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Long term food storage + Long term water storage + means to cook both...

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Hey y'all. I was wondering, with food prices on the rise, crop plantings being delayed, and talks of a potential food crisis next year, what's the best way to store food and water, and cook it over a long term period?

 

I was wondering if there were any good sources of freeze-dried/MRE type foods that can be held for 10-20 years, as well as potable water storages for the long term as well. Also, I am realizing a heat source would be necessary to cook and sanitize food prior to consumption. I have a propane BBQ and always keep a spare tank on hand. Should I get a Coleman burner with a propane tank attachment? Would that last awhile?

 

What do you guys think when it comes to this stuff, and where would you buy?

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Not sure of your situation (family, kids, income, house or apartment - all which play a part in answering your question), but you might want to check out The Survival Podcast by a guy named Jack Spirko. He has a lot of good ideas on the subjects you are interested in and how to do them wisely without breaking the bank and buying a lot of stuff that will go to waste. All of his shows can be downloaded for free from the website and there are about 30 or so of the latest podcast in the iTunes store. There is also a forum on his site that has a lot of good info on a number of subjects that have to do with self-sustainability and how to become less dependant on "the system". Check it out and let me know what you think.

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Room temperature goes a long way in determining the life of MREs and Freeze Dried products.

 

http://www.mreinfo.com/us/mre/mre-shelf-life.html

 

The freeze dried foods that come in #10 cans (i.e. Mountain House, Thrive, Saratoga) generally have a 30 year shelf life. The ones that come in pouches seem to go for about 5-6 years.

 

It's easy enough to keep a decent amount of freeze dried food on hand if you have the money to buy it and the space to store it.

 

Water storage is a bigger issue IMHO. It's difficult to store large amounts of water, mostly because of the amount of space required. There are a number of different water storage options, but many of them are prohibitively expensive. Here are some examples:

http://www.thereadystore.com/water-storage/water-storage-containers

 

There are also water preservatives you can add to your stored water to make it last longer:

http://www.thereadystore.com/water-storage/water-preserver - never tried it so can't speak to it's effectiveness.

 

As for a heating source, I would look into something that can use natural fuel (branches, twigs, etc) as well as gas options.

 

*NOTE - I am in no way affiliated with readystore - I'm just using them to provide examples.

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Have you thought of maintaining a [small] garden? Invaluable skill, and can save quite a bit of money. Also, if you don't know it already, canning is another really invaluable skill-- and again is far more cost efficient.

 

As for the rest, I would invest in items that maintain water safe for consumption (other then boiling). As for storage of other foods that aren't easily grown, like rice, just make sure its kept in a cool area, off the ground preferably in something air-tight. Keep things like iodized salt around, some kind of cooking oil, and something simple like canned tuna (or something similar if tuna doesn't tickle your fancy). That stuff can last forever, and doesn't taste too bad in a pinch.

 

ETA: Another skill I would recommend is learning how to smoke foods. Don't need one of those fancy smokers either (though it doesn't hurt). Preserves foods pretty well, and don't taste all that bad either.

 

ETA2: I do all of the above, so, I'm not just speaking out of my butt :icon_e_wink:. I'm in the ruralish burbs, but all of the above can be done even with minimal space.

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You can surprisingly freeze A LOT of food, and it will freeze fine for months. 10-20yrs, no way, but for the short term it works.

 

I would suggest buying some sort of propane-ignited stove (Or something bigger if you have a large family) and tons of propane tanks. These are very easy to use, easy to start, and can heat food/thaw food. Right now I have an MSR backpacker stove and many tanks.

 

In terms of food, check out MRE's and backpacker food. I prefer backpacker food, it's surprisingly tasty and super easy to make. Both aren't cheap but some sites you can buy bulk and save money.

 

Edit: Forgot water. I don't have any suggestions for that. What I can advise is to buy a couple water purification pumps (that backpackers use) and lots of filters. These work amazingly well.

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For food, I purchase around $150 worth of Mountain House or Saratoga Farms freeze dried food every 6 months or so for my stockpile. They come in large #10 cans, and have many servings per can. Get a mix of protein, carbs, and veggies. My goal is to build up a 6 mos supply of food for 4 people. This food is shelf stable for well over 20 years if kept below something like 80F.

 

For water, I have a 55 gal poly container ready to be filled, bottle of Polar Pure, and a Lifesaver 4000 water filter for my water plan.

 

For energy, propane and gas in your car will suffice for the short term. For medium term I have a cord of firewood in the wood shed that I could stretch to get me through a winter.

 

Emergency stores and stockpiles will only get you so far, as in "over the hump" in the chronology of most disaster scenarios. To plan for long term 12mos+ , it can get pretty complicated as you would have to have a sustainable system and resources for food,water, energy, and protection. Maybe something that can be done in a rural area, but not so much in a NJ suburb.

 

Not sure of your goals, but my plan isn't designed to hedge against food prices on the rise, more of a SHTF zombie/natural disaster hedge. If you are just financially concerned with food prices, I'd look into investments that would pay out in the case of rising food prices and shortages.

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My living situation:

 

-Condominium in Morristown, I've got a garage and balcony. Not much room to grow food here (though I did sign up to get a plot at the Community Gardens next year). I live with my brother who is a doctor and works at the local hospital.

 

-Goal: As of now, a 1 month supply of food/water that I can tap after exhausting my more perishable supplies. I will expand it yearly, ideally reaching a 6 month food store. But 3 months should suffice.

 

I have to check where Morristown gets it water supply from. If it's fed from the highlands, then pressure shouldn't be an issue, and then it's more of a matter of ensuring sensitization.

 

I'm also looking to join this:

http://www.growitgreenmorristown.org/Grow_it_Green_Morristown/Welcome.html

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Devs,

Good to hear you went ahead and are going to try the garden. Great experience. You would also be auprised as the amount of yield you can get from container gardens... two large pots, one with tomatoes and peppers, one with leafy vegetables, flowe box or rail box with carrots etc.... it would be more then enough for two single guys and would get you started.

 

If you have room in garage for a chest freezer... does not need to be a huge one. You can get them from Sears Scratch and dent places for about $200 or less. Add one deer.... 4 months protein for two people. Another idea is 10lb bags of rice avail at any asian market. Store in 5 gallon buckets from Lowes.... total cost about $10 for a month worth of rice. Rice will stay good about one year in this fashion.

 

Do the same with wheat... learn how to make bread... so easy it will make you laugh.

Great info here....http://www.survivalistboards.com/

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The community garden is a great start. Between now and then, look into dehydrating and canning, assuming you will be growing more that you can consume before it spoils. If the community garden people let you raise chickens there, that would be a nice thing as well. Meat or eggs or both are always a good thing. Gurilla gardening might also be a possibility depending on the open public land that you have around you. Just a thought.

 

Also, if your balcony get sun, you can look into container gardening or even balcony auqaponics (a combo of hydroponics and aquaculture). There are people that have set up systems on their balconies that have had good success with them. Seach youtube.

 

If six months supply is your goal, I would probably stay away from MREs and massive amounts of freeze dried stuff. Work on the priciple of "Eat what you store and store what you eat." The idea being, find what you eat that can be stored for that long, gradualy work you way up to a 6 month supply (a good method is copy canning - when you go to the store because you need a can of soup, buy two. When you eat one, go to the store and buy another two cans. When you want soup again, eat the second can that you bought on your first trip to the store and then repeat). This way, you are rotating your stock as well as increasing your supplies and are not ending up with stuff that is 5 yrs old and no go. Rice, beans, and pasta are good long term storage items. Rice and beans - make sure you know how to cook them and have recipes that you like. Confort foods make bad situations not as bad.

 

Water - I would definately go with a fitration unit. Might not be bad to have a couple of cases of water around for immediate need situations.

 

Cooking - once again depends. If it is a cost of food thing - your stove/oven would be fine. Gan stove usually still work even if the power is out, you just have to light them yourself. With electric stoves, propane is good, but not a great long term solution for your situation. If the SHTF, are you going to be staying in the condo or do you have a bug out location in mind? If you do, I would make sure it has the means of getting through the 6 months your food will last, be that with propane, wood oven, etc.

 

Hope this helps. Once again, lots of info on the website I mentioned earlier.

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Best method for storing food for 10+ years is cans there have been cans of food found from WW2 and were still good for consumption. Here is a snip of a story on canned food:

 

Sir William Edward Parry made two arctic expeditions to the Northwest Passage in the 1820's and took canned provisions on his journeys. One four-pound tin of roasted veal, carried on both trips but never opened, was kept as an artifact of the expedition in a museum until it was opened in 1938. The contents, then over one hundred years old, were chemically analyzed and found to have kept most of their nutrients and to be in fairly perfect condition. The veal was fed to a cat, who had no complaints whatsoever.

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.

 

I have to check where Morristown gets it water supply from. If it's fed from the highlands, then pressure shouldn't be an issue, and then it's more of a matter of ensuring sensitization.

 

Mo town gets it's water from Southeast Morris County Utilities Authority. A combination of wells and reservoirs. Pressure is typically developed by them pumping water into water towers or water tanks on top of hills that are at a higher elevation than your house.

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My prep has just started so here what I got so far:

 

4 gal water bottles from Sams...no deposit 4.00 each..I pick 2 every trip.

So far I have 10 bbq propane bottles (moving garage sales are great because the moving companies dont allow them to transport)

Propane cooking center with coleman dual fuel as back up...gas will be easier to get in SHTF then propane.

 

its a start...

 

 

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We had a conversation similar to this last year I believe?

 

Some points I would make are a home garden is a great renewable way of harvesting food. If you combine dehydration with that

it can really pay off for saving you money on emergency food. Second point is to watch the calorie counts on freeze dried meals

like Mountain House. These are great for short term survival but not long term. The Beef Stew #10 Can for example only gives you

210 calories per serving. So 3 servings a day of that will not even give you 1000 calories a day which is considered to be the bare

minimum needed by the human body to function. The last point I would raise is, unless you live in the desert, there is no need to store

water. You have tons of water around you in NJ/PA/NY etc. You just need a way to filter/sterilize it. If you want to buy plastic drums to

fill once you think you might need it... ok.

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