys are critical but human needs and comforts rate right up there.

If our infrastructure and Government implode it will be more a case of getting out of Dodge to a safer place and fighting off the Zombies. Thats where firepower and other personal defense issues need be addressed. Once safely situated then the food supply will need to be addressed. Can you load and haul all the food you need for the duration? Maybe best to "Hunker in the bunker" and prepare to repel boarders.

But all said and done it is basically about stabilizing your present condition and providing for your day to day needs.

You hit the head on the nail !

Cyrano · 03-24-2008, 03:36 PM

A point no one has brought up so far is rodent-proof food storage.

My wife stored a lot of clothes "that will fit me in 5/10/15 pounds" in the storage shed I'd intended as a shop, which she preempted for general storage, in plastic sterilite boxes. When she dieted down (the better part of a year later) she went to get the clothes out to try them on. She was appalled to find mouse nests in some of the boxes.

One year we stored 100 pounds of cracked corn to feed the damned deer we can't shoot because it's a residential area with in an attempt to keep them from eating the shrubs in a big rubbermaid bin. The mice got into that, too. If there is something they're after, plastic won't stop them. They'll just nibble through it.

Canned goods are bulky but rodent-proof. Thinking along these lines, a solution to keeping vermin out of your emergency food might be a new galvanized metal trash can with a tight-fitting metal lid to put the unitized bags of staples in. The bags will keep mold and bugs out of the food, and the can will keep the mice and whatnot out of the bags.

Sportsman's Guide also has some big medical chests with six or eight latches on them that look like they'd take a couple of fifty-pound bags of rice or beans or flour. I think they are either gasketed, or could be made airtight by putting that liquid gasket material you can find at auto parts stores on them. Just a thought.

During World War II, some of the British kreigies who went into the bag at Dunkirk evolved a solution to their problem of keeping the rats out of their Red cross parcels. They cut the ends off their cans and cut them so they could lay the metal into flat sheets. Using the solder from bully beef and condensed milk cans, they would sort of french-seam the flat sheets together and then solder them so they would stay together. When they had sheets of metal big enough, they lined the storeroom used for food parcel storage with them to keep the rodents out. You could do the same thing today. You can get metal sheets left over from fabricating air ducting and screw them together with an overlap to rodent-proof a storeroom. Just put duckboards or something like that down on the floor to walk on, and put up your shelving to store food on. It might be tedious, but it would keep the vermin out.

Humans have been trying to keep the mice and the rats out of our food for thousand of years. So far, the rats and the mice are ahead on points. I did six months in a grainship once. We tried traps, warfarin baits, poison baits, lowering the hatch covers into the harbor with our cargo gear and letting them sit six feet under for 15 minutes to drown the rats living in them, sending the crew ashore and putting a tent over the deck and the superstructure and gassing the whole ship, and anything else we could think of. We never got them all. No one ever does. The best you can do is ratproof small spaces. It's a point to consider when talking storage of large quantities of survival food for bugging in or for long term storage at your bug-out destination.

Big Dog · 03-24-2008, 05:04 PM

Galvanized steel trashcans, with the food bags placed inside. Tractor Supply has the mini-trash cans (about as big as a 5-gallon bucket).

Old school type steel lockers.

Old truckbed toolboxes.

New unused #10 paintcans are available too - the coated-interior type are better for liquids.

Food can be stored dry in Ball Jars or Mason Jars - the type used for canning.

If you can find those huge jars used for Pickled Pigs Feet and other treats - pure gold! They can hold lots of food.

03-24-2008, 05:04 PM	#24
Big Dog Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Tallahassee, Florida Posts: 10,020 Trader Rating: (0)	Galvanized steel trashcans, with the food bags placed inside. Tractor Supply has the mini-trash cans (about as big as a 5-gallon bucket). Old school type steel lockers. Old truckbed toolboxes. New unused #10 paintcans are available too - the coated-interior type are better for liquids. Food can be stored dry in Ball Jars or Mason Jars - the type used for canning. If you can find those huge jars used for Pickled Pigs Feet and other treats - pure gold! They can hold lots of food. __________________ Moderator of: AR15/M16, M14/M1A, New/Beginning Shooters and Militaria/Collectables.

03-23-2008, 08:43 PM	#21
Blackrock Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: SE Arizona's Gila Valley Posts: 198 Trader Rating: (0)	Your whole survival and preparedness needs to be tailored to your region and needs. For example natural disaster such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes or fire. How willl you survive outdoors in say Michigan in the winter or in my case outdoors in July here in sunny southern Arizona. Food supplys are critical but human needs and comforts rate right up there. If our infrastructure and Government implode it will be more a case of getting out of Dodge to a safer place and fighting off the Zombies. Thats where firepower and other personal defense issues need be addressed. Once safely situated then the food supply will need to be addressed. Can you load and haul all the food you need for the duration? Maybe best to "Hunker in the bunker" and prepare to repel boarders. But all said and done it is basically about stabilizing your present condition and providing for your day to day needs.

03-24-2008, 03:36 PM	#23
Cyrano Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: New York Posts: 1,880 Trader Rating: (0)	A point no one has brought up so far is rodent-proof food storage. My wife stored a lot of clothes "that will fit me in 5/10/15 pounds" in the storage shed I'd intended as a shop, which she preempted for general storage, in plastic sterilite boxes. When she dieted down (the better part of a year later) she went to get the clothes out to try them on. She was appalled to find mouse nests in some of the boxes. One year we stored 100 pounds of cracked corn to feed the damned deer we can't shoot because it's a residential area with in an attempt to keep them from eating the shrubs in a big rubbermaid bin. The mice got into that, too. If there is something they're after, plastic won't stop them. They'll just nibble through it. Canned goods are bulky but rodent-proof. Thinking along these lines, a solution to keeping vermin out of your emergency food might be a new galvanized metal trash can with a tight-fitting metal lid to put the unitized bags of staples in. The bags will keep mold and bugs out of the food, and the can will keep the mice and whatnot out of the bags. Sportsman's Guide also has some big medical chests with six or eight latches on them that look like they'd take a couple of fifty-pound bags of rice or beans or flour. I think they are either gasketed, or could be made airtight by putting that liquid gasket material you can find at auto parts stores on them. Just a thought. During World War II, some of the British kreigies who went into the bag at Dunkirk evolved a solution to their problem of keeping the rats out of their Red cross parcels. They cut the ends off their cans and cut them so they could lay the metal into flat sheets. Using the solder from bully beef and condensed milk cans, they would sort of french-seam the flat sheets together and then solder them so they would stay together. When they had sheets of metal big enough, they lined the storeroom used for food parcel storage with them to keep the rodents out. You could do the same thing today. You can get metal sheets left over from fabricating air ducting and screw them together with an overlap to rodent-proof a storeroom. Just put duckboards or something like that down on the floor to walk on, and put up your shelving to store food on. It might be tedious, but it would keep the vermin out. Humans have been trying to keep the mice and the rats out of our food for thousand of years. So far, the rats and the mice are ahead on points. I did six months in a grainship once. We tried traps, warfarin baits, poison baits, lowering the hatch covers into the harbor with our cargo gear and letting them sit six feet under for 15 minutes to drown the rats living in them, sending the crew ashore and putting a tent over the deck and the superstructure and gassing the whole ship, and anything else we could think of. We never got them all. No one ever does. The best you can do is ratproof small spaces. It's a point to consider when talking storage of large quantities of survival food for bugging in or for long term storage at your bug-out destination.