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| Food storage plans | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 14 2011, 09:02 AM (552 Views) | |
| Gavinn | Sep 14 2011, 09:02 AM Post #1 |
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That's about all I have at this point...plans. Here's what I'm working with so far:![]() Now, I grill a fair bit. Make the occasional salad. Cook casseroles and hot dishes here and there. Make chili. Or soup. I generally eat good, fresh foods where I can. My initial "get some food put away fast" plan resulted in more or less what you see here. Instant rice mixes, ramen, soups, canned veggies, fruits and meats. Mac & Cheese, instant potato dishes, and so on. Next to none of it is healthy, and certainly all processed to hell and gone with any number of mystery ingredients, but I was aiming to stock up on stuff that I can just cook with water, maybe a bit of butter or oil, and wind up with a decent meal quickly. There's also a pretty good cross section of things that can be combined to create even better meals. Mac & Cheese or Pasta Roni with some canned tuna or salmon. Canned ravioli over a bed of steamed ramen noodles cooked without the seasoning pack. You get the idea. The bottom line is, this is all stuff you can find cheap and its all stuff I can eat and enjoy if I need to. I can add to this storage gradually as I clip coupons or run into sales. Extra can here, extra box there. Few times a month, or as often as necessary, I can fix a meal out of here to rotate out anything getting old. If some disaster hit tomorrow, ignoring other factors I could eat out of this pantry for at least thirty days and be fine. That could be stretched to at least sixty days if I was rationing. I've avoided going forward with long-term emergency food storage so far for a number of reasons. Primarily, I can't picture many scenarios where I'm going to want to stay in the city if a situation has reached the point where I will need food beyond thirty days. I'm hesitant to stockpile here, and then not be able to take it with me. I've decided that my own reasoning isn't really valid and even if its a bit of a risk, there is really no reason not to begin storing and hope to find a suitable bug out location to move my supplies to at a later time. So here's what I'm working with: ![]() Not the best of pictures, but we're looking at a 6 x 5 x 7.5' (L, W, H) closet in my basement. Currently home to empty boxes, spare cable and wire, and some clothes. Going to clear it out, clean it up and use as my food storage area for the time being. I'm shopping for a dehydrator and a vacuum sealer, and have already found a few good spots to pick up mylar bags, o2 absorbers and all that great stuff. All I know is what I've managed to glean from the LDS preparedness manual (probably the best source I've found anywhere), youtube videos, and random websites so it'll be a lot of trial and error. Should be fun to experiment with though! I'd like to try my hand at some jerky and biltong. Drying bulk packages of frozen veggies. Oats, rice, beans and the usual stuff. We'll see what kind of buckets I can put together. Can't forget the salt and other seasonings either! Right now my water storage is limited to a few cases of bottled water I keep around. I plan to extend my capacity with something like http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/CAMP205-1.html for home use. At the first sign of potential trouble, I can fill that up and start the emergency with 100 gallons of safe water. Finding a nice 55 gal drum I could use as a rain catch would be another cheap prep at some point too. |
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| Mommacat | Sep 14 2011, 11:37 AM Post #2 |
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I agree wholeheartedly that the LDS people really have prepping down to a science. They have a calculator you can use to determine what amounts of which food you'd need for a given time period - you just plug in the number of people and age group and it will tell you what you need to have for a healthy diet for everyone. I have much the same dilema as you in making decisions about long term food storage. I live in a townhome and while I do have a garage, I don't think I want to stay in town if things go south. But, I don't have a secure place that is close enough that I could get to if I wasn't able to drive. The thought of storing and prepping and then not being able to get to it when I'd need it most is pretty daunting. Still, I keep plugging away, a bit of this here and there, however, my storage capacity has about maxed out and I need to come up with a better plan. It looks like you've got a pretty good variety of emergency food on hand. I would suggest that you stock up on some powdered juice mixes, though. Read the label and make sure it isn't just high-buck Kool-Aid - you want lots of Vitamin C and potassium. If a person is living on beans and rice, it won't take long for you body to react to a lack of certain necessary vitamins. You mentioned you wanted to make jerky and biltong. Have you ever considered pemican? I'm trying to talk Raven out of some real lard to make some - I have venison in the freezer that I want to use up. It would be a great addition to your daily carry bag - never goes bad, has lots of protein and can keep you going in tough situations, plus a person can survive on a very small amount each day. Something to think about. ![]() Edited by Mommacat, Sep 14 2011, 11:49 AM.
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| Gavinn | Sep 14 2011, 01:00 PM Post #3 |
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I've read a bit about Pemmican. It certainly seems like it would be a fantastic item to store, but I've never really found definitive recipes anywhere like you can find with jerky or biltong. And I've never really understood how you have fat in a dry storage item without having rancidity. Teach me! And good tip on the juice mixes. I have some powdered gatorade concentrate I carry in all my "active" bags to give my water some flavor and electrolytes, but I never even really considered vitamin deficiency. To that end, perhaps stocking up on some specific vitamin supplement pills wouldn't be the worst idea in the world either? Any thoughts on whether I would want a variety of specific vitamin supplements, or more something that provides a dose of several vitamins? Edited by Gavinn, Sep 14 2011, 01:04 PM.
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| Raven | Sep 14 2011, 03:20 PM Post #4 |
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I would start with a good multi-vitamin. That would give you a good overall base. Another point for the powdered drink mixes is that some people, and alot of children, will refuse water if it tastes different or funny to them. Once you have bee without water for some time you just won't be thirsty anymore and that of course is dangerous. Adding the powdered drink mixes to water will help them get over that. I have several boxes on hand for just in case. |
| The truth is not for all men, but only for those that seek it. Ayn Rand | |
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| Mommacat | Sep 15 2011, 03:20 AM Post #5 |
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I agree with Raven, just a good multi-purpose vitamin would be good. There are two downsides to them, though; shelf life and cost. I think in an earier post Raven talked about some that had a longer shelf life. As for the expense - not much a person can do but watch for sales and buy in larger quantities. But, powdered juice mixes would give you the necessary Vitamin C, which in a natural MN diet is hard to get enough of, and most have other added vitamins and minerals. The Gatorade would be great to keep your electolytes in balance and salts at the proper levels. Ah...pemican - I will post my specific instructions on making it later - its actually very easy, and you can tailor it to suit your personal tastes. As for the spoilage - if your meat is absolutely and totally dry, and the fat is only pure fat with no moisture, it really will keep for a very, very long time. I think we often confuse "shortening" with real lard and shortening does go rancid, but it has moisture and other stuff added to keep it soft and with a lower melt point. But, good news, lard is still available in most regular grocery stores and its pretty cheap. But, I'll post the "how to" when I have time either later this evening or tomorrow. |
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| Raven | Sep 16 2011, 01:23 AM Post #6 |
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You can still find the long term storage multi-vitamin at Emergency Essentials but if you do a google search there are other companys that will show up. |
| The truth is not for all men, but only for those that seek it. Ayn Rand | |
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| Mommacat | Sep 16 2011, 08:09 AM Post #7 |
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Gavinn, I told you I'd tell you how to make Pemmican, so here it is. Pemmican Recipe Yield: 3-4 pounds 4 cups dried meat Allow approximately 1 ½ - 2 pounds of lean meat to yield one cup of dried meat. Use any lean red meat (not pork, poultry or bear). Grind raw meat as finely as possible. Spread in thin layers on cookie sheets and dry at 190° for 8-10 hours or until it breaks if bent. While still slightly warm, regrind. You want to end up with very small particles of dry meat. That’s the pre SHTF way to do it. Post SHTF goes like this: Slice raw meat as thinly as possible, lay on clean surface in direct sun, turn meat slices occasionally throughout the day to ensure they dry completely. You can speed up the drying process by hanging the slices over a line. If not completely dry by sundown, bring indoors and put out in the sun again in the morning. If you’re well prepared, you’ll have a hand-crank grinder, if not, a mortar and pestle works, so do two rocks. 2 cups rendered fat (tallow) To render the fat: Cut beef or venison fat into chunks and heat over medium heat in a heavy pan. When the fat melts, strain out the crispy meat chunks (cracklings) and allow to cool slightly. It takes about 1 ½ to 2 pounds of raw fat to get a cup of tallow. There is heated debate about which fat works best (whoda thought?) For pemmican with a years long shelf life, use only beef or venison fat. Pork fat can be used, but it doesn’t keep as long. In my opinion, the pork fat has a better flavor and a couple months is really all the longer I’d expect to try to keep it. 3 cups dried fruit Cranberries or blueberries are the traditional fruits to use, but raisins, apricots, cherries, etc. work well. Grind coarsely for a chewy texture. The fruit isn’t a necessary component of pemmican, but I think its necessary for the body to have the acids and vitamins from the fruit for long term health. Mixing: Pour the tallow over the meat in a large bowl and mix well with hands. Form into balls or cakes and allow to completely cool. A neat trick to form the pemmican into serving size portions is to tightly pack the pemmican into a muffin pan. When the cakes are firm, wrap in grease-proof material for long term storage. The pemmican will get quite hard. Eat it “as is” or it can be added to a little boiling water for a hot meal. That’s the basics. The following are some add-ins for the gourmet survivalist. It works best to mix any add-in with the meat before adding the tallow. Unsalted finely chopped nuts and a couple teaspoons of honey may be added. If you don’t like sweet, fruity things, you can add a bit of salt, a dash of pepper, a shake of garlic or chili powder, any dried herb can be used – lots of room for creativity. Keep in mind that anything you add must be completely dry. Also, some nuts that are high in oils will go rancid, so if adding nuts, plan to use the pemmican within several months. But, the basic recipe for pemmican will keep for longer periods of time. Vary the fat content to accommodate for the seasons. Less for summer, more for winter. In general, the ratio of meat to fat should be about 40% fat in the summer, but up to 50% fat in cold weather, if doing strenuous activity. The early Arctic explorers survived on a one-pound ration of pemmican a day. I adapted this recipe from several sources, mostly from Traditional Native American Recipes, but also from a couple survivalist writers. |
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| Gavinn | Sep 16 2011, 02:24 PM Post #8 |
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Thanks! ![]() Can't wait to try my hand at this. |
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| Grizzly | Sep 16 2011, 10:38 PM Post #9 |
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This almost sounds like making jerky. Do you think that one could add jerky seasonings to it for a better taste? Most of those seasonings are also dry except for the liquid smoke. |
| Our ancestors left Europe to get away from this crap...as seen on a bumpersticker fns | |
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| Mommacat | Sep 17 2011, 08:29 AM Post #10 |
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Yes, Grizzly, it is almost exactly like jerky, in the first steps. The difference is the fat added later that makes it pemmican. Yes, you can add whatever seasonings you prefer. To be perfectly honest, it's "an acquired taste"...meaning it isn't something that a person would want for dinner 5 nights a week. But, the versatility of it is pretty amazing. You can take a chunk of it, add it to some boiling water, add some rice and have a nutritious and pretty tasty hot meal. The American Indians usually just kept it in a leather pouch in a semi-loose form and chewed on chunks of it as they got hungry. Its almost a perfect survival food as it has what the human body needs the most to survive - protein and fat. A person can survive for quite a long time on nothing else. Recipe guidelines: If you want to season the pemmican, add the seasoning when you add the fat, don't season the meat before drying. I have tried it both ways and when I seasoned the meat before drying, for some reason, it lost quite a bit of flavor when I mixed it up. |
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