Emergency Food

[JoePa]

Has anyone bought and tired any of the brands of emergency food being sold - most claim that the stuff will last 25 years - I wonder what it tastes like - I guess it wouldn't hurt to have a couple months of food available in case everything goes south - especially in the winter time -

It must all be dehydrated stuff and you just have to add hot water -

[Callieslamb]

I think it should be every family's priority to have some food on hand! Even the stress of job loss can be lessened with a bit of food around.

I prefer to store basic ingredients and make my own food. But there many kinds of prepared, instant foods available. Yes they can be stored for a long, long time. There are military MREs. DH loves them. I hate them. We do store them. There are all kinds of freeze-dried foods. If this is the way you want to go, buy small pouches and see if you like it. The ones I've tried have too much salt and not enough flavor, but they are certainly edible and I would eat ithem if I were hungry. Taste is such an individual thing you really need to try a few for yourself and your family.

[deb_rn]

Keeping cans of beans or dry beans, plenty of rice, basics like flour, sugar, salt, oil, macaroni products can go a long way to keeping you alive. Some of the ready to eat meals are over priced and don't give you a whole lot of energy! Cans of fruit serve as food AND fluid. Canned tuna, salmon, dry milk etc can serve as your protein. Quinoa helps with that as well. Don't forget to provide for your pets and livestock in a short term crisis too. It's more about having a well stocked pantry.... you don't want to rely too heavily on the freezer if the power is out! You'll be cooking all that meat in short order!
I used to worry about all that more... but if SHTF is catastrophic, I know that it's time for me to go to my Eternal Home and let those left worry about survival... which will not be possible in the long run anyway!
Talk about peace of mind!

Debbie

[arabian knight]

Yes I am with you, not going to spend what savings I might have for such things as that, if it is my time to go, it is my time. I have a few canned things and boxes of Mac and Cheese things lie that around like when it was so good for a week I ate fro the things I had around here never needing to out and get anything I had stocked up ahead of time, and that is all I will do a week or two at a time, and that is it.

[emdeengee]

We keep a large supply of food on hand because we are located in an isolated area and food security can be wobbly. The most important thing is to rotate your stock so this takes some planning and organization but you get into a routine.

As for the kind of emergency food that lasts decades. The only suggestion I can make is that you buy some in small quantities and give it a try. Different brands will be different and although taste is not as important as nutrition it is best to find the ones you like the best. Of course when you are really hungry most things taste better.

[light rain]

I had some brown rice in the pantry for 2 years. I didn't want to use it for a meal and didn't want to throw it outside uncooked. I cooked it and gave some to the chickens and cats and dog. Then I decided to take a bite. It wasn't bad but it had lost that sweet, nutty flavor. If we were hungry it would definitely be on a plate.

[TheMartianChick]

I don't buy the "survival" foods that are advertised. I find them to be pricey. I just store the regular foods that we eat. I store dried and canned goods and basic ingredients. I can make just about anything from scratch and I raise quail, so I have a fresh supply of eggs. I store lots of different types of milk: powdered, canned, shelf-stable cow's milk, shelf-stable soy, shelf-stable almond and a couple cans of goat milk. They all serve different purposes in our household, but they are used in our regular cooking or for when the grandkids visit.

[Ozarks Tom]

We've got a little bit of everything it seems. Powdered eggs, butter, peanut butter, honey. We've tried them all, and in a pinch they'd do fine. One thing about dehydrated or freeze dried foods, if they don't taste to your liking just add some seasoning. We keep lots of seasonings on hand.

I'm not big on MREs, they remind me of C rations. We can meal starters, than can be stretched with rice, beans, pasta, etc.

[Roadking]

Way too much salt in the prepackaged stuff we got samples of, and if thats what they call stroganoff, no thanks. If I were the type to prep, i'd more than likely package my own stuff that I can readily use...doesn't need to be good for 25 years, just replace it when you use it.
If I was that kind of person, that is.
See you below in S&EP...

Matt

[Maura]

You guys beat me to it. Plenty of foods will keep. Canned food lasts a long time. If you always have more than you need, and rotate through it, at any given time you should have enough food to live on for a month just in cans. Tuna, salmon, mackerel, pork and beans, fruit, and so on. Put new in the back, take from the front. There’s also rice, oats, other grains. With the dry stuff you’d have to add water, but you would with dehydrated processed food as well. Grains will store longer in the freezer. If you loose electricity, you still have grain whose longevity you have increased, now just eat it.

For a long term problem, plant a garden. You won’t run out of kidney beans if you plant a few rows.

[pengyou]

Good input. I think you first need to decide how long you want the food to last. If I were a city dweller with no way to raise my own food and no pantry to store food in, I might be interested in food with a 25 year shelf life. If I have at least a pantry to store food in, there are many options that are less expensive and (probably) more nutritious. Cans of tuna, chicken, etc have already been mentioned. You can buy a 10 pound bag of dried beans for very little money and they will store for a couple of years before they start to loose their nutritional value. They will certainly keep longer than that but you have to have some way in your plan to cook them. A solar oven will do the trick but you should practice with them to learn how to use them.

[JoePa]

Thanks for all the input - yes I agree with the thought of keeping certain long lasting food available at all times - like canned meat, fish, soups, beans .etc. - I live in the country so I would be planting a large garden but in the winter you would have to rely on what you have stored - for meat I would be trapping animals and probably eating ones that I wouldn't eat now -

Lately I have bought large buckets of pop corn, oats, beans and flour which would last a long time - I often wonder on much longer some canned food would be when it is long passed the - best used by date -

[Skandi]

Originally Posted by Ozarks Tom

One thing about dehydrated or freeze dried foods, if they don't taste to your liking just add some seasoning. We keep lots of seasonings on hand.

I totaly agree there, there's many things you can eat, but without curry I really wouldn't! don't forget the small creatures, sure catching a deer sounds lovely, but if you have no fuel, tools, storage etc, it's going to be hard and most of it would be wasted, slugs, snails etc, much easier to catch, even if you are injured, but some spices would be needed to make them edible!
And I expect spice would be a good trade item too.

Originally Posted by JoePa

Lately I have bought large buckets of pop corn, oats, beans and flour which would last a long time - I often wonder on much longer some canned food would be when it is long passed the - best used by date -

When storing dry goods keep them in airtight containers, not in the paper things they come in, you really do not want weevles or other nasties in them, trust me here! nothing worse than wriggling flour. I actually keep my flour in the freezer becasue of that, we buy 50lb at a time, and it takes a while to go through! As to tins, I have heard forever.. but I found some in the back of my grans cupboard maybe 15 years old, that were empty, still closed as far as I could see but empty, they did seem to have some seepage but were not showing any rust on the outside. And had always been in a dry place.. so I'm not sure how long you can rely on tinned goods.


I do not "prep" as such, but since I cook everything from scratch and buy flour etc in bulk, there's always a few months food lying around, it wouldn't be the best mix, there's nowhere near enough vegetables, I loath canned ones and dried are not much better, I do have some pickeld, carrots, cucumbers, beets etc and some jam but nothing much else, and all the meat is frozen.. so that would have to be delt with. But there's plenty of protien in flour and beens anyway, certainly enough for the short term.
I do not worry about the veg though, there's never enough snow here to stop one finding enough greens to stay healthy, and we have the seeds and space for a garden, so next year hopefully we'll have a good store of homegrown veg too!

One thing that worries me here in Denmark is water, in the UK all houses HAVE to have cold water storage tanks. so even when water supplies are interupted you have plenty for a couple of weeks drinking. here there's nothing, in this house we have a stream in the garden, two ponds a river 600ft away and a old well that could be opened again.. so I think we have it covered.

[GeneMO]

Two deer in the freezer now. Probably 200 crappie fillets frozen. I love fried squirrel and rabbit. Racoon is real good roasted. I watched about 40 turkey fly out of the draw down by my hunting cabin. Lots of deer. Mushrooms are plentiful in season. I planted 1300 walnut trees that are starting to bear nuts, along with the wild ones in the woods. hickory nuts. Blackberries got eaten by the birds last year, but I could shoo the birds away in a pinch.
Nothing better than bullfrogs fried, or catfish. We have a hog spoken for and were are having a butchering party in early Feb. I sold my cattle a few years back, but the neighbors have hundreds.

I think I can make out OK. I need to loose some weight, heck, I could live a few weeks just off my "reserves"

Gene

[suitcase_sally]

Originally Posted by deb_rn

you don't want to rely too heavily on the freezer if the power is out! You'll be cooking all that meat in short order!
Debbie

If my power went out, I'd be canning all that meat in the freezer!

[GeneMO]

As to power outage and frozen food going bad. The generator would keep things in good shape as long as I have fuel.

You are not going to have to keep things much more than one week, two at the most.

After that your main concern will be bullets. Panic, looting, anarchy will reign supreme in any type of wide spread outage. You will just need enough bullets to shoot all the looters.

I'll just bug out to the cabin. It is so far off the beaten path I will never be found. Behind locked gates where only 4wd or ATV can go.

Gene

[stef]

I wonder if most people realize how long it would take to actually " eat down" the supplies in a normal pantry, much less long- term storage? This thread reminded me of another one on the forum about ( possible) hoarding. Some people have multiple freezers, plus their home canned and/or dried foods, plus what they keep handy for day to day use. It' s overwhelming. I moved recently and determined a couple months in advance to eat everything I had in my pantry, fridge and freezer in order not to have to pack up and move it...and you know what? Even with two months' lead time I could not completely use it all up and I am more of a JIT person ( from previously being a long- term prepper). Some preppers would have panic attacks if they saw the bare spots in my pantry and fridge. I' m just saying this because I think many people are spending a fortune on stocking up and they will never use it. It will either get freezer burn or end up as a give away to a food pantry, or in the compost pile or the trash. Yes...I' m sure there are exceptions, but in general I know this is what happens. Apologies to the OP for thread drift. You need to do what gives you peace of mind. (:

[Homesteader1]

YA KNOW The time is coming seriously to start planning for storing food. I have not used dehydrator in a long time but this post got me to thinking it's time to fire it up. I do keep stables on hand like rice, pasta, flower, sugar, salt, and coffee along with all I put up each year. If I did loose my freezer I have a generator,if I run out of fuel, then I'd fire up the smoker and cure what I smoke. I think an important thing to remember is keeping livestock alive. Good post get's ya thinking.

[soulsurvivor]

This is a good question to consider from time to time even if you're a food hoarder. I personally think we don't prepare enough for possible systematic breakdowns. DH's focus is keeping the freezers stocked, more as a hedge against food inflation than being without food. I focus on keeping a stocked pantry of commercially prepared foods that require little to no prep to be eaten. It's not a pantry we eat from but it's there if needed for emergencies. I rotate it out every 3 years or so and replace with new items that have a viable expiration date.

I don't buy or stock freeze dried survival types of food because they're expensive as compared to what I buy and stock. At our age, DH and I just need something to put in our bellies and to heck with nutrition. Soups, Manwich, jerky, can meats of all types, Spam, ham, tuna, chicken, salmon, all types of prepared pasta/meat combos, canned fruits that we like, same with vegetables, and canned beans of all types. The only grain I store is cornmeal mixes. I also store dry milk. For us old fellers, it's sufficient.

We prepare for a shelter in place situation cause to be honest if we have to leave here then it's not feasible to take all of this with us.

[o&itw]

"irradiated" food came out 30 years ago or so. It was great for meats. I have used some of the hamburger on camping trips, and except for being a bit grayish liked it was partially cooked, it looked, smelled, and tasted like fresh hamburger. They took meet, exsposed it to radiation and to kill all the germs and enzymes, then put it into an airtight foil pack. It didn't cost much more than fresh meat. If fell out of favor because people were scared of the concept of using something sterilized by radiation.

I heard a couple of years ago that some company had started to produce it again. If one is scared of having something cooked or sterilized by radiation, then they should stop using their microwave. The only difference is that the irradiated meat is exposed a much shorter time by wavelengths shorter than their microwave uses.