# Warm weather food storage



## JonC (10 mo ago)

I have been reading a lot about food storage and suggestions, but have seen little to no opinion on warm weather (Florida, southern US) food storage.

There are millions of Americans within this area, where summer temps will reach upwards of 100 degrees during the day and only lower to around 80 at night and very few have basements or sub-terrain storage.

In a grid-down scenario, how long would a cache of stored food last? 

In a grid-down, major disaster/war scenario where supplies are not coming in, how long before people become cannibals?

Are there any solutions to survivability in these areas?


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## XenoPrepper (10 mo ago)

Honestly, I'm rather new to the prepper world and I've been trying to figure out a long term solution to food storage. I got some info from a few books. Maybe this will help. Goes into detail about growing and storage conditions, temps in different environments and what not.

(link removed by moderator)


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## JonC (10 mo ago)

Thank you for the reference.

I guess what I am asking is not how to create a homestead or environment where creating and keeping storable foods would be possible, but how to safely store foods for long periods in existing modern urban neighborhood structures under extreme weather conditions without modern amenties such as power.


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## wraithofroncollins (10 mo ago)

Food storage is pretty easy...


JonC said:


> In a grid-down scenario, how long would a cache of stored food last?


Depends on the food and how you store it, dry beans, dry rice, honey, sugar, liquor except cream liquor, raw honey, corn syrup & vinegar. 
Many dried foods, canned goods and, similar can last for years. More so, you can garden and can that food with sugar and/or vinegar. For meats you just smoke or dehydrate into jerky. Flower, corn meal, etc. can last a long time. Rule of thumb about 1-3 years in most cases.



JonC said:


> In a grid-down, major disaster/war scenario where supplies are not coming in, how long before people become cannibals?


A few years... they'd have to eat all the animals in the woods/city and loot everything else.



JonC said:


> Are there any solutions to survivability in these areas?


yep...


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## Mr. Krinkle (12 mo ago)




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## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

JonC said:


> Thank you for the reference.
> 
> I guess what I am asking is not how to create a homestead or environment where creating and keeping storable foods would be possible, but how to safely store foods for long periods in existing modern urban neighborhood structures under extreme weather conditions without modern amenties such as power.


Store the properly preserved food in your house, not the garage or shed...then when the power goes out and/or the supermarket shelves go bare-naked, you start eating what you've stored. Keep a garden and if you can, some livestock. All the best!


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## CC Pereira (9 mo ago)

JonC said:


> I have been reading a lot about food storage and suggestions, but have seen little to no opinion on warm weather (Florida, southern US) food storage.
> 
> There are millions of Americans within this area, where summer temps will reach upwards of 100 degrees during the day and only lower to around 80 at night and very few have basements or sub-terrain storage.
> 
> ...


I cover this kind of information in my book, 'Earth Skills: Food Preservation And Storage'(linked removed - Kauboy), but I felt compelled to answer your questions here anyway ... especially after the lovely food cart truck graphic above ... so funny (from afar of course)!

If you're talking SHTF survival food, I'd go with canned foods, dried foods, some fermented foods, and prepackaged foods that do not require refrigeration or freezing. Storage containers should be water proof, air tight, and made of food grade material. Keeping dry foods dry (by including a desiccant with dry foods in storage containers, or by other means) is also especially important in humid places such as Florida.

Canned foods have a shelf life of up to 5 years, dried foods have a shelf life of up to 30 years, and fermented foods have a shelf life of up to 25 years, depending on preparation, preservation, and storage methods.


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## Usernameforyou (8 mo ago)

CC Pereira said:


> I cover this kind of information in my book, 'Earth Skills: Food Preservation And Storage'(linked removed - Kauboy), but I felt compelled to answer your questions here anyway ... especially after the lovely food cart truck graphic above ... so funny (from afar of course)!
> 
> If you're talking SHTF survival food, I'd go with canned foods, dried foods, some fermented foods, and prepackaged foods that do not require refrigeration or freezing. Storage containers should be water proof, air tight, and made of food grade material. Keeping dry foods dry (by including a desiccant with dry foods in storage containers, or by other means) is also especially important in humid places such as Florida.
> 
> Canned foods have a shelf life of up to 5 years, dried foods have a shelf life of up to 30 years, and fermented foods have a shelf life of up to 25 years, depending on preparation, preservation, and storage methods.


I would say start canning right now. I did an experiment on some factory canned chicken. I dehydrated it then I tried to rehydrate using some beef broth. It took 30 minutes and tasted like the meat in those "cups of soup" mixes. Not bad but still took 30 minutes. I guess if I had power or it was winter I could let it sit in water or stock for awhile then cook but I'm talking worst case. But it was none the less ok to eat expiration date was 2015. Cooked in 2021. I had to find out.


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## CC Pereira (9 mo ago)

Different methods of drying, storing, or re-hydrating dried foods, as well as how old dried foods are, can all affect quality. But if you prefer canned foods, by all means, can it.


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## Fen Weald (8 mo ago)

I have a springhouse that stays right around 40 degrees winter or summer. I also made a bog cooler many years ago that usually puts ice crystals in the food if I leave them there too long.


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## wraithofroncollins (10 mo ago)

Fen Weald said:


> I have a springhouse that stays right around 40 degrees winter or summer. I also made a bog cooler many years ago that usually puts ice crystals in the food if I leave them there too long.


I am not familiar with those terms... Could you explain "Spring House" and "bog cooler" to me.?


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## Fen Weald (8 mo ago)

wraithofroncollins said:


> I am not familiar with those terms... Could you explain "Spring House" and "bog cooler" to me.?


Before refrigeration springhouses were either built over springs or a windmill pumped water up into a trough in the house. The house is usually made out of stone or well insulated and often set down a bit into the ground to use the earth as insulation. Water from the earth is quite cold anywhere from 35 degrees F to 50 degrees F. It makes the inside of the springhouse quite cold. Old dairy farms were known for them as a way of keeping the milk cold. 

A bog cooler is a hole in the ground, often in a cold place like a bog, Bogs here in northern Wisconsin stay frozen all year long, so storing food in that hole usually freezes them a little.


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## wraithofroncollins (10 mo ago)

Thank you... You just added tools to my tool kit.


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## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

CC Pereira said:


> But if you prefer canned foods, by all means, can it.


Not preferred but I have learned to can meat. IF we get into a grid down situation, I'm able to can the meat in my freezer and not have to toss most of it.


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