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wareagle69
04-28-2009, 08:50 PM
ok folks, i have been talking to some people who usually never plan or prepare ahead who are a little buggered about this swine flu, even the wifes twin who is a nurse says at her clinic in southern ontario they have set aside two isolation areas and stocked up on medical supplies, and she is stocking up on food, as we all do, but i think sometimes as i purchase whet is on sale it sometimes takes up valuable space in my refer or freezer, now i have lots of dry storage space, but i look at the buffalo wings that i bought on sale and realize that i would rather utilize that freezer space for more important foods. so what do you see as high value foods, yes old man i know french vanilla creamer, but that aside what food is high value to you and yours that is worht tossing out the comfort food for?

LostOutrider
04-28-2009, 09:19 PM
Dried beans and rice for certain. Good shelf-life and can keep you going a long time. Powdered milk. In the event of a shipping/supply disruption, then coffee will be a good thing to have squirreled away for sure.

Not sure about how long you can store up flour and sugar, but I count those high value.

Salt.

SARKY
04-28-2009, 09:22 PM
Nuts of all kinds have protein, fats and amino acids. Not to mention most of them are quite tasty.

wareagle69
04-28-2009, 09:25 PM
Dried beans and rice for certain. Good shelf-life and can keep you going a long time. Powdered milk. In the event of a shipping/supply disruption, then coffee will be a good thing to have squirreled away for sure.

Not sure about how long you can store up flour and sugar, but I count those high value.

Salt.

how much beans and rice do you eat? how about powdered milk? i am often amused by how many folks store this but is not part of their regular diet and by regular i mean not once a month but a couple times a week or everyday for the milk(i have yet on any site found anyone who can make that taste good)
sarky nuts are great i store allot of them

Canadian-guerilla
04-28-2009, 09:39 PM
how about powdered milk?

back in my weightlifting days, i used powered milk as a cheap protein suppliment
in the summer time when i was looking for variety
i would use kool-aid to make a paste with the powered milk
and then freeze up some mini ice cubes and popsicles

assuming of course the power stays on

Alpine_Sapper
04-28-2009, 09:59 PM
how much beans and rice do you eat? how about powdered milk? i am often amused by how many folks store this but is not part of their regular diet and by regular i mean not once a month but a couple times a week or everyday for the milk(i have yet on any site found anyone who can make that taste good)
sarky nuts are great i store allot of them

I make a 1lb pot of pinto beans about twice a month. Great nutrional staple. Especially since I match the lb of beans with a lb of ham, which dehydrates/rehydrates ok if you use the turkey ham and don't let it sit around. The ham goes great with powdered eggs. I don't do rice with my beans though, I do cornbread. *shrug* I grew up in North Louisiana. Rice only goes in beans if'n they's red or your to po' to afford corn meal. But I put back lbs and lbs of flour for biscuits, bannock, bread, pancakes, etc. Yeah, the rice and beans thing, tuna, tuna, tuna. I just got done eating some brown rice with one of those vacuum sealed packages of chicken. I also stock salmon the same way. Since all of them range from ~$1.25 - $2 for the more expensive ones, I tend to buy a lot of the flavored tuna and toss in the more $$$ salmon or chicken for variety.

My family doesn't do the Spam thing (*GAG*) so the only thing I see it as good for is funky smelling grenades. I stock a lot of white sugar for the wife and kid, vanilla, brown sugar, and the powdered dairy for cooking/baking. I also dehydrate a lot of stuff like terazzini, spaghetti, chili, refried beans, taco meat, all complete if I can (noodles and all mixed into the dehydrator it goes). I just have to make sure I have cheese powder and the stuff to make tortilla's preportioned and prepackaged with the taco meat and beans. I dehydrate salsa for it too.

Basically I looked at the same question you asked up there somewhere about "How much beans and rice can you eat?" and realized I'd be fat and sassy while the rest of my family was flat refusing to eat anything after the third week on beans and rice. So I sat down and figured out a way to store 6 months worth of food that we eat, put that back, and then simply re-stocked as we used it and put the new stuff in the back to rotate.

You can get really creative though, ya know? I mean, if you go to the farmers market and buy a bushell of apples, slice'em on a mandolin, and put them all in the dehydrator. A couple days later, pull some out and make an apple cobbler or apple pie, whatever for desert, but do it with all powdered stuff, etc. That way you can get your recipes down before you HAVE to, and it helps rotate the stock. Stewed apples (basically seasoned/sugared like for an apple pie but simmered until soft in a skillet with a little butter) don't last long either. Pears are the same.

Remember ranger pudding from an MRE? You can do the same for your dehydrated fruits. It's all about creativity and what you like. Like potatoes au gratin? Pull out the mandolin and the dehydrator, start working on your cheese sauce.

Oh yeah, and I make salmon/chicken/turkey snacks, just like you do beef jerkey. Never tried to jerk pork since everyone says the meats got to much fat or something. Always wondered about boar though....

Anyway, backpacking is a great time to test some of this stuff out as well. But I usually make a big pot for dinner, and since we are eating it for dinner anyway I know we'll eat it later, and just toss the leftover's in the dehydrator, package, label, store.

Smok
04-29-2009, 12:06 AM
Do what the Mormons Do and buy what you eat and just rotate it

LostOutrider
04-29-2009, 07:11 AM
how much beans and rice do you eat? how about powdered milk? i am often amused by how many folks store this but is not part of their regular diet and by regular i mean not once a month but a couple times a week or everyday for the milk(i have yet on any site found anyone who can make that taste good)
sarky nuts are great i store allot of them

Well, the rice and beans I end up refilling my stores about once every two, three months. I cook a lot of creole, picked up from living in or near Louisiana most of my life. We go through a ton of rice. As for beans - red beans, black beans, and black-eyed peas tend to be the ones we use the most. I have a few pounds of navy beans that I'll soak up about two or three times a year. Dried beans are cheaper than canned and store longer, so I always keep them around in great number. I tend to go through them more in the colder months since that's when I start hankering for the richer stews and bean soups. Other than the eternal 5 lb bag of navy beans, I never keep dried beans on the shelf longer than 2 or three months.

As for powdered milk, I find use for it considerably more often than I expected I would. I backpack and camp regularly and I have a several uses for powdered milk in those situations. Powdered milk tastes just fine mixed into campside oatmeal, coffee, or even oreo pie. (see some of my backpacking threads) I tend to buy it in the 1qt packets rather than the big boxes. We're all milk guzzlers here, so someone is always draining the last of the gallon before someone else gets to eat their cereal. It isn't anything to crack and stir up something to get us through until the next paycheck and grocery run.

Because of the way money flows, we tend to plan our 'regular' diet by the month instead of the day or week - so as the family cook, I tend to think in terms of months when I buy bulk or store food.

Edited to sound less snarky and to add: One thing you have to remember is that most folks setting aside food like this are preparing for potential disruptions in daily acquisition of food. Regular, daily diets will change in those situations. One example, here in the South, is when adverse winter weather threatens to drop more than 2 inches of snow on the ground - the locals will swarm the grocery stores and completely clean out milk, bread, and other staples. We had a week-long ice storm this past winter where I ended up digging into the dry storage because even if I could make it to a store, it would be another week before it was stocked enough to provide what I wanted.

Sourdough
04-29-2009, 08:04 AM
Salmon, Trout, Sardines, Peanut Butter, Powered Milk, Pilot Bread, Corned Beef Hash, Krusties Pancake Mix, Spam, Raisins & Craisins, Canned Tuna, Canned Ham, Pasta, Tuna Helper, Ramen Noodles, Dog Food.

Rick
04-29-2009, 08:14 AM
Smok is spot on for this one. Why deny yourself the things you want to have? Why stock up on things your family doesn't like just to say I'm prepared? And how far do you take that idea? Do you rip out the back seat of the car so you can store more stuff there?

Buy what you normally eat and keep the stock rotated. Let's face it, the odds you getting hit by a drunk driver are a LOT higher than you succumbing to swine flu.

erunkiswldrnssurvival
04-29-2009, 08:25 AM
The trick to making powdered milk taste good is to mix it double strength and serve it freezing cold.otherwise it has funny aftertaste.I also streatch whole milk by mixing it half and half with prepared powdered milk. I use powdered milk regularly,its a good way to conserve

Rick
04-29-2009, 08:31 AM
So that gives you 2% right? Or something around there. All you are doing is reducing the fat content in the whole milk by adding no fat powdered milk. Whole milk is at least 3.5% milk fats.

The reason you notice the taste of the powdered milk is because you drink whole milk. If you switch to 1% or skim (which is WAY better for you anyway) then you won't notice the taste of the powdered milk nearly as much.

I always keep powdered milk around. I drink it all the time. If we are running low on milk and I'm too lazy to run to the store then I'll drink the powdered stuff and leave the "real" milk for the grandkids or my wife.

Alpine_Sapper
04-29-2009, 08:40 AM
If you switch to 1% or skim (which is WAY better for you anyway) then you won't notice the taste of the powdered milk nearly as much.


That's highly debateable. It's only the fat content that really changes, and the taste. For an adult watching their weight, yeah, the skim or 1 or 2% is better for you. However, kids metabolisms are much different and giving your kid that "diet" milk will rob them of some essential fats that they need. And then you get these idiots that wanna put their kids on the same "low-fat" diet they are on and then wonder why the kid does nothing but lay around lethargically watching TV. "You're gonna get fat if you don't go outside and play!" "Mom, I'm tired." "Here, have another slim-fast. It'll give you a boost."

Rick
04-29-2009, 08:53 AM
You're right, of course. I was thinking in terms of adults. Still, if he is mixing whole milk with powdered milk he's dropping the milk fat content anyway. Diluting it as it were.

erunkiswldrnssurvival
04-29-2009, 08:53 AM
I like the powdered milk too, the best gallon i ever had i made on a creek in on a mountain in NC. the flavor of it is ok with me any way i can get it! its a good food

mountain mama
04-29-2009, 09:16 AM
We do the beans, ham, and cornbread here, too. But we DO spam, as well. The kids love it (what can I say? They're weird)!
Additionally, my best friend is Mormom and I get a LOT of ideas from her. I kinda like their potato pearls, too. I have learned to rotate my pantry and buy double (canned and dried foods) when it's on sale.
I also keep the dry milk in stock. It isn't too bad used in recipes, but drinking it plain *BLAH* Better start stocking up on chocolate mix too if I'm gonna have to drink the stuff one day.
As for the fat content of the milk...children over a couple years old are old enough to go down to 1%. As babies, their brains are still developing and they need the extra fat source, but after that, it's all just gravy. Plus, not too many of today's kids are lacking in fat and sitting around watching tv and playing Nintendo and computer have taken over their outside time. I limit my kids on electronics and then push them out the door (especially in the summer time).

Pict
04-29-2009, 09:38 AM
how much beans and rice do you eat? how about powdered milk? i am often amused by how many folks store this but is not part of their regular diet and by regular i mean not once a month but a couple times a week or everyday for the milk(i have yet on any site found anyone who can make that taste good)
sarky nuts are great i store allot of them

When in Brazil we eat rice and beans every day. I like to keep a decent stock on hand, we normally have about a months supply. It really is a very healthy diet. Mac

mountain mama
04-29-2009, 09:46 AM
According to "Making the Best of Basics" by James Talmage Stevens, Basic In-Home Storage Categories, in order of importance:
1. Water-emergency supplies & treatment
2. Wheat, other whole grains, flours, & beans
3. Powdered milk, dairy products, & eggs
4. Sweeteners-honey, sugar, & syrup
5. Cooking catalysts (salt, oil, & leaveners)
6. Sprouting seeds & supplies
7. Medical care, medications, & first aid kits
8. Basic supplementation-vitamins, minerals, and herbal supplements
9. Fuels, energy, & camping gear
10. Personal, family, infant, & pet care essentials (clothing & toiletries, etc.)
11. Canned & dried fruits, vegetables, & soups
12. Kitchen staples-condiments & seasonings
13. Meats & seafoods
14. Domestic maintenance & preparedness
15. Pleasure foods-snacks, beverages, sweets, & treats

Alpine_Sapper
04-29-2009, 10:26 AM
According to "Making the Best of Basics" by James Talmage Stevens, Basic In-Home Storage Categories, in order of importance:

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/funny-pictures-cat-wants-more-cans-of-food.jpg

mountain mama
04-29-2009, 10:28 AM
AS, dear, you are what we commonly refer to as "a hoot an' a holler" lol

Alpine_Sapper
04-29-2009, 10:36 AM
AS, dear, you are what we commonly refer to as "a hoot an' a holler" lol

:tongue_smilie: Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment. :cool2:

Rick
04-29-2009, 12:30 PM
As babies, their brains are still developing and they need the extra fat source, but after that, it's all just gravy.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Brains don't full develop until you are 10-12 years of age and even then, myelination continues until the early twenties and perhaps later.

Now, do you really want your kid driving your car?

nell67
04-29-2009, 12:42 PM
remy,your list contains the ingredients for some nice comfort food,if someone so desires.

mountain mama
04-29-2009, 12:44 PM
nell67, that is exactly what I was thinking....I could make some good comfort food with those ingredients.

Rick
04-29-2009, 12:44 PM
Uh...he did list dog food.

mountain mama
04-29-2009, 12:45 PM
Rick, you never know what the hubby is getting for dinner if he pisses off mama bad enough...

Rick
04-29-2009, 12:50 PM
(scribbling note about being kinder to wife).

Rick
04-29-2009, 01:14 PM
Remy, do you ever just sit around and, like, pick your nose or scratch? Do you even analyze when in the bathroom? Do you sometimes find yourself engaged in conversations with the mirror? Do you sometimes loose those conversations? Have you ever contemplated cloning your self for spare parts but decided not too, because the clone might keep YOU around for the parts? Does your wife keep you on a leash? I just gotta know!!

Rick
04-29-2009, 01:37 PM
All good answers. I sort of thought you might loose one or two of those conversations. Personally, I've been known to scratch on occasion but that's just between us.

mountain mama
04-29-2009, 01:38 PM
Do you even analyze when in the bathroom?
Depends on the task at hand.
no comments, PLEASE!!!! Really, it's just TOO easy.

mountain mama
04-29-2009, 01:42 PM
no, of course not, but you do seem to open yourself up for some off-hand remarks

Alpine_Sapper
04-29-2009, 01:50 PM
I thought you would have picked this one : "Do you sometimes find yourself engaged in conversations with the mirror?
Depends on the task at hand."

But i guess you are more of the "#1/#2" kind...
lol

I thought the comment was more of an adult stroke than simple exrement humor, but that's just me being mentally entrenched firmly in the gutter....

mountain mama
04-29-2009, 01:51 PM
But i guess you are more of the "#1/#2" kind...that wasn't the task I assumed you had "at hand"

Alpine_Sapper
04-29-2009, 01:53 PM
that wasn'tthe task I assumed you had "in hand"

ha! I was right! unf unf unf. Take THAT! :tongue_smilie: Gues it's true what they say MM, great minds think alike.

mountain mama
04-29-2009, 02:04 PM
or in this case, warped minds lol

Rick
04-29-2009, 02:07 PM
Uh, hello? Remember me? It was my question. I can make it anything I want? Let's see. Bathroom. A place of solitude. A place to be alone. I place to go and think or sit and stink. Naw! #1 or #2 works for me.

Alpine_Sapper
04-29-2009, 02:10 PM
Did you hear something? :innocent:

edr730
04-30-2009, 09:52 PM
If anyone is looking for powdered milk that tastes very close to regular milk, you might try Nido by Nestle. I've seen it in Wal-Mart in the latin section. It's commonly sold in Latin countries. It is whole milk rather than fat free. You can probably find it in the internet too. I seldom use powdered milk of any kind, but it's ok for those who will.

crashdive123
04-30-2009, 09:54 PM
Serve cold with a little vanilla - tastes fine.

aflineman
05-05-2009, 11:12 AM
I can’t really say we have any priority foods. We eat what tastes good to us. Our pantry is rotated through use. We stock-up on what we like and eat that. Beans and rice are a part of our diet, just as much as leftovers out of the fridge are. That is to say, a few times a week. We do have “luxury” items in the freezer, such as prepared foods and ice cream. I look at the freezer as storage for good times, not really for an emergency. I might be able to smoke/dry some of the meat if needed, but much will be cooked and gorged upon when the power goes out long term. We have a few months of food in the house and most any given time, and the MIL has even more at her place. We also have a garden and can much of what we produce from it (as well as some of the cheaper stuff from the local pick-your-own farm). I also get a cow or two a year from helping out at on friend’s farm.
I can’t really say that we “stock-up” really. Just save stuff from when it is season, and/or on sale. I guess it is just the way we were both raised.

Rick
05-09-2009, 02:10 PM
Lowers your inhibitions, causes fights, makes your head hurt the next morning. Good stuff!

Rick
05-12-2009, 05:11 AM
You can't post the URL to you store in the body of your post. You can add it to your signature but it can't be in the body.

lanahi
05-23-2009, 02:41 PM
I totally agree. All nuts have protein. Here are the nuts and their protein content:

Almond 21g
Brazils nuts 14g
Cashew nuts 20g
Chestnuts 2g
Coconut 6g
Hazelnut 14g
Peanuts 25g
Peanut Butter 22g
Pecan nuts 9g
Pine nuts 14g
Pistachio nuts (with shells) 10g
Walnuts 6g

Wonder how acorns would fit in with the above? Once the bitter tannic acid is leached out of them by soaking in water and changing the water until the water is clear, the acorns make wonderful breads, cookies, etc.

Rick
05-23-2009, 06:53 PM
Well hop on over to the Introductions section and tell us a bit about yourself. If you do, I'll tell you all about acorns. Promise!

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=14

oldsoldier
05-23-2009, 10:09 PM
What about powdered eggs for cooking? Regular sugar will keep for a year or so. I have bought and stored maple sugar "cakes" ( like the one's they sell at Rendevous) as well as the chocolate wafers/blocks and "gunpowder" tea bricks and used them after 7-8 years of storage in a sealed container.

crashdive123
05-29-2009, 07:00 AM
Hey pheonixlipo - so that folks won't thik that you are just spamming the forum - how about heading on over to the Introduction section and tell us a bit about yourself. Thanks.

Terri
06-08-2009, 07:04 PM
"...what food is high value to you and yours that is worht tossing out the comfort food for?"

(water is not food)

-salt
-honey
-sugar
-flour
-maple sirup
-vegetable and olive oil
-vinegar
-corn meal
-peanut butter
-jams
-baking powder

-rice
-beans
-pasta
-lentils

-canned chicken, beans and tuna
-dog food

The only thing I can think to add to this list would be Yeast for baking bread, baking soda in addition to the baking powder, oatmeal, canning lids ( so that I could continue to preserve food in an extended situation). My husband and son are hunters and bring home a few deer every year so we have lots of canned venison on the shelves too. Plus I can enough from my garden to last at least 1 year, some stuff I have canned a lot of will last longer.

Also about the powdered milk, I make yogurt out of it using my crock pot, and its great. You do need 1 cup of yogurt as a starter though. If anyone wants the recipe I'd be happy to share it.

crashdive123
06-08-2009, 07:13 PM
If anyone wants the recipe I'd be happy to share it.Absolutely....post away.

Terri
06-08-2009, 08:03 PM
CROCK POT YOGURT

2 quarts milk (any kind is fine, I use reconstituted powdered milk)

Put in crock pot, cover, set on low for 2 1/2 hours.

Turn crock pot off, let sit, covered 3 hours.

Add 1 cup yogurt (the kind with active live cultures, I usually use plain or vanilla) and whisk in until completely dissolved.

Place lid on crock, remove crock from base and wrap in a heavy bath towel and let sit 8 hours or overnight.

For some reason it is a little runnier than commercial yogurt, but when I use the reconstituted powdered milk it comes out a little thicker. Makes great smoothies.

crashdive123
06-08-2009, 08:17 PM
Thanks for the recipe.

springkitty
06-09-2009, 03:03 PM
Dried beans and rice for certain. Good shelf-life and can keep you going a long time. Powdered milk. In the event of a shipping/supply disruption, then coffee will be a good thing to have squirreled away for sure.

Not sure about how long you can store up flour and sugar, but I count those high value.

Salt.


I have been receiving emails lately against using any kind of flour, meal, pancake mix, cake mix and so on past the expiration date as the yeast will start to grow spores and are killing people or at the very least causing them to become deathly ill.
I usually delete all my emails but will look and see if I have one of the warnings left and if so will post the important part.
kitty

Found one.
Subject: Cake Mixes & Toxins- **PLEASE READ** Pass this on to ALL in your address book. You never know whose life you may save by doing so. For those of you at work, PLEASE remember to check your cupboards when you get home tonight!!!

This is confirmed on Snopes http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/pancake.asp



A student at HBHS (high school) had pancakes this week and it almost became fatal. His Mom (registered nurse) made him pancakes, dropped him off at school and headed to play tennis. She never takes her cell phone on the court but did this time and her son called to say he was having trouble breathing. She told him to go to the nurse immediately and proceeded to call school and alert the nurse. The nurse called the paramedics and they were there in 3 minutes and worked on the boy all the way to the hospital. He came so close to dying. Evidently this is more common then I ever knew. Check the expiration dates on packages like pancakes and cake mixes that have yeast which over time develop spores. Apparently, the mold that forms in old mixes can be toxic! Throw away ALL OUTDATED pancake mix, brownie mixes, Bisquick, cake & cookie mixes, etc., you have in your home.

I have a couple of other warnings that may be helpful too:
Written by Zola Gorgon - author of several cookbooks..

Watch out for those onions...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had the wonderful privilege of touring Mullins Food Products, makers of mayonnaise. Mullins is huge, and is owned by 11 brothers and sisters in the Mullins family. My friend, Jeanne, is the CEO.



Questions about food poisoning came up, and I wanted to share what I learned from a chemist.

The guy who gave us our tour is named Ed. He's one of the brothers. Ed is a chemistry expert and is involved in developing most of the sauce formula. He's even developed sauce formula for McDonald's.

Keep in mind that Ed is a food chemistry whiz. During the tour, someone asked if we really needed to worry about mayonnaise. People are always worried that mayonnaise will spoil. Ed's answer will surprise you.

Ed said that all commercially made Mayo is completely safe.

"It doesn't even have to be refrigerated. No harm in refrigerating it, but it's not really necessary." He explained that the pH in mayonnaise is set at a point that bacteria could not survive in that environment. He then talked about the quintessential picnic, with the bowl of potato salad sitting on the table and how everyone blames the mayonnaise when someone gets sick.

Ed says that when food poisoning is reported, the first thing the officials look for is when the 'victim' last ate ONIONS and where those onions came from (in the potato salad?). Ed says it's not the mayonnaise (as long as it's not homemade Mayo) that spoils in the outdoors. It's probably the onions, and if not the onions, it's the POTATOES. He explained, onions are a huge magnet for bacteria, especially uncooked onions.

You should never plan to keep a portion of a sliced onion. He says it's not even safe if you put it in a zip-lock bag and put it in your refrigerator. It's already contaminated enough just by being cut open and out for a bit, that it can be a danger to you (and doubly watch out for those onions you put in your hot dogs at the baseball park!)

Ed says if you take the leftover onion and cook it like crazy you'll probably be okay, but if you slice that leftover onion and put it on your sandwich, you're asking for trouble. Both the onions and the moist potato in a potato salad, will attract and grow bacteria faster than any commercial mayonnaise will even begin to break down.

So, how's that for news? Take it for what you will. I (the author) am going to be very careful about my onions from now on. For some reason, I see a lot of credibility coming from a chemist and a company, that produces millions of pounds of mayonnaise every year.'

Also, dogs should never eat onions. Their stomachs cannot metabolize onions.
You can try this yourself:

Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded
area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things:

* no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that
should tell you something)
* it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional
value ; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weenie
microorganisms will not a find a home to grow.

I do my best to keep on top of products and get these facts from difference sources so if anything I have posted is incorrect I would appreciate knowing about it.
kitty