Keep your emergency food stored properly.
I read a heartbreaking news story recently out of Seattle, Washington. It seems that middle school students had collected 200 pounds of food that they were going to distribute to needy families in the area for the holidays. But a broken water pipe at the school destroyed it all.
Fortunately, one of the local television stations rallied its viewers to donate cash and food to replace the items. But the incident was a vivid reminder of the importance of properly storing food, especially food being stockpiled for an emergency.
Below are my top 10 food storage mistakes that people tend to make. If you can avoid these errors, your emergency food supply should remain in good shape.
1) Ignoring the importance of nutrition in the foods that are stored. This happens more often than one might think. Sometimes people are so concerned about the volume of food they store that they forget about vitamin and mineral content.
2) Using sacks or other containers that are not airtight. This is wrong for a variety of reasons. Air and moisture will greatly decrease the shelf life of stored food. In addition, containers that are not airtight increase the odds of insects or a critter getting into the food.
3) Failing to keep food containers in a cool, dry place. Heat and moisture are two of the chief enemies of stored food.
4) Failing to keep food containers out of the light. It’s best to go to the dark side when it comes to storing food. Light can deplete the vitamin content of food.
5) Storing too many items that need refrigeration. It’s very likely that a crisis will include the loss of power, which could mean that refrigerated items will spoil quickly.
6) Failing to include enough of a variety of different foods. After a couple of days of eating the exact same thing, people want some variety.
7) Failing to maintain a good balance in the foods that are stored. Make sure that the various food items provide a variety of different vitamins and minerals.
8) Failing to include at least a small percentage of “comfort” foods. In addition to satisfying a sweet tooth, comfort foods will be a big help psychologically for individuals and families in a crisis.
9) Failing to check expiration dates and rotate stored foods. In each container, organize food by expiration date. When an item’s expiration date is approaching, eat that food – or donate it to a shelter – and replace it with newer food.
10) Storing all of the food in only one location. This is the classic case of putting all of one’s eggs in one basket. If a home is destroyed in a disaster, residents will be glad that they kept food and water at a secondary location.
Do you have any food storage thoughts you’d like to share with our readers? We’d really appreciate hearing from you about this subject.
Good idea on storing some of one’s preps AWAY from one’s home, but WHERE? Fed government has executive orders in place whereby they can come and take even the contents of mini-storage units! Google Rex 84 and subsequent “emergency plans”. For those of us who don’t have ‘awake’ friends and family, this poses a serious issue. Also, burying foods presents its own issues – and assumes one has access to a suitable ‘burial site’.
We were without electricity for three days because of a really bad ice storm. I cooked in the chafing dish/pan. The fuel will burn for up to six hours, has no smell or smoke. Believe me you can boil water in it.
Two years ago this past Thanksgiving I bought large bags of almonds, cashews,pistachios, peanuts and pecans. I put two cups of nuts into my food saver bags and shrunk wrapped them. I recently opened them and except for the peanuts they tasted as good as the day I bought them. The peanuts had a slightly rancid smell but did not taste rancid. I don’t know how old they were at the time of purchase.
I also shrink wrap a variety of dried beans, rice, cereals and a variety of candies, marshmallows, etc.
I put the powdered milk, black pepper gravy mix, etc into glass canning jars. I pack them pressed down to get all the air out (a gravy ladle works great to press the air out) fill the jars to about 1/2 inch from top add a oxygen absorber and seal tight.
The prepackaged (in foil/mylar bags) I used a sterilized razor blade to cut a small slit towards the top of the bag, inserted a oxygen absorber, gently squeezed out as much air as possible and sealed with duct tape.
in crisis shortage of food find a birch tree and cut off
some of the bark and make birch tea. birch tree is the
one with white trunk .
I’m not talking about natural disaster but man-made ones Like F.e.m.a. and the Brownshirt over stepping their authority.
Consider burying your food and weapons in an unmarked area that is unlikely to be disturbed like in a field with a rock outcropping that would deter development. In and emergency others may attack and raid your house and that would not be conducive to well being.
Just a thought. De-hydrated meat and veggies, fruits last a very long time if sealed in an airtight bag. and you may “re-hydrate” the meats and veggies when you are ready to eat it. De-Hydrated foods are VERY good for you AND have a higher vitamin and mineral count.
And don’t forget to re-hydrate those foods with CLEAN water, either boiled, filtered or otherwise rendered safe. You’re more likely to develop some really bad — perhaps fatal — diseased from water than from food you have stored.
I need to know how long my home canned foods are still safe to eat and also groceries in cans jugs or bags and boxes and also how long my frozen food will be safe if there are no outages or other disasters going on?
If you keep your canned goods in stable temperatures, preferably cool, those “Exp” dates can stretch a lot, probably for years. You might lose some flavor, but it still should be safe and nutritious.
Same with prescription or OTC medicines — those dates are for WORST conditions. Some meds, like insulin & other injectables, do degrade & don’t store well, but most are good years beyond that date as long as you protect them from heat or temperature fluctuations, and keep them away from light. I wrap all my “prepper” meds in tinfoil, label & date the foil, and keep them in a sock drawer, in a cool bedroom, for insulation. Best to rotate them judiciously, like your food stocks, with newer product as you use the older ones.
How is a person supposed to get an extended supply of prescription meds? I can only get a months supply of my presc. meds.
You can get extra but you have to pay full price for it which is no good either. Try ordering the generic form from a Canadian or Israeli company. Get a new Rx and send a copy of it to the int’l companies and the original to your own.
After twenty years I threw out my grape juice and tomato juice. It was still good. But I figured if I hadn’t used them in twenty years it was time to throw them out.
Food keeps a lot long in glass than it does in metal or plastic containers.
my question is ..What is the highest temp can i store my seeds and foods in my storage vault ? Thank you ..Jerry
While moisture is the biggest threat to long-term seed storage, high heat can damage the infant root parts and your seeds won’t germinate. The exact temperature where there is issues varies by species. They all really like below 40 degrees. The food is more tolerant. However, any warmer than 80 degrees starts to work against the food and break down the nutritional integrity at a faster rate. Flavor and texture would start to degrade if it gets hot enough to begin to cook the food inside the packaging.
I know it isn’t a necessity , however we started storing sweets. Things like chocolate syrup, hot fudge caramel sauce, and things used in baking. It’s funny I can go without sweet things. Until I am told I can’t have it. Han of course I feel like I have to have it.
Regarding the vitamins content in foods, the best guarantee of getting them intact into your body is to take supplements (as easy-to-chew tablets, NOT as GELL CAPSULES) which have been prepared (NOT FORMULATED BY A HUMAN…what do these scientists think? that they are God, or Mother Nature?) from a natural source and “cold processed” (i.e. not subjected to vitamin destroying heat) so as to preserve their energetic (life-sustaining vibratory—frequency) quality. (Einstein’s E=Mc2 revelation…mass is energy. And Quantum Physics concepts) Vitamin “pills” should never be swallowed, they should be chewed well. The reason is that the body needs to “recognize” them via your mouth and then your brain’s Hypothalamus Gland. Vitamin tablets should always be stored in dark BROWN glass bottles or plastic bottles.
I am Dr Pieter Dahler, DDS, MD, ND(hon Prof), PhD
This advice is so flaky that I SERIOUSLY doubt the poster’s claimed credentials
Vitamins are, of course, essential, and if you’re not carefully storing YEARS worth of them, you have a huge hole in your preparation for disaster. But you are fine with regular multivitamins, no matter what this guy claims. His weird claims about “frequency” should give you a clue that he’s deep into the wacko homeopathy/naturopathy nonsense.
Go buy One-a-Day, or any decent btand, preferably when they’re on sale, wrap the bottles in tinfoil to protect additionally against temperature variations & moisture, and then keep them in a sock drawer for even more insulation against heat & cold.
This same storage technique should be used for all prescription meds, OTC meds, aspirin, creams & ointments.
OH MY! IF EVERYONE COULD BE AS SMART AS YOU!
LIKE TAKING A ONE-A-DAY VITAMINS THAT HAVE A COATING AND WILL PASS RIGHT THROUGH YOU, UNDISSOLVED SO UNABSORBED.
THANK YOU DR. DAHLER FOR YOUR COMMENTS
I was really impressed with the food I received from Food4Patriots. How do I place additional orders?
Aside from that, a big issue is how one can prepare the food that is stored once tshtf. Do you have the materials needed to cook in a survival setting? Do you have the equipment and materials to adequately clean your utensils and keep them sanitized? The last thing you want is “the runs” on top of a survival setting. That kind of thing kills.
Everyone should be familiar with alternative cooking methods — and not just cooking on your fireplace, which is extremely wasteful, hot as Hades in the summertime, and creates way too much of a smoke signature, letting everyone know you’re there — and that you have food.
Google up “rocket stove” on Youtube, especially those made out of stacked-up bricks. They cost almost nothing, store anywhere, and can heat (or boil) water in a matter of minutes, using just a few twigs & wood scraps (or leaves, or coal). Build one and use it a coupe of times so you’re familiar with it.
Rocket stoves are OK outside, but inside you should use something like an alcohol stove, made from a couple of aluminum or steel cans & drugstore alcohol (or HEET, ehich is better). Google up on Youtube, using ALCOHOL CAN STOVE or similar. Lots & lots of instructions available.
You can also cook or heat water over a kerosene lamp or a decent-sized candle. Slower, but can be done indoors.
Rather than buying commercial candles, you should look into Crisco candles, made from the cooking product. Stick a wick (or several) into a can of Crisco & it will burn for many days. With several wicks it should make a useful indoor cooking tool Google CRISCO CANDLE, esp. on Youtube.