Best food emergency planning

[flowerseverywhere]

Any of us can get hit by a disaster that would disrupt our lives. I am not interested in storing buckets of grain and beans, but what ideas do you have to make nutritious meals if you could not get to the store, lost traditional power, or had a disruption in water for instance. In other words practical ways to be self sufficient food and drink wise say for five days.

[awakenedsoul]

That's pretty much how I stockpile food. My mom was that way. The cupboards were always full, and we had plenty to eat. That kind of organization is grounding. What she did was to always have one extra jar of things we used regularly:mayo, mustard, ketchup, etc. If you used something up, you put it on the grocery list. We would say, "But there's another one in there!" She'd answer, "Put it on the list, anyway." That was for a family of six. I have three brothers, and we all ate a lot!!!

I keep a lot of staples: a full bag of flour, sugar, extra butter, cheese, tortillas, fruit, and veggies. I generally have enough food to feed myself for a month. I rotate, so things don't go bad. I have a gas oven that doesn't need electricity, and a bbq and plenty of charcoal and lighter fluid. I keep ten gallons of water on hand. I buy in bulk, but use it. (Coffee, green tea, chocolate(!), meat and poultry, pasta, rolled oats, etc.

I also cook for one person like I'm cooking for a family. Right now I have pyrex containers filled with homemade vegetable soup, spaghetti, tuna casserole, and brown rice. As I finish one container, I cook another meal and keep it in the fridge. There's always something to eat!

We have had our water shut off several times for repairs. I was glad I had plenty on hand. When I had my business, at the end of the run I ate from my stockpile for a month to save money. I was surprised at how quickly I went through all of my food. It seemed like so much...but once I stopped shopping, I ate through it in thirty days. I keep extra pet food, too.

I buy milk and soy milk at Costco, and they come in packages of three. I have hurricane lamps and two drawers full of yarn for my knitting passion.

When we had the wildfires here, I realized how important it is to have cash, gas in the car, and a charged cell phone. I had to get out of here in five mins. My biggest issue was I had to leave my pot bellied pig and chicken. I put my three large dogs in my Kia Rio, but had to leave the other two pets. They made it, but I was really worried. The pig has sinced passed away, and I now have a dog crate for the chicken. I'm down to two dogs now, so I think we could all fit in the car. I have my paperwork in a file, and my living trust papers in a binder.

[thinkgreen]

We were snowed in once. Fortunately we still had power and water so life was pretty normal. After a week we had run out of fresh items like fruit but still had lots of pantry goods. It got a bit sticky because you'd think OK I can make pancakes but we had run out of eggs and milk. Now I know I can use egg substitute and powdered milk but at that time hadn't any in the house... because I wasn't prepared. We also found we were likely to eat more because there was nothing to do, we couldn't go out ...

Since then I now have powdered milk and egg substitute in the pantry for emergency. I also have a small butane one burner cooker in case we have no power. I have enough fuel canisters to last at least a week.

If caught off guard I would likely eat up all the cheese and crackers then live on soup and cereal.

[shadowmoss]

I have a goal of buying one can of freeze-dried something, that I will actually eat, a month. I so far have eggs, tomato powder, sausage flavored tvp nuggets (because it was on sale for less than $3) and tomato pieces. Maybe some black beans as well. The beans I wouldn't spend the money on again because it is so easy to dehydrate a can of beans, or just keep canned beans. The tomato pieces I won't spend the money on because they weren't worth the money when I can get the tomato powder which can be used many different ways. I look at what the freeze-dried distributors put in their 30-day+ packs and figure out what I can buy cheaper. Instant potatoes, dehydrated onions, dehydrated beans are not worth paying the higher prices to me, I can get those at any supermarket and repackage. I work with a guy who is a Mormon and he gives good guidance. He has said that their year's worth of food storage helped out a lot when he was out of work for several months as they didn't have money for food otherwise.

[happystuff]

Just a little side note on the pancakes... I have a no-egg recipe for pancakes that I always take camping. I would make several batches of the recipe and put them in canning jars, then just add water when needed, shake and pour!

1 cup self-rising flour (1 cup flour + 1 1/2 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp salt)
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 heaping tablespoons cornmeal
1/2 cup powdered milk

than add 1 to 1 1/2 cups water to desired consistency.

[bae]

That's pretty much how I stockpile food.

Same here. Because of where we live, logistics are a pain, so we tend to plan, buy ahead, and buy in bulk. We also can lose power for days-to-a-week in winter storms.

Our main kitchen pantry would easily feed us for weeks, longer with the foods in the freezer and refrigerator. We routinely go a week+ without grocery shopping anyways, except for fresh veggies/fruit.

We have a larger pantry in the mud room that has enough for a few more weeks.

And we have a fair bit of longer-term storage foods set aside, though it isn't earmarked for "survival" purposes, it is staple food we cycle through our regular consumption, it would still provide ~ 1 year of food with some thought and care.

I also keep ~30 days of food on my boat, so I can just hop in and head out on a trip if the whim moves me.

As to cooking it all, between the two wood stoves, camp stoves, and the galley on the boat, I don't suspect cooking will be much of an issue, we manage fine when the power is out already.

[thinkgreen]

Happystuff,
Thank you for the pancake recipe. I have all the ingredients and I will try it out on the weekend.

[meri]

Storage space and natural resources are an issue for me in this respect.

We are a family of three livin in one bedroom apartment which means that the one bedroom is our daughter's room and me and my husband have a sleeping mattress on a wooden storey above the living room space.

Nevertheless I am always making sure that we have enough food to last for at least a week even should there be a power outage which would mean that the fridge and freezer are out of operation. I have dried and canned legumes, fruit and vegetable and staples such as rice, oats and barley and couple of soy milks. Pretty much all of this is regularly used so we are just continuously re-stocking the supplies so that they never go past the expiry date. I eat plant based diet but the rest of the family doesn't so I am also keeping some canned fish and other meat. I cook pretty much every day and we don't usually use canned food so every year when we go on vacation we take the cans and use them and get fresh ones as soon as we are back.

We are not smokers and don't have a fireplace so I am paying attention to always have couple of boxes of matches to be able to lit a fire should there be any need to.


It used to be much easier where I spent most of my youth. I had a garden where fresh vegetable and fruit could be picked from spring till autumn, well with water (even though there are some disadvantages in not having a running water in the bathroom, having a well comes handy when you are cut off from everything due to weather). There is also an old cellar under the house which we used instead of fridge. Nothing got spoiled or rotten any faster than it does in refrigerator and our electricity bills were super low. There are woods nearby so no shortage of wood and the only heating system is good old fashioned stove. Sometimes we would not notice the electricity is down until evening when we wanted to switch on a lamp. And because the nearest store is in a village about two miles away, we used to make sure to get stocked with food going shopping to a shopping mall by car about four times a year.

[flowerseverywhere]

Great ideas. Love the pancake recipe. I have a solar sun oven that I learned how to use. Handy to boil water or cook food. Also, I have several weeks worth of canned food that needs no water. I am not crazy about the sodium, but in a pinch it makes do

one thing is I always try to have some hardy veggies on hand that would last once the quick to spoil ones are gone. Cabbage, carrots, potatoes, onions and winter squash all will last a while. I rotate them through our food rotation. Lentils don't take lots of water and energy to cook. A lentil soup with carrots, garlic, rosemary and veggie stock is easy and delicious. Spinach adds a lot to the taste in normal times. Also sprouts are easy to do and add some freshness to the diet. Even fresh herbs on a windowsill can add taste and a little nutrition.

One thing I need to do is get a sourdough starter going. Makes for tasty pancakes, breads and biscuits. I also need to look into container gardening. I am pretty sure I could grow something year round here. We are investigating solar panels,on the house as well.

one more thing. If there is no power there is no internet, so some printed recipes could come in handy, such as the pancake ones.

[iris lily]

It used to be much easier where I spent most of my youth. I had a garden where fresh vegetable and fruit could be picked from spring till autumn, well with water (even though there are some disadvantages in not having a running water in the bathroom, having a well comes handy when you are cut off from everything due to weather). There is also an old cellar under the house which we used instead of fridge. Nothing got spoiled or rotten any faster than it does in refrigerator and our electricity bills were super low. There are woods nearby so no shortage of wood and the only heating system is good old fashioned stove. Sometimes we would not notice the electricity is down until evening when we wanted to switch on a lamp. And because the nearest store is in a village about two miles away, we used to make sure to get stocked with food going shopping to a shopping mall by car about four times a year.

I loved reading, this, fascinating!