There's not a lot of processed foods, I DO eat. If I chose to only stock what I might eat I guess it would be pretty slim. But, I supposed if I had nothing but canned tomatoes, rice and canned tuna canned beans and water, I wouldn't starve! And condiments. I tend to buy condiments to stock up on.Originally Posted by awakenedsoul
It almost feels like a wiser investment to guy a bunch of freeze dried stuff for a weeks worth of emergency food than canned and packaged foods.
For myself, I think money is a better long term hedge. For a 3 week power outage, now there's a goal to start with. I don't eat hardly any canned food. But I have about a weeks worth, and maybe a weeks worth of money. I need to think of more I can add that I can eat and therefore rotate and make meals from.
Maybe just a few packs. I hate seeing them not being used.
I realize this is an older thread.... but, perhaps this information would help answer some questions and issues presented here. I practice home food storage and patterned it after the LDS Church model because they have so much information readily available on-line. It took 18-months and $200 a month in my grocery budget to complete my 3-level storage plan for 2 adults. For the last 3-years our food budget has been $125/month to maintain our food storage. To address the original post about "best emergency plan", that is taken care of in level 1, and I filled my food storage plan this way starting with level 1. When I had level 1 done I worked on level 2 until it was complete, etc. We have used our 72-hour emergency kit once a few years ago during an ice storm when we were without utilities for several days.
For those who wonder about having room for stored food, if done correctly a full years worth of food for one person can be placed under a single-size bed. Sometimes it takes creative storage, but that's a topic for another day.
#1) 72-hour emergency kit (you can find information for these on-line and lists of what to put in a kit) which includes foods that don't require heating or refrigeration. Mostly it's things you can purchase at the store and probably already have in your kitchen, especially items in ready-to-eat individual servings, small cans of meat and meat spreads, peanut butter, trail mix, food bars, etc. I make sure there are foods from all 4 food groups (grains, dairy, meat or substitute, fruit/veg.). You can also purchase 72-hour kits, but food from your kitchen and pantry will work just as well, but put it in a designated storage container so it's all together. I also store large amounts of water in my basement, and before I had a basement I stored it in plastic 2-liter pop and juice bottles behind the sofa, in the corners of closets, behind the bed headboards....) and have 1,000 gallons in our rain barrels when they are full I could purify for drinking water or use for flushing the toilet, etc. I also include foods that would require hot water and have a number of ways I can heat water (including heating it indoors) for instant soup mixes, freeze-dried foods, cocoa mix, coffee and tea bags, instant oatmeal packets, etc.).
I gave my granddaughter a 72-hour back pack she can have at college and take with her on her 3-hour trip to and from home. Will they have a blizzard, ice storm, or other natural disaster - who knows? But if it comes in handy just once, it's worth whatever it took to put it together. I also included a LifeStraw water purifier in her back pack. BTW - we keep our 72-hour kit in a plastic storage container and all the food is rotated out, consumed, and restocked according to the use-by dates. The kit includes lighting, canned heat for cooking indoors, a Buddy Heater to heat indoors, and other emergency things for a grab-and-go emergency kit. I attach an inventory sheet so I know the use-by or best-by dates of the food stored in this plastic tote. We just ate the pudding cups, mandarin oranges, V-8 juice, and applesauce cups out of the kit, and I was able to restock them with discounted items when school started when these lunch items were on sale and I had coupons because these are only used in the emergency kit, not for everyday use.
#2) 6-12 months of pantry items - These are things I use on a regular basis for everyday meal preparation and home baking and are stored in the kitchen. I don't store convenience foods and boxed mixes because I store "ingredients" and whole foods as much as possible for cooking from scratch, and make my own "convenience" foods, but those are also options if that's what you use. As they say, store what you use and use what you store. For instance, I wouldn't store pancake mix because I can make it with a few ingredients, and those same few ingredients can be used to make any number of other things besides pancake mix. An example of a great storage food is tomato powder. I use it with water and a few other pantry ingredients to make tomato juice, tomato paste, tomato sauce, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, add it to soup/stew/chili, and even in a pinch can make bbq sauce and ketchup. I no longer store those items freeing up a lot of storage space.
#3) long-term emergency foods - This includes freeze-dried meat, fruit, vegetables, dried dairy products, powdered eggs, beans/seeds/grains, etc. These foods have a long shelf-life, but we also rotate them into the pantry and use them on a regular basis. I have enough food for 12-months, or longer. All these foods are rotated into the kitchen/pantry.
I increased the amount of the "Seven Survival Foods" - grains, legumes, seeds for sprouting, sweetener/s, salt, fats, powdered milk. I have very little food in buckets, and I purchase most of what I use from regular grocery stores.
I got serious about home food storage in 2007 during the financial downturn when they reduced the workforce where hubby works by 50% and he took three pay cuts, but kept his job and position. I knew if we had a good supply of food, our money, should we have a financial crisis, could go for other things besides food. I was already good at having food ahead for a "rainy day", but I put more thought into it for 18-months. It's the main reason I can stick to a $125/month food budget.
About that "musical fruit" problem.....I sprout most of the beans/grains/seeds we consume. By sprouting beans first, it makes them easier to digest (no gas problems) and they don't take as long to cook, as well as increasing the nutrients. In fact, once sprouted, I can place them in a Thermos, or my Thermal Cooker or Wonder Oven if I'm going to cook a large amount, and "cook" them in hot water in the Thermos overnight. As part of my emergency preparedness, I have a number of ways to cook food without the typical kitchen appliances using electricity and gas, including solar ovens along with those passive methods already mentioned.
Well, I did put a lot of time, (not money) buy one or two extra things at a time and stocking up. But as I said, I don't eat canned foods too often. So, most of these items are hitting the two year mark and it's time to clear the cupboards. I think I may have had enough for a couple or more people to get by for a couple of weeks. But now I'm in the process of purging the cupboards to get the food out. It's getting old. I still have a few cans of soup and lots of canned beans. If the SHTF tomorrow I may have enough for a week or so. And a weeks worth of drinking water and another weeks worth of non drinking water. (those are gallon jugs that are years old that are stored. I don't count them as drinking water, but could be for washing or cleaning or flushing. The pinto bean stock is used up. The rice is about used up too. Good. Then I can start fresh. I just can't do this prep thing and rotate the food. I just don't use them enough. I'd never be a good mormon!
The best emergency plan is one you use. Like you, canned fruit and veg. aren't my first choice so I consider my commercially canned foods mostly as emergency use (open and eat or heat and eat) items and donate a large percent of it to the local Food Bank each year. But they are easy to use and easy to store, and you can find them at a good price. In an emergency, you won't really care if it's in a can.....Well, I did put a lot of time, (not money) buy one or two extra things at a time and stocking up. But as I said, I don't eat canned foods too often. So, most of these items are hitting the two year mark and it's time to clear the cupboards. I think I may have had enough for a couple or more people to get by for a couple of weeks. But now I'm in the process of purging the cupboards to get the food out. It's getting old. I still have a few cans of soup and lots of canned beans. If the SHTF tomorrow I may have enough for a week or so. And a weeks worth of drinking water and another weeks worth of non drinking water. (those are gallon jugs that are years old that are stored. I don't count them as drinking water, but could be for washing or cleaning or flushing. The pinto bean stock is used up. The rice is about used up too. Good. Then I can start fresh. I just can't do this prep thing and rotate the food. I just don't use them enough. I'd never be a good mormon!
In order to use more of them I have one day a week where I serve canned fruit of some kind, and I have a few recipes where I incorporate some canned items. It's a small percentage of our food consumption. Small cans of pineapple tidbits and cans of mandarin oranges are easy to store and use (mix them with fresh fruit) if you don't like canned pears and peaches as much. I usually use dry beans, but I do keep a few cans of black beans, pork n' beans, and cannellini beans because each one of those are used in my list of "emergency" recipes, but they can also be rotated into my kitchen just as easily. Try choosing those you could actually use.
You might find freeze-dried foods a better choice that you could put to good use and rotate from storage into your kitchen much easier. I keep a 6-gallon variety bucket of vegetables ( http://www.augasonfarms.com/Vegetabl...C-078716202506 ) and a 6-gallon variety bucket of fruit from Augason Farms (I also use their whey-based milk substitute - Morning Moo's - and purchase enough for a year at a time when they have a BOGO special), and a selection of Mountain House pouches of peas, corn, green beans, etc. (http://www.mountainhouse.com/). The nutrition level of freeze-dried food is far superior to canned, and most so-called "fresh" food you purchase. Now that there is a home freeze-drier available, I can hardly wait until there is some competition and the price goes down so I can freeze-dry my garden produce.
I find freeze-dried vegetables especially easy to use, and if you get the small pouches they are easier to store than #10 cans (unless you are feeding a family and could easily use a #10 can). I'll take a cup of leftover rice and rehydrate 1-2 T. of peas and corn and some salsa to make a quick Spanish Rice side dish, or add some rehydrated freeze-dried meat for a meal. Add freeze-dried veg. to soup/stew and you can also use them in stir-fry. There is a learning curve....
Yeah, that doesn't make a difference to me. I eat lots of beans and legumes and never cease to have that problem. But the baking soda trick really does work and it would work with canned beans that are being heated also. I notice it wears off. So if you are eating left over cooked beans or legumes, you have to add it again.
I just lost my job one month ago. We haven't had a cash problem. Yet. But I'm trying, as I shop to keep a mind open to stockpiling without spending much. Plus there are the fires. Not too close. but present. I don't live out in the country where the fires destroy homes. But not having an income is a crisis and an emergency to be prepared for.
I'm so sorry to hear about your predicament. Times like this is why it's important to have a stockpile before it's needed, but it's wise to do what you can while you can. These are things I would do, or have already done.
1. Focus on ingredients. Staple products like sugar, honey, flour, baking powder, baking soda, yeast, gelatin, spices/herbs, legumes, cornmeal, pasta, rice, oatmeal, dried onions, frozen mixed vegetables, 100% frozen fruit juice concentrate – add your own water for a good source of vitamin C – avoid highly-processed foods and reach for whole foods.
Choose foods you like, those that have a long shelf life, and store them properly. Using ingredients, make your own “convenience foods” like biscuit mix, pancake/waffle mix, SOS (soup and sauce mix), Magic Mix….
2. Give priority to the "Seven Survival Foods" - whole grains, legumes, sprouting seeds, sweetener/s, oil, and powdered milk (optional). When fresh vegetables are over-priced and lack good nutrition because they are out-of-season and shipped from the other side of the world, I rely on seed sprouts and micro-greens for our “fresh” food in the winter. It’s my little garden-in-a-jar. Purchase a large bag of frozen mixed vegetables. Take out a portion that is mixed (great for casseroles, Shepherd’s Pie, soup, etc.) and divide the remaining into individual kinds of vegetables. Now you have several kinds of vegetables out of one bag. It’s also time (at least here in Kansas) to plant our fall gardens. You can harvest a lot of spinach, leaf lettuce, radishes, carrots grown in planters, if you don’t have a viable garden spot.
3. Make sure you have a wide variety of foods from all the food groups. Foods, when they are combined, will make a complete protein. Examples include: rice and beans, lentils and barley, bulgur with beans, or peanut butter on 100% whole wheat bread. Combining legumes with nuts and seeds also provides a complete protein. Mix small amounts of meat (which cost more) with low-costing meat substitutes: eggs, dairy, beans. Mix a can of tuna into tuna salad with a hard-cooked egg and/or white cannellini beans to stretch the protein. You can’t stretch protein by over-eating more carbohydrates (pasta, rice). Most people already consume far too many servings of low-nutrition carbohydrates.
4. When it comes to spending the money you have, this breakdown may be helpful once you have your basic food items:
For every $25 per person per week (I currently spend around $17 per person per week, and having a garden means I spend even less, or purchase stock-up products at rock-bottom prices for winter):
-vegetables - $6
-fruit - $5
-grains - $4
-protein - $4-5
-dairy - $4
-fats/other - $1-2
5. Know how much a serving size is, and try to stick to those amounts. If you are still hungry, find low-cost foods that are high in fiber to help keep you full longer --- like fresh apples, chia seeds, high-fiber grains, make smoothies with powdered protein products.
7. Double-duty foods. You know the root ends of green onions you throw away? You can plant them and grow more. They will even grow in a tall glass with water in it (good in the winter), but you can plant them in a small pot or in-ground. I plant the base end (about 2-3") of Romaine or Leaf Lettuce, as well as celery. I’ve been using celery I planted in the spring all summer.
I have a lot of recipes that cost between $1 to $3 to prepare, and there is usually enough leftover for lunch the next day. Check your local library for books that make $3 meals.
Hope things turn around for you soon.
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