Why should you prepare to survive the storm of the century?
Because this is the one devastating situation we cannot predict but know possibility of it becoming a reality is always only one storm away. It doesn't matter if it is snow and ice, or wind and rain.
The only difference would be the manner of storage. If you are racing ahead of a flood or hurricane, canning jars will be difficult to pack quickly, and they are heavy and space consuming for transporting. So it is wise to have in the stockpile light weight, and space saving ready to grab and run food stores such as dehydrated and freeze-dried foods stored in 5-gallon pails.
Those of us with gardens preserve the bounty by canning and freezing it, other also dehydrate. The problem with freezing the food supply is that first, frozen food has a short shelf life, and second, what happens to all that food when the power goes out for days, or weeks?
This post is primarily for those folks who keep enough food on hand for the short term, such as until the next shopping trip to the market.
On of my biggest fears has always been that of not having enough food to feed my family, so I have always stockpiled it. As a young mother with limited funds and living in apartments, I would stock up on canned foods whenever possible, buying as few as one or two extra cans or as many extra as I could manage, then storing my stash in the back of a deep closet.
Eventually we were able to buy a home where I could plant a garden, and I learned to "can" my own food. What I couldn't grow I bought by the bushel from a local farmer, at a reduced price because I would buy so many bushels of everything from potatoes to winter squash, and bushels of cucumbers for pickling. These I would store in my basement which made a perfect root cellar.
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| Presto 23 qt Pressure Canner |
Everything was learned as needed, and without the help of the internet as this was back in the 70's when we had to do our research using books and magazines. But I learned, and became more confident each season until I was finally brave enough to buy my first pressure canner. I used this 23 quart Presto Pressure Canner for more than 30 years, until I finally invested in the All-American pressure canner last year.
The Presto is very affordable and easy to use. It uses a rubber gasket in the rim of the cover for a tight seal, and it will eventually need to be replaced.
That first time using a pressure canner was terrifying to say the least, but once it was over and it didn't explode, it was the start of a new world of experimentation and food preservation. Now, at last, I could preserve vegetables and entire meals! Incredible!
My stockpile would now grow until I had enough food to feed my family of five for a full year! This ability to provide healthy food for my family no matter what happened allowed me the luxury of a feeling safe should an emergency occur.
It's a wonderful feeling when a blizzard knocks out power for weeks, and the store shelves are emptied, to know that my family will continue to be fed as usual.
If only I had a cow for milk and butter, and a few chickens for eggs. That would come in time.
Now, back to you and getting your stockpile started.
It doesn't take much to get that stockpile started, in fact all it takes is buying one extra "something" the next time you go shopping. It can be food, or other necessity... even buying a package containing more than one toothbrush is a start.
If you don't have a garden, try starting one. It doesn't need to be elaborate and cover an acre of ground. It can be as simple as a window box or even just a bag of potting mix.
The garden at Henny Penny Farm started out with just a few bags of potting mix and some purchased transplants. Plant a variety of vegetables or planting one or two vegetables in a few bags will provide enough for the table and to preserve. It still amazes me how many green beans can be produced on just a few vines, keep in mind that vining varieties produce far more than the bush variety.
Getting started.
Where and how are you going to store your stockpile and supplies?
If you have plenty of closet space, use a closet or just the shelf at the top. An unused chest of drawers works well too, and can be kept anywhere in the house.
I have a closet beneath a stairway which had lots of wasted space behind the closet rod, so I removed the rod and added narrow shelves along the walls on each side of the doorway, and at the far end of the closet. The shelves are only as deep as a mason jar and have been fitted according to the height of the jars.
At the back of the closet, which is less than a yard high, I have one deep shelf which is deep enough to hold cases of jars, or #10 cans, and beneath the shelf there is enough height for storing 5-gallon pails or canners.
On the floor I have stacked a couple of plastic totes for storing vacuum sealed foods in mylar or plastic food-saver pouches. On the floor below the lowest side shelves there is enough height to stack and store #10 cans two high, or large bags of baking soda, etc.
The shelves were made from scraps of plywood and 1x2's cut to fit and fastened to the wall to support the shelves, as well as vertically in front of the shelves to add more support. If I could build these, anyone can.
On a larger scale, I have a small, odd room at the end of the center hallway, where we added shelves onto the wall using scrap lumber. These shelves are as deep as a case of jars and each is high enough to store one or two cases high, depending whether 1/2 gallon, quart or pint jars.
On the top shelf are stored the empties. Below the bottom shelf I keep galvanized, steel barrels with lids for storing 50 pound bags of dry goods such as oatmeal, sugar, etc. As well as 5-gallon pails into which I keep bulk flour which I separate into 5 pound bags. Five pounds of flour or sugar fills the canister I keep in the kitchen.
Since I bake my own breads, we go through an average of five pounds flour weekly. My cost of a loaf of bread is in cents rather than the dollars we would pay for store bought bread.
If you are buying mason jars and are going to can your food, save the box in which the jars came. When the jars are filled, return them to box and store it, they fit under the bed if short on space. After the jars have been emptied, wash them and put them back in the box, open end down, for storing until they are needed again.
Storing your canning jars upside down helps to keep the inside clean and dust free. And when storing your canning supplies, i.e. canner, funnels, jar lifter, etc, store the utensils inside the canner so you need to go looking for them the next time you use them.
What and how much will you store?
This depends entirely on what you usually use. There is no need to stockpile food you never normally use. Determine the foods your family likes and eats most often and start there.
Groceries in boxes, such as cereal, have a short shelf life. Focus first on those foods that have longer shelf life. Canned goods, whether in tins or jars, will remain safe for months or even years provided they are stored properly. Cool, dry, dark places are best for ensuring a long shelf life.
Dry goods, such as rice, grains, flour, sugar, beans, have the longest shelf life. Archeologists have discovered grains at ancient sites which were still viable after thousands of years, although I would recommend using your food during your life-time.
The LDS has an excellent list of what and how much to store based on your individual needs.
Food Storage Calculator Their pantry is also an excellent source for buying dried foods for long-term storage. The calculator is preset for 52 weeks, but you can change that amount.
Will you can your own food? Or dehydrate it? Or buy it from the super-market?
For starting your new stockpile, begin with buying extra's of what you can afford. Don't buy things you don't normally use just because you have a coupon. It doesn't make sense to buy 5 jars of prunes because the price is great, if you've never bought them before.
Do the math. If you use flour, and who doesn't, figure out how much you use per week or month.
If you are using 5 pounds average per week, and are buying it in 10 pound bags, consider buying a 50 pound bag next time. If a 10 pound bag of flour cost $11 and a 50 pound bag costs $40, how much will you save? That $15 you just saved, without a coupon, can go into your emergency fund.
The most important thing to remember when building your stockpile is simply buy more of what you use and store that extra amount.
Also, don't forget the important non-food items such as water and toilet paper. Believe it or not, many folks don't even consider these most important of the non-food supplies. Yes, I consider water a non-food item because we cannot make or grow it ourselves.
Should you store your goods in the original packaging?
Once again, it depends. It depends on what it is. Obviously there is no need to repackage non-food items. Some foods can be kept in their original packaging if they are stored properly, such a legumes and some grains. Foods that insects might enjoy should be repackaged, preferably vacuum sealed in jars or special bags. Plastic vacuum seal bags are nice and affordable, but plastic is porous and eventually air will get inside the bag. Either use mason jars and vacuum seal or mylar bags with oxygen absorbers.
I also use plastic 5-gallon pails to hold brown paper bags of flour, a 20 gallon galvanized barrels with tight lids for storing 50 pound bags of oatmeal and sugar, and write on the lid what is inside with a permanent marker.
Other foods, such as rice, beans, even crackers benefit from being vacuum sealed inside large mason jars. I also store the foods I dehydrate in vacuum sealed mason jars.
Warning: Stockpiling is addictive and it seems the more I store the more things I find to store.
These days I keep a variety of foods in a variety of ways for different amounts of shelf life.
I have food fresh from the garden on a daily basis throughout the growing season and then there is food I pressure can for the year or longer, following that there is the food I dehydrate for the long term as well as #10 can of freeze dried foods with an indefinite shelf life (although they say 15-35 years).
Just think, if you stockpile freeze-dried and dehydrated foods for the long term, you won't go hungry during your old age.
Resources: Pressure canners and Water-bath canners, as well as dehydrators and everything else you need can be purchased on-line through Amazon.com. (I do not receive any form of payment from Amazon or any of these resource sites for recommending the site or from your purchase) These resources are where I shop and have been well satisfied with.
I buy long-term food and supplies from the LDS Food Storage On-line Store and from Honeyville
also Bulkfoods
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