Soundguy
Old Timer
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2002
- Messages
- 52,238
- Location
- Central florida
- Tractor
- RK 55HC,ym1700, NH7610S, Ford 8N, 2N, NAA, 660, 850 x2, 541, 950, 941D, 951, 2000, 3000, 4000, 4600, 5000, 740, IH 'C' 'H', CUB, John Deere 'B', allis 'G', case VAC
Doesn't have to be EOTWAWKI events, or nuke war or global pandemic preps.. could be as simple as your yearly storm supplies in case a hurricane or tornado hits and leaves you without power for 3 weeks, or living out of a tent, / no food / fuel infrstructure for a few weeks. For instance, florida saw this in 2004/2005 hurricane season. in some areas 3 weeks say no utility repair.. lucky places got utilities back first week, etc. In either cases, with no power, no fuel was able to be pumped.. so people had to plan trips. after 3 days most places had no regular non perishables like canned food and water, and after day 1.5 fresh stff was gone ( using my local for an example ).
here are my views.
I've looked at the mountain house and wise type foods as well as MRE's, plus the 'camp food' bags you see in some stores.
IMHO.. the camp/wise/mountain house stuff is way overpriced looking at dollars per calorie, and the taste is marginal at best. A group of friends and myself actually bought some of each as tests. even brand new.. flavor is sub-par what you find for regular generic foods on the shelf ( mac n cheese and a soup was tested .. both were way lower on taste than the most generic cheap brand we could find at a discount food seller ). As a side note.. i can only imagine what that tastes like in 25 years.
On another note.. most of those long term storage foods are not ready to eat.. they require water and cooking or at least heating.
For short term problems, those may not , to me anyway, be the most ergonomic choices.
Here's some of the things mme and my group does. we don't consider ourselves prepers.. but rather.. just 'well prepaired, or even more prepaired than not'
canned milk. cheap and shelf stable for years. if you look around you can find cans that are marked for 2-3 years,a nd even then, it is a best by, not an expire on date.. meaning that 2-3 years could in a pinch stretch to 5. I prefer the evap, vs condensed, which i use less. I know there are some ultra pasturized whole milks.. but hose usually have shorter lives,a dn are cardboard packed. i much prefer metal canned for durability.
Again, we have tested this.. cooking is fine, eating cerial, fine, though different flavor than initially expected. I rarely keep any whole milk in the huyse, usually just some skim.. but i keep the condensed or evap for cooping.. way easier when you only need a cup or 2 a week.
Powdered milk does have it's uses, I guess if prepairing for more of long term, though again.. for the occasional need of milk in cooking, powdered milk is an option, as well as powdered eggs. You have to get used to powdered eggs.. if eting them straight. if cooking, no problem. For straight, it's a toss up of pickled over powdered, if your storage plans are less than 2 years.
If you have to have it, there is even shelf stable butter in a jar, ( clarified ). not my bag.. but I think my wife would require butter during the apocalypse, so ..
Easy to find vac packed crackers.. but for a while, I didn't find a bread .. but eventurally did. over in many supermarkets near the baked beans you can find canned bread. it is a wheat bread with raisins and molassis usually, though I have found a more 'yellow' bread. The test can we picked up was dated for 3 years, best by.. t hat was promising. Taste? about what you would expect from a heavy breakfast type bread. dark, slightly moist, tight grain, lightly sweetened, and raisins. It will deffinately be the bread choice in my short to long term survival food plan.
Tinned meats are a no brainer, and you have your choice from spams to hams to chicken..
even that shelf stable foil wrapped cheese stuff. and heck.. you can get canned pourable cheese-stuff if you needed it. might not sound super yummy, but after setting in a tent in your backyard for the 2nd week, some pasta softened and warmed over a camp stove with a can of liquicheese poured in, will be a bettter hot meal than some might get.
Ov course one could rattle off 100 pages of preps.. but I'll end with one more.
My emergency clothes i always have in my truck, they are packed in heavy freezer ziplock bags, compressed and vacumed flat before sealing to take up less space. After all, it may be a hurricane that your disaster is ( instead of a zombie apocalypse ), and your room full of clothes might be soaked due to having no roof.
You'd be surprised how a pair of dry socks feel after walking around working all day. Dry clothes are good for moral too.
Lets hear your ideas. remember.. this doesn't have to be your bomb shelter 10 year survival after ISIS invades stuff. This can be as simple as your 'storm' plan for a few days.
thanks for sharing.
here are my views.
I've looked at the mountain house and wise type foods as well as MRE's, plus the 'camp food' bags you see in some stores.
IMHO.. the camp/wise/mountain house stuff is way overpriced looking at dollars per calorie, and the taste is marginal at best. A group of friends and myself actually bought some of each as tests. even brand new.. flavor is sub-par what you find for regular generic foods on the shelf ( mac n cheese and a soup was tested .. both were way lower on taste than the most generic cheap brand we could find at a discount food seller ). As a side note.. i can only imagine what that tastes like in 25 years.
On another note.. most of those long term storage foods are not ready to eat.. they require water and cooking or at least heating.
For short term problems, those may not , to me anyway, be the most ergonomic choices.
Here's some of the things mme and my group does. we don't consider ourselves prepers.. but rather.. just 'well prepaired, or even more prepaired than not'
canned milk. cheap and shelf stable for years. if you look around you can find cans that are marked for 2-3 years,a nd even then, it is a best by, not an expire on date.. meaning that 2-3 years could in a pinch stretch to 5. I prefer the evap, vs condensed, which i use less. I know there are some ultra pasturized whole milks.. but hose usually have shorter lives,a dn are cardboard packed. i much prefer metal canned for durability.
Again, we have tested this.. cooking is fine, eating cerial, fine, though different flavor than initially expected. I rarely keep any whole milk in the huyse, usually just some skim.. but i keep the condensed or evap for cooping.. way easier when you only need a cup or 2 a week.
Powdered milk does have it's uses, I guess if prepairing for more of long term, though again.. for the occasional need of milk in cooking, powdered milk is an option, as well as powdered eggs. You have to get used to powdered eggs.. if eting them straight. if cooking, no problem. For straight, it's a toss up of pickled over powdered, if your storage plans are less than 2 years.
If you have to have it, there is even shelf stable butter in a jar, ( clarified ). not my bag.. but I think my wife would require butter during the apocalypse, so ..
Easy to find vac packed crackers.. but for a while, I didn't find a bread .. but eventurally did. over in many supermarkets near the baked beans you can find canned bread. it is a wheat bread with raisins and molassis usually, though I have found a more 'yellow' bread. The test can we picked up was dated for 3 years, best by.. t hat was promising. Taste? about what you would expect from a heavy breakfast type bread. dark, slightly moist, tight grain, lightly sweetened, and raisins. It will deffinately be the bread choice in my short to long term survival food plan.
Tinned meats are a no brainer, and you have your choice from spams to hams to chicken..
even that shelf stable foil wrapped cheese stuff. and heck.. you can get canned pourable cheese-stuff if you needed it. might not sound super yummy, but after setting in a tent in your backyard for the 2nd week, some pasta softened and warmed over a camp stove with a can of liquicheese poured in, will be a bettter hot meal than some might get.
Ov course one could rattle off 100 pages of preps.. but I'll end with one more.
My emergency clothes i always have in my truck, they are packed in heavy freezer ziplock bags, compressed and vacumed flat before sealing to take up less space. After all, it may be a hurricane that your disaster is ( instead of a zombie apocalypse ), and your room full of clothes might be soaked due to having no roof.
You'd be surprised how a pair of dry socks feel after walking around working all day. Dry clothes are good for moral too.
Lets hear your ideas. remember.. this doesn't have to be your bomb shelter 10 year survival after ISIS invades stuff. This can be as simple as your 'storm' plan for a few days.
thanks for sharing.