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Thread: stockpiling foods

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    Senior Member cabingal4's Avatar
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    Default stockpiling foods

    moving to our cabin sooner than soon.
    i want to have a stockpile of food out there for us.one reason is i want to have extra food on hand in case we cant get thru the highway to town in winter cause we are snowed under.
    soo.which would be a cheaper better way to go?to purchase a bucket of survival dried foods that come with a months supply of varied meals or to get five gallon empty buckets and fill with up myself with things like wheat(i could make wheat meat)and bread,with corn as in for popcorn,rice,beans and such.
    what do u think is the cheaper better way to have a supply of extra food?
    also...cans of fruit or glass jars of fruit?which is better when u dont have garbage service and u also dont want things to freeze in your cabin?
    do u use a bread box for storing bread when u may have mice in your kitchen?


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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    I would suggest canning the foods you want. It's more work but you'll have the foods you know you'll eat and food just lasts longer in jars than cans as long as it's kept out of direct sunlight and temps are maintained. Neither is freeze proof so if that's a problem you'll have loss no matter which you use.

    If you don't have a pressure canner then the initial cost is higher but you can use it forever. Some of the pre-packaged stuff tastes pretty bad so unless you've tried a given brand before hand you are taking a chance that you'll be forced to eat something you don't like and there is no variety other than what's in the bucket. That can get old too. Whether you stock 5 gallons of grains or not is up to you but you'll also be limited to those grains. With canning you can take advantage of sales all summer long and you are able to can everything and anything. I have fully cooked hamburger and brats canned as well as vegetables. Dehydrating foods can also provide you some nice varieties and longer term storage. Dehydrating and canning doesn't have to be about gardening. Your supermarket can be your garden.

    If freezing is a problem then you can consider freeze dried foods in addition to dehydrating. You can find a lot of freeze dried foods at the grocery and there are a lot of shelf stable foods in mylar bags at the store. You don't have to purchase Mt. House or other brand names but that's certainly an option albeit a more expensive one. There's an awful lot of us that have had a diet of Ramen Noodles at some point in our lives and we didn't die.

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    Not a Mod finallyME's Avatar
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    If freezing is a concern, I would lean more toward freeze dried or dehydrated. Stored grain should be good, but I am just guessing. Storing grain would be the cheapest..... if you can live off of that.
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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Have dealt with this for a while.......just some comments.....if you are in an area that freezes and you do not keep the space conditioned (heated)

    Canned goods freeze, break or bulge.....do not use.
    Stuff in glass jars also freezes ......Just a bigger mess with broken glass.
    Refrigerators and freezers have the motor freeze, won't run.....so food may get soft, before it refreezes....maybe not good?
    Power goes out....same problem....and you don't know how long?.....Tip.... Micro wave with clock......if flashing....powder has been off.

    Dried stuff,... like flour, corn meal, pancake mix, gets bugs...that are in there.....we keep in freezer....

    Canned wheat, beans, and other bulk food are excellent.....they last don't seem to be effected by temps....but take other ingredients and tools (grinder) to be useful, like other stuff to make breads and cereals.

    All paper stuff and packaged dry goods, foods etc.....Coffee, sugar, etc..... should be in metal cans....mice will chew thru plastic.....(even chewed in to poison bucket....to die...LOL)

    Raman Noodles....the shrimp are NOT supposed to come back to life.

    I have gone to the buckets of dried, and freeze dried foods......canned breads and such.....not sure how the butter, burgers and bacon would take the cold...?

    Always get to me when people reference buying bulk, and prepackaged buckets......Complaining about the cost.....I'll pay it rather
    then go through the trouble of procuring the equipment to freeze dry, package in special buckets/lids with nitrogen......only to use once and store. (That's just me)

    If you are at a location, and can watch, take care of your preps.....Whole 'nother story.....
    Can, freeze, dry, pickling are all great methods to store during cheap and plenty for other seasons.

    This was stored in a metal can.......all flour and grains come with bug larvae in them.

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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    I have to tell you, I've never had that experience and I've kept Jiffy mix far too long. So long that it wouldn't rise properly. Stored in the garage of all places. I've never had bugs in any flour or grains. Maybe it's a regional thing I don't know. Maybe I'm too ugly for them to stop here. Maybe the hong scares them. I've just never experienced it.

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Well, I have to tell ya the it.... Freaked out DW.....She takes pride in her kitchen, cupboards, storage, and we experienced a major...."How the &^%$ can this happen to me!"...Moment.

    Of course two day of cleaning, re-doing, discarding, re-lining....Just in case......Followed....

    Had a jar of dried hot pepper spice....that started swimming when it hit the chili, how can bug live in hot peppers.....?
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    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
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    Remembering your tiny cabin I would think that you would be so pressed for space that a large long term food supply would be impossible. What size stocks are you really contemplating.

    If you are simply going into the cabin for a week at a time or for a weekend I would think that a big plastic tote would carry a week of food with little effort.

    That or have a tote with a week supply of the emergency foods and carry it along as part of the transportable gear when going too and from the cabin.

    I have attended big regional camps where we remained in place for two weeks at a time and carried food for the duration of the stay, which is the same as carrying a week of goodies and a week in reserve. I even own coolers that will hold the ice needed for perishables for a week minimum. It used to make the trip to the grocery to stock up for camp one of the fun parts of the planning.

    Sometimes you simply can not leave supplies in place due to the problems you have stated. They become part of the gear that is moved back and forth, which also means that you are carrying what you like and what you will eat, making "long term storage" an irrelevant situation.
    If you didn't bring jerky what did I just eat?

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    We have the milk crate totes....smaller/lighter that the plastic totes.....pre-packed and ready to go....get left at " The Place" for the season.
    Storage is always a problem for anything long term.

    Plans for an "Ag" building (tax reasons) have kinda been on hold...for several life reasons....but included in the plans, is block house inside a building, that can be locked and secured, as best as you can.

    Would be insulated and have small heat source to keep above freezing.....just for this reason.

    Any chance in build a "cellar"? for this reason?
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    Senior Member cabingal4's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kyratshooter View Post
    Remembering your tiny cabin I would think that you would be so pressed for space that a large long term food supply would be impossible. What size stocks are you really contemplating.

    If you are simply going into the cabin for a week at a time or for a weekend I would think that a big plastic tote would carry a week of food with little effort.

    That or have a tote with a week supply of the emergency foods and carry it along as part of the transportable gear when going too and from the cabin.

    I have attended big regional camps where we remained in place for two weeks at a time and carried food for the duration of the stay, which is the same as carrying a week of goodies and a week in reserve. I even own coolers that will hold the ice needed for perishables for a week minimum. It used to make the trip to the grocery to stock up for camp one of the fun parts of the planning.

    Sometimes you simply can not leave supplies in place due to the problems you have stated. They become part of the gear that is moved back and forth, which also means that you are carrying what you like and what you will eat, making "long term storage" an irrelevant situation.
    we are moving there in about 5 days to live in our cabin.it is small but we are getting ready to enlarge it.eventually will have more space.i also have a shipping container i will maybe eventually get to use for my canning,drying,food storing pantry...now mostly for getting thru when say our highways are snowed under in winter and no one can get thru and also for not having to go to the store 50 miles away every week.thank u for all your tips everyone.

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    Many things are fine either in jars or cans to leave in a location that freezes. But many may not be fine. We have remote cabin here in South Central Alaska. We freight things into there during the winter when we can access the cabin via snowmachine. It sure beats trying to backpack canned food the several miles to the cabin during the summer. We have left canned spam, tuna, corn, peaches, chili and spaghetti. Everything has survived the freezing fine except the spaghetti which the freezing damaged the texture of the noodles. We have not tried the chili yet so we don't know if the texture was altered by freezing or not. Some of the food such as the corn has spent many many winters and summers (perhaps up to a decade) there before we finally ate it. Some of the food was there when we bought the cabin. We vave also stored liquids in plastic such as applesauce, ketchup and mustard. Mayo does *NOT* freeze well. Mayo is unusable after freezing as the oil separates. Our cabin experiences temperatures down to minus 30° F. Our neighbor where we live has stored home canned meat and some type of jelly or sauce in canning jars for years in their unheated cabin and the jars have handled it fine. The best advice i can give you is to gather the things you think you will want to have out there and to put them in your freezer at home before taking them to the cabin. If they survive the freezer then chances are they will do fine at the cabin. it would almost certainly be *much* cheaper to take canned goods rather than freeze dried.

    Hope that helps

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    We leave the bottled water and jugs in the shower....JIC
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    Senior Member cabingal4's Avatar
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    our shower is outside right now.
    we dont have a freezer or power as of yet.we are off the grid.
    I am reading thru everyones great ideas and taking what i think we can do.thank u so much.

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    Senior Member randyt's Avatar
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    what ever you choose make sure it's something you like eating. I like bannock but after eating it twice a day for a few months it got old.
    so the definition of a criminal is someone who breaks the law and you want me to believe that somehow more laws make less criminals?

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    I still have a bad time with Mac and cheese......ate it for a year or so....back when....
    Yeah, I know......y'all can have mine.....
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    Storing things that you don't want to freeze in coolers or refrigerator/freezer (does not need to be plugged in) will insulate them from the cold enough where they should make it.

    Making storage containers lined with styrofoam will work as well. Those containers can double as bench seats or end tables.
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    how bout using 25lb bags of rice as furniture.lol

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    Not a Mod finallyME's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by hunter63 View Post
    I still have a bad time with Mac and cheese......ate it for a year or so....back when....
    Yeah, I know......y'all can have mine.....

    For me it is Ramen..... just had too much of it.

    I think I might starve before I eat SPAM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by FinallyMe
    I think I might starve before I eat SPAM.


    Sacrilegious statements are not allowed on the forum. I guess you'd do without bacon and coffee too. Oh, the humanity.

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by crashdive123 View Post
    Storing things that you don't want to freeze in coolers or refrigerator/freezer (does not need to be plugged in) will insulate them from the cold enough where they should make it.

    Making storage containers lined with styrofoam will work as well. Those containers can double as bench seats or end tables.
    Our Colorado mountain hunting camp had two big old chest freezers.....(No, no current bush)....but were used to store frozen foods with dry ice.....dry ice doesn't melt and get water all over.....it just evaporates.

    They were the old heavy steel (or iron...LOL) units with heavy locks and had been bang around by bears....but never broke open.
    We were there for 13 days....and was still some frozen food left.

    Our rendezvous cooler for a few years was a heavy wood box about 3 ft X3 ft......with a heavy styrofoam box inside, think the thing shipped medical specimen at one time.

    Worked good, kept stuff frozen for a week......with regular ice....but was really heavy and bulky.
    Last edited by hunter63; 03-31-2015 at 02:32 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rick View Post
    [/COLOR]

    Sacrilegious statements are not allowed on the forum. I guess you'd do without bacon and coffee too. Oh, the humanity.
    The horror...
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