Emergency Preparedness: what food stuff do you have?

[iris lily]

Here's a thread to talk about foods that we store, how much, why, and how do we organize and manage that stash?

If there's enough participation in this and in other Emergency Preparedness thread, we may start up a forums for just this topic of "Emergency Preparedness."

The one think that struck me today as I was thinking about storing up foodstuff is: pet food. Now that is something that would be useful to have around, especially since one of our dogs is on semi-special diet.

This is a topic that's hard for me to get excited about. Convince me that I should pay attention to it.

[Tradd]

There are several factors that go into determining what food you store for emergencies. How many people, ages, and your emergency cooking methods.

I'm in a rented condo with no balcony or patio. That makes using a camping stove of any sort on the dangerous side. After a bunch of research, I settled on cans of Sterno and a little foldable stove to use with them. I can heat water for tea in about 5 minutes or a can of soup/stew/pasta in a few minutes more. Since I live alone, my stores are of mostly canned soup/stew/pasta, with some tuna, canned chicken, etc.

I do have canned black beans, diced tomatoes, and corn that I make a regular soup out of. Just combine the cans in a pot and heat.

[bae]

I live in a remote-ish spot, and provisioning is a bit of a pain.

And except for locally-produced foods, we stock mostly simple things.

As a result, I tend to keep about a year+ of basics in stock: rice, beans, grains, sauces, boring canned goods.

I keep about 2-3 months of pet food in stock usually, just due to the rhythm of shipments. My pets are quite happy eating cooked people food, so push-comes-to-shove, they can happily eat what we do.

The key to my system is I don't buy "prep" food, I simply buy food we normally eat, and stack it deep, and run it through an inventory cycle.

I'm pretty sure if we had Zombies or whatnot, I could live off my own land with a few months preparation.

[new2oregon]

Other things like peanut butter, tuna, soy milk or powdered milk. As long as you have beans, rice, pasta, etc you can always make a meal. Like bae said buy food you normally eat. When I had room in the freezer I would keep frozen jugs of water so if you lost power your food would stay cold longer, Just don't fill the jugs all the way.

[Spartana]

I really don't have much food stashed but do have lots of water and dog food (the dog and I will battle it out for that - just teasing!). Generally keep can foods that don't need cooking or preparing in anyway (canned fruit, beans, tuna, peanut butter etc...) and that have water or juice in them so that I can make my water supply last longer (which is more a worry here in SoCal then food) to use at home in case of a power outage. Then lots of light weight dried stuff like fruit, protein bars, crackers, ramen noodles, etc... that also doesn't have to be cooked or have water added to it but are easily carried in case I need to take it with me. I also keep a "food bag" in my car with me that has all sorts of dried goodies that I can live on without the need to add water or cook in the event I have an situation where something happens to my house or I am far from my house and other food supply. Problem is keeping me from digging into that food bag as I know there are some random M $ Ms floating around in there!

[happystuff]

I like reading the emergency preparedness threads. As I posted in another one, my problem is actually keeping the grab-n-go bags up to date. They were put together over 7 years ago and I don't thinkanything has been checked, swapped out since then.

[catherine]

This is a topic that's hard for me to get excited about. Convince me that I should pay attention to it.

+1

I'm a real in-the-moment, go-with-the-flow person, so my idea of emergency preparedness is making sure I have enough half-and-half for my morning coffee.

[bae]

+1

I'm a real in-the-moment, go-with-the-flow person, so my idea of emergency preparedness is making sure I have enough half-and-half for my morning coffee.

I keep some vacuum-packed green coffee beans stashed away, so I can properly caffeinate when the zombies come.

[Miss Cellane]

I think the caffeine supply is one thing that many people forget when they plan an emergency food stash. If you are used to a regular, daily cup of coffee, going without suddenly can lead to headaches, which you really don't want during an emergency. The headaches can make you grumpy. The grumpiness can lead to everyone else in the group/family considering shoving you out the airlock.

So, if you are a caffeine addict, plan something. Instant coffee. Lots of chocolate. Caffeine pills. Tea. Hot chocolate. But plan Something, if only for the sake of those around you.

[catherine]

So I can add "coffee can help you survive Armageddon" to the list of multiple benefits of coffee. Sweet! As one of my favorite quotes says, "Where there's coffee, there's hope!"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/17/coffee-health-benefits_n_4102133.html

[Spartana]

I keep a big baggie full of those little packets of flavored coffee/cappuccino/ mocha mixes you can just add water too. They have caffine as well as cream and sugar in them already. I know that probably seems down right barbaric to you coffeeisttas but some of us can survive the zombie apocalypse without a French press :-)! Caffine pills probably are the best thing though in case you can't make hot water.

[iris lily]

I keep a big baggie full of those little packets of flavored coffee/cappuccino/ mocha mixes you can just add water too. They have caffine as well as cream and sugar in them already. I know that probably seems down right barbaric to you coffeeisttas but some of us can survive the zombie apocalypse without a French press :-)! Caffine pills probably are the best thing though in case you can't make hot water.

Sweetie, mainline your coffee. Just open a vein and push it in. Better than the oral version. :)

[Spartana]

Sweetie, mainline your coffee. Just open a vein and push it in. Better than the oral version. :)

Ha Ha - well I have tried that with my beloved Hostess Ho-Ho's to get my sugar-high asap (and oh the temporary agony of withdrawal when they shut down!). But I'm a coffee wimp who only needs one small fix a day so can take it orally. It's the rest of you soon-to-be-crazy addicts that worry me when the last Starbucks in the world shuts down after the zombies invade :-)!

[RosieTR]

I'm much more worried about other issues, such as water (as was nearly recently demonstrated here) or power (as was demonstrated various areas around the US this winter). We have a couple large bins of beans, keep a variety of grains around, and the freezer is often full-ish of meat and other supplies. I also have plenty of experience cooking full meals on a gas grill, plus we have tow or three cooking stoves and beer brewing equipment. If SHTF and we were at home and needed to burn something, we have a wood fence that could be burned for fuel as well as various trees. I will say, unlike Spartana I am kind of bad about keeping stuff in the car, and actually I'm frequently up to 10 miles from any even small town on my daily commute. I do usually wear good walking/hiking shoes and appropriate clothing for the weather, but I should probably think about bringing water and a small go-bag regularly. It's way more likely I'd have issues with the commute, and have in the past two years been stuck (thankfully at home rather than work or on the road) due to both snow/ice and flooding. The potential to be stuck on the road is pretty high. How did you decide what to bring? I have plenty of granola bars and on the way TO work I carry lunch with, but keeping unfrozen water and rotating food has not been something I've prioritized.

[Gregg]

I think the caffeine supply is one thing that many people forget when they plan an emergency food stash.

Only the rookies.

[Tiam]

Here's a thread to talk about foods that we store, how much, why, and how do we organize and manage that stash?

If there's enough participation in this and in other Emergency Preparedness thread, we may start up a forums for just this topic of "Emergency Preparedness."

The one think that struck me today as I was thinking about storing up foodstuff is: pet food. Now that is something that would be useful to have around, especially since one of our dogs is on semi-special diet.

This is a topic that's hard for me to get excited about. Convince me that I should pay attention to it.

I periodically go on and off storing food. The truth is, I just don't use enough canned or prepared foods to rotate through the stuff. I have a supply of water that is years old in original plastic containers. Probably enough for a week. I know people say that a food supply can help you through a financial slump, but if it isn't food you use regularly, well.....

[Blackdog Lin]

It took me 5 years or so to get halfway good at having an emergency-preparedness pantry in the house. I wasted a fair amount of monies with storing things that didn't work - and offset that with having and eating foodstuffs purchased years ago at much lower prices and consumed now.

I prep for (1) short-term: an ice-storm, heavy snow/blizzard, power outage; and (2) long term: the financial meltdown I truly believe will occur in my lifetime. I have pantry supplies for both.

Everyone's situation is different - city/rural, bug-out/bug-in, temporary/long-term.....so my pantry needs are only what I've decided works for our household situation.

Key is water and a cooking method. Times three. I have at least 3 potential sources of water within 100 yds. of our house (including in-house supplies), and 3 potential ways to cook foodstuffs. And then I keep a pantry with items that we generally cook with every week. We tend to cook more "homemade", so I don't buy much in the way of prepared foods. Canned tomatoes, canned chicken broth, frozen veggies, flour and sugar, dried beans, lots of rice and pasta and salt and bouillon cubes and spices.

And then I've invested in long-term supplies. #10 cans of freeze-dried carrots and celery and onions and dried milk and cheese powder. For the long-term.

But I'm tired now. Gotta quit. We'll talk tomorrow..... :)

[Spartana]

And don't forget to keep actual cash on hand - and in your vehicle, bug out bag or wallet too along with food and water - as well as at least a half full fuel tank in your car if you are far from home. We had a big power outage here a couple of years ago that stretched from Mexico to just south of LA and all the way east into Arizona. It happened at afternoon school outage and evening rush hour when there were millions of people on the roads far from home. Not only did the grid lock on freeways and roadways come to nearly a dead stop and took people many many hours to get home, but there was no commuter rail or buses either - and no gas because the pumps wouldn't work. And those gas stations that had back up generators to run the pumps (don't even know if any did) they still couldn't take credit or debit cards because of the power outage - cash only. So many people ran out of gas on the road because of the many hours of traffic jam and not enough gas and no where to get it. And even if they found where gas pumps worked, they couldn't buy any because they didn't have cash. Same thing happens with most stores. Many may stay open despite the outage, but you'll need cash to buy anything because CC and debit cards won't work. Same with ATM machines to get cash and most (likely all) banks will have shutdown. Anyways, this outage lasted all night long and stranded hundreds of thousands - perhaps millions - along the roads and in gas stations and parking lots all night long - and AAA or anyone else couldn't get thru the grid lock to help those stranded. So having food, water, some cash on hand, and some lots of fuel in the car can be a blessing. Oh and toilet paper in the car too :-)!

[happystuff]

I've thought about getting some MREs for the 3-day food supply thing. I've heard they have improved since I was in the service - LOL. Anyone have any recent experience with them? i.e. taste, cost, size, etc.

[jp1]

And don't forget to keep actual cash on hand - and in your vehicle, bug out bag or wallet too along with food and water - as well as at least a half full fuel tank in your car if you are far from home.

I agree wholeheartedly with this. When 9/11 happened I was living in NYC but happened to be just across the river in NJ at the time it happened. The first thing I tried to do was get money from the ATM in case I needed it. No luck at the first 10 ATM's. Finally I found one in a store that was functional and would give me money. Now I keep cash at home and also in the backpack that I carry around every day.

[bae]

I've thought about getting some MREs for the 3-day food supply thing. I've heard they have improved since I was in the service - LOL. Anyone have any recent experience with them? i.e. taste, cost, size, etc.

I think you'll be much happier with freeze-dried products from Mountain House - these are so decent we keep them on hand simply to use as quick meals when needed. MREs are pretty dreadful still, and I think you end up paying a large "cool preparedness food" surcharge.

[happystuff]

I think you'll be much happier with freeze-dried products from Mountain House - these are so decent we keep them on hand simply to use as quick meals when needed. MREs are pretty dreadful still, and I think you end up paying a large "cool preparedness food" surcharge.


Thanks, bae. Off-hand, do you know the shelf-life of the Mountain House free-dried products?

[bae]

Thanks, bae. Off-hand, do you know the shelf-life of the Mountain House free-dried products?

I think Mountain House claims 25 years for the #10 cans of their product, and 7 years for the pouch version.

That said, they also have released data showing that the pouch may last considerably longer, closer to 25 years:

http://topfoodstoragereviews.com/30-year-shelf-life-with-mountain-house-pouches

Not all brands of freeze-dried/dehydrated foods are equal, either in lifespan or taste. Mountain House is hands-down the superior product from my investigations over the past 20 years.