# Check me on my food prep plan...



## Trihonda (Aug 24, 2020)

I've got a few months food on hand (maybe more), but have yet to really stockpile "long" term food staples. I have a small neighborhood prep group who are on this same track. 

This brings me to vacuum sealing and mylar bags. 

Here's the overall plan to supplement my on-hand food: 

~Ten 5gal buckets w/ lids (from home depot). 5gal mylar bags (5mil), w/ 2000cc of de-oxy. 

Looking to store the following: 
Rice x2, 
Beans x2, 
enriched powdered milk, 
sugar, 
wheatberry, 
salt, 
Any other suggestions (I want simple)? 


~200 1qt Family Sized Individual Prepackaged Meals:
2cups rice/1cup beans + a meal flavor packet (lipton or other)
Sealed in Mylar bags (OR vacu-sealed with a food saver first and 100cc de-oxy, then placed into a mylar bag). I've seen tricks for vacu-sealing the mylar, which could eliminate the need to use the initial foodsaver, but the plastic vacu-seal is a nominal cost, if it adds some benefit? 

I'm going to pick up a Costco foodsaver, as well as a few packs of recommended vacu-seal refills. I'm also planning to order the mylar bags. I will work to ensure I check out the many charts to ensure I used the right cc of de-oxy for the bag size. 

QUESTIONS:
1- Any thoughts on the vacu seal from Costco? I plan to also use it to seal up things like packets of instant oatmeal, and other stuff to extend their lifespan.
2- If I vacu-seal in plastic, THEN do mylar for my smaller 1qt bags, can these safely go into a regular storage tote, as opposed to using food safe buckets?
3- Are there any tips for items I should be putting in the 5gal buckets? Food items I didn't mention? And before you say coffee, we don't drink it. 
4- Is there a certain "beans" I should be getting? Navy? Pinto? I don't normally eat beans I've cooked myself, so I have no clue. I mean, my wife and I enjoy the black beans in our Chipotle rice burritos, and we enjoy baked beans... 
5- Any recipes for the beans/rice combo meals? Specific spice packs you'd recommend? I plan on getting beef/chicken bullion for some of these. 
6- Any good sources for mylar bags? I've looked at USAemergency, and DiscountMylar. Both have bags I want in 5mil+ thicknesses. The discountmylar is much cheaper, but it sounds like their shipping lead times might be a hot mess right now.

My goal is to use the pre-packed meals for personal use, BUT to have a few in storage dedicated for barter. Again, I have plenty of things like spices, syrup and pancake mix, oils, comfort foods, that I have on hand (in costco quantities)

Any thoughts are much appreciated. Me and a few of my "guys" are moving forward with this sooner than later. It's getting kinda nutz. We've got some food, and many other preps, but we want to shore things up.


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## JustAnotherNut (Feb 27, 2017)

I would suggest you store what you eat and eat what you store......that also means have the experience of preparing that meal now. If you don't eat or make recipes with dry beans and normally used canned pre-made, then stock up on those precanned type beans and skip the dry ones. 

How do you plan to prepare those wheatberries??? Cook them whole or cracked??? ok........or are they for flour & baking? If so, do you have a grinder and know how to use it??? And do you realize home ground flour isn't the same as store-bought bleached/enriched??? Not only in looks, but also how it responds in cooking/baking??

The items you listed are good 'basic starters', but not something you should expect to rely on for very long before fatigue sets in......if you've got the money or resources, stock up on meats, fruits, veggies and most of all SEASONINGS that can make those rice & beans taste different from one meal to the next for some kind of variety. 

Premixed seasoning packets are great for convenience, but it's also good to store individual herbs/spices as well and find a recipe for a homemade mix version, if need be. 

If it seems overwhelming, just look at what you normally eat & buy now......then just buy extras and put it away. Drink coffee with honey & hazelnut creamer??? Then buy extras of those and don't forget the coffee filters too. Like tacos or spaghetti??? then buy & store the ingredients to make it.


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## Trihonda (Aug 24, 2020)

JustAnotherNut said:


> I would suggest you store what you eat and eat what you store......that also means have the experience of preparing that meal now. If you don't eat or make recipes with dry beans and normally used canned pre-made, then stock up on those precanned type beans and skip the dry ones.
> 
> How do you plan to prepare those wheatberries??? Cook them whole or cracked??? ok........or are they for flour & baking? If so, do you have a grinder and know how to use it??? And do you realize home ground flour isn't the same as store-bought bleached/enriched??? Not only in looks, but also how it responds in cooking/baking??
> 
> ...


Thanks for the response. One of my best friends/neighbor/etc is a former off-grid prepper. He now lives a few houses down, and has had a ton of suggestions. He has a grinder (or two) and has baked his own breads using the wheatberry. I suggested white flour, and he told me not to. Ha. We will be integral parts of each others preps. We both have a ton of security background, while he has a lot of off-grid living experience and prepping knowledge. That said, he's also a bit rusty and out of loop (or has forgotten) a lot. Which is why I asked here.

I also have already purchased tons of canned baked beans, but I'm not opposed to buying & cooking different beans. For my household, we generally eat minute rice, which is pre-cooked. I have a ton of that on hand, as we go through it quickly. But it's really expensive compared to uncooked rice. I have purchased a few cases of canned chicken/tuna, and plan to work that into the meals. Again, I also have a few months or more of our normal foods (which we rotate/replace), but I'm looking for emergency food supplies for when it gets ugly, or for barter (food that can be stored for years at a remote cabin without much fuss). We plan to garden, and I have a seed bank. I am hopeful my 3-4 month supply should get us close to growing our own foods, but I want a safety blanket. The normal foods we eat probably won't work well to store for years... and I am working on a budget, I'm looking for bang for the buck as well. I am prepared mentally to shift our diet somewhat in a SHTF scenario. A lot in our lives will need to shift. I am a fan of the show survivor, and so long as I don't have to eat rat brains, I'll consider myself fortunate.


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## JustAnotherNut (Feb 27, 2017)

Trihonda said:


> Thanks for the response. One of my best friends/neighbor/etc is a former off-grid prepper. He now lives a few houses down, and has had a ton of suggestions. He has a grinder (or two) and has baked his own breads using the wheatberry. I suggested white flour, and he told me not to. Ha. We will be integral parts of each others preps. We both have a ton of security background, while he has a lot of off-grid living experience and prepping knowledge. That said, he's also a bit rusty and out of loop (or has forgotten) a lot. Which is why I asked here.
> 
> I also have already purchased tons of canned baked beans, but I'm not opposed to buying & cooking different beans. For my household, we generally eat minute rice, which is pre-cooked. I have a ton of that on hand, as we go through it quickly. But it's really expensive compared to uncooked rice. I have purchased a few cases of canned chicken/tuna, and plan to work that into the meals. Again, I also have a few months or more of our normal foods (which we rotate/replace), but I'm looking for emergency food supplies for when it gets ugly, or for barter (food that can be stored for years at a remote cabin without much fuss). We plan to garden, and I have a seed bank. I am hopeful my 3-4 month supply should get us close to growing our own foods, but I want a safety blanket. The normal foods we eat probably won't work well to store for years... and I am working on a budget, I'm looking for bang for the buck as well. I am prepared mentally to shift our diet somewhat in a SHTF scenario. A lot in our lives will need to shift. I am a fan of the show survivor, and so long as I don't have to eat rat brains, I'll consider myself fortunate.


You were doing pretty good there but you lost me when you got to the rat brains LOL

Thing is, in a stressful situation is not the time to change up your diet too much. Stress can have a tremendous effect on the body and it's natural responses and any changes to what you feed/fuel your body can complicate it....and in a stressful situation like shtf, you need as much 'normal' as possible and any changes should be done slowly over time, if at all possible. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

As for your garden.......do you have enough land to grow enough food for your family to last a year??? And do you know how and/or have the experience and equipment to preserve that harvest??? Check out the garden section, there should be a thread about amounts needed to grow.

You can make your own 'minute rice' from long grain (or whatever other type of rice you prefer)......just cook it without any butter or fats, and dehydrate it.

As for your friend......remember that if life gets crazy enough, even the best of friends may come at odds if either are desperate enough in a survival situation.


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## stowlin (Apr 25, 2016)

What happens when it all runs out? Seriously I didn't see your plan for hunting, fishing, and growing vegetables beyond your stores? How will that work for you or will it? City dwellers in apartments would have a hard time growing enough to live off and no matter how good your growths may be rice is hard to cultivate and harvest. Hence I store an abundance of rice and wheat grains or flour, but we are all different and in different boats. Lentils are one of my favorites. I opened a Costco container of lentils about 18 months ago and they are tough to cook, lots of energy required but added to some rice and they are great at extending the calories of a meal. Plus I can't grow lentils.



Trihonda said:


> I've got a few months food on hand (maybe more), but have yet to really stockpile "long" term food staples. I have a small neighborhood prep group who are on this same track.
> 
> This brings me to vacuum sealing and mylar bags.
> 
> ...


My apologies I didn't see your post about the neighbors. You need supplies to get you thru growth periods, and then supplies you can't grow, rice, four, lentils, sugar, salt.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Trihonda said:


> I've got a few months food on hand (maybe more), but have yet to really stockpile "long" term food staples. I have a small neighborhood prep group who are on this same track.
> 
> This brings me to vacuum sealing and mylar bags.
> 
> ...


I like your plan! Check!!


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## Trihonda (Aug 24, 2020)

Thanks again for folks taking the time to respond. The questions I had were regarding my food plan. My other preps are shored up, I believe. I have a great neighborhood (for the short term bug in). I have many supplies and preps. We have a group of very hard core solid neighbors with all sorts of skillz. Several are cops, including my former prepper buddy, who spent many years as a full time swat operator in a big city, then lived off grid in a remote cabin, until family obligations brought him back to Civilization. We have a couple hard core hunters, and even a fighter jet pilot (not sure what skillz he brings, lol, but I imagine his SEAR training makes him survival ready). These neighbors are all within a couple blocks of each other, and we have realistic neighborhood security plans (we are not the group you’d want to mess with). All of us have full kit, with comms, and more weaponry than normal, even for your avg prepper. We also have a large remote lake property, in case of a long term bug out. This property has a stocked private lake, with every farming implement and resource needed. The property would fit most of the families. Again, this is just the start, as I’m not going to lay out all our other preps here, since the thread was asking about food.

Still curious about some answers to my questions about the food saver, and whether it’s advantageous to pre-vacuseal items in plastic prior to Mylar bags? 

I did check out some recipes for beans/rice, and it looks like I should be presoaking the beans overnight, so these prepared meals might need to adjust. I might need to vacuseal the beans and rice individually then place them into a Mylar pouch? 

Hmmm, I might be rethinking this a bit. I was contemplating a family style MRE type pack, that could serve as a trade item or use for my own family, but would have wanted the beans and rice having the same cooking times/methods.. tear open the pouch, Cook them in boiling water, then add seasoning pack, then eat. Maybe I should work on larger 1/2-1gal bags of beans/rice for a weekly supply type deal?


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## NMPRN (Dec 25, 2020)

Just a couple of random thoughts:

My wife has a real hard time peeling the lid off a 5 gallon bucket so I put Gamma lids on most of them. I still need to make (or buy) a couple of Gamma lid wrenches just in case she runs across a "sticky" lid.

My neighbors aren't as well prepared as yours are but I love them just the same. I sealed a lot of stuff like beans, rice, sugar, etc., in smaller bags (4 or 5 lbs each) in case I have to back them up.

Water is going to be a real challenge in my area. Everyone in my neighborhood has a swimming pool except me so trading a few pounds of beans for access to 25,000 gallons of water is a good deal. _ ...P.S., swimming pools aren't my only source of water, they're not even my primary source, but they're sure going to come in handy_


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## Trihonda (Aug 24, 2020)

NMPRN said:


> Just a couple of random thoughts:
> 
> My wife has a real hard time peeling the lid off a 5 gallon bucket so I put Gamma lids on most of them. I still need to make (or buy) a couple of Gamma lid wrenches just in case she runs across a "sticky" lid.
> 
> ...


I have switched gears from small quart single meal packs, to 1/2 gallon mylar bags that contain a number of meals worth of rice/beans, etc... I believe I'll make up 50-100 of these, and these can be used in trade/barter as well. This will be in addition to the 5gallon buckets I'm planning. I've switched that around as well.. I'm now going with four of the 5 gal for each beans and rice. Then a few 5-gal tubs for wheatberry, sugar, and evaporated dairy.

We have a 5gal lid wrench or two in the house (as do my neighbors). 

Water will be an issue for us "long term", unless we bugout. Then I have a spring fed lake to draw from. We have several Berkey style filters amongst the group. And I do have a decent supply of water on hand, and a means for short term water. But nothing as secure as I'd prefer for longer term sustainability.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Be careful on storing iodized salt for prepping. While plain old salt is stable, iodized salt becomes unstable and bad for you 
after about 5 years especially in the presence of moisture or metal ions. Rotate your stock. odized salt in the U.S. contains 
45 micrograms of iodine per gram of salt. The recommended daily intake for adults is 150 micrograms, which can be 
obtained from about one-half to three-quarters of a teaspoon of table salt. Other sources of dietary iodine include eggs,
enriched grain products and plant foods grown in iodine-rich soils.


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## Redneck (Oct 6, 2016)

Trihonda said:


> I have switched gears from small quart single meal packs, to 1/2 gallon mylar bags that contain a number of meals worth of rice/beans, etc... I believe I'll make up 50-100 of these, and these can be used in trade/barter as well. This will be in addition to the 5gallon buckets I'm planning. I've switched that around as well.. I'm now going with four of the 5 gal for each beans and rice. Then a few 5-gal tubs for wheatberry, sugar, and evaporated dairy.


I don't understand putting long term stores into small 1/2 gallon Mylar bags. All my Mylar bags are stored in 6 gallon plastic pails. The more Mylar packs you put in a plastic pail, the less food you will get in each pail. Obviously you will optimize space best by using one Mylar bag per pail. The vast majority of my stores are done that way with only a few pails with several small Mylar bags. My point is, at the point you are in a crisis & you need to open your long term stores, there is no real need for lots of small sealed Mylar packs... for barter or whatever. At that point if you want to barter, just scoop out the food & put in a paper sack or baggie. IMO, it is very important to maximize your long term storage.

I've never vacuum sealed my Mylar bags. When I seal mine, I run a bead all the way across except for about 1/2". I then fold the slack in the bag & push out the remaining air, and then complete that seal. Then I run another bead across the top of the bag. The oxygen absorbers will pull out the remaining air & you will see the Mylar bag shrink up over a little time.

When you put up your rice & beans, it is a good idea to add some seasoning packs or jars of bouillon. Granted the seasonings won't last as long as the rice/beans but they take up just a little space. Now I do some special pails just for seasonings. I do them special because of the shorter shelf life. I discussed that here: 
https://www.prepperforums.net/forum...297-putting-bulk-seasonings-into-storage.html

Also, for what it is worth, I store as much wheat berries as all my other foods combined. Basically I'm following the rule of storing what you eat. On a normal day, I eat much more wheat product than rice & beans. I mean I love rice & I love beans but I personally don't eat them at most once a week... actually longer than that. However a day doesn't go by that I don't eat something such as bread, crackers, biscuits, pancakes, cake, cookies, etc. So I have lots or wheat berries in storage.


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## Trihonda (Aug 24, 2020)

paraquack said:


> Be careful on storing iodized salt for prepping. While plain old salt is stable, iodized salt becomes unstable and bad for you
> after about 5 years especially in the presence of moisture or metal ions. Rotate your stock. odized salt in the U.S. contains
> 45 micrograms of iodine per gram of salt. The recommended daily intake for adults is 150 micrograms, which can be
> obtained from about one-half to three-quarters of a teaspoon of table salt. Other sources of dietary iodine include eggs,
> enriched grain products and plant foods grown in iodine-rich soils.


Any suggestions on where to obtain non-iodized salt?

I guess I could just try to find it on amazon...

https://www.amazon.com/Foodservice-...dchild=1&keywords=salt&qid=1609269114&sr=8-47

25lbs for $29?


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## CapitalKane49p (Apr 7, 2020)

Hot sauce, lots of hot sauce. More homemade MREs. Gatorade powder crystals for when you get sick. More powdered milk as that will be worth it's weight in gold. Tea is an appetite suppressant so lots of that. 

Godspeed


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## NMPRN (Dec 25, 2020)

Trihonda said:


> Any suggestions on where to obtain non-iodized salt?


I got mine at Sam's Club, 25lbs for $5

If the link doesn't work go to their website and search for "Morton Table Salt Bag (25 lbs.)" ...you have to read the description to see where it says "This is non-iodized salt"


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## Trihonda (Aug 24, 2020)

******* said:


> I don't understand putting long term stores into small 1/2 gallon Mylar bags. All my Mylar bags are stored in 6 gallon plastic pails. The more Mylar packs you put in a plastic pail, the less food you will get in each pail. Obviously you will optimize space best by using one Mylar bag per pail. The vast majority of my stores are done that way with only a few pails with several small Mylar bags. My point is, at the point you are in a crisis & you need to open your long term stores, there is no real need for lots of small sealed Mylar packs... for barter or whatever. At that point if you want to barter, just scoop out the food & put in a paper sack or baggie. IMO, it is very important to maximize your long term storage.


Good points. I plan on most all my main staples being placed into larger 5 and 6g pails (I'm starting with a dozen of these, but will have 15 5gal spare mylar bags on hand for expansion). I purchased a number of 15g Rubbermaid BRUTE totes, which I will use to store up a number of my smaller quantity spices and food prep items, smaller items that I don't plan on keeping in 5gal quantities. And yes, I want to create some smaller bags of rice/seasonings for barter OR for excursions. My group fully hopes to hunker down, but if need be, we might need to send a few of our group out into the field. Probably not, but I want a bit of the food more portable. These will be packed using the ziplock bags, which will be heat sealed, but when opened, can keep items like rice for a time (and be portable). It was an extra .04 per bag for this option. and like only 30-40 bags.

But I'm only talking like 30 or so of these smaller bags. I think that once I seal them up, before they harden up, I can place them into the totes, and they'll conform to fit nicely.



******* said:


> I've never vacuum sealed my Mylar bags. When I seal mine, I run a bead all the way across except for about 1/2". I then fold the slack in the bag & push out the remaining air, and then complete that seal. Then I run another bead across the top of the bag. The oxygen absorbers will pull out the remaining air & you will see the Mylar bag shrink up over a little time.


I think I've come to that realization. I did buy a food saver, but I will relagate that to items like Quaker "Instant" oatmeal packets and other items I'm likely to break into (rotate out) before the SHTF. I'll just stick to the mylar. I did hit up the town "thrift store" and snagged a $4 flat curling iron to do the seals. 



******* said:


> When you put up your rice & beans, it is a good idea to add some seasoning packs or jars of bouillon. Granted the seasonings won't last as long as the rice/beans but they take up just a little space.


I did snag a bunch of beef & chicken bullion, along with a ton of various soup seasoning mixes and rice flavoring pouches. On a side note about beans, we couldn't find them at Costco... We looked into restaurant supply places, and the big super Grocer in the area had only 1lb bags of beans in their main section. We didn't give up, and went to the "ethnic foods" aisle, and snagged 10lb bags of pinto beans in the Mex aisle for like $7.



******* said:


> Also, for what it is worth, I store as much wheat berries as all my other foods combined. Basically I'm following the rule of storing what you eat. On a normal day, I eat much more wheat product than rice & beans. I mean I love rice & I love beans but I personally don't eat them at most once a week... actually longer than that. However a day doesn't go by that I don't eat something such as bread, crackers, biscuits, pancakes, cake, cookies, etc. So I have lots or wheat berries in storage.


My buddy has a couple grinders, in hand crank and electric versions. He highly recommended wheatberry... But said it's been super hard to come by of late. We couldn't find any. Online sources might be our only option? But I'll take your advice on the wheatberry, and when I expand my 5gal pail supply, I'll strongly consider weighing heavily in WB.


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## 2020 Convert (Dec 24, 2020)

Just a thought on the vacuum sealer at Costco.

They go on sale for 2 weeks in December every year for $50 off. Refills also on sale then too and one other time during the year.


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## paulag1955 (Dec 15, 2019)

Trihonda said:


> Any suggestions on where to obtain non-iodized salt?
> 
> I guess I could just try to find it on amazon...
> 
> ...


You can buy it at the grocery store. It's labeled "plain salt."


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## paulag1955 (Dec 15, 2019)

paraquack said:


> Be careful on storing iodized salt for prepping. While plain old salt is stable, iodized salt becomes unstable and bad for you
> after about 5 years especially in the presence of moisture or metal ions. Rotate your stock. odized salt in the U.S. contains
> 45 micrograms of iodine per gram of salt. The recommended daily intake for adults is 150 micrograms, which can be
> obtained from about one-half to three-quarters of a teaspoon of table salt. Other sources of dietary iodine include eggs,
> enriched grain products and plant foods grown in iodine-rich soils.


Where did you see that iodized salt becomes "bad for you?" It was my understanding that it loses its iodine content over time, but it won't make you sick to use it. So IMO it would be best to store iodized salt to get the benefit of the iodine for as long as possible. Goiters are no joke.


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## Trihonda (Aug 24, 2020)

paulag1955 said:


> Where did you see that iodized salt becomes "bad for you?" It was my understanding that it loses its iodine content over time, but it won't make you sick to use it. So IMO it would be best to store iodized salt to get the benefit of the iodine for as long as possible. Goiters are no joke.


I looked into this after seeing ITT, and have seen several videos discussing it. Here's one.


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## paulag1955 (Dec 15, 2019)

Trihonda said:


> I looked into this after seeing ITT, and have seen several videos discussing it. Here's one.


That video does not say that the salt will hurt you after its expiration date. I stand by my belief that, while the iodine may no longer be present, iodized salt can be used after the "expiration" date.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Salt itself has NO, NADA, NONE of an expiration date, the iodine may oxidize over time.

Generally speaking like with water, they both are as old as the earth itself.

There are salt mines in Europa that the contents have been date back tens of millions of years.

There are two methods of obtaining salt, mining and by evaporation of sea water.

Some countries that distill sea water for potable water,

use the extracted salt as a commercial byproduct.

Both methods require processing to remove metals, nitrile and other impurities.

Generally it is the same rock salt that is used on roads, just refined.


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## paulag1955 (Dec 15, 2019)

SOCOM42 said:


> Salt itself has NO, NADA, NONE of an expiration date, the iodine may oxidize over time.


It may also oxidize, but over time it will disappear from the salt due to sublimation. In either case, it won't hurt you. We agree on this.


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