How to Buy Food for Long Term Storage and Survival

8/13/2019 How to Buy Food for Long Term Storage and Survival

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How to Buy Food for Storage and Survival by John Davis

Food Storage Overview

After water, food is the next most important topi for the survivalist! "t is possible to survive for wee#swithout food, but who would want to$ During a prolonged emergeny there will be a lot of wor# to do!

%veryone will be better able to perform their hores if they are well&nourished and satisfied! A healthyand balaned diet will also help #eep resistane to disease high'an essential part of preventative andsurvival health are!

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+he olden -ule of Food Storage.Store what you use, and use what you store!

All foods have a limited shelf&life, no matter how they are stored or preserved! "t is imperative that youhave a plan for rotating your food stash to #eep it fresh! %ven if your food doesn/t spoil, through time itwill lose muh of its nutritional value and flavor!

)any survivalists spend a lot of money on speially prepared foods that they will never eat! Anexample is the highly&touted )-%/s 0)eals -eady to %at!1 )-%/s were invented by the military forlong&term storage of omplete meals for survival situations when there is no means for preparing oroo#ing food! +he problem with )-%/s is that they are very expensive, espeially if you are preparingfor a prolonged emergeny! " do not reommend that you rely on them for the bul# of your emergenyfood stash! A few )-%/s in your bug out bag is o#ay! But forget about storing ase upon ase of )-%/sin your home stash!"n round Storage

+he simplest method for short&term food storage is your garden! 2ertain root vegetables, li#e arrots,turnips, parsnips and horseradish, may be left in the ground through the winter! After the ground beginsto free3e, over them with mulh, suh as dry leaves or straw, to protet them from hard free3es! +heyan then be dug up as needed in the #ithen! Other old&hardy rops, suh as lettue, abbage, beets andauliflower, may also be left in the garden, proteted by a heavy mulh, for several wee#s after thegrowing season!-oot 2ellaring

"n the old days before anning, people relied heavily on their root ellars, whih allowed them to storefruits and vegetables through muh of the winter! )ost fresh foods need a very ool and slightly moistenvironment! Dirt floors are ideal, and the proedure wor#s best in areas where the winter months arevery old! )ost basements today are too warm and dry, espeially if they are e4uipped with a entralheating unit that is used to heat the house, so root ellars may not be pratial for many of us! +here areseveral ways around this problem, inluding insulating off a portion of your basement, or even better,digging outdoor pits for storing your vegetables and fruits! +o learn more, he# out the exellentboo#s mentioned in the Additional -esoures setion at the end of this web site, inluding -oot2ellaring. 5atural 2old Storage of Fruits 6 7egetables by )i#e and 5any Bubel!2ommon )ethods of Food 8reservation

Before we ta#e a loo# at the various methods of food preservation, it will be helpful to disuss the


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fators that ause food deterioration and spoilage! 2hief among these are miroorganisms, whihonsist of bateria, yeasts and fungi 0molds!1 )iroorganisms, or 9mirobes,9 re4uire the presene ofwater to grow and multiply! )ost mirobes, inluding molds, also re4uire the presene of oxygen!Some anaerobi miroorganisms, inluding botulinum'the ausative agent of botulism, an extremelydangerous form of food poisoning'an thrive in the omplete absene of oxygen! %n3ymes, whihour naturally in plants, will ause foods to deteriorate in time resulting in the loss of nutritional value,

flavor and palatability! %n3ymes also re4uire the presene or water or moisture! %xposure to light willause the destrution of some vitamins, and the rate of all hemial and biologial reations, inludingthe ations of en3ymes and the growth of mirobes, will inrease as the temperature inreases! So allpreserved foods will #eep better and longer when proteted from light and stored at oolertemperatures!

Dried Foods

Drying or dehydration is an exellent way to preserve food! :ithout moisture, the mirobes that areresponsible for food spoilage an not thrive and the en3ymes that lead to deterioration are inativated,so the food is preserved in a form that is suitable for long&term storage! 8roperly dehydrated foods donot re4uire refrigeration! +hey an be stored in airtight ontainers or plasti bags and will #eep for ayear or longer'the dryer the food the longer it will store! :hen dehydrating food for long&termstorage, are must be ta#en to insure that most of the water is removed, otherwise spoilage, partiularlyby molds, ould beome a problem! As with all preservation tehni4ues, some nutritional value is lostduring the drying proess, but dehydrated foods retain most of their nutritional value and dehydrationremains one of the best ways to prepare food for storage without the need for refrigeration orsterili3ation! Sine water is responsible for muh of the bul# and most of the weight of any food,dehydrated foods are lighter and more ompat, ma#ing them ideal for ba#pa#ing or for your bug outbag! "f you want you an restore dehydrated foods by soa#ing them in water for a few hours beforeeating them! Dehydrated vegetables are great to use in soups and stews! )any dehydrated foods,partiularly fruits, are deliious right out of the bag without rehydration! :e will disuss fooddehydration in more detail later in this hapter!

Storage of dried fruit

As seen in the photograph above, dried foods are stored in airtight ontainers made out of plasti orglass! Survivalists prefer plasti beause glass an an be easily bro#en during a disaster suh as anearth4ua#e! lass ontainers should be proteted from brea#age and light! ;ou an put them in a brownpaper bag to protet from light!

)ore on Food Dehydration inluding my instrutional video!2anned Foods

2anning re4uires the omplete sterili3ation of the food and ontainer, ompletely eliminating all traesof mirobes! +he en3ymes that would in time lead to deterioration are also destroyed by the heat usedin the anning proess! Speial glass


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anner! A pressure oo#er will double as a pressure anner providing it is large enough to hold the glass


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glass


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)ost ommerially&prepared foods have limited shelf&lives and you must have a program for rotatingthem into use on a regular basis!

Does your family use mil#$ "f so, do you buy it in the bottle or arton or do you buy powdered9instant9 mil#$ "f you use the former, may " suggest that you start using the latter$ 8owdered 9instant9

mil# is an exellent survival food! )il# is high in nutrition, partiularly protein 0whih may be in shortsupply during a prolonged emergeny!1 "nstant mil# stores well and doesn/t re4uire refrigeration until itis reonstituted with water! ;ou an easily reonstitute a little at a time, as it is needed, avoidingrefrigeration entirely! "f your family is used to drin#ing mil# from the arton they will have to ma#e anad> years or longer, as long as they are sealed from air and proteted from moisture!

Just about every food that you purhase from the groery store, other than refrigerated items, freshprodue, and fresh ba#ery goods, an also be stashed away in 4uantity, as long as you remember tostore what you use and use what you store!

)ore on preparing foods for long&term food storage inluding my instrutional videos an be found onthe next page!Ation Step . Food 2he# (ists & Food Storage


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+urn to the page in you Ation 8lanner where you have begun your 9et9 and 9Do9 lists for Food andbegin ma#ing your lists! As you progress through this hapter, and the remaining hapters of this website, you will thin# of additional items to add to your lists! :hen you a4uire an item or aomplish atas# he# it off your list! +hat way it will be very easy to see your aomplishments and to monitoryour progress! +his will give you additional inentive and motivation and you will aomplish your

preparedness goals in a surprisingly short period of time, and in an effiient and almost effortlessmanner!

Here/s a way to 4ui#ly and systematially build up a one&wee# 0or longer1 supply of emergeny food.

%ah time you buy groeries, for one or two of the nonperishable items on your shopping list, buytwie as many as you need! "nstead of buying one bottle of #ethup, for example, buy two! 8ut the extrabottle in your pantry! :hen you are running low of #ethup, rather than using the extra bottle, put#ethup on your groery list as you normally would and buy another bottle! Just don/t forget to rotatethe older bottle of #ethup out of the pantry, using it first and putting the new bottle on the shelf behindit! "f you will do this eah time you buy groeries, for


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:hole Spies

Before " disuss the best way to store these foods, lets ta#e a brief moment to review the ma l1 bu#etof food!Oxygen&Absorbing 8a#s

)y favorite way to remove the oxygen is by using oxygen absorbing pa#s! +he food most ommonlyused for long&term storage is whole wheat berries 0:inter wheat1 so " will use it as an example! Belowis how " do it from start to finish.

" purhase organially grown whole wheat berries 0:inter wheat1 from a natural foods groery storethat sells in bul#! :hole Foods )ar#et is a national hain that sells bul# foods but there are othersinluding loal soures! -ather than buying from the bul# department of the store, " plae my order


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with the store manager and reeive my wheat berries in E> lb bags! +hey give me a disount of about=> when " order by the bag! " also purhase other grains and beans for long&term storage in thismanner!

+he video on the right shows the storage of wheat berries that " purhased from an animal feed andseed store at a substantial disount 0?= ents per pound as ompared to G=!= a pound for the

organially grown berries!1 +hese berries were heaper beause they were bagged for 9seed!9 0:heatberries and other whole foods bagged for animal feed are ideal!1 +hey are essentially the same berriesexept they have not been leaned 4uite as well and of ourse are not organi!

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As " mentioned earlier, the E or gallon 0?> l1 plasti bu#ets that you an buy in hardware stores are aonvenient si3e in whih to store your bul# items! +hese bu#ets are made out of two different types ofplasti, one is food&grade and the other is not! " seal my foods in mylar bags so they don/t ome inontat with the plasti bu#et so it doesn/t matter to me whether they are food grade or not! "f youstore any of your bul# foods in diret ontat with the plasti bu#et you will want to use food&gradebu#ets only! +hose that have already been used to store foods, li#e the ones that restaurants use, areperfetly fine, and you may be able to a4uire these for little or no money!

" order my mylar bags from :alton Feed, "n! online at http.www!waltonfeed!om! +hey ome inmany different si3es but " have found that the ?> in x I> in si3e is perfet for E or gallon bu#ets! "plae the mylar bag in the plasti bu#et and fill it with the wheat berries! +hen " throw in one ?>>> oxygen absorbing pa#, or two or three of the smaller si3ed pa#s, s4uee3e the exess air out of the bag0or su# it out using a plasti hose1 and then seal it with a hot iron! ;ou have to wor# 4ui#ly to avoidoverly exposing your oxygen absorbing pa#s to air, whih will derease their effetiveness! 5ext "trim off any exess from the top of the mylar bag 0optional1 and firmly seal the lid on the bu#et usinga rubber mallet! +he wheat berries are now ready for long&term storage in my basement!

" use the same tehni4ue to store other items that " buy in bul#, inluding pinto beans, orn, oats, et!)ost other items will not have the =>> year or longer shelf&life that the wheat berries have! "f you startwith whole foods that have a very low moisture ontent, most foods will have at least a => year shelf&life when stored in this way! Obviously you should label eah bu#et with its ontents and the date itwas sealed! "t would also be a good idea to put a 9se by9 date on the bu#et, in ase you forget whatthe shelf&life is or in ase it is opened by someone else!

Sealing mylar bags

Here/s a hint for helping you seal the mylar bags with a hot iron. +a#e a I> inh 0or C> m1 ?x@ boardand wrap an old towel around it a few times to ma#e an 9ironing board!9 ;ou an staple or nail thetowel on the underside of the board to #eep it in plae! :hen you are ready to seal your mylar bag laythis ironing board aross the top of the bu#et and lay the mylar bag over it to ma#e your


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+he list below gives the approximate shelf&life for some ommon bul# items when stored in thismanner! +hese numbers are onservative! "t is 4uite possible that the foods will #eep longer! However,all foods lose some of their nutritional value when stored over an extended period of time! +he longerthey are stored the more nutrition is lost! ;ou should therefore try to rotate these foods out, replaingthem with new sto#, aording to the shelf lifes suggested below! "f you open a ontainer and find that

the food is moldy, it will most li#ely be beause it ontained too muh moisture when you sealed it, orelse it was exposed to air due to a faulty seal! +hrow it in your ompost!

"f you are wheat intolerant then obviously you will want to store other grains! But #eep in mind thatmost other grains will not have the shelf&life of wheat and so you will need to rotate your sto#!

Hard rains 0wheat, orn, #amut millet, dry flax spelt, tritiale1 =E&?> yearsSoft rains 0rolled oats, oat groats, rye, barley, 4uinoa1 C years-ie. :hite rie will store for C & => years! Brown rie will only #eep for =&? yearsBeans 0soy, ad3u#i, bla#eye, barban3o, #idney, great northern, lentils, lima, mung, pinto, et!1 C&=>yearsDehydrated vegetables 0brooli, arrots, elery, abbage, onions, peppers, potatoes, et!1 C & => yearsDehydrated fruit =>&=E yearsDried dairy 0powdered eggs, powdered mil#, whey powder, heese powder, ooa powder, powderedbutter or margarine1 E&=> yearsFlours and ground produts 0All 8urpose Flour, unbleahed flour, whole wheat flour, white flour,ornmeal, ra#ed wheat, gluten, wheat fla#es, mixes, et!1 E years8asta 0)aaroni noodles, spaghetti, et!1 =>&=E years8ure honey, salt, sugar, and sorghum molasses an be #ept indefinitely as long as they are #ept freefrom moisture! 0)a#e sure that your honey does not ontain additives! Sometimes water or sugar areadded to honey! 8ure honey will rystalli3e when stored for a long time! "mpure honey will not!1arden seeds or sprouting seeds will remain viable for ?&I years 0+he exeption is alfalfa, whih will#eep for at least C years!1How to use your wheat berries

;ou an roast your wheat berries, sprout them and even grow wheat grass! But the most popular way touse wheat berries is to grind them into flour, along with other grains or dried beans if you li#e, and usethem to ma#e bread, pana#es, or any number of other ba#ed goods!

:heat grinder

;ou will need to have a good hand&operated grinder for ma#ing flour from your wheat berries and othergrains and dried beans! 2oo#boo#s are available ontaining reipes for using the grains that you havestored! A ouple of my favorites are mentioned in the Additional -esoures setion at the end of thisweb site and under 9-eommended -eading9 at the bottom of this page!:hole :heat -eipes"n her = lassi, 8assport to Survival. Four Foods and )ore to se and Store, survivalist writer%sther Di#ey reommends whole wheat berries as one of the four foods whih should ma#e up 9thebasi omponents of an emergeny survival diet!9 0+he others are powdered mil#, honey and salt!1 Herboo# is a rih soure of reipes for the many and varied ways in whih you an use your whole wheatberries, from sprouting 0an exellent way to add fresh greens to your diet1 to ma#ing gluten 0a soure ofprotein1 to ba#ing whole wheat bread'the staple of life! nfortunately her exellent boo# is out ofprint, but used opies are still available at Ama3on!om!


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A :ord About luten and :heat "ntolerane"f you store wheat berries, learn now how to sprout them to ma#e wheat grassK Sprouted wheat berriesand wheat grass are muh better for you, and are muh more easily digested, than the other ways thatyou will onsume your wheat berries, even better than grinding them to ma#e bread! :heat berriesontain gluten, whih is a diffiult protein to digest! )any individuals develop an intolerane to glutenand must avoid it entirely! Often, the more wheat you eat, the more intolerant your body grows to it! So

even if you don/t have a lot of trouble eating produts that ontain gluten now, you an develop theproblem in the future, espeially if wheat ever beomes a ma


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the shelf, and every other bottle has to be moved forward! :hen we ta#e a bottle off the shelf we areareful to grab the oldest one, whih will be the one in the front! +hat way all of our vitamins alwaysremain as fresh as possible! Super Supplemental ontains some alium, but sine we try to ta#e ahigher amount of this important mineral, along with additional magnesium, a mineral that is heavilylost in food proessing, we store a year/s supply of 2alium&)agnesium as well! ;ou may hoose tostore additional supplements 0and essential mediines as well!1 Just remember to store what you use

and to use what you store'and above all, don/t forget to rotate your sto#Krowing ;our Own Food

After a loal emergeny, if we are lu#y things ould be ba# to normal within a few days! But otherdisasters ould drag on for many wee#s or even months! +here is no way of prediting how long anational or global emergeny ould last! "f you are ever involved in a prolonged emergeny, your foodstash, no matter how large, ould eventually run out! "f a prolonged disaster is on your list of onernsyou should thin# about ways to replenish your stores by growing some of your own food! %ven if youare not able to meet all of your family/s needs, your stash will ertainly last longer if you are able tosupplement it!

+wo s#ills that every survivalist should learn are vegetable gardening and fruit growing! Both involvetrial and error so don/t wait until an emergeny ours to start learning these important survival s#ills!

rowing your own ginger

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Shown above left is a ginger plant growing in a =? inh 0I> m1 pot! 0:hen the green leaves turnbrown and die off the ginger root is ready for harvesting!1 %ven people who live in a high&riseapartment an grow a few vegetables, fruits or herbs in pots or ontainers! 5o matter how small, yourproperty is apable of produing some homegrown foods! "f you have a small ba# yard you an grow4uite a bit, espeially if you plan your garden arefully!o OrganiK

:e have seen that an important part of survivalism is self&suffiieny! +he less you rely on thehemial industry the more prepared you will be when their expensive fertili3ers and pestiides areunavailable! As a survivalist you should learn organi growing tehni4ues! 5ot only will you be moreself&suffiient, but your family will live healthier as well, and you will be ontributing to a leaner andsafer planet! "f you are new to gardening, or even if you are not, you will want to invest in one or moregood 9how to9 gardening boo#s! Be sure to hoose boo#s that emphasi3e organi methods! "n theAdditional -esoures setion at the end of this web site " have suggested some good gardening boo#s!(earn how to fertili3e your garden without hemials, and how to ontrol garden pests using naturalmethods!

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%very organi gardener #nows the benefits of omposting! 2omposting allows you to reyle vegetablematter from your #ithen, as well as your yard and garden wastes, to onvert it, with the help of


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benefiial bateria and industrious earthworms, into an exellent material that you an wor# into yourgarden soil to aerate and fertili3e it! 2omposting an be done anywhere, even in the ity where spae islimited! ;ou an even #eep a small earthworm ompost bin


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Ba# yard orhard

%ven though my property is in a suburb of a ma


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%ven during normal times " find that there are sometimes people who will help themselves to thebounty of my labor, partiularly to my fruit! "magine how muh more of a problem thievery willbeome when there is a shortage of food during a prolonged emergeny! ;ou might want to give somethought now to amouflaging or hiding at least part of your garden! " have seen people hide theirgardens by growing edible plants in flower beds lose to their house! +here are so few people thesedays who #now how to live off the land that most people don/t even reogni3e a ommon edible plant

when they see one 0although everyone #nows what a fruit is for!1 Some foods, li#e parsnips, potatoesand arrots, grow underground and are even less obvious to the uninitiated!

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(ivesto#

+o help meet your protein needs you might also want to #eep some type of livesto#! +here are manyanimals to onsider, depending on spae and loal 3oning laws! oats will provide mil# as well asmeat! 2hi#ens will provide eggs and meat! For ity dwellers the most pratial animals to #eep arepigeons and rabbits! 8igeons are too messy for me so " greatly prefer rabbits!

-abbit meat is deliious and healthy! -abbits are extremely prolifi and will eat lb propane tan#s and a few bails of hay'And we still have room for our ar as wellK

Florida :hite rabbit

Florida :hites are the best breed to #eep for survival food when there are spae limitations to onsider!"t is a ompat breed that has been developed espeially for meat prodution! +hey are a medium&si3edbreed, but they produe the greatest amount of meat per pound of feed onsumed! And the meat isexellentK +hey also re4uire muh smaller huthes than the larger breeds and so they ta#e up less spae!+hey are perfet for ity survivors!

8arts ? through E will follow automatially in the same window!

-abbitry in garage

" built these six huthes 0above1, eah measuring ?x?xI feet, for my Florida :hites using theinstrutions found in my favorite rabbit boo#, Storey/s uide to -aising -abbits by Bob Bennett! +o getthe most from my limited spae the huthes are hung from the


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+hese Florida :hites are 9sharing9 a plantain leaf! +he best food for your rabbits is the pellets that youpurhase at hardware and feed stores! +hese should form the bul# of their diets, but you ansupplement with hay, 9weeds9 0that have not been sprayed with herbiides1, and vegetable waste fromyour #ithen! -abbits en

How to Buy Food for Long Term Storage and Survival

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