Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association
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  1. #21
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Feasterville, Pennsylvania
    (Bucks County)
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    Default Re: Long term emergency food

    I never really put much thought into a long-term food prep stash.......until early 2020.
    When I saw what a (relatively small) scare such as covid did to our supply chains, and availability of everyday products.....it was eye-opening to say the least!

    I ran out and put together what I thought at the time would be good food reserve choices. Enough to provide for my family for at least 3 months.
    I labeled each plastic bin with duct tape as to what was in it, and numbered it. I also organized the food equally in each bin to have a variety of foods.

    In each box, I included the obvious:
    Canned beans, boullion, peanut butter, canned soups..fruits...vegetables, dry pasta, tuna....etc..

    As the next 2 years went by, I would rotate some food in & out of my bins.
    However, I found that most of what I had added in my bins had a relatively short shelf life. I also realized that most of those foods, I don`t eat on a regular basis given the option for freshly prepared foods (I almost never eat anything from a can......except hormel chili...no beans...micro`ed with a brick of cream cheese.....with a bag of fritos....I thank my kids for that unhealthy addiction).
    So, I found myself giving probably close to 70% of what I had stored to the local food bank. Not a bad thing, but I knew that if I was going to make a true long term food storage stash, I definitely needed to rethink how I was going to pack it.
    Now, as much as we`d all like to believe that we can manage assembling a long term food storage scenario where everything we pull out of the bin has the potential to taste like it was made by an Iron Chef, that`s just not the reality. That`s the mistake I made by arranging my first bins (albeit, my initial intentions for those bins weren`t meant to last long-term).
    I think nutritional value, and sustainability has to precede the luxury of "feel-good" foods.

    I did, as others do, search the www.com`s to find those bins with the long shelf lives, but I couldn`t find anything that really made sense for the prices being charged.
    Everything looked like items you could pick up yourself and build your own for less than 50% of what they were charging to do it for you.

    I have recently started to build my own bins, and opted to begin with items that I don`t have to worry about rotating stock, and have an extremely long shelf life:

    Over 25 year shelf life:
    Corn Starch
    Vinegar
    Some Liquor
    Popcorn (not micro)
    Maple Syrup
    Raw Honey
    Salt
    Sugar
    Vanilla Extract
    Soy Sauce
    Powdered Gelatin (Jell-O)
    Beans: Chickpeas, Lentils, Peas, Kidney, Black, Soy, Pinto, and Navy.

    10+ years shelf life:
    Instant coffee
    Powdered milk
    Rice of different varieties

    5-10 years shelf life:
    Varieties of canned fruit
    Varieties of grains

    3-5 years shelf life:
    Canned Tuna
    Varieties of spices
    Pickled vegetables

    I also thought that it was important that water purifying products were included in my long term bins.
    As well as:
    Heavy duty aluminum foil.....several large rolls, as these can be used for a variety of purposes
    Utensils (don`t forget your can openers)
    Camping plates / mugs

    I`m relatively new at this, and I`m sure that there are plenty of other items that I should be thinking of.
    I would love to have suggestions / input on what I could add to my bins.....so please, if you can think of anything that would help, I`d love to hear your advise!!!

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Oh so close to the Delaware River!, New Jersey
    Posts
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    17801317

    Default Re: Long term emergency food

    Quote Originally Posted by degoat77 View Post
    I never really put much thought into a long-term food prep stash.......until early 2020.
    When I saw what a (relatively small) scare such as covid did to our supply chains, and availability of everyday products.....it was eye-opening to say the least!

    I ran out and put together what I thought at the time would be good food reserve choices. Enough to provide for my family for at least 3 months.
    I labeled each plastic bin with duct tape as to what was in it, and numbered it. I also organized the food equally in each bin to have a variety of foods.

    In each box, I included the obvious:
    Canned beans, boullion, peanut butter, canned soups..fruits...vegetables, dry pasta, tuna....etc..

    As the next 2 years went by, I would rotate some food in & out of my bins.
    However, I found that most of what I had added in my bins had a relatively short shelf life. I also realized that most of those foods, I don`t eat on a regular basis given the option for freshly prepared foods (I almost never eat anything from a can......except hormel chili...no beans...micro`ed with a brick of cream cheese.....with a bag of fritos....I thank my kids for that unhealthy addiction).
    So, I found myself giving probably close to 70% of what I had stored to the local food bank. Not a bad thing, but I knew that if I was going to make a true long term food storage stash, I definitely needed to rethink how I was going to pack it.
    Now, as much as we`d all like to believe that we can manage assembling a long term food storage scenario where everything we pull out of the bin has the potential to taste like it was made by an Iron Chef, that`s just not the reality. That`s the mistake I made by arranging my first bins (albeit, my initial intentions for those bins weren`t meant to last long-term).
    I think nutritional value, and sustainability has to precede the luxury of "feel-good" foods.

    I did, as others do, search the www.com`s to find those bins with the long shelf lives, but I couldn`t find anything that really made sense for the prices being charged.
    Everything looked like items you could pick up yourself and build your own for less than 50% of what they were charging to do it for you.

    I have recently started to build my own bins, and opted to begin with items that I don`t have to worry about rotating stock, and have an extremely long shelf life:

    Over 25 year shelf life:
    Corn Starch
    Vinegar
    Some Liquor
    Popcorn (not micro)
    Maple Syrup
    Raw Honey
    Salt
    Sugar
    Vanilla Extract
    Soy Sauce
    Powdered Gelatin (Jell-O)
    Beans: Chickpeas, Lentils, Peas, Kidney, Black, Soy, Pinto, and Navy.

    10+ years shelf life:
    Instant coffee
    Powdered milk
    Rice of different varieties

    5-10 years shelf life:
    Varieties of canned fruit
    Varieties of grains

    3-5 years shelf life:
    Canned Tuna
    Varieties of spices
    Pickled vegetables

    I also thought that it was important that water purifying products were included in my long term bins.
    As well as:
    Heavy duty aluminum foil.....several large rolls, as these can be used for a variety of purposes
    Utensils (don`t forget your can openers)
    Camping plates / mugs

    I`m relatively new at this, and I`m sure that there are plenty of other items that I should be thinking of.
    I would love to have suggestions / input on what I could add to my bins.....so please, if you can think of anything that would help, I`d love to hear your advise!!!
    I take it those are dried beans that can last 25 years?

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Feasterville, Pennsylvania
    (Bucks County)
    Posts
    29
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    0

    Default Re: Long term emergency food

    Quote Originally Posted by father-of-five View Post
    I take it those are dried beans that can last 25 years?
    Yes, dried beans.......sorry, I meant to specify that.

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Hanover, Pennsylvania
    (York County)
    Posts
    99
    Rep Power
    7406205

    Default Re: Long term emergency food

    Quote Originally Posted by degoat77 View Post
    As the next 2 years went by, I would rotate some food in & out of my bins.
    ...
    I`m relatively new at this, and I`m sure that there are plenty of other items that I should be thinking of.
    I would love to have suggestions / input on what I could add to my bins.....so please, if you can think of anything that would help, I`d love to hear your advise!!!
    I think your doing a great job. The fact you thought through this, planned and executed, then improved. Most people are not that smart.

    Back in November 2020 I thought the world was going to burn if Trump won so I bought a lot of non-perishable food, even stuff we don't normally eat. Now I've whittled that down to only what we use and then rotate stock. This also includes non-food like shampoo or my wife's makeup remover wipes, toothpaste, etc. I just keep a small notepad on the shelf and anytime we take something write it down. When I do my weekly grocery shopping I just add to my shopping list whatever we took from the prepper shelf that week. It's nice never to be out of something.

    Also, things like burrito wraps have a 1 year use-by date from the store. We go through at least one package of those a month.

    Don't forget for things like tuna you are going to want a little may and relish with that. Even though it's more expensive it's better to buy a bunch of smaller ones than one giant one in case it goes bad. So we have several of the little squeeze bottles of mayo and relish to go with the canned tuna.

    Things I'm not doing well:
    Rotating the things we don't normally eat, like canned fruit or veggies. I'm a bit of a food snob so I would much rather cook fresh than canned. So I need to come up with some recipes for those kinds of things.

    I don't have a FIFO can system yet. I need to get that because the cheap store-brand cans of things like beans or tomato sauce don't stack well. A friend of mine has a cheap cardboard one that works but eventually tears that he repairs with duct tape. The ones on amazon are so freaking expensive. Maybe I'll look into making them too.

    I still buy most of my meat the week I use it. I've been meaning to get a chest freezer and buy a 1/2 a cow, which would last just the two of us 1/2 a year or so?

    I also do a horrible job of managing leftovers. My plan was to dehydrate leftovers then vacuum seal. They would be good for up to 3 years at room temperature. I'm just too lazy to do that and end up throwing them out.

    I keep forgetting to date things. I bought a pack of small labels I was planning on using to put the date when they get added to the prepper shelf but again, too lazy. That pack of stickers sits unopened.

    For water I think I'm about to pull the trigger on a Propur gravity water filter. Filters last a year or more and it's all stainless steal. You can put any kind of water in there, from a lake or rain barrel, and it will purify it. The downside is it takes 2-3 hours for it to process 3 gallons of water. My plan is to get some of the 4 gallon water jugs from the grocery store and refill them. We already have 5 empty ones in the basement and Amazon sells the caps.

    I think the big thing is to constantly re-evaluate and improve your plan, like you are doing. Keep the conversation going and talk with others to see what they are doing.

  5. #25
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Scenery Hill, Pennsylvania
    (Washington County)
    Posts
    3,260
    Rep Power
    21474853

    Default Re: Long term emergency food

    Nutrient Survival claims to be a healthy alternative to other long term storage food for preppers.

    The guys on the We Like Shooting podcast did a one month challenge where they ate only food from Nutrient Survival and nothing else. They reported they lost weight, felt amazing, and blood work improved.

    So check it out.

    https://nutrientsurvival.com/

    Use code WLS10 to save 10.1% off your order.

    I'm not affiliated with them and I've never tried the stuff, but I listen to the podcast and if I was going to buy that type of product I would buy from them.
    In America arms are free merchandise such that anyone who has the capital may make their houses into armories and their gardens into parks of artillery. - Ira Allen, 1796

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
    (Allegheny County)
    Posts
    33,567
    Rep Power
    21474887

    Default Re: Long term emergency food

    In response to the above posts about foods I stock up on that end up not being used/going bad, FROZEN food is the worst.
    We're not good about planning dinners ahead because there are many variables that often throw a wrench in the plans, so frozen meats just sit and sit and sit.

    I'm not as concerned with canned foods because I will still eat them years beyond the "best by" date on the can, but yeah, I tend to find a lot of food that never gets rotated to the front.
    I write the YEAR ( '22 ) on the front of the label and usually the month/year on the top of the can when I put them on the shelving unit.

    I have enough freeze dried Mountain House etc bags for about 2 weeks for 2 people. I'm not blowing any more money on THAT sort of food.
    Everything else will be canned goods that I can eat and replace.

    I'm currently trying to learn about long term storage of dry goods in jars, vacuum bags, and mylar bags.
    I called to check my ZIP CODE!....DY-NO-MITE!!!

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Oh so close to the Delaware River!, New Jersey
    Posts
    2,258
    Rep Power
    17801317

    Default Re: Long term emergency food

    Quote Originally Posted by degoat77 View Post
    Yes, dried beans.......sorry, I meant to specify that.
    That's what I thought. Beans are good. Finding dried/dehyrated food that the family likes is a challenge. Rice may work, as 10 years is still a nice long time period to work with.

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Waynesboro, Pennsylvania
    (Franklin County)
    Posts
    3,597
    Rep Power
    21474853

    Default Re: Long term emergency food

    Quote Originally Posted by degoat77 View Post
    I never really put much thought into a long-term food prep stash.......until early 2020.
    When I saw what a (relatively small) scare such as covid did to our supply chains, and availability of everyday products.....it was eye-opening to say the least!

    I ran out and put together what I thought at the time would be good food reserve choices. Enough to provide for my family for at least 3 months.
    I labeled each plastic bin with duct tape as to what was in it, and numbered it. I also organized the food equally in each bin to have a variety of foods.

    In each box, I included the obvious:
    Canned beans, boullion, peanut butter, canned soups..fruits...vegetables, dry pasta, tuna....etc..

    As the next 2 years went by, I would rotate some food in & out of my bins.
    However, I found that most of what I had added in my bins had a relatively short shelf life. I also realized that most of those foods, I don`t eat on a regular basis given the option for freshly prepared foods (I almost never eat anything from a can......except hormel chili...no beans...micro`ed with a brick of cream cheese.....with a bag of fritos....I thank my kids for that unhealthy addiction).
    So, I found myself giving probably close to 70% of what I had stored to the local food bank. Not a bad thing, but I knew that if I was going to make a true long term food storage stash, I definitely needed to rethink how I was going to pack it.
    Now, as much as we`d all like to believe that we can manage assembling a long term food storage scenario where everything we pull out of the bin has the potential to taste like it was made by an Iron Chef, that`s just not the reality. That`s the mistake I made by arranging my first bins (albeit, my initial intentions for those bins weren`t meant to last long-term).
    I think nutritional value, and sustainability has to precede the luxury of "feel-good" foods.

    I did, as others do, search the www.com`s to find those bins with the long shelf lives, but I couldn`t find anything that really made sense for the prices being charged.
    Everything looked like items you could pick up yourself and build your own for less than 50% of what they were charging to do it for you.

    I have recently started to build my own bins, and opted to begin with items that I don`t have to worry about rotating stock, and have an extremely long shelf life:

    Over 25 year shelf life:
    Corn Starch
    Vinegar
    Some Liquor
    Popcorn (not micro)
    Maple Syrup
    Raw Honey
    Salt
    Sugar
    Vanilla Extract
    Soy Sauce
    Powdered Gelatin (Jell-O)
    Beans: Chickpeas, Lentils, Peas, Kidney, Black, Soy, Pinto, and Navy.

    10+ years shelf life:
    Instant coffee
    Powdered milk
    Rice of different varieties

    5-10 years shelf life:
    Varieties of canned fruit
    Varieties of grains

    3-5 years shelf life:
    Canned Tuna
    Varieties of spices
    Pickled vegetables

    I also thought that it was important that water purifying products were included in my long term bins.
    As well as:
    Heavy duty aluminum foil.....several large rolls, as these can be used for a variety of purposes
    Utensils (don`t forget your can openers)
    Camping plates / mugs

    I`m relatively new at this, and I`m sure that there are plenty of other items that I should be thinking of.
    I would love to have suggestions / input on what I could add to my bins.....so please, if you can think of anything that would help, I`d love to hear your advise!!!
    I just went ahead and spent the big bucks on true 25 year kits. We bought a combination of Readywise and Readyhour kits. More expensive than canned and other supermarket choices but we noticed that nearly all supermarket choices are good for no more than 2 to 5 years and we were looking for something we could store and forget. 20-25 years will outlast me. We always have a well stocked pantry so the short term stuff is not something we were looking for. Between our pantry, the long term emergency food, local farm markets and local hunting and fishing opportunities, I think we are good to go in the emergency food department.
    I think there are a lot of people considering emergency survival that never really thought about it before. My niece and nephew, who are much more liberal than my wife and I, out of the blue the other day said to my wife "I know how Ray and you are, what should we be doing to prepare for emergencies?" My wife offered some suggestions and discussed what we have done and said we had about 3 months of long term storage food as well as a month or so of pantry food, the niece said they have about two weeks of food at their house. I feel they have spent the last couple of years thinking we are crazys, suddenly we are their go-to.
    The Hostler

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
    (Allegheny County)
    Posts
    33,567
    Rep Power
    21474887

    Default Re: Long term emergency food

    There are 2 people on my team who have been spending the entire 8 hour shift changing price tags on the shelves several days a week.
    Usually not both at the same time, but that's a lot of price changes.
    I called to check my ZIP CODE!....DY-NO-MITE!!!

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Pittsburgh
    Posts
    100
    Rep Power
    4020749

    Default Re: Long term emergency food

    Quote Originally Posted by Emptymag View Post
    There are 2 people on my team who have been spending the entire 8 hour shift changing price tags on the shelves several days a week.
    Usually not both at the same time, but that's a lot of price changes.
    All Roll-Backs I assume. LOL

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