# Increasing food stored at home



## Dirk (Mar 4, 2015)

I am slowly increasing the amount of food and other things we keep at home. Before it was hardly any food as in Thailand you can eat anywhere. I am looking at canned food and other things. So far I see food with expiry date (for me interesting food is food that can last 1 year or more) but I also see food without expiry date, only a manufacturing date for example cooking oil. 

Though some of the one year expiry date stuff, I believe it actually might be ok for a longer time (panecake mix for example).

Finally, maybe food storage isn't as important here as we can grow food the whole year around (I live in Thailand). So, should maybe stock other things instead (water filters, medicine).

Any ideas how I should approach this?


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## WVprepper (Jun 28, 2012)

Put up a little bit at a time of canned goods and other long lasting items such as rice, sugar beans, canned meats. Rotate your stock when expiration dates come near. A good start is to have 72 hours of food and water.. (3 gallons per person per day) Medicines are a good idea especially any meds you take on a regular basis..


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## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

Look for food items with 3-5 year shelf lives instead of 1. Canned tuna, soups, and rice. Its great you can grow everything you need, but what if a storm wipes out your crops? Or what if a government takes them? Never know these days what is possible, and so you have to have a supply on hand to last until the next crop comes in. 

By the way you can buy, I assume there, some preparedness related food stocks in rice, beans and such that will have 15-30 year shelf lives and the cost is quite reasonable.


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## kevincali (Nov 15, 2012)

Start by home canning what you grow. That way if you have a slow year gardening, you have some stored up. 

Then go for basics. Beans, rice, sugar, canned tuna/chicken (or other types of meat you like if tuna/chicken isn't your thing ie: spam, ham, Vienna sausage, etc)

You don't have to buy cases at one time. A few extra cans here and there, and before you know it, you have a LOT. 

When rotating or adding, I usually pull old off the shelf and put new in the back, then put old back in front. 

And if you plan it right (I got lucky a couple weeks ago) I was able to make some tasty stews and soups from stuff that was expiring that week. One in a million though. I didn't plan it. 

Good luck with your endeavor!


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

I'd definitely storing away the rice and buying up as much canned food as $$$$ possible .... with the humid conditions in SE Asia I'd be waxing the cans for maximum storage time .... be concentrating on the food that's ate regular but shipped in from other areas - Spam for example - once the SHTF hits long distance transportation will end ....


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## Sarahwalker (Mar 3, 2015)

I'm with most guys here. 
As for the meds, you should stock your maintenance, antibiotics, Multivitamins, antiviral, analgesics, Oral rehydrating solution, antihistamine.
Stored water should last 6months. (It's what I read, please correct me if I'm wrong)


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

Sarahwalker said:


> I'm with most guys here.
> As for the meds, you should stock your maintenance, antibiotics, Multivitamins, antiviral, analgesics, Oral rehydrating solution, antihistamine.
> Stored water should last 6months. (It's what I read, please correct me if I'm wrong)


it would be beyond excellent if a person could have 6 months of water stored - and it's an absolute necessity for those prepping in the desert - but 3-4 weeks worth is OK if a water source is available in the neighborhood and you have the mandatory purification gear .... it'll still be damn dangerous out there but it'll be getting sorted out after a few weeks of chaos ....


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## Spice (Dec 21, 2014)

A relevant question, is can You grow food anytime, or do you depend on someone else to have an excess and a will to sell it to you, even if transportation gets hard? If the former, supplies for two crop cycles of heirloom varieties and enough ready food to get you to their maturation date should be plenty. If the latter ... well, I'd work on making the former true. Medicines are More important there I'd think, as the climate is more hospitable to a variety of diseases. Water *purification* is likely big too.


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

Spice said:


> A relevant question, is can You grow food anytime, or do you depend on someone else to have an excess and a will to sell it to you, even if transportation gets hard? If the former, supplies for two crop cycles of heirloom varieties and enough ready food to get you to their maturation date should be plenty. If the latter ... well, I'd work on making the former true. Medicines are More important there I'd think, as the climate is more hospitable to a variety of diseases. Water *purification* is likely big too.


any food you store needs to be considered a hedge toward the point when you can declare self sufficiency .... when a SHTF hits you need to go directly into a survival mode .... you can't take "sources" at face value - "the grid will be back up in a month - the war will be short lived - the pandemic will burn itself out" ..... the problem is that other SHTFs can eazily compound/combine with the original SHTF and 1 month goes into a year and onward ..... if the steps toward self sufficiency turn out to be not necessary - so be it .... but you need to start immediately with your long term gardening, foraging, hunting, trapping, animal husbandry, scrounging, trading, ect ect to extend your food supply ....


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## Dirk (Mar 4, 2015)

Finally, start to organize it a little bit. Buy every time a little more than normal and labelling them now with expiry date. Have a look.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8-c2wr6tTWsaGRtM1dpcVA1b3FMM2ZHTVc1cWtEd3lsSng0/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8-c2wr6tTWscG9iaWhsODkwd3VkNmhCNnFNSmRnUEpjcXIw/view?usp=sharing


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## Boss Dog (Feb 8, 2013)

Shelf life of even canned goods will be shorter due to the heat. Is your home air conditioned? Lose power, that will go away. Can you dig a root cellar into a hillside? 
Biggest problem with food there is keeping moisture out of dry goods. Get some food grade plastic buckets for that and don't open them until you're ready to start using all the contents inside. Like the idea of waxing the cans to keep them from rusting. It's good you can grow food year around. Meds, same problem; heat and moisture. But you got to try.


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

Some people are suggesting you store rice.

I suspect the rice available in your part of the world is brown or sticky rice. This will go rancid much faster on storage than the long-grain, white polished rice we are used to in the west.

Just a thought.


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## Dirk (Mar 4, 2015)

I think in Thailand storing rice isn't necessary. Thailand is one of the biggest exporters of rice. Both at my house near Bangkok and the land in the north we have rice fields around. They have all kind of rice here. I don't know how many. Sure, brown and sticky rice are two of the types. Most of the rice people eat here is similar to the west. White rice.

Like I mentioned before, I think just to have a little food would probably be enough. food is growing everywhere all year round. When I now go into my garden, I can eat berries and mangos from the tree. Also two big bunches of bananas are coming maybe 2 more weeks and we have a lot.

And that is all growing without too much effort. Once we move to the land in the north, we want to do a little more effort (because I enjoy that) so than we will easily grow too much. Too much of all kind of things.


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## Raphael2016 (Mar 31, 2015)

I purchase a lot of protein in powder form. Water is required. Generally, one serving is equal to the same amount of protein you would find on a 3-4 oz chicken breast and you get about 72 servings in a 5lb sealed container. I have used them up to 2 yrs in storage and as long as the contents are dry, I think it could remain edible for longer. Cost is about $35 for 72 servings. About $.50 per serving. Think you could buy chicken cheaper? uhuh. And the brand I buy tastes really good. I have my share of dehydrated 25 yr shelf life dehydrated plant matter MRE's, as well. Still working on year number 2.


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