Posted on 11/13/2012 11:03:44 AM PST by Kartographer
A basic essential to survivalism is having enough food to eat and water to drink. In today’s modern world, we take it for granted that there will always be food on grocery store shelves, and there are many built-in assumptions with that thought process. Here are a few examples of what could disrupt the supply chain of having food readily available at grocery stores (most grocery stores have less than a 1-week supply on hand… even those with more than that will run out quickly during a panic ).
(Excerpt) Read more at daily-survival.blogspot.com ...
Preppers’ PING!!
A classic example of “efficiency is the deadly enemy of robustness.”
IOW, the more efficient your system the less capable it is of handling bumps. The free market encourages constant striving towards the ideal of 100% efficiency.
But of course as we get closer to the ideal we simultaneously become less capable of dealing with interruptions to the free flow of stuff.
Department and discount stores used to have large warehouses around the country filled with stuff ready to be shipped out to the stores. It acted as reserve capacity.
Walmart set the standard by becoming more efficient. Their storage is essentially all in trucks on the road between the supplier and the store. Very few warehouses relative to the volume they do.
Therefore they will run completely out quickly if the flow is interrupted.
Look what is happening right before your eyes and take heed. There’s a Great Storm coming you can feel it.
Listen to what the bible says: A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. NIV Proverbs 22:3
You either prepare and stand on your own beholden to no one or you become dependent on others to provide your basic needs and become thier ‘serf’. Me I don’t want to be beholden to anyone for providing what is needed for me and mine. I certainly don’t want to have to kiss some ‘gubberment’ third class bureaucratic to try and coax some help from them, I don’t want some ‘jack booted’ thug herding me in line and telling me where to stand, sit, eat or sleep. And last but not least I don’t want to be shut up in with a bunch of ‘zombies’ and have to worry about not only trying to get basic necessities but having to fight to keep what I manage to get.
Its your choice you can prep or you can stand around on a bridge waiting for FEMA to bring you a bottle of water, a MRE, a warm banklet and a kiss for your boo-boo and maybe you can even get your picture as you stand there on the national news.
For those who are just starting or are old hands at prepping you may find my Preparedness Manual helpfull. You can download it at:
http://tomeaker.com/kart/Preparedness1j.pdf
NOTE! THIS IS A FREE DOWNLOAD. I DO NOT MAKE ONE CENT OFF MY PREPAREDNESS MANUAL!
For those of you who haven’t started already it’s time to prepare almost past time maybe. You needed to be stocking up on food guns, ammo, basic household supplies like soap, papergoods, cleaning supplies, good sturdy clothes including extra socks, underwear and extra shoes and boots, a extra couple changes of oil and filters for your car, tools, things you buy everyday start buying two and put one up.
As the LDS say “When the emergency is upon us the time for preparedness has past.”
I also like to recomend FReeper’s ChocoChipCookie Blog The Survival Mom (Please Blog Police let this one slide!) Where you can get lots of useful information like:
http://thesurvivalmom.com/2011/11/20/8-morale-boosters-for-any-worst-case-scenario/
http://thesurvivalmom.com/2010/02/02/survival-priorities-the-rule-of-three/
http://thesurvivalmom.com/2010/12/29/normalcy-bias/
And More
“There is no greater disaster than to underestimate danger.
Underestimation can be fatal.”
*
JIT AKA OSWO
(Just In Time, Also Known As: Oh Shucks We’re Out)
Right there is a huge part of why so many freak out during an emergency. IOW, on the average day they would have two cans of beans and call it good. Let's say a quarter of them don't have a manual can opener. Then of those 75% who have the means and sense to open a can, half of them would let their kids die on the spot rather than serve them cold beans out of the can.
Ping
BUMP!
Efficiency is not the killer.
The real problem is the improper “leaning” of inefficient systems.
People draw down inventory, thinking that their ability to plan and their relationships with their suppliers are solid, and THEN they screw themselves.
Logistics efficiency is many, many things working to eliminate waste (material, movement, labor, rework, etc.). To be fair, an efficient system is MORE capable of handling bumps. A thin, strung-out, inefficient supply chain is the problem.
Wal-Mart doesn’t keep unnecessary material within the system. Their cross-dock approach guarantees low material costs, low distribution costs, low carrying costs and high turnover of goods.
You understand how they work, but you take away a very different appreciation. The only person who should be stockpiling (”hoarding”) is the end consumer.
Question. In general, with canned foods stored at room temperature and in good condition, how long can one safely consume the food past the expiration date? Obviously, a seriously dented can or an expanded can would indicate the food is probably unsafe, are there any other signs for canned foods that indicate the food is unsafe for consumption?
You can expect a very long shelf life. Though there will be a loss of some color texture and vitamin contents. Cab food can easily out live you.
From:Canned Food Study One
A Food and Drug Administration Article about a shelf life test that was conducted on 100-year old canned foods that were retrieved from the Steamboat Bertrand can be read at the following link:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070509153848/http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/CONSUMER/CON00043.html
Following is a brief summary of a very small portion of the above article:
“Among the canned food items retrieved from the Bertrand in 1968 were brandied peaches, oysters, plum tomatoes, honey, and mixed vegetables. In 1974, chemists at the National Food Processors Association (NFPA) analyzed the products for bacterial contamination and nutrient value. Although the food had lost its fresh smell and appearance, the NFPA chemists detected no microbial growth and determined that the foods were as safe to eat as they had been when canned more than 100 years earlier. The nutrient values varied depending upon the product and nutrient. NFPA chemists Janet Dudek and Edgar Elkins report that significant amounts of vitamins C and A were lost. But protein levels remained high, and all calcium values ‘were comparable to today’s products.’”
“NFPA chemists also analyzed a 40-year-old can of corn found in the basement of a home in California. Again, the canning process had kept the corn safe from contaminants and from much nutrient loss. In addition, Dudek says, the kernels looked and smelled like recently canned corn.”
“According to a recent study cosponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and NFPA, canned foods provide the same nutritional value as fresh grocery produce and their frozen counterparts when prepared for the table. NFPA researchers compared six vegetables in three forms: home-cooked fresh, warmed canned, and prepared frozen. ‘Levels of 13 minerals, eight vitamins, and fiber in the foods were similar,’ says Dudek. In fact, in some cases the canned product contained high levels of some vitamins that in fresh produce are destroyed by light or exposure to air.”
http://www.grandpappy.info/hshelff.htm
A manual can opener is mandatory for a survival kit. You must have however a pantry of all kinds of canned foods. Soda crackers and peanut butter are pretty good also. Found all this out about 13 years ago stranded in NY with no power for a week.
Great post Kartographer. I just bought around $1000 or so of canned food over the last month with the longest expiration dates. This is very good news for me at least, during a very dark time. Will buy some more in addition to other efforts. Buying the extra vitamins also makes sense, which I have also done.
You all need to prep.
This is no joke, you can all read these theads, like I do, but the time is NOW. You all need to prep, NOW. In a couple of months......
it’ll all be different.
In fact if it is all about food just get as much canned beef, cereals and cheap pasta as you can. You won’t ever store enough wather, so invest into filter system and chemicals (potassium parmanganate)to make any available water safe.
I doubt it. First, if you buy two extra cans every time you go the the store, you have dozens of extra cans at the end of the year. As for your other points, most people do have a manual can opener someplace. If they don't they will find something to open it with (a knife will do) and will eat pretty much anything at some point. Hunger is a great motivator.
Don’t worry about expiration dates on canned food. Those are just put on to keep the gubmint happy. Truth is canned food will last longer than you will. It may lose some flavor and color after a few decades, but will still be edible. They recently found a 6 lb can of beef from before the civil war, opened it up and fed it to test rats. The rats were fine.
That’s not what I said. The author was saying BEFORE he started prepping he would only buy 4 cans. I meant he and most of those “starving” creatures would have on average 2 cans on any given day.
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