Posted on 03/25/2013 1:33:13 PM PDT by Kartographer
Huge sales on food items at the supermarket are so tempting. It's an opportunity to save lots of money and ensure plenty of cheap meals (and "pantry shopping" when you're out of money or time) for days to come. But food isn't cheap if it spoils and you have to dump it, and some foods have a shorter shelf life than you might think.
Here's an overview of foods to stock up on, and those you should buy as needed.
(Excerpt) Read more at shine.yahoo.com ...
>>I think that you are better off storing 100% things you know you will eat and in as much a variety as possible.<<
Great point!
That makes rotating a lot easier (the second part of my question).
I’ve seen recipes before and have been planning to make some, but this is the first recipe with vinegar. Do you know what function the vinegar serves? I always have gallons of white vinegar on hand for various purposes.
Kart, I’ve been more or less prepping for years. I used to buy things that were considered “good” for prep purposes but in reality I just don’t normally eat such foods. Many of them went to the food bank after a while.
Also in dire straits people often lose their appetites, and appetite fatigue can set it in with emotional stress and boring food or food you don’t like. Especailly dangerous for the elderly, pregnant women, children and those with heath problems.
So IMHO it’s best to store ONLY what you know you like and best if you eat it regularly already.
Me I have never brought anything because it is said to be good, with the exception of a few barter goods (Like tobacco)I only store what I know I will eat and with condiments to prepare it as many different ways as possible.
I have some MRE’s that were probably old when I got them 12 years ago ... had one last month and it was ok (as far as MRE’s go)
TT
NOw that’s something that is often mentioned as preparedness food, that I DO NOT STORE! Sardines
Quite a few years ago I bought stuff like jars of spaghetti sauce, for instance. Hub doesn’t like it much but I figured it would be okay occasionally. Well, I bought too much, as his “occasional” tolerance of spaghetti sauce meant twice a year...
So now I only buy what we already eat and especially what he will eat, since he’s more picky than me.
Rancid oil, just bad taste/smell or can it make you ill?
I didn't buy any prepared meals either because they were too expensive when thinking of storing for a year.
However, last year before hurricane season, I bought 12 MRE type meals with the heater included in each box and put them in a rolling bag I will take with me if a hurricane comes. There are two huge oak trees behind my back fence belonging to houses behind me. They are as tall as the Empire State building (they look that tall) and the heaviest part of those trees is facing my townhouse. If one or both come down my townhouse is smashed.
I went through Ike hoping I wouldn't get killed in this house if they came down. I was very worried about that. Next time when one comes, I'm taking the dog, the backpacks and that rolling bag and going across the street to a hotel and staying there until the hurricane passes. That's what the MRE type boxed meals are for.
If the house isn't smashed by the trees, I'm back at the house with my dog.
During Ike, which came through here in the dark of night, trees came down all over town and the countryside. One woman was killed in her bed - those trees I'm worried about would first hit my upstairs bedroom and I don't want to be in there if that happens.
Another death was just awful. A lineman was working up on a power line at one place and a tall tree that had loosened due to the storm, fell, he couldn't get out of the way fast enough and the tree hit him and killed him.
This is also pine tree country and right now their yellow pollen is falling and every car in this area is yellow. I have to use the windshield washer before I can see out the windshield when I go somewhere.
So, we are subject to tall trees falling during a hurricane. If the wind doesn't destroy part of your house like the roof, the trees might.
Sometime after Ike, we went south to Houston and from here all the way there were blue tarps over the roofs of houses and businesses and apartment buildings everywhere you looked and part of that destruction was caused by falling trees.
So, I think boxed MREs with heaters in the box have a place if you have to leave your house fast. I know there are 12 prepared meals in that rolling bag and I picked meals I knew I wouldn't hate.
My understanding is that it will make you ill.
Cookie? Marcella?
MRE’s keep just fine, in the same manner that conventional canned food will. They must be protected from freezing, and high temperatures. The menu selection in recent years has expanded considerably, though the quality in my opinion, is lacking somewhat. That holds true with “civilian” food as well. For old times sake I sampled a few meals from from the 1980s last year and they were absolutely fine. That is, as “fine” as they ever were, which leads me to my next point. While stockpiling a few dozen cases makes sense, MREs and Freeze-Dried are generally expensive and not all that familiar to most.
Grocery store foods offer a better value and taste, if not convenience. That said don’t let shelf life claims dissuade you from military rations, if stored at reasonable temps there is no problem. They are cheaper than Freeze Dried and have more calories.
During Hurricane Fran a huge tree fell across my back yard but missed the house by about 75 degrees. It would have killed both of us in the back bedroom but went a different way.
“My understanding is that it will make you ill.” (rancid oil)
Rancid oil won’t make you sick at the time you ingest it. Over time, if you kept eatins it, I read it can damage your DNA and set you up for some cancers.
However, if you have ever smelled rancid oil, YOU AREN’T GOING TO USE IT. I had some olive oil in a pretty bottle and it was in there for quite a while. I decided to use some and nearly threw up from the smell.
So, if the oil you use has an off smell, dump it - your future health will thank you. It may be olive oil smells worse than any other oil when it goes rancid. Man, it was really, really, bad.
“It would have killed both of us in the back bedroom but went a different way.”
That’s just it - I have studied those trees and the heaviest and most branches on both trees are toward my house. If they fall, that weight is bringing them down on my house. You got lucky in that your huge tree must have had the most weight in a direction more away from your house.
And don't throw away those empty plastic laundry soap bottles! There is still detergent in them. So fill them with water...slowly to avoid bubbles...and then mark them as "Wash Water". When/if water is scarce you can use them as...well...wash water for laundry by hand or other things that need washing.
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