# What and how much do you store?



## Dirk (Mar 4, 2015)

Just had a look in my house. We had a couple of cans of Tuna and mackerel. As I was reading some of the books I was wondering about the expiry date. They would last about 3 years. So that's a good option to buy and store. What are you all storing and how long will it last?


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Their are companies that sell dehydrated food with a 25 year shelf life. I would ideally like to have a years worth. I have broken it into manageable segments. Week, 2 weeks, month and so one. Canned fish is a great item to use or trade. Must watch the expiration dates and rotate your stock. Salt, honey,maple syrup, etc all store well. Before stock pulling, do you plan or staying put or bugging out? Makes a difference in what you may want to buy (type and amount) as well as how you cache it. Once you have it, you need to be able to keep it from those who will take it.


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## Diver (Nov 22, 2014)

If you're talking only about food, the typical recommendation is to simply stock up on stuff you normally eat, but you clearly need canned or dehydrated foods instead of fresh or frozen. Beyond that long term storage foods are available from several companies here in the US. I don't know what is available in Thailand. You can also take things like rice, seal them in mylar bags inside 5 gallon buckets and they will last a long time. Check out YouTube if you are unfamiliar with storing food that way.


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## Dirk (Mar 4, 2015)

Thanks for the suggestions. I haven't seen the dehydrated stuff here. The situation might be different from in the US. Currently I live near Bangkok which is a 10 mil population city. My wife her family has a house in the north of Thailand in the city of Chiang Mai (300,000 people). We are currently expanding the house so we can more easily stay there. In addition, last year we bought some land in the mountains about 30 miles from Chiang Mai. By car it takes about an hour as the road is going through the mountains. The land is on the edge of a village. Estimate about max 200 people. The village is a farm village. to give an impression, there is no supermarket and no ATM. The land is about 2.5 acres. Also this year we plan to have a small house on that. This land with house will be the dug out place. and we are trying to develop into a sustainable area. So growing food for own consumption and have some animals. So the question is what should we have to supplement this especially in the beginning of moving there.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

Dirk, I have a friend that lives in Bangkok but they have a weekend place somewhere north of there. He said with what they have planted over the years they have fresh fruit year round at their weekend place. So pretty much they just store a lot of rice, canned fish, & canned vegetables.


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## Dirk (Mar 4, 2015)

Indeed, stuff grows here the whole year around. And currently others around in the area are growing rice. Though this is hybrid rice so I don't know how long that will last in a Collapse. Also we plan to have a pond for some fish and water storage from the rainy season. It all is rather fertile. Every time we go there even though we didn't do much with the land, eatable things grow and we can bring back.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

With having a small pond, you might want to look at aquaponics & hydroponics systems. You pump water from the pond to plants using the fish poo as fertilizer. Fish get clean water in return & so grow faster & larger. Small solar system is enough to power the pump.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Welcome to the forum, you will find some great info here.

We use a multi-layered system of food storage. First being a rotation system of store bought canned food that we eat regularly. Cans that we buy today go into a bin to be used before the "Best if Used by Date" on the cans. We are buying cans with 2017 or 2018 dates now and consuming cans with 2015 dates that we bought 2-3 years ago.

We also have Self Canned food in jars that we canned from our own garden or store bought. We rotate them out accordingly. We also self store for long term some dry foods like rice, beans, pastas in mylar bags using oxygen absorbers. Search youtube.
Additionally we have some long term foods from Mountain House and Wise Foods that have a shelf life of 20-25 years.

Here are some links to a couple of providers of long term food stores. Good luck and search the forum for more info;
Mountain House | Food for Camping, Backpacking & Emergency Preparation
Wise Food Storage - Emergency, Long Term, and Camping Meals


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## Dirk (Mar 4, 2015)

Thanks for the suggestions. Actually the drying thing is good. Now I do it with an electric drying machine. Though I should look into getting a solar drying machine (will make it myself). Also we start making cheese ourselves to practice for once we have goats on the land. Though some of the ingredients (Rennet) are hard to get. Coming weekend we are learning how to propagate mushrooms.


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## Dirk (Mar 4, 2015)

Now in our garden in the house around Bangkok we have all kind of things growing (bananas, chilies, papaya, ...) I try to collect the seeds so we can grow them later on the land. Also have some small fruit trees that we will move to the land at the beginning of the rainy season.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

Do not worry about the expiry dates on canned goods... they will go for YEARS past that date... 

if they smell bad when you open them, discard... except for sardines... sardines smell like @#^%$ all the time so nobody knows if they are good or bad - throw those away or give them to those that are hungry


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## Dirk (Mar 4, 2015)

Hi Maine-Marine, Thanks for the advice of cans. By the time we really need to eat them for sure we will be more easy eating expired food. One thing I really love to eat when it is expired is cheese.


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## Sarahwalker (Mar 3, 2015)

My family and I have an aquaponic system that's fresh and healthy. We also stock up canned goods and restock them every after 2 1/2 years. We've also got sweets stored, as sweets are pretty crucial when it comes to giving our body energy.


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## Dirk (Mar 4, 2015)

Just went into the supermarket and this time had a little longer look at expiry dates. It is amazing how just in time we buy. Especially since some of the stuff lasts for many years so why not buy more. So I start doing that and slowly increase. Once my dug out place is finished, will start there as well.

Btw, trying to grow things more in a permaculture way. Let nature do it's work and direct it to eatable stuff.


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## TacticalCanuck (Aug 5, 2014)

Look into long term whole grain storage with Mylar and oxygen absorbers. You can store many wholesome and healthy food in this manner that have very long shelf lives and are very healthy for you. All kinds of rice beans grains oats groats flour wheat etc. with some fruit and the odd score in the protein department you can sustain for a long period in a very satisfying way.


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