Food Storage help

**tacmedic** · 04-13-2008, 05:12 AM

I found this website while surfing this morning, looks like it could be a great help for a food storage program.

http://www.trackmyfoodstorage.com

**Alpine_Sapper** · 04-13-2008, 09:55 AM

Originally Posted by tacmedic

I found this website while surfing this morning, looks like it could be a great help for a food storage program.

http://www.trackmyfoodstorage.com

I love the idea.

*puts on tin foil hat

However, I don't really like the idea of storing it online where anyone can access it. If the Federal Government is tracking those people that are stockpiling, or anyone is tracking them for that matter, that's a GREAT way to do it. I can identify you and your location using your IP address. Now I know where to go systematically with a trailer when TSHTF.

Like I said, good idea, but I'd rather compile the tracking data myself in a spreadsheet, and then store it in an encrypted or password protected format on a USB thumb drive. I, personally, like to use two mirrored USB drives for redundancy (read: copy it to both drives).

This works a little better imho because you can also store other data, like google earth or topo maps and coordinates of your buried caches, etc. etc. You can encrypt it all. And a thumb drive is pretty much easy to stash...anywhere. CD-RW's work well too, as thumb drives are not a viable long term storage solution.

*removes tin foil hat

Just my $.02

**Rick** · 04-13-2008, 11:05 AM

Alpine - You need to invest in the "Cone of Silence".

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

**Alpine_Sapper** · 04-13-2008, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by Rick

Alpine - You need to invest in the "Cone of Silence".

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

rofl. Too true, Rick, but, what can I say?

pArAn0iA - iT hAz mE

But, remember, I work on compromised web servers for a living, so, I know how easy it is to knock over a box with a script and grab a spool of information from the database that the webhost clearly stated in their Terms of Service that they "would never sell, trade, or give away" and how easy it is to get a "certified seal" that says "Hackersafe". Putting a Hackersafe logo on your website is like putting a Brinks sticker on your kids playhouse in the backyard.

**Rick** · 04-13-2008, 12:11 PM

I was just impressed with your tin foil hat.

I read somewhere or saw on TV that the Russians actually contacted the producers of Get Smart and tried to build a "Dome of Silence". It worked so well that they couldn't use it because if one agent had bad breath or BO the other agent couldn't stand to be under the dome with him.

Life imitates art, huh?

**Alpine_Sapper** · 04-13-2008, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by Rick

I was just impressed with your tin foil hat.

I read somewhere or saw on TV that the Russians actually contacted the producers of Get Smart and tried to build a "Dome of Silence". It worked so well that they couldn't use it because if one agent had bad breath or BO the other agent couldn't stand to be under the dome with him.

Life imitates art, huh?

you like my shiny fedora? I'm thinking of incorporating a solar panel...

rolmao. Nice. I would have loved to watch the field trials of that.

**tacmedic** · 04-13-2008, 11:46 PM

The part that I mainly liked about it was that you cand put in the number of people that you are trying to save food for and it will give you recommendations for the amounts of certain items that you need to store. You can then print off shopping/storage lists if you want to and never input anything into the computer, so nodoby out there watching can find out how much you have if you don't want them to. Just thought it was a neat resource.

**crashdive123** · 04-13-2008, 11:55 PM

It is a neat resource. I think there have been several posts on food calculators to figure how much you would need. Alot of them seemed a bit off. The method that made the most sense to me was posted by WildWoman (I think). Keep a log of all of the groceries that you buy for a period of time - say a month. Now you have an accurate record of what it really takes to feed your family for a month. Kind of like the whole Achems Razor sort of thing.

**Ridge Wolf** · 04-14-2008, 12:56 AM

Originally Posted by tacmedic

I found this website while surfing this morning, looks like it could be a great help for a food storage program.

http://www.trackmyfoodstorage.com

That looks to me like a commercial ploy to sell you a bunch of survival food... with a service to tell you that your storage items are out of date so they can sell you some more survival food, or a premium membership...and other software.

I know that sounds cynical.. not meant to be but a person can do the same thing himself with a little education about it.

That is ok for somebody 'in the thick of society' that is used to and/or needs somebody to keep track of it for him for whatever reason ... but I question if at least some on this forum who are used to fending for themselves would take the site owners up on the deal.

**Rick** · 04-14-2008, 07:45 AM

I'm not a fan of server based storage. Particularly for personal information. Not to get into to the whole hacker scene but what do you do if you simply loose connectivity to their server for whatever reason? What happens if they close the doors? All the time and effort you've spent on assimilating your information is gone.

Alpine said he preferred to use a spreadsheet and I go along with that. You can automate Excel seven ways to Sunday so it can do just about anything you want it to do.

As for the shopping part, if you use a major chain store to shop in, many of them have set up "shopping by aisle" or "shopping lists" that you can use.

Frankly, I don't use a list. I probably should but I've always eyeballed it and rotated my stock by placing the new stuff in back and moving the older stuff out to be used first. I do date my freezer stuff so I know how long it's been in there. If you do that just be very careful about what you use to mark with. Pen and marker will bleed onto sink surfaces if you set your meat out to thaw. It's a bear to clean off. I learned that one the hard way.

**Alpine_Sapper** · 04-14-2008, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by Rick

Pen and marker will bleed onto sink surfaces if you set your meat out to thaw. It's a bear to clean off. I learned that one the hard way.

I always put whatever I'm thawing into a bowl of some sort. That way if I need to move it out of the sink onto the counter, into the fridge, whatever, I can. I can also quick-thaw stuff if I need to speed up the process.

@Tacmedic - I wasn't trying to slam the site you found. But like Rick said, I don't like server based storage for personal information, and if you've "progressed" to the point of storing a years worth of food, for example, or have a buried cache, I really don't see the point in letting anyone know about it in detail. I don't care what they say, that information goes through a script that is storing your data in a database.

That being said, I did go through a proxy and create an account with a throw-away email address and pseudonym. (Yes, I suffer from paranoia. Or, I just like to play it safe). It's not necessarily that bad. It's kinda handy for the reasons that you said.

But I also agree with WildWoman that tracking your shopping, which, if you budget you should already be doing, can give you a better idea of what you need to stock. I keep my reciept from the previous trip and compare it to the old one for price change and things we bought differently. Then I stick it in a box for later reference if necessary. Clean it out about every three months. I can tell you pretty much exactly, with special trips included, what I need for my family to survive. Spending an hour learning a good spreadsheet program will give you the knowledge to input that data and turn it into some really useful numbers.

And for those of you who are going "well what if you lose electricity and can't get to the data on the thumbdrive?" I have a UPS that will power my printer long enough for me to boot up my laptop, pull up any data I need that I've stored, and print off a hardcopy.

**Rick** · 04-14-2008, 12:53 PM

And just remember that every hop you make in the data trail is a potential fail point both from a loss of data and/or prying eyes unless it is encrypted. If it's encrypted then the janitor's great grandfather won't be able to use it.