Long Term Emergency Food Storage

[Brian]

One of the main problems preppers face with food provisions is shelf life. A lot depends on the BO or BI approach chosen as this affects the volume and weight of the stores we can practically have on hand or take with us and therefore determines the type of food we put aside.
To me it makes sense to try to cover both options if we can, ie. a reserve of canned / dried food that has a reasonable medium shelf life and some longer term emergency rations. There are some freeze dried foods on the market that only need water added and these have a shelf life of 25 years, although they very expensive they don't need rotating within this period.
My choice is canned / dried foods which I rotate (the volume is limited by the space I have available) and a small stock (cost limits the quantity) of emergency 25 year shelf life freeze-dried for the BO scenario, giving me a a minimum month's supply in this case.
Brian

[Skean Dhude]

Brian,

You are right about that. Your solution is one solution and is perfectly OK.

My view though is that I don't like those rations. They are expensive and not that good but they are ideal for scouting and surveillance use. So it is worth having some on hand.

If you are looking at living on food that needs to last that long you will need a warehouse just to store it. It will be 1K plus meals just for one person for 1 year. Multiply it out for a family and 20 years and you have 100K meals. A very expensive method and don't forget that is just the food. I know you are looking at only a months supply but in the scheme of things it would be pointless for simple living.

For normal use cans and properly stored rice, etc. will stay good for 5 years easily. If you have not managed to convert to growing your own long before then you are in big trouble.

[Reality Jones]

I think one of the things we always seem to overlook is the storage of Vitamins, they have a long shelf life and seem to me to be a very important part of our survival plan.
I have several bottles of them tucked away with my stores of tinned and dried food, that way I figured that even if I had to live off rice for two weeks and nothing else at least I'd be getting some of my vitamins and iron, and this could make all the diffence to my wellbeing.

[Skean Dhude]

Vitamins is one thing on the list. Although I am certain that we will need vitamins more for a period after an event whilst things settle down, we get started producing food and are struggling than in the long term when we have a balanced diet.

Which is just as well as some vitamins don't have that long a shelf life and lose potency very quickly in high temperature environment.

We should actually explore the best types to store.

[Kenneth Eames]

Most estimates of food storage on various sites are inadequate. For instance, a lot of sites recommend 150 pounds of wheat. If you double that amount you will be right, as you will certainly be working a great deal harder than you have ever worked before. It is advisable to double up on most recommendations. If you find that at the end of the year you still have some stored food left, this will be a bonus. If properly stored we know that the shelf life of most foods is far longer than what we are led to believe. Kenneth Eames.

[Skean Dhude]

It is an issue but depends on how much we use. In the UK we don't really use wheat that much. However, I have been following that plan for a long time. Stock up and then add more.

[sc1]

Guys, what's the best way to store rice. I currently have 5 milk cartons, the 2 litre type with the screw on lid filled with dried rice. I'm concerned that this may not be the best storage method. Any suggestion?

[JD1]

The best tutorial I have seen on the web concerning food storage for things like Rice is Wendy Mea's video here using mylar and buckets. Done using this method it should last 10 years or more

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pal88fR5COI

[Reynard]

(6 October 2011, 12:52)boy scout Wrote: Guys, what's the best way to store rice. I currently have 5 milk cartons, the 2 litre type with the screw on lid filled with dried rice. I'm concerned that this may not be the best storage method. Any suggestion?

I have been using plastic 2 litre ginger beer bottles, the plastic does not degrade like the milk cartons and is also dark brown in colour providing an extra degree of protection from sunlight -not that I store them in sunlight! They are easy to fill if you use a funnel - one can easily be made using the top third of another bottle.

The rice pours very easily from the bottle. I just have one bottle in the kitchen cupboard for current use and the rest are in longer term storage.

The mylar liner and buckets route is better for longer term,greater quantities and bigger budgets.

[sc1]

Mylar is so expensive...

Bottles it is, for now at least.