The Mission: Put Up in Bulk

The Washington Post ^ | July 8 | Lois M. Baron

[Bushwacker777]

"I stock up on food items because I, as a Mormon, was raised to believe in storing a supply of basic foods to tide you over during hard times. Because I'm a Mormon, I know of a place in Upper Marlboro offering the facilities to can a variety of staples whose shelf life can stretch up to 30 years.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints runs 101 dry-pack canneries, which are housed in multi-function home storage centers (see sidebar). The church doesn't intend the facilities to be public but won't turn away nonmembers. It wants everyone to have a three-month supply and be working toward a year's stockpile. "

[Bushwacker777]

Up until recently many people thought the US economy could survive anything. Now with Obama that "faith" might be ending. Perhaps everyone can look to the Mormons and start making a food storage plan.

[109ACS]

Do you have any sources of information you could share to help us “Gentiles” with this endeavor? If not done right, there will be tremendous waste. Also, if you store, say a year’s worth of food, wouldn’t you always need to consume the oldest food on a continuous basis while replenishing your stock with new food? (First In, First Out)

You’re absolutely right, it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Maybe a whole lot worse.

[ridesthemiles]

One of the next steps NObama is waiting to drop on us is to accuse us of ‘Hoarding”.

If a rancher puts up a couple of beeves, a hog or 2, and a couple of lambs, will he be accused of HOARDING????
You cannot kill any of these & process them over a period of time!!!

[katykelly]

I’m not a Mormon, but I do can, dehydrate, dry cure, raise my own veggies from seed. I think I have enough for 1 1/2 years, for a family of 4.

Recently my husband asked me to can more meat in pint jars to use for bartering, if nessesary.

[DuncanWaring]

Ping.

[Paulus Invictus]

It's called food rotation. Use the oldest food first and plan what you are doing by marking each container with the date it was canned. Works well. By the way, even if you have canned dry veggies, flour beans, rice etc on hand at home, how are you going to cook the food and make it palatable if a real emergency comes along?

The Obama economic emergency is already upon us and many people I know who have lost jobs are using their home storage right now.

Emergency preparedness requires much study and getting it all together is not an easy matter. There is all kinds of advice about emergency preparedness online. Check it out.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Do you have any sources of information you could share to help us “Gentiles” with this endeavor?

---

www.readyfortheworst.com has a course done by the leading survival blogger. You’re right that getting it wrong could be very expensive.

[appleseed]

Thanks for the heads up.

I’m Southern Baptist. No matter what, I also believe we are headed for some tough times. Canning can be a tough thing sometimes. Better to know what you’re doing. Pressure can work good on some things - cold water boiling is good for some things. Best to do some research on how to proceed. Most folks have opinions either way. Just my opinion but dehydrate works well and when packed in vacuum pack, can keep for a long time. Just my opinion but canning can be good or bad depending on method and what you are canning.

[AirForceMom]

our son in law got a commercial dehydrator from his Aunt. We have been making jerky for a while.

[metmom]

Canning jars are great for storing stuff in as they seal so well, even if they aren’t processed.

You can’t beat glass and metal lids for keeping out bugs and moisture.

[reformedliberal]

I so agree about pressure canning.

I was traumatized by a blown pressure cooker gasket at a young age and have never forgotten. Also, I simply am not strong enough or tall enough to move a canner full of jars by myself, let alone even want to think about what I could do to my flat top range. I also have hardly any space available for jar storage, at this point.

I dehydrate almost everything, and use silicon moisture absorbers in each 8 oz package that is vacuum packed. In 3 years, I had one package that developed a tad of mold. I just washed it off and then re-dried the entire package and the second time was a charm.

I do freeze tomato puree. I measure it into double freezer ziplocks and freeze them flat on a cookie sheet. They store well in a small amount of space and defrost quickly. We have pretty much decided that a generator, a series of blue top marine batteries and an inverter are what we will use to keep the freezers going if we lose power for long enough in summer. We could utilize a solar charger, but sun is so iffy here and we are in a North-facing valley, to boot.

A couple of years ago, we had damaging floods and the power was out for 4-5 days or so. The phone company moved a generator down by a transfer station and we had phone service back faster than we had power. We store gas, but our next genny upgrade will be to a propane system.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Of home cooking ranges, coil electrics are the best for this use. With possible upgrade of the heat control (”infinite switch”) and element on some, you get a 2600 watt burner. No home grade gas stove can come close to the effective heating power of this.

[Arthur McGowan]

If this new Kenyan Birth Certificate pans out, look for the stock market to go CRAZY!!!!! (Upward.)

Anything that has the potential to bring Soetoro DOWN is GOOD FOR AMERICA.

[Pelagius of Asturias]

Does anyone know of a supplier of irradiated food? Irradiated food will last far longer than food preserved in other ways.

Irrdiated Spam might last 1,000 years.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Swapping Biden for Obama might make a marginal difference, or it might not. Pelosi would walk all over Biden.

[HiTech RedNeck]

A properly canned product, protected from external corrosion of the can, can theoretically keep (health life) for a hundred years. This would be well beyond any anticipated human need.

[Pelagius of Asturias]

To maximize one’s sources for food, irradiated products should not be ignored.

[HiTech RedNeck]

If they can be had, all the better.

Just to say that common canned and jarred foods are today as close as the nearest grocery, and would be a ready source of stockpile before a panic. The can does need to be kept in a low humidity environment to prevent external corrosion; jars are less picky.

[DelaWhere]

Like cooking, canning just takes
some practice.

I typically can about 50-80 cases,
depending on needs.

Also dehydrate and freeze. 

Best advice is to follow approved
guidelines:

USDA Home Canning Guide,1994 (latest version)
Intro and Table of Contents
Principles of Home Canning
Fruit and Fruit Products
Tomatoes and Tomato Products
Vegetables and Vegetable Products
Poultry, Red Meats, and Seafood
Fermented Foods and Pickled Vegetables
Jams and Jellies
Download Entire File (5.6MB)


Enjoy!

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My prediction is that when tshtf hoarding will become illegal and ‘no knock’ searches & seizures based on anonymous tips will be common. It will not matter that the wise ants have provided for themselves for times of emergencies.