freeze dried food / long term

[Soundguy]

saw an add for a co that sells large tinned cans of food that are 25ys stable.

looks like the cans are large 5g size, and within those cans are seperate cans and pouches of other, smaller servinf=gs.

storm/y2k/holocost supplies i guess.

anyone ever hear of this co.. or use anything like it?

 

[Phils]

I have NO experience with that company but maybe someone here will explain some of the things I don't understand:

Last night I watched another episode of Doomsday Preppers. I've seen 3 shows. Most people profiled seem to be "a little out there", according to DW and I don't disagree.

Last night's episode showed three rooms stockpiled with enough food to feed "10 people for 4 years". An earlier episode had a segment discussing a young lady in Houston with years worth of food stockpiled, and plans to backpack to Mexico "when the s*** hit the fan". Still another episode described a "prepper" with 3 years worth of food and supplies stockpiled, and a couple of old school busses and 2 pickups at the ready to take some of those supplies to an undisclosed location where "they would be safe".

For the decade DW and I were driving truck cross-country, we carried a large box of freeze-dried food and a small propane stove and utensils, just in case we were stuck in a blizzard for a few days somewhere. We never needed it.

We do live off-grid with our own water and power, and I also have 25lbs each of rice and beans stockpiled. With our normal stores, we could last a few months without finding groceries.

But FOUR YEARS?!?!? Am I under prepared? Or are the people in this show over prepared? If there is no food, no fuel, and no electricity ... will having that large of a supply help your family to survive or just make you a target for those that are starving?

I apologize if this post doesn't address your question but these seem to be scary times, and I keep wondering if I should be investing more in long-term/freeze dried foods? And the answers to your question will be relevent to my question.

Phil

 

[powerpace]

I am knocking the Mormons but they advocate food storage for hard times. How do I know this. My ex-wife became a Mormon and we prepared for the "bad times" according to Morman guidelines.
After about six months of living like a Mormon. No Caffeine, (coffee, soda etc.), I became a heathen in her and the Churches thinking. I would have a soda or coffee while out working. I didn't go to church and I laughed at the "sacred underwear".
End result was a divorce and still store food but not for long term. I buy more food than needed for immediate use and rotate old for new as we consume it.

 

[schoolsout]

Costco was selling food supplies like this (I think they still are, just not at the price they were when they rolled them out).

 

[schoolsout]

Costco - 4,866 Total Servings of Emergency Food Kit By Shelf Reliance® THRIVE?

 

[charlz]

Not sure if it was that exact product but when reading the reviews on something similar they said to look at the calorie content. It might make X meals but they are 'starvation rations' calorie wise and you would need to supplement quite a bit to get a good daily calorie intake. Menu variety is another potential problem, you simply can't/won't eat the same stuff day after day.

We have a fair number of Mormons here and there are stores dedicated to selling long term food supplies. Canning is also popular of course.

 

[charlz]

I have looked at little bit into long term storage food for storm/power outage/etc. where you might have to go a few days or a week without power. Thing is I think we could go at least a week with what we have on hand. Biggest factor would be fuel for the generator to keep the freezer/fridge going until we could eat up what is in there.

 

[charlz]

But FOUR YEARS?!?!? Am I under prepared? Or are the people in this show over prepared?

As someone mentioned in the 'Doomsday Preppers' thread for some of these people 'doomsday' might just be an excuse to hoard. I don't see how they would cycle through the stockpile fast enough to keep it within the expiration dates. A couple of them look like they could go quite a while without any meals at all

 

[dmccarty]

I noticed in the latest Sportsman's Guide catalog they had a large selection of long term storage food items.

Sportsman's Guide - Discount Hunting Gear, Discount Hunting Boots, Discount Shoes, Discount Ammunition, Discount Ammo, Discount Boots, Military Surplus, Outdoor Gear at The Sportsman's Guide

Seems like dried beans, rice, and other grains stored in air locked bags in metal containers would last quite some time. You just would need a manual milling machine for the grains. Stock up on canned fruit, veggies, and meat as well. Just a quick glance says these products are pretty expensive compared to bulk beans, rice, grain and canned goods.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

As someone mentioned in the 'Doomsday Preppers' thread for some of these people 'doomsday' might just be an excuse to hoard. I don't see how they would cycle through the stockpile fast enough to keep it within the expiration dates. A couple of them look like they could go quite a while without any meals at all

Yeppers. For a couple of them, I wonder how long they will survive once they have to do heavy manual labor. I think their hoard of food will be left for someone else to use when they have a heart attack doing manual work.

Later,
Dan

 

[powerpace]

How many of you remember the Civil Defense Shelters. The public ones.
Fallout Shelter Supplies-Food Rations Page
Wiki of course.

When I was in the Fire Department in 1976 there was a fire in an area that stored some of this food and other supplies. I can attest to the bad flavor this survival food had. The carbohydrate candy in the five gallon containers stayed around the FD for about another four years before it was gone. Stored in the shelter was about a hundred shovels. Nice ones.

 

[forgeblast]

Emergency essentials is (IMHO) the best place to shop. The shipping is really reasonable especially for their bigger super pails of food. They also have monthly sales on #10 cans of food. We have bought from them and the food we buy is food we use when camping. Yes it will last for 30 years but we use a lot of it backpacking, (easier to buy in bulk and break it down) and just replace what we use.

 

[charlz]

i think that's what 'rationing is for. IE.. eat a lil less till you figure out where your permanent source of food is coming from. the stored food source is just that... or should be. a temp supply to get you thru till you can make your own food.

lets be realistic. say you have 4 ys worth of what you call starvation rations... for the 1st month or two you are figuring out if this is a permanent disaster or soemthing civilization is gonna bounce back from, and then you go back to work and mcdonalds and walmart opens again... past that.. you know it's time to buckle down and start finding renewable food. that may well mean gardening.. and that like ly means nearly a YEAR before you start getting sufficient food turning over. during that year, you are likely eating 2x your rations..thus at the end of the first 1.5 ys, when you likely have a self sufficient food supply, you have also pretty much depleated your 4yr emergency food store,.. that's a guestament... your mileage may vary during a real disaster

I agree with your assessment. What I think people were mentioning is that for that particular product they were reviewing was that the rations gave you 1200 or less calories per day. However, you would most likely be doing a lot more work, burning more calories etc and your actual need might be more like 3000 calories per day especially in cold weather. Also dieting sucks and that is what you essentially would be doing by cutting your calories way down. So extra discipline would be needed to not eat more than your ration.

I think menu variety might be less of an issue when faced with eating .. (nothing) or eating tinned fish and beans n rice.. again.. for the 3rd straight month..

soundguy

I think you would be surprised. My experience from the military is you get burned out on eating the same foods (MRE's) over and over pretty fast. Guys would pick through their meals and dump the unopened stuff in a pile for others to dig through if they were interested. Sometimes they would skip meals altogether. Carrying a bottle of Tabasco was pretty common and then they started including it in some meals when the newer menu meals came out.

 

[nue2farm]

Freeze dried food will last a longh time. Most if not all backpackers use it all th time, on the trail. Like has been posted, buy in bulk and break it down for use.

 

[Phils]

Emergency essentials is (IMHO) the best place to shop. The shipping is really reasonable especially for their bigger super pails of food. They also have monthly sales on #10 cans of food. We have bought from them and the food we buy is food we use when camping. Yes it will last for 30 years but we use a lot of it backpacking, (easier to buy in bulk and break it down) and just replace what we use.

I Googled "emergency essentials" but only got hits for 'beprepared.com' and other sites, some mentioning the "emergency essentials" as a brand, and comparisons like this:

http://compareyourfoodstorage.com/

Could you elaborate more on your experiences and preferred sites please?

Phil

 

[forgeblast]

Be glad to, bepprepared.com is their site.

YEAR SUPPLY of Grains & Legumes

Is a nice easily stored item, Price wise its very good. I was worried about the shipping but it was not that much I think it was 12.00

I buy a lot of the dehydrated eggs, its nice carrying these and I have a book from the 1920s that has a ton of recipes using it.
We also go with the stews, beef is good, and so is the abc soup.
Fruits are nice the strawberries and blueberries.
Whats I planned for was winter, If something were to happen I would hate to have to find food all winter long.
I think with beprepared(emergency essentials) they have a calculator that lets you put in everything you have stored its a good tool.

 

[Soundguy]

I agree with your assessment. What I think people were mentioning is that for that particular product they were reviewing was that the rations gave you 1200 or less calories per day. However, you would most likely be doing a lot more work, burning more calories etc and your actual need might be more like 3000 calories per day especially in cold weather. Also dieting sucks and that is what you essentially would be doing by cutting your calories way down. So extra discipline would be needed to not eat more than your ration.

yep.. i forsee probably eating 2x daily rations a day when working.. ie.. 2400c.. thus depleting your store 2x as fast. but that's ok.. no need for 4ys.., 1.5 and you SHOULD be up and running.. if not.. it's gonna go from bad to worse..

I think you would be surprised. My experience from the military is you get burned out on eating the same foods (MRE's) over and over pretty fast. Guys would pick through their meals and dump the unopened stuff in a pile for others to dig through if they were interested. Sometimes they would skip meals altogether. Carrying a bottle of Tabasco was pretty common and then they started including it in some meals when the newer menu meals came out.

I hear that quite commonly from my buddies. most of my friends are ex military. the mre swap deal and tobasco sauce is a common story.

On the other hand, I see 2 things. 1, your example is a situation where people have other options., IE.. trade food.

if you are all by your lonesome and have 2ys of tinned fish and beans and rice, you eat that or starve. hunger is a powerfull motivator.

the 2nd issue will depend upon the person. I realize some people simply cannot or will not eat the same food day in day out.. and WILL go hungry to avoid it.

There are others, on the other hand.. like me. who can eat a sparse diet on a long term basis.

when I was recovering from heart problems a year ago. my diet for.. well.. nearly a year consisted of about 10 items... later expanded to about 20 items.. which were more or less variations on common items of the first batch of 10. for 18 months I lived on that sparse diet... still here.. didn't starve or go hungry.. or forget to eat or skip meals. ( ps.. 6m of that time i was on 1300c restriction too )

so it can be done.. if ya want to and can tolerate it..

 

[Phils]

Thanks FORGEBLAST! Only problem I found at that site is that there are too many choices!

The receipe section was especially good... glad you've had good experiences with 'em. We don't backpack but our RV would not only make a good storage place but we'd be able to cycle through some of the food on camping trips.

Phil

 

[dmccarty]

Plastic food grade five gallon buckets are nice but they would not keep out mice and rats so they would have to stored where it was certain there would be no rodents. Otherwise the buckets need to be stored in a metal container.

Asian and Hispanic stores sell large bags of rice that should be somewhat cheaper per pound.

Had to search. Amazon was selling 25 pounds of black beans for $35 while BePrepared was $68 for 41 pounds but included the bucket.

Found another place but they wanted $53 for 25 pounds. I did not check shipping on any of these sites though.

One can live on Red Beans and Rice for a very long time. You might be bored as heck with the food but it would keep you alive.

25 pounds of beans and 25 pounds of rice would feed a family for months and for not much money.

Amazon has 50 pound bags of rice and oat mean for $70 and $65.

Later,
Dan