>>>Del, do you remember the advice you posted about storing and testing your stored goods?<<<
LOL ask me anything about 50 or 60 years ago and I remember the excruciating details.... Ask me about last week - Ummm hold on, Its ummm - wait — Ummm... Then an hour later I remember...
My suggestion to all who stock the superpails and the bulk dry items is to have a drill - practice run - Field Day - exercise - simulation - whatever you want to call it...
For that, take a weekend and on Friday afternoon - shut off your electricity (that big switch at the top - in your breaker panel),turn off your water, heat and gas, unplug your phone, pick up the kids from school and then announce that all normal events for the weekend are cancelled - we are conducting a dry run - we will live this weekend on only our stockpiled food and water, we will be learning to live as if there were an emergency or disaster.
TAKE NOTES. What don’t you have that you needed, what would you have wished to have. Could you find everything?
If your plan is to bug out to another location - do it for a weekend. Grab your ‘to go’ pack and nothing else - and take off.
Remember, you can live ONE weekend without anything like water or food, so don’t panic. That is the one thing that gets most people in trouble - panic!
Oh, no trips to the store are allowed during that weekend!
No stocking up on chips, dip, sodas, candy bars, etc. on the way to pick up the kids either!
For those who don’t want to open a superpail... Remember, they are resealable, you can throw in a half dozen bay leaves and reclose them - besides, do you really - really know what’s inside? Why not use one pail to practice even without the drill - see what recipes work for you, which ones you think are a waste, use that one pail to learn! I’ll bet that if you do, you will not regret it.
I have chosen to live and replenish from my stock. Canned goods of all kinds (home canned and home grown) Some items I buy in bulk and then repackage. Rice, cheese sauce, powdered milk, etc. I have made up my own superpails - not with 100% wheat, but I start with about a dozen bay leaves in the bottom, then the grain, and on top I put repackaged bag of powdered milk, a sealed jar of yeast (1/2 pint) and a bag of salt and a pint jar of crisco - I repackage that into jars but you could buy the small cans. Then I seal the top with the lid. Since I am using my own home grown grain, I treat it to a few days (minimum 24 hurs, 48 better but I usually leaave it 3 or 4 days) in the freezer to kill the bugs and their eggs before I put it into the containers. Since my wheat is usually coming off the middle of June, I start in May and take most of the frozen that has been unused (venison, chicken, vegetables, etc.) and process them in jars. That way, there is no freezer burn to ruin it and it will keep canned for years and years.
Anyway, my superpails are everything but the water for bread making. I don’t have to open a can of yeast, a big salt container, etc.