5 Easy Ways to Start Your Food Storage

The amount of man-made occurrences and natural disasters continues to climb. It's during these times that electricity, gas and water supplies aren't functioning. There are also emergency situations where you may be quarantined to your home, or even evacuated from it. Either way, you probably won't have access to groceries because most stores will be closed. So, what will you do? How will you feed your family?

5 Different Ways to Go About Building Your Food Storage

The best way to ensure that you're able to feed your family when a disaster strikes is by being prepared with a food storage plan. Wondering exactly how to get started? Here are five different ways to build your food storage without breaking your bank:

Buy in Bulk
 

As you know, anything you buy in bulk will get you more for your dollar. Buying non-perishables and other foods in bulk allows you to pay the lowest prices possible, per item. If you do choose to go this route, be sure to check the expiration dates of your products. The last thing you want is to have a need for your emergency food storage just to find out everything has spoiled or turned rotten.
 

                   Buy a Little at a Time
 

In today's economy, it may put a dent in your finances to buy large quantities of food at one time. This is especially true with food storage, as these are foods you won't be eating until a future date. If you're on a strict budget, a good way to build up your food storage is to buy a little bit at a time. Each time you go grocery shopping; simply add a few items that will go directly into your emergency food supply. In time, it will build up to include the amount of products needed for you and your family's emergency crisis.
 

                    Sales & Coupons
 

Are you a coupon-clipper or sales-watcher? If so, this is another cost-efficient way to start your food supply. Let's say you see a 2-for-1 coupon or a sale on a food item you generally buy. Simply add one to your pantry, and the other to your food storage. Keep following this procedure on a regular basis and you'll soon have the food supply you need.
 

                    Clean Your Cabinets
 

Many people don't even think of this great idea. You'd be amazed at some of the items in your pantry and kitchen cabinets that would make great additions to your emergency food supply. Go through them today! If you have two containers of salt, add one to your storage. Do you see 12 boxes of mac n' cheese. At least six of those can be stored away for an emergency. Continue this process until you've gone through all of the duplicate food items in your kitchen.
 

                     Freeze Dried Foods
 

These foods are one of the best investments you can make towards your emergency preparedness plans. Freeze dried food is prepared before being flash frozen. That means that they retain their quality, freshness, look and great taste. The foods also last more than 25 years, giving your family decades of security.
 

Author Bio

This content was prepared by Dirk Puckett. Daily Bread is an industry leader in long-term food storage plans. Ready to begin putting your food storage plan together? Start here and place your order today.

 

Be aware. Be informed. Be prepared.

Riverwalker

 

5 Essentials for Your 72 Hour Kit

5 Essentials for Your 72 Hour Survival Kit

Catastrophes always strike without warning. When they do, they hinder the services of local government agencies and community emergency crews. Their equipment, communications, buildings, and personnel will all be affected, making them basically immobile. If this happens, there will be no one to respond to your emergency calls in a timely fashion. This could be a very overwhelming situation for you, unless you're prepared.

5 Essentials Every Prepper's 72 Hour Kit Must Have

Experts on emergency preparedness warn that everyone should be prepared for self-sufficient survival for no less than three days after a catastrophe. That means that you need to have the emergency supplies you need to survive for 72 hours. Many recommend that you keep a 72 hour kit in your home, your office and your car. Here are five basic essentials that every prepper should have in a 72 hour survival kit:

1) 3-Day Supply of Water

·         A 1-day supply is 1 gallon of water, per day = 3 gallons for one person for 3 days

·         The human body can only go only so many days without water before suffering from dehydration. During major emergencies, local water services may become contaminated, or simply may not be working at all. It's vital to your survival that you have enough clean drinking water to last until these local services are restored.

·         Experts recommend such a large amount of water per day because you'll also need clean water for more than just drinking. Your water supply will be there when you need to bathes, wash dishes or clothes, brush your teeth, and other hygienic purposes.

2) Food Storage Supply for 3 Days

·         Should contain at least 9 meals per person (3 meals per day)

·         Being prepared with emergency food storage will really help to ease your stress during a crisis situation. Remember that your local stores will have suffered the crisis with you. So, they will probably be closed, along with all your other local businesses. Also, credit card processors and ATM machines may also be down. That means you'll have no way of going out to buy food during your emergency situation. Be sure you have enough food stored to feed yourself until things get back to normal.

·         Your food storage should be made up of mostly non-perishable foods. These types of products have longer shelf lives than fresh or frozen foods. That way, when you it’s time to eat your emergency food, they're still good for consumption. For good ideas for your 72 hour food storage plan, look into buying canned food, dehydrated food and/or freeze-dried food.

3) Basic First Aid Kit

The following items are recommended by the US Department of Health and Human Services to be included in your basic first aid kit:

·         Antibiotic Ointment

·         Hydrogen Peroxide

·         Antiseptic Wipes

·         Gauze and Adhesive Tape

·         Safety Pins

·         Tweezers

·         Instant-activating cold packs (disposable)

·         Sharp Scissors – should have rounded tips

·         Bandages – assorted shapes and sizes

4) Battery-Powered Flashlight

Electrical services will probably be non-operational. So, be sure that your flashlight is battery-operated and pack extra batteries.

5) Battery-Operated Radio

·         There will probably be no power in your local area after the disaster strikes. Make sure your radio is battery-powered and be sure you have extra batteries for your radio.

·         During a man-made or natural disaster, television services may be out. The radio will be your only form of communication with the outside world. You'll need your radio to stay tuned for important emergency updates like more upcoming disasters, emergency shelters, evacuations, etc...

Author Bio

This content was prepared by Dirk Puckett. Daily Bread is an industry leader in long-term food storage plans. Ready to begin putting your food storage plan together? Start here and place your order today.

 

Be aware. Be informed. Be prepared.

Riverwalker

RW Attends the Ready, Set, Prep Summit in Irving, Texas

I recently had a chance to attend The Ready, Set, Prep Summit in Irving, Texas on March 20-21, 2013 which was hosted by Food Insurance™. I had a chance to network with a number of people in the preparedness community from around the country. I also had the chance to network with and meet a number of people whom I knew only by their online presence.  It was a very informative preparedness summit.

Here’s the list of attendees at the Summit:

Food Storage And Survival

Barbara Salsbury

Nautical Prepper
 Survival And Prosperity

Tactical Intelligence

Backdoor Survival

Jibe Media

Prepper Podcast Radio Network

Rankitecture

Stealth Survival

Survival Common Sense

Off Grid Survival

Survival Joe

Practical Preppers

The Doomsday Moose

Simply Canning

Waging War On Debt

Food Insurance™

Common Sense Preparedness

There were a number of very informative speakers with several new ideas for being prepared that I will cover in later posts on TPN or on my main site at Stealth Survival. You may want to check out the sites of the others in attendance. They all have valuable information that will help you be better prepared.

The Summit ended with an appearance by the attendees on the Glen Beck Show as part of his live studio audience. I also like to give a big Texas thanks to our host Food Insurance™.

Be aware. Be informed. Be prepared.

Riverwalker

Frugal Prepping Tip - Increasing the Shelf Life of Fruits and Vegetables

Most new style refrigerators have what is known as a crisper drawer. This is designed to help keep your fruits and vegetables longer before they go bad. Many older style refrigerators don’t have this feature but the same effect can be accomplished with a very simple item. Simply place one or more dry sponges in your crisper or vegetable drawer of your refrigerator and your fruit and vegetables will last a lot longer. Simply replace the sponge(s) every few days with a dry one. The sponge(s) will absorb the excess moisture helping your fruits and vegetables to last longer because of the decreased moisture content. You can even use this method if you have the newer style refrigerator with a crisper drawer to add more control over moisture content in your refrigerator.

Be aware. Be informed. Be prepared.

Riverwalker

Prepping Skills - How to Build Pallets

If you would like to know how to build some pallets for storage of your food or gear items, there is a great post on this at Getting Started In Emergency Preparedness.

You can read the post here:

http://gsiep.blogspot.com/2010/06/building-pallets.html

Be aware. Be informed. Be prepared.

Riverwalker

Becoming A Texan Prepper - Part Three - Short Term Food Storage

Ladies and Gentlemen, forget about running into the woods to hunt, trap, or fish for food for you and your family during a disaster because every other Texas Non-Prepper is thinking the same thing. Don’t believe me, go deer hunting on opening day. Everybody and their brother and sister are out. By the end of the day, every deer in the woods are scared and will be gone to another state. During good times, coming home without a deer is a few jokes and a beer or two. During bad times, you and your family may go hungry or starve.

So what’s a Texan Prepper to do?

Store What You Eat and Eat What You Store.

Short Term Food Storage

For a short-term emergency, buying more of the food that you normally eat is the best way to prepare. Now this food should be boxed food such as macaroni & cheese and crackers, and canned food such as fruits, soups, vegetables and meats.

While you are making a list of the canned and boxed food you and your family will eat, I want you to think about how you are going to cook this food? Are you going to heat the food? Do you need water to prepare the food? How are you going to clean up afterwards?

For a short 3-day emergency, paper plates and napkins, plastic utensils and cups, and other picnic supplies might be a good idea. Have enough for each person to have a clean set of utensils for each meal, this includes plates. To save on cups, write the person's name on the cup and have everyone reuse their cup. Make sure to have extra cups because kids and some adults seem to always throw their cups away.

If you are going to need water to prepare the food, you will need to add to your water supplies. An example: Mac & Cheese takes 6 cups of water, according to the directions, to make. That is 6 more cups of potable water you will need to store. If you are going to wash the plates and utensils, you will need even more potable water.

You can probably get away with eating directly out of the can/box for three days, but warm meals will be needed during the winter.

There are many ways of heating your food. If you have barbecued, cooked over a fire, or have a wood stove, you can heat your emergency food for eating. Remember, you will need fuel to last during the emergency you are planning for.

Charcoal must be kept dry, same with wood. With wood, you will also need kindling. Propane lasts as long as the container, but you will need a propane stove or grill. Liquid fuels, such as Coleman gas, are flammable. Store your gas and liquid fuels away from the house. Lastly, remember the matches.

I put my matches, about 2500 strike-on-the-box matches, in a small 30-caliber ammo can. This protects the matches from humidity, and if they ignite the ammo can keeps the fire contained.

Now cooking inside the house can be dangerous. Don't ever use a charcoal stove inside the house or an enclosed building or tent. The burning charcoal produces carbon monoxide (CO). This stuff is deadly.

Don't let the list of things keep you from preparing for a short-term emergency because you probably already have all the needed stuff, except for the extra food.

Preparing to have food for a longer emergency, two to four weeks, is a matter of storing more canned, bottled, and boxed food, but you can't put this amount of food in a box and forget it. You will need to start rotating your food.

There are a few ways of rotating your storage food. One method is to buy all the food at once and put it on your pantry shelves. When you need something, like a can of pears, you go to the store and buy a can of pears. Go to the pantry, take a can of pears off the shelf, and put the can that you bought in the back. This insures you always have fresh canned food, if there is such a thing as fresh canned food.

This method insures that you have food now; additionally, this method also insures that you have food that you eat, but it has at least one problem. Most people don't have $500 to immediately drop on food plus their normal food bill.

A variation of the above method is to buy one or two extra of the canned and boxed foods you normally eat every time you go to the store. Put the extra food on the shelf and rotate as mentioned.

Another method of rotating your food is to build special shelves. The shelves are a set of ramps. As a can is removed, all of the cans immediately roll one spot down the ramps. If your grocery store has the new Campbell's soup displays, open up the display and observe. Some refrigerators have soda can dispensers with the ramps. Just use a can, then buy another can and add to the top of the ramp as needed.

This method is OK, but you have to know how many cans a set of ramps hold, and it wastes a little space. Each set of cans needs its own supports for the ramp, more money and more complicated to build.

To save money, I watch for sales and stock up then, and I buy store brand products instead of the major name brands. Be careful, some store brands taste slightly different from the national brands of food.

Some people will tell you to buy your food in bulk at the warehouse store, I usually don't recommend this because you have to pay extra money up front for membership; the sizes of cans could be too big, wasting food; and you and your family might not like the food.

One thing you may wish to avoid in your food storage are MREs. Meal Ready to Eat are specialized meals developed for the military. They have greatly improved since the meals first came out; however, you have to like them. If you are in the military or know some one the military, they will tell you MREs can suck. Plus, at about the same price as two cans of fruit, 2 cans of vegetables, three cans of tuna, and a bottle of water, you get one MRE. MREs are expensive but they do offer convenience and portability in an emergency.

If you have decided to store food for only a couple of weeks, stop here and read the first four links. I invite you to continue reading even if you are only preparing for a short-term emergency.

Links:

Be Prepared with a Three Day Emergency Food Supply:

http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/9006.htm

Food and Water in an Emergency by the American Red Cross:

http://www.redcross.org/images/pdfs/preparedness/a5055.pdf

Keeping Food Safe During an Emergency:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/keeping_food_safe_during_an_emergency/index.asp

Seven Mistakes of Food Storage by Vicki Tate:

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/tate55.html

Someone You Know

(http://www.gsiep.blogspot.com)

Informational Resources for Texas Preppers

Someone You Know over at Getting Started in Emergency Preparedness has put together a number of informational resources that are available to Texas Preppers. Take the time to see if any of these great links may be of help to you and your family in being better prepared and if you get a chance visit Someone You Know for more great information at:

http://gsiep.blogspot.com/

Here are the links:

Hey Texas Preppers,

There are a lot of great publications, paid for by your taxes, from the state's extension service. These booklets offer a wide range of information that Texas Preppers could use to be better prepared for the tough times, today and tomorrow.

Cooking

Fast Food With Slow Cookers

http://fcs.tamu.edu/food_and_nutrition/nutrifacts/issue24.pdf

Altering Recipes for Good Health

http://fcs.tamu.edu/food_and_nutrition/pdf/alteringrecipes.pdf

Money

Managing Money in Tough Times

http://fcs.tamu.edu/money/your_money/managing-money-in-tough-times.php

Investing for Your Future

http://fcs.tamu.edu/money/your_money/investing_for_your_future.php

Water

The Texas Manual on Rainwater Harvesting, 3rd Edition

http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/publications/reports/RainwaterHarvestingManual_3rdedition.pdf

Texas Water Resources Education

http://texaswater.tamu.edu/

Drinking Water Treatment

http://texaswater.tamu.edu/groundwater.drinkingwater.html

Rainwater Harvesting

http://texaswater.tamu.edu/conservation.rainwater.html

Rainwater Harvesting

http://rainwaterharvesting.tamu.edu/

In-Home Use

http://rainwaterharvesting.tamu.edu/inhome.html

Harvesting, Storing, and Treating Rainwater for Domestic Indoor Use

http://rainwaterharvesting.tamu.edu/drinking/gi-366_2021994.pdf

Other Publications You Might be Interested In Having

USDA Home Canning

USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, 2009 revision

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html

Beans

Cooking Dry Beans from Scratch CAN be Quick!

http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/dry-beans.pdf

Cooking with Dry Beans

http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/ciq_dry_beans.htm

Food Storage

Food Storage Cooking School “Use It or Lose It!”

http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/FN_503.pdf

Food Storage in the Home

http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/FN_502.pdf

Cooking with Food Storage Ingredients

http://extension.usu.edu/cache/files/uploads/Cooking%20with%20Food%20Storage%20Ingredients%206-07.pdf

Cooking with Food Storage Ingredients: Dry Beans

http://extension.usu.edu/duchesne/files/uploads/FCS/Cooking%20with%20Food%20Storage/dry%20beans_plus.pdf

Eating Well Made Easy

http://extension.usu.edu/htm/publications/by=category/category=42

** For this page, you need to click on the individual links to get to the .pdf files for each section of the manual.

Rainwater Harvesting Systems for Montana

http://water.montana.edu/pdfs/mt9707.pdf

** I added this one because it shows a pretty good roof washer.

Sincerely,

Someone You Know

from

Getting Started In Emergency Preparedness (http://gsiep.blogspot.com/)

Special thanks to Someone You Know for putting this information together.

Be aware. Be informed. Be prepared.

Riverwalker

Free Food Storage Inventory Spreadsheet

I am making a copy of a free food storage inventory spreadsheet available at Stealth Survival to any prepper networks who feel this might be of value to their members. You can request your copy by leaving a comment with an e-mail link. You can read more about this free spreadsheet here:

Stealth Survival Food Inventory Report - Free Food Storage Inventory Spreadsheet

Be aware. Be informed. Be prepared.

Riverwalker

New Food Storage Link

This is Deborah from the Texas Hill Country, one of the Texas Preppers members. I have some info that members might be interested in knowing:

Sharon Astyk of Causabon's Book [http://sharonastyk.com/] - author and prepper - is starting a weekly series of posts to assist folks in creating a long-term food pantry.

She writes:

"I got a great idea from one of my food storage students, by way ofher LDS church. She told me that each month or week at her church,they hand out cards that encourages people to focus on one area offood storage, and one or two other issues - including suggestions for where to get things at reasonable prices. One month might focus on protein sources and flashlights, another on sweeteners and blankets."

Check out the rest of her post at

http://sharonastyk.com/2008/09/12/food-storage-quickie-a-new-feature/

.. This week's purchase suggestions: pasta, popcorn and matches.

Be aware. Be informed. Be prepared.

Deborah from the Texas Hill Country

Storage Recipes - Canning Butter

CANNING BUTTER

Jars of Canned Butter & Hamburger Rocks.

Now you can purchase canned butter from The Internet Grocer http://www.internet-grocer.net/butter.htm or make it yourself using the directions below.

1. Use any butter that is on sale. Lesser quality butter requires more shaking (see #5 below), but the results are the same as with the expensive brands.

2. Heat pint jars in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes, without rings or seals. One pound of butter slightly more than fills one pint jar, so if you melt 11 pounds of butter, heat 12 pint jars. A roasting pan works well for holding the pint jars while in the oven.
3. While the jars are heating, melt butter slowly until it comes to a slow boil. Using a large spatula, stir the bottom of the pot often to keep the butter from scorching. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes at least: a good simmer time will lessen the amount of shaking required (see #5 below). Place the lids in a small pot and bring to a boil, leaving the lids in simmering water until needed.

4. Stirring the melted butter from the bottom to the top with a soup ladle or small pot with a handle, pour the melted butter carefully into heated jars through a canning jar funnel. Leave 3/4" of head space in the jar, which allows room for the shaking process.

5. Carefully wipe off the top of the jars, then get a hot lid from the simmering water, add the lid and ring and tighten securely. Lids will seal as they cool. Once a few lids "ping," shake while the jars are still warm, but cool enough to handle easily, because the butter will separate and become foamy on top and white on the bottom. In a few minutes, shake again, and repeat until the butter retains the same consistency throughout the jar.

6. At this point, while still slightly warm, put the jars into a refrigerator. While cooling and hardening, shake again, and the melted butter will then look like butter and become firm. This final shaking is very important! Check every 5 minutes and give the jars a little shake until they are hardened in the jar! Leave in the refrigerator for an hour.

7. Canned butter should store for 3 years or longer on a cool, dark shelf. [It does last a long time. We have just used up the last of the butter we canned in 1999, and it was fine after 5 years..] Canned butter does not "melt" again when opened, so it does not need to be refrigerated upon opening, provided it is used within a reasonable length of time.
A lovely glow seems to emanate from every jar. You will also be glowing with grateful satisfaction while placing this "sunshine in a jar" on your pantry shelves.

We have canned over 75 pints of butter in the past year. Miles loves it and will open a jar when I'm not looking! I buy butter on sale, then keep it frozen until I have enough for canning 2 or 3 batches of a dozen jars each.

Source: http://www.endtimesreport.com/canning_butter.html

Belwether Notes:

The most difficult part of the whole process is coming up with the necessary extra funds to purchase the 11#'s of butter all at one time. I already had the jars. I used "Land-O-Lakes" unsalted.

Keep the temperature as low as possible yet let it simmer so as not to scorch the butter.

Shake, Shake, Shake and Shake some more - Looks good and tastes just fine.


Take Care - Belwether