# Food for a year +



## split (Sep 2, 2013)

I think its time to seriously prep. I have a good deal of food storage, but its time to get serious. I need to get a year, or perhaps two years supply
Does anyone else have a year or more supply for their entire family....if so, can you share what you have and why you decided on it and what you have learned?

For example, did you just gather long shelf life foods from the grocery store or did you go for the prepared foods from Mountain house and others.


----------



## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Our plan was based on 3 Parts;

Short Term Foods; Consisted of items that we eat every single day that are perishables or semi perishable. Fresh proteins, vegetables, fruits etc as well as packaged short term foods that are not as protected for long term storage. 

Mid Term Foods and Food Storage; Items that we eat regularly but have longer expiration dates and can easily be reckaged and stored long term. Certain Canned/Jarred Items etc Some items repackaged in mylar with O2 absorbers. I also keep a lot of Powdered Protein around and so far I've had good luck as long as the fat content is very very low. Otherwise fats tend to go rancid.

Long Term Food Storage; Also includes food items that we eat regularly and we have put up for long term using mylar and O2 absorbers but also 20-25Year Items from Mountain House, Wise Foods, Augason Farms etc. 

We use a system of rotation from our kitchen pantry, basement pantry and long term storage also in our basement. Canned goods with Best Used By Dates are the easiest to rotate and we store them in Rubbermaid Totes with the Year of Best Used By written on Duct Tape on the tote. The older we get the less Pre-Packaged Foods we eat. We also have a pretty healthy garden every year and try to can as much as possible. But we end up giving a lot of our self canned goods away as presents because they are just so darn good!

Every December around Christmas, we conduct our inventory and try and find any items that are reaching that Best Used By Date and move them up. I can only remember a few isolated situations where items were bad, but it does happen.

Hope this helps...


----------



## Elvis (Jun 22, 2018)

Like Slippy we also stock by time frames.
About 10 days worth of what we eat every day. Mostly shorter expiration foods and frozen meats like most families have.
Next there's 2 months worth of easy to make long term storage meals, mostly dehydrated stuff that will last many years along with pasta and jars of sauce. Expensive but good for moral and easy to prepare. 

Then there's the lower cost long term (20+ years) storage of grains such as rice and beans along with plenty of spices. We live in a rural area with cows, chickens ect with plenty of garden space so we don't keep any long term veggies or meats.

Keep in mind your ability to cook and store foods if the grid is down when selecting what you store. Some grains take a lot of long slow cooking to be edible. Do you have the ability to cook hard beans that need to be heated for 2-3 hours. Boiling a few gallons of water over a fire takes a lot of wood and effort to gather that wood. Having 50 lbs of meat in the freezer isn't going to do you much good if you don't have the gas to keep the generator going.

Prepping is all about balance. Make sure you've got the ability to purify water before you buy 6 months worth of beans.


----------



## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

As said above..+ I would add a few things

do not stock pasta or other items you can make.. stock the items to make it

do not stock pancake mix - it goes mad.. stock the items to make it

stock salt, pepper, spices, powdered milk, powdered eggs, .... spices help make the same meal different 

make sure you can filter water

have instructions for recipes, or mixtures or how to make printed out!!!!!


----------



## split (Sep 2, 2013)

Elvis said:


> Boiling a few gallons of water over a fire takes a lot of wood and effort to gather that wood.


I have about 200 forest acres...with unlimited wood.



Elvis said:


> Having 50 lbs of meat in the freezer isn't going to do you much good if you don't have the gas to keep the generator going.


I do have a generator....but that will only last so long...maybe two months if we conserve.
Ultimately we know we can't count on freezing our supply of food.


Elvis said:


> Make sure you've got the ability to purify water before you buy 6 months worth of beans.


We have a well, with very, very clear water.

I'm leaning towards purchasing a couple years supply of Mountain house....Then I don't have to worry about rotation. And the MH shelf life is longer than the time I have left on the clock....I can then stop worrying about this.
I have been looking for a MH sampler so that we can determine which entrees we like......Can't believe they don't offer such a thing on their site. I found a 25 pouch sampler on the costco site.
Will probably order it.


----------



## split (Sep 2, 2013)

Maine-Marine said:


> have instructions for recipes, or mixtures or how to make printed out!!!!!


Yes, I have been thinking about this....We rely so much on the internet we have almost nothing in printed form.


----------



## Yavanna (Aug 27, 2018)

If you have available land, invest in growing your own food. Plant a lot of assorted fruit trees, so you always have a suply of fresh fruit. Berries are also a very good investment.


----------



## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

split said:


> I have about 200 forest acres...with unlimited wood.
> 
> I do have a generator....but that will only last so long...maybe two months if we conserve.
> Ultimately we know we can't count on freezing our supply of food.
> ...


Periodically I try out one of my 25 Year Food Packages and the last one I ate was from Wise Foods. Some sort of "meat" stroganoff. I cooked it over a Rocket Stove and it tasted OK. Salty as hell but in a SHTF situation I'm sure it would be just fine. A few years ago I found out that gluten messes with my arthritis so I bought a bunch of gluten-free 25 year food items.

Variety is key and I've discovered that the 10 Year Butter makes other products taste a bit better and some of the dehydrated dairy items are not that bad. Dehydrated or Freeze Dried Fruits are all GOOD as I have not found one that I didn't like.

But watch the sodium content in everything, its super high.


----------



## StratMaster (Dec 26, 2017)

Slippy said:


> Periodically I try out one of my 25 Year Food Packages and the last one I ate was from Wise Foods. Some sort of "meat" stroganoff. I cooked it over a Rocket Stove and it tasted OK. Salty as hell but in a SHTF situation I'm sure it would be just fine. A few years ago I found out that gluten messes with my arthritis so I bought a bunch of gluten-free 25 year food items.
> 
> Variety is key and I've discovered that the 10 Year Butter makes other products taste a bit better and some of the dehydrated dairy items are not that bad. Dehydrated or Freeze Dried Fruits are all GOOD as I have not found one that I didn't like.
> 
> But watch the sodium content in everything, its super high.


WOW yeah Wise Foods has a LOT of sodium. I absolutely prefer Mountain House and Augason Farms. I do have buckets of these packets though... very tasty with a can of evaporated milk.


----------



## stowlin (Apr 25, 2016)

One take on food is to have enough to last until regular growing takes over or kicks in. We chose to raise pheasants on our small farm in Ireland and in part because we can sell them now and have an adequate supply later, but we are still exploring what grows besides potatoes.


----------



## BookWorm (Jul 8, 2018)

split said:


> I have about 200 forest acres...with unlimited wood.
> 
> I do have a generator....but that will only last so long...maybe two months if we conserve.
> Ultimately we know we can't count on freezing our supply of food.
> ...


From all that you've said, it sounds like your sitting pretty good. And with all the added advice that has been thrown in on this thread... you may have done all that you can. Are you part of a small group or is it just you and the family of four? Good luck with it all.


----------



## split (Sep 2, 2013)

BookWorm said:


> From all that you've said, it sounds like your sitting pretty good. And with all the added advice that has been thrown in on this thread... you may have done all that you can. Are you part of a small group or is it just you and the family of four? Good luck with it all.


Just the family. Everyone else that I know talks about being prepared but they do nothing and are full of sh#t. I tell them nothing of my preps.


----------



## split (Sep 2, 2013)

Yavanna said:


> If you have available land, invest in growing your own food. Plant a lot of assorted fruit trees, so you always have a suply of fresh fruit. Berries are also a very good investment.


When I was young I remember growing things with ease. The last several years I have tried growing various foods and all have failed. I don't want to rely on this given my apparent black thumb. But I do have tons of seeds of all different types and I have 11 acres of pasture that could be used for growing.

But since liberals seem hell bent on WWIII with russia, and since Russia now has the 100MegaTon Posiden Automous Sub drone, I'm not sure I want to be eating anything that might see fallout. However, I have planned for this too. I'm located far from any strike zone and I'm up wind of everything....so if I do see fallout, it should be minimal.


----------



## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

split said:


> Just the family. Everyone else that I know talks about being prepared but they do nothing and are full of sh#t. I tell them nothing of my preps.


 @split

If you give me the measurements of the heads and necks of "everyone else that you know" I know a guy who knows a guy who produces
Gen-U-Wine Custom-Made Pikes of which heads of fools will sit nicely upon should S Hit The F!

Just sayin'

Your friend,

Slippy! :vs_wave:


----------



## Yavanna (Aug 27, 2018)

Have you tried the fruit trees? Try looking into edible species that are native to your area, and other varieties that are well suited for your climate. Trees usually do not require musch upkeep after the first year or so. You can get tree saplings for a low price, perhaps try planting some nuts. Or blackberries, these ones grow like pests.


----------



## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

I do pretty much as @Slippy and the others do. I can go a year easy and maybe 2 if I am careful. Backup generators, batteries first aid, weapons and ammo, etc. I am not so much worried about sustenance as security given that I am a force of two and located in the 4th largest city in the U.S. I am the designated herd thinner. :tango_face_grin:


----------



## Elvis (Jun 22, 2018)

split said:


> I have about 200 forest acres...with unlimited wood.
> 
> *Still a lot of labor cutting, dragging, splitting all of that wood. Chainsaws make a lot of noise perhaps attracting unwanted attention not to mention the smell of wood smoke.*
> 
> ...


Mountain House favorites, Apple Crisp, Beef Stroganoff, Chili-Mac 
Keep in mind that freeze dried foods take up a lot of storage space, especially when we're talking about a years worth. Still, it's great stuff. Because of storage space and cost I also like Legacy Foods but the Mountain House tastes better.

Adding a Big Berkly filter or a pound of Calcium Hypochlorite will give you a back up way to sterilize water.

Adding a small solar system will give you years worth of battery charging and a bit of light.


----------



## split (Sep 2, 2013)

Yavanna said:


> Have you tried the fruit trees? Try looking into edible species that are native to your area, and other varieties that are well suited for your climate. Trees usually do not require musch upkeep after the first year or so. You can get tree saplings for a low price, perhaps try planting some nuts. Or blackberries, these ones grow like pests.


Been on this planet a long time, planted a lot of fruit trees.....never did any grow large enough to produce anything worth while. I planted two Apple trees a few years ago....they bloomed once and never produced any fruit. I suspect the local soil was not compatible. I have since moved and now have what should be very good soil. There are 30 year old Pear trees here that produce tons of poor quality fruit. I suspect those trees are past their prime.
I will look at planting some trees.....maybe I can buy some more mature trees.
Blackberries are everywhere here. They produce a lot of fruit. One thing we noticed is that the blackberries at the grocery story are better, in that they are much more crisp. Not sure what variety they are. The berries here are okay and they have grown totally naturally.


----------



## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

Hi @split! Great thread.

I keep pasta and pancake mix along with other fast cook stuff like cake mixes, etc...in my extended pantry. I also keep oils in the fridge. Since I'm only going for a year's supply in the extended pantry, it's not gonna go bad. That first year after things go south is gonna be very difficult and labor intensive. I figure we're gonna need the easy cook stuff here.

Every time I run out of something, I get two to replace, then at the end of the year, that's a one year supply in my pantry. If something's on sale (let's say coffee) and I've got the money, I stock up as much as I can. I rotate and date everything with my purchase date so I know if I grab that item off the shelf a year later, that's a one year supply on the item. If I date that same can of coffee with the open date, it gives me a really good idea of how fast we're burning through that item.

For longer term storage stuff lately I'm liking mylar bags with oxy absorbers put the in a clean new metal trash can. It's cheap, light weight, rodent proof and won't break like glass jars do.


----------



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Yavanna said:


> Try looking into edible species that are native to your area.


As you know, I live in Wisconsin. The only thing we grow is "dairy products." My guess is that you are referring to some form of tree.

Most of the state (who do not milk cows) are liberals who stay in their mom's basement and play video games. They never go outside, and even if they did, they would want no part of a dirty, cross pollinating anything--although a tree would be easier on them than a real, breathing woman.

When my wife and I need fruit, we go to the farmers' market. I do not know how those crafty farmers do it, but they grow apples right in a basket, not a tree in sight.


----------



## Yavanna (Aug 27, 2018)

split said:


> Yavanna said:
> 
> 
> > Have you tried the fruit trees? Try looking into edible species that are native to your area, and other varieties that are well suited for your climate. Trees usually do not require musch upkeep after the first year or so. You can get tree saplings for a low price, perhaps try planting some nuts. Or blackberries, these ones grow like pests.
> ...


have you ever had a soil analisys done at your land? There could be something missing that does not allow the plants to develop well, or it could have some contamination. Also compacted soil could be an issue. 
Have you considered bee keeping? Even if you do not harvest honey, having bees around will have polinating the trees so they will bear fruit. 
I currently live in the city, and I have a very small growing space ( about 1000 sq foot), and I grow quite a lot of food in here. I have 8 fruit trees plus a lot of vegetables (kale, lettuce, strawberries, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, squash, bell peppers, mellons, blackberries, assorted spices), not all the trees bear fruit yet because they are small, but some have bloomed this year.


----------



## Yavanna (Aug 27, 2018)

The Tourist said:


> Yavanna said:
> 
> 
> > Try looking into edible species that are native to your area.
> ...


yes, I meant the vegetables&#128514;

Pretty sure those apples come from a tree hidden somewhere


----------



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Yavanna said:


> yes, I meant the vegetables&#55357;&#56834; Pretty sure those apples come from a tree hidden somewhere.


My wife does most of the shopping, she usually carries most of the money and all of the coupons.

Because of the bad weather here, most of our food prep has turned to immediately stocking the shelves as we are usually walled in by snow. On several days we did not get out at all. The initial storm closed down most of Madison. Just that never-changing gray sky gets me down.


----------

