Posted on 10/24/2009 6:59:56 PM PDT by 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...
probably also the first time that people didn’t store cash.
My cash is in the bank, where its SAFE!
ACORN or the Census takers has the global position coordinates for my front door step, I just know they are coming for my cupboard full of spaghettio’s, and yes that is my Emergency Pantry as of now
Need some more fruit and some vitamin C.
Here are some vendors of large scale bulk foods:
http://www.readymaderesources.com/cart/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=2821
http://www.shelfreliance.com/pages/survival
I would ditch the pastry flour and get more beans instead, I used to read about this stuff and I think they are whole protein as is the peanut butter.
Need yeast to make various breads.
Have plenty of Rice too , it stores well.
True, eight pounds of coffee would barely get me through 5-6 weeks. Good point about the TP. Also need to stock a basic medicine chest and first aid kit.
I think you need to consider what happens in if a nitrogen leak occurs. I believe blending food grade diatomacious earth will protect your food from insects should a seal failure occur.
where do you buy the oxygen absorbers?....hardward store?....I have no idea....a Mormon friend brought me some little ones once but I need more..
Bookmark and BFLR with Mrs. MAG.
Thanks for posting.
What? No Spam?
More coffee and booze needed. Also good for barter.
Don’t forget plenty of ammo. Ideally you should have some of this stuff stored in more than one location. What if you have to evacuate your house?
I hope you have some hardware to help maintain/keep your stash if things get really bad....
I think thats why you should use a mylar bag inside the bucket. In the end a continious maintenance plan needs to be used to keep things fresh and insure spoilage is minimized.
Plan for a certain loss rate and rotate perishables through the storage.
More alchohol.
I have 16 gallons of Vodka, not for us, but for trading.
Also, invest in some deals on loose tobacco. You’d be surprised what people will be willing to trade for a cig.
Oh yeah, and COUGH SYRUP AND FEVER REDUCER!
Think about 15 pounds or so of honey and molasses, too.
You also don't have near enough fruit. I'd look into either canned stuff or freeze dried #10 cans. Fruit isn't just for the vitamins and minerals, there's the fiber.
How you fixed for medical supplies?
A year + ago when Hurricane Ike hit Houston, the electricity grid was shredded. The biggest problems were access to drinking water, and ice to keep food fresh.
The gubmint FEMA brought in water about 5 days after the storm but volunteers in Hoston had to unload it, Homeland Security and FEMA were useless.
Generators use a lot of gasoline, so they are not very practical although we did have one for about 7 days. All together we were out of power nearly 2 weeks.
Water was the key shortage.
Thanks for posting. Bookmarked for later...
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