Survival in Place, Stocking an Emergency Pantry

Self | October 24, 2009 | Beancounter

[Bean Counter]

We have had a number of open discussions here at FR for quite some time about the importance of personal emergency preparedness. Many of us have taken an interest in this subject for a long time, and have been working steadfastly toward being prepared for a real emergency, and this evening I thought I would share my progress on one phase of our plan, food.

Anyone who knows anything about preparedness will tell you that the first thing you should do is make a plan that fits your personal needs. A bachelor has much different survival needs than a family of seven. Our personal plan is to prepare to support 4 adults in place for a year. We don't have kids in the family right now, so we have not set aside any children's needs, but your plan may well have a considerable bit.

To date we have spent about $3000 over the course of the past year in stocking our emergency pantry. Much of that money went toward purchase of proper storage containers. Essentially, we ended up with three sizes of food grade white plastic food containers:

6 1/2 Gallons (fits 50 pounds of flour if you pack it)
4 Gallon (fits a 25 pound bag of beans perfectly)
5 Gallon Buckets(a late addition, but good for many things).

We also can a lot of our own vegetables and fruit. I have a whole cupboard of homemade jam, jelly and flavored mustards that don't appear on this list but would last us for years...

All bulk dry goods are stored in these plastic containers, along with a couple of commercial grade oxygen absorber packets. These are widely available and are very inexpensive. I bought 100 for $20. When you put them in a bucket that has beans in it (for example) then seal the top (all of our buckets have "O" ring seals) the absorber draws in all of the oxygen in that contained atmosphere, which leaves mainly nitrogen inside. Nothing we know of can live in a Nitrogen atmosphere, so even if you have a live insect in there someplace, it will not last for long.

Again, this list just covers our food preparations. We have also made arrangements for our medical needs, sanitation, water supply, personal protection, etc.

We have made many improvements to our home over the last 12 years including upgrading and replacing all of the windows and doors, upgrading the insulation in the attic, replacing and upgrading the insulation under the house, new duct work and a modern zoned forced air heating and air conditioning system. As you can see, this is an ongoing effort that has been years in the making.

We also installed a modern 78% efficient woodstove that allows us to heat the house with the heat pump turned off at the breaker. We use the forced air system to circulate the woodstove's heat and keep the house warm all winter for a fraction of the cost of using the heat pump. If we lost power, we would stay nice and warm, and we can cook on the stove to boot.

What follows is my inventory for our "extended pantry". We have our normal household inventory as well that does not appear on this list. The process continues, and there are other additions to come that are not listed here, and I have a perpetual list of things to add that I put up as cash becomes available.

Have a look and let's talk...

[Bean Counter]

"How much square feet of space is needed for all on your list?"

Great question! This goes directly to the "Organize" part of this entire plan.

When we bought this house it came with a dedicated inside pantry across from the laundry room. It had some very well built shelves to the ceiling on one wall, and I added a cabinet with a counter and a set of open cabinets above that, on the far end. I also added lights. The room is 5 x 10 (50 square feet) but the shelves and cabinetry provide at least double that.

The double car garage in our house was sheet-rocked and taped, but never painted. It looked like hell and was dark, and what little shelving there was was made from 2x4's and 1/2" plywood. 2 years ago I cleaned everything out and sprayed the ceiling with texture, and then painted the whole interior. Then, I cleaned the entire floor and painted it with epoxy floor paint that included chips to sprinkle in the wet paint to make it non-slip. I also installed several new flourescent lights.

When that was done, we found some excellent utility cabinets on sale at Lowes. They were closing out that model and were marked down almost half. We bought enough cabinets to install on both sides of the garage, and I put in a raised platform to mount the refrigerator and freezer on, that keeps us from having to bend over to see what's in there. The storage underneath is very useful.

I also installed a 16" wide wire mesh shelf with hangars every 16" above the top of my garage door. It is big enough for a set of plastic containers to fit on it and we use it for off the floor storage of things we don't want buried in the attic.

My daughter was impressed enough to get me a sign last Christmas that reads "Garage Mahal"...here is a pic from a year ago when I was still setting up the opposite side of the garage. These tall cabinets are now my outside pantry.




The white blocks under the legs are for leveling. Here is the other side...



I cannot say for certain how much square footage is used, but I have plenty of room left in the cabinets for the rest of the things we need, and we can still park 2 cars inside the garage. I also use some otherwise unused space in my shop for storage, maybe 50 square feet total, so far.

The bottom line is that we built the capability to store quite a bit of stuff, and we are not impacting our floor space in the house at all. It wasn't hard to do, and we managed to accomplish the improvements out of hide and over a relatively short time.

[WestCoastGal]

Thanks for the ping MamaD - I’m off to work but this will make for good reading later :)

Luv ya!!

[WestCoastGal]

Wow that’ s amazing - great job!

My husband used to do that for us - but he’s passed on and I can’t do it myself - so life has changed a LOT!

[WVKayaker]

I now have 287 vacuum bags of coffee... specifically for barter!

[Bean Counter]

“We have a vacuum packer. In the past I placed an oxygen absorber inside ( to scavenge any remaining 02) then vacuum packed any dry goods, then placed it in a sealed container. Also allowed me to break down bulk goods into more manageable amounts for use.”

Yes! We bought a VB some time ago and it’s one of the most useful tools we have. I re-packed our coffee beans by putting the whole bag into a new vacuum bag along with a fresh O2 absorber, then vacuumed it tight. I can fit four bags to a bucket (and we are adding more coffee very soon...).

The bagger is great for meat because if there is no air, the meat cannot get freezer burn. I’ve used it to vacuum pack some of our emergency medical supplies too.

Another important tool has been our dehydrator. We picked up a reconditioned Excaliber dehydrator for about half price, and it’s simply outstanding for drying food. It makes excellent jerky and does a great job on veggies and fruit.

Water is always an issue, and that too is a subject worthy of it’s own thread. However, I have a pretty good rainwater collection system already set up and I can hold about 200 gallons right now, and I have four more barrels inbound that will be available if needed. Rainwater is fresh water, (as opposed to salt water) and it’s pretty straight forward to filter/boil/sanitize rainwater for drinking. Part of the reason for stocking lots of teabags is because tea is a great way to flavor boiled water which tastes flat and/or funky.

Medical needs and supplies is another subject as well, and I have a separate store for hygiene items, minor medical supplies, our own prescriptions and a good first aid kit that is also part of the 72 Hour evacuation kit.

I just found a great emergency radio too...

http://www.hurricanestore.com/product239.html

“The Kaito Voyager is the ultimate emergency and survival radio. It pulls in 7 bands of radio, including short wave and NOAA weather radio. The crank dynamo and solar panels (with adjustable position) can both charge the internal rechargeable battery for unlimited power. Lighting options include an LED flashlight, 5-LED reading light, and blinking red emergency light. The built-in USB adapter can be used to charge small electronics, including MP3 players and cell phones. In addition, 6 adapters provide connection for many popular cell phones. NOAA Weather Alert signals weather emergencies in the area.”

[WVKayaker]

I’ve got 8 - 5 L. cab. boxes, and 13 cases of bottled reds, as well...

[WVKayaker]

We haven’t touched on the generator to help preserve a freezer full of meat or the upcoming pemmican production season

PROPANE POWER! Two things to consider, and storage is one of them. Secondly, you can get a propane powered fridge/freezer (or just buy an older motor home). Of course, you need to buy LOTS of propane, but it will be there when you need it!

[WVKayaker]

Your car my be converted to run on propane, too (or buy an older one that can be converted)!

[vetvetdoug]

I put 200# of red wheat into eight 5 gal buckets, put oxygen absorbers in them and then froze the buckets for five days. I did this with rice, red beans and navy beans. The Oxygen absorbers were for the removal of oxygen and for insurance the freezing below ten degrees for five days will kill larvae of insects. I have cases of MREs’ stashed and 200# of sugar, molasses, honey stored. TP is stored in every bathroom...cases of it. Water..I have a BIg Berkey filter and have reorganized my rain gutters so they drain into two areas of the South side of my house and can collect them into 55 gallon barrels. I have a 250 gallon diesel tank at the barn, 300 gallon propane tank, and several smaller tanks. Heating have propane and wood. Cooking have propane and wood. I have seeds stored in case of gardening needs. Ammo...out the wazoo.. Alcohol...25 litres of various types. Everclear..two gallons. Veterinary drugs...taken care of. Two 55 gallon barrels of corn with oxygen absorbers in them for use..me or the horse. Have over 300# salt stored in blocks, ice cream or just table like. 2 like chain saws with cases of two stroke oil, cases of bar oil, and 100 gallons of gas in assorted containers. If the house burns I have a weeks supply in the storm cellar. If the house and barn burns I am screwed.

[Titan Magroyne]

Survival pantry thread keeper

[mad_as_he$$]

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2009/10/19/11455256-ap.html

[mad_as_he$$]

Only cats will eat you!

[mad_as_he$$]

two doctors, two pharmacy's - one on cash the other on insurance or a trip to Mexico.

[mad_as_he$$]

I would not recommend ingesting DE for those who have a problem with things moving already.

[hennie pennie]

Hi, Bean Counter!

Thanks for the further explanation about your food stores.

Every once in a while I read an account of someone who has a 100 lb. bag of rice and 50 lbs. of pinto beans — and frequently I wonder if they even know how to cook beans & rice, as most people who are familiar with successfully cooking edible palatable dried beans & legumes would normally also have a stash of many more items.

I think you are doing very well on the food angle, so I encourage you to concentrate more on the toilet paper, kleen-ex & cloth hankies, sets of brand new underwear & socks, high grade winter/survival underwear and if you feel you MUST stock up on more food, think about the “quick” items, too, like raman noodles and ready to eat from the can stews & chili.

There’s also a number of things like cornstarch, plain old cocoa from the baking aisle, lard, honey — these are a few of the items that are said to successfully last for decades.

Anyway, I am glad to read this morning that you USE the items that you’ve stored, and that you are constantly in an ongoing process of rotating them.

Do you have generators all ready to go, if needed, for all your refrigerated & frozen food?

Every since I read that the U.S. Army opened up canned goods from LONG ago, I think the stuff was from the 1970s — and discovered that the canned items were FINE and entirely safe to eat, I’ve concentrated on canned food storage, always making sure to not have too many items from any one manufacturer, nor too many items with the same expiration date - indicating they were all produced at the same time.

[mysterio]

One half gallon of vodka is almost criminally insufficient. Also, I noted that you forgot to add dry Vermouth. I'd like to know how you plan to make a proper martini.

Other than that, the list looks pretty good.

[Titan Magroyne]

>>> “IMO a generator for the fridge is a waste. Spend $1500 to save $250 worth of food. OK for hurricanes but not for survival type situations. Being without electricity sucks in Florida but they just use too much fuel for long term usage.”

Good point. Plus a noisy generator can draw unwelcome attention. There ARE propane-powered refrigerators, tho I can offer no personal experiences with them.

[Titan Magroyne]

Lots of good tips in this thread, but yours solves a mystery for me.

I get peeved with survival advice that includes an admonition to store months of prescription meds “just in case,” with not a hint of how Joe Lawabider is to accomplish this feat without contacting the local drug lord (and hopefully he’s not an undercover cop). Thank you.

[Stonewall Jackson]

Another important barter item recommendation would be to pick up a couple boxes of books of matches. Walmart has a box with 50 books of 20 matches for 77 cents.

[freedommom]

A fresnel lens to cook outdoors using solar energy would be nice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vcG71buXZg&feature=player_embedded