# New guy - repacking bulk goods



## nes_matt (Nov 12, 2016)

Hi all,

New guy to the forum here.

I've been on the edge of prepping for years. I've bought guns and ammo, but my food storage is pretty minimal. Maybe a couple of weeks for my family of 3. Water is not a significant issue since we have a well, pool and small pond on the property. We live in a pretty rural area in New England surrounded by mostly woods - population of about 8000 in the town.

I'm mostly interested in preparing for modest disruptions: 1-3 months due to civil unrest or major winter weather event. While I love reading books about CME's and EMP's etc. I'm playing the odds and looking to set a modest hoard - not a warehouse.

I'm looking at Emergency Essentials and Augson Farms bulk products (rice, beans, lentils, etc.). It's not food we eat a lot of, but we are not good at maintaining things like a food inventory. I buy "regular" stuff in bulk at BJ's and then we use it and my wife doesn't tell me so next thing I know we have depleted our already meager stores. 

So my plan is to buy a half dozen buckets of staples. But what I'd like to do is repack it into mixed buckets with 1 gal mylar bags of the contents. Then add some "extras" to each bucket (canned meats, spices, powdered butter, etc.). The idea is then these would be 1 week at a time buckets (roughly) ready made for my family. If we chose to, in the right circumstances, give some away we could easily give a bucket to supply a small family for week. Also, if and when we do need to break into a bucket we don't need to open the entire contents thereby compromising it all at once. Also, repackaging would allow us to rotate some of the stock into our daily living.

Does this seem like a reasonable plan? I can see myself spending about $400 on food and packaging supplies and being well set up for 8 weeks for our family alone from a pure calorie point of view. (from what I can tell on average each bucket as enough for one person for 4 weeks at 2500cal/per day.

ETA: is repacking freeze dried stuff like meat or cheese problematic if you use mylar and o2 absorbers?

Thanks,
Matt


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## Sonya (Oct 20, 2016)

If you are going to repackage it, why buy the cans of rice, beans etc??? That would be a waste of money, you are basically paying extra for the packaging, then not using it.

Just buy regular dry goods and put them in mylar with an oxygen absorber. If possible buy stuff you normally eat, minute rice, pasta, instant potatoes (no oil), cans of soup and meat, canned fruit, etc... and put that in buckets for a week at a time. If you want specialized things, like dehydrated or freeze dried vegetables then those you would have to buy and repackage (and imo dehydrated is better than canned veggies). Or dehydrate yourself but it doesn't sound like you want to do that.

The 'ready to eat meals" are usually pretty horrible, so it is best to avoid them. Just make your own out of canned/dry goods.

Good idea on packaging them up for a week at a time.


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## nes_matt (Nov 12, 2016)

Sonya said:


> If you are going to repackage it, why buy the cans of rice, beans etc??? That would be a waste of money, you are basically paying extra for the packaging, then not using it.


Well, the thing with the Emergency Essentials stuff is it comes in the "SuperPail" so I'd reused that - just not the internal large mylar bag. But maybe if I shop around I can find the superpails by them selves and save some $$. Thanks


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## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

Welcome! If your initial goal is to be prepped for 8 weeks (and that's a good start), you might want to consider stocking all the shelf stable stuff your family already likes. You don't need a huge inventory just stock up when you see your family faves go on sale. It'd be cheaper in the long run and if you already like it, it'll be easier when hard time hit than trying to get people to eat stuff that they may not even like.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

buy yourself a case of beans, a case of flour, a case of milk, a case of spaghetti, and whatever else you need - potatoes, sugar, ----

https://store.lds.org/webapp/wcs/st...839595_10557_3074457345616706237_-1_N_image_0


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

I don't understand why you'd repackage the food. But go for it if it makes you happy.

We have a multi-tiered food storage and rotation system consisting of short term, medium term and long term food. Fresh foods, Store bought cans, Self Canned Jars, and long term products packaged ourselves from bulk food purchases into mylar with O2 absorbers placed into 5 gallon buckets and rubbermaid totes...as well as long term pre-packaged products from the companies that you mentioned plus others.

Diversify and Rotate is the Slippy Household Motto!:vs_wave:



nes_matt said:


> Hi all,
> 
> New guy to the forum here.
> 
> ...


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## Sonya (Oct 20, 2016)

nes_matt said:


> Well, the thing with the Emergency Essentials stuff is it comes in the "SuperPail" so I'd reused that - just not the internal large mylar bag. But maybe if I shop around I can find the superpails by them selves and save some $$. Thanks


Just buy food grade buckets and lids at Home Depot, or Walmart or wherever, that is what everyone else does. Not sure it would hold a whole week of food for a family with cans and all, but there are also square stackable totes etc... If you are sealing everything in mylar you may not need food grade plastic.

But buying basics like rice, beans, sugar etc... in those prepackaged emergency buckets is a waste of money if you plan to repackage. Now buying some #10 cans of freeze dried meat, vegetables and fruit to be repacked in mylar makes sense since you can't purchase the same quality in regular packaging.

Also for a month or two "easy" foods like crackers (seal up rolls in mylar), pasta/rice/instant potatoes, cans of chili or chunky soups etc... are super easy. Cooking up a huge pot of beans or lentils is usually thought as for long term food backup that lasts 30 years, more than a month or two of storage. Canned beans work fine for a month or two, they are tasty, easy, and require less cooking fuel.


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