Posted on 10/15/2012 6:56:41 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
One of the cornerstones of preparedness is storing food. No one argues the point of whether food is important. Maybe an argument can be found in where food is placed in the hierarchy of prepping needs, but no one will say that it does not have a place. What I have found, though, is that not too many discussions occur about where these rations will be stored.
It seems as though it is always assumed that every prepper has an extra room in the house to fill with shelves that can be neatly stacked with cans and boxes and labeled by category or a basement to do the same. I know that I, for one, have not always had these options available to me. Whether you live in a large house, a small house, an apartment or a dorm room, the need for stored food doesn’t change, resulting in the need for places to store foods wherever you may live.
Some of the places that storage food may be stored regardless of the type of dwelling you live in include:
Under the bed: There is a fair amount of space under a bed which can be used for storing food instead of lost TV remotes or slippers. What makes the space under the bed even easier to use for storage is some of the specially manufactured containers that specifically fit the dimensions of the underside of the bed. These containers slide in and out easily from under the bed and make it easy to organize your food storage. The flexibility of these containers would also allow for storage foods to easily be loaded up and taken with you in the event that an evacuation were necessary. A good substitute for these containers would be shallow cardboard boxes.
Under the coffee table: The shelf under a coffee table provides additional space for storing food. This can be a great option for someone who lives in a smaller living space like a loft. Obviously, this could be an eyesore in a main living area but can easily be disguised by covering the table with a tablecloth.
Under an end table: Storing food under an end table is essentially the same as a coffee table but on a smaller scale. This can be a useful tactic in the most size-restrictive spaces like dorm rooms or military barracks.
Make your own table: This is perhaps the perfect option for those who buy storage foods in bulk. It also happens to be the one non-standard food-storage option that I have heard of the most. Foods that are in boxes are especially well-suited for this storage idea. Make a table out of food storage by stacking two boxes of food on top of each other, centering a 2-by-2 piece of plywood on top of the boxes and cover with a tablecloth.
On the closet floor: You know that space on the floor of your closet? Yep. That space below your clothes that doesn’t really seem to be good for anything except for losing an occasional shoe. It can also be an ideal storage area. This area may be particularly ideal for storing long-term foods in No. 10 cans that you may get from companies like Mountain House.
On a closet shelf: The shelf in the top part of a bedroom closet is not always used. If there is open space or junk sitting on your closet shelf, it is space that most likely is being wasted. If shelf space is chosen to store food, always make sure that the shelf can support the weight of the items that are being stored on it. This is especially important to keep in mind when storing canned goods on shelving. Because of weight concerns, the top shelf of your closet might best serve as a storage area for foods such as pasta, instant potatoes, ramen noodles and other lightweight boxed foods.
In the linen closet: A linen closet can be another great storage area in the home, whether it is for linens or something else. When I lived in an apartment, there was a linen closet; but I did not have enough linen to make complete use of this area. In a situation such as this, excess space in a linen closet could be used to store food. Remember to always evaluate the amount of weight that you are thinking about placing on a shelf before you put it there to ensure that it will not cause the shelf to break or pose a safety risk.
Behind the couch: If the couch is up against the wall in your house, it is likely that you have at least 4 to 6 inches of space that most people would consider “dead” space. What can be done with this space depends on the individual piece of furniture; but it could allow for at least one row of soup cans, boxes of macaroni and cheese, jars of pasta sauce, etc. Essentially, the limit is the creativity of the person placing the food storage items behind the couch. If someone is really inclined toward engineering and is concerned about gaining quick access to these items, it could be possible to tie or tape these items together, which would allow them to be pulled out together without having to move the furniture.
Inside your luggage: Do you have luggage that sits empty in the closet for the greater part of the year? Most people do. This makes your empty luggage an ideal place to store items such as canned and/or dry goods while you are waiting for your next chance to relive the Spring Break trip you took with your friends in 1992.
Out in the open: OK, so I don’t mean literally just sitting out in the open. But if there is an open space in a room, there is an opportunity to use a set of cabinets or piece of furniture as a second pantry. This can look like just an ordinary piece of furniture in the home while disguising your emergency food stores.
While places to store food for a difficult time are limited only to your imagination and the space that you live in, there are without question places in every home where foods can be stored. Once a decision has been made as to where you plan on storing your food, make sure that it is in appropriate containers. Plastic totes are a great way to keep critters out and protect food from the elements that cause it to go bad at an accelerated pace. Don’t forget to annotate expiration dates and rotate storage foods so that you don’t end up with a cache of useless foods. Perhaps most importantly, don’t forget where you stored your food.
–Thomas Miller
Heat treatment is tougher but sure. A couple of hours in a 200 degree or so oven will generally do the trick. Safest way is to put the flour in a tin, but make sure the tin is try. Even a little moisture can damage the product. I've had people tell me that 180 degrees or so will do the trick and flour (and the paper bag it comes stored) will not combust and burn at that temperature or even the 200 degrees which is the lowest most gas ovens will go down to.
But, unless you have the time to watch it carefully, I think freeze treatment is just easier and safer.
Keep them refrigerated and they will last years past the expiration date.
what?
The doctor won't prescribe more than 30 days.
Ugh,those C-rats were pretty bad but that was gross
Really the one one I cared for was ham&eggs.
They were better than a snowball as we
would to say over there.
Trading was rampant
Don't be fooled by the "expiration date" printed on the label. Most times it is exactly one year from the date the script was filled, what an extraordinary coincidence! Effective life of a drug is dependent on how it is stored. Cool temperatures and darkness will insure a longer life. Avoid freezing liquids.
The country's largest consumer of prescription drugs is the Department of Defense. Can you imagine the impact on suppliers and the costs if the DoD had to roll over their entire supply of drugs every year? It doesn't happen because the DoD did studies on the actual longevity of prescription drugs and found that their useful life was much longer then one year. They also found that drugs slowly declined in efficacy rather then having a fixed life after which they just stopped working.
I read about this in a back issue of "Backwoods Home" and unfortunately the article did not include any hard data on actual life. Perhaps the Government Printing office might have copies of the studies available.
As to how to acquire "extra" medication for storage I would ask my doctor to provide 90 day scripts w/ 3 refills for all maintenance drugs (lipids, blood pressure, &c.) through a mail-order pharmacy (MEDCO, CVS, &c.). These pharmacies generally let you refill at about 65 days thus you get another 90 pills leaving 25 for your "stash". You renew your "yearly" script at 260 days, you have 100 pills in storage, you keep on rolling. After a year or two you start rotating your pill stash, using up the oldest and replacing them with fresh.
Regards,
GtG
“The doctor won’t prescribe more than 30 days”
My doctor prescribes by courses and usually my pharmacist asks do I want them all at once or just 1 box/bottle at a time. BTW, I’ve found usually most pills are only good for 2 years
Preppers’ PING!!
In Vietnam I was eating C Rations from the 40’s.
My son still has c rations - hope they are good if we need them.
My friend, who passed away at 101 years old, opened a can of tuna from the 90’s and ate it.
She was 97 then and had the best time eating it on a sandwich
And then *snap* — just like that, four years later she was dead!
There’s a way around that...talk to your doctor, tell them you need an emergency supply....unless of course you are using a PAIN KILLER or something like that, they will likely comply.
Darn, you just told them where my Walton food is.
My grown son and two other family members, shake their heads at the #10 cans under the beds they use. They have never cared enough to see what is in any can. I think they believe it is just regular canned food that will go bad. All three of them stay away from any food in a can - they are “modern” eaters only of fresh food. They even frown at frozen food from the grocery.
You know what I think? If a long term emergency happens, they will come here and look to see what is in those cans.
Right now, I'm the nutsy prepper family member to them.
That is the stick in the mud. Some meds you can get 3 months (they still wait until that is gone to re-order) but anything for pain management they will not.
I told my doctor I needed pain meds. due to hurting everywhere. I was serious about that, but I wasn't thinking the way he did. He gave me a prescription for those pain meds three times a day and the drug store filled three months at a time and keep refilling it. Most of the time I don't take one a day. I have bottles of the stuff and keep adding more. I'm thinking, “barter goods”.
LOL
ROTFLMAO!!!!
I tell people I took care of her for nearly six years before she finally passed away and I always get the “Sorry for your loss”
I smile and say “Well, she lived to 101 years and 5 months. She had it coming”.
Most people get the joke.
Thanks for your witty reply.
A Doctor's Thoughts on Antibiotics, Expiration Dates, and TEOTWAWKI, by Dr. Bones
" Studies performed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealed that 90% of medications tested were perfectly fine to use 8-to-15 years after the expiration date."
I've bought my antibiotics from here for years and have many stock-piled.
Other meds, check the web or contact the manufacturer. Many other antibiotics just lose potency.
growing up poor in farming country in ND and spending 7 yrs in Uncle Sam’s Yacht Club, I can no longer stomach the thought of having to eat canned food, however hunger is the best seasoning. I have put “storage” in all of the little nooks and crannies in the house, the best was the old cistern, able to fit a full pallet into that unused space!
That’s because the eggs are already in there.
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