Long Term Food Storage: If you did it again, what would you do differently?
Posted by ryan112ryan@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 98 comments
Just to qualify, not talking about canned goods, canned items in ball jars, or shorter term pantry items.
Looking for advice on long term 10+ year food storage, things like rice, beans, grains, etc.
What did you learn, what would you do differently, where could you improve?
Yumi__chan@reddit
I'll probably start using jars and vacuum sealed extra food that I have. Maybe you buy the bigger package (or more if there's an offer) and then you vacuum everything in smaller portions!
TexFarmer@reddit
We lost so much money to rats & mice that now we only use mason jars or cans for everything, no more mylar or plastic buckets.
elitodd@reddit
A metal bucket/trash can would do the trick as well for rats.
ryan112ryan@reddit (OP)
What brand and where do you get your glass jars? What kind of seal?
TexFarmer@reddit
The 1/2 gallon mason jars are easy to find, but now are around $2 each, we get ours from Walmart or Azure Standard, both will hold a strong vacuum for many years. To pull the strong vacuum on we use the Food Saver Masson jar attachment & a Harbor Freight HVAC vacuum pump. It is NOT the cheapest solution but it works very well, there is no waste, and can be reused infinitely.
Academic_1989@reddit
Walmart Mainstays brand has 108 ounce ones for under $12 each. They have a silicon-based seal. I order glucose testing supplies and other things online from Walmart, so when I do, I add on 1-2 of these to the order. The seal does slowly degrade over time, and it can be hard to open if you have arthritis in your hands, but they keep items pretty fresh. I use them for nuts, flours, crackers. They will go in the freezer without issues. Anchor Hocking makes a beautiful square glass canister with glass lid that is stackable. The seal is not as good - it is made of hard plastic ridges. But the stacking is very convenient and they are aesthetically beautiful. Volume ranges from 32 to 64 ounces but they all have the same dimensions for stacking. $9 to $12 each. I use these for dried pasta, beans, and rice.
Oodalay@reddit
How on earth did a rat get in a plastic bucket?
serenidynow@reddit
They can chew right through it. I used to work at a horse farm and this was a constant problem until we got metal bins. A rat looking up at you from the bin at 5 am is … well it wakes you up that’s for sure :)
Budget_Okra8322@reddit
They chew through everything except for metal and glass. We had a rat chew through the body of our lawnmower so he can store seeds in the engine part of it…
TexFarmer@reddit
Glass & metal are the only things that can stop them, a 100 mil Poly bucket is just a condo to them!
Honest_Trash7223@reddit
Buy #10 cans of dehydrated food....you are guaranteed they processed correctly and last 25+ years....no more expensive than buying the product and everything you need to save it and your time spent....and you can get a ton of variety....I use emergency Essentials...
Then-Departure-4036@reddit
I worry about power outages
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit
How does a power outage affect your long term food storage?
Freezers should not be part of your long term food storage plan. Whatever is in your freezer needs to be cooked/consumed within a few days at most unless you have a plan to keep your freezer running. Even so, whatever is in your fridge/freezer should be eaten first (within a week or two).
It doesn't make sense to have $1000 of meat in your freezer and no backup power solution. Even a $500 power bank could keep a small chest freezer running for a few days.
Henrybear1976@reddit
Can you suggest a $500 powerbank? I’ve been looking at a bunch of different power banks but I just don’t know enough about them. Hoping to spend less than 700 but still have something useful.
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit
I bought my daughter a Bluetti AC180:
https://www.bluettipower.com/products/ac180?_pos=1&_sid=539cf33fa&_ss=r&variant=44099774480603
Add a 350W solar panel and you can keep a fridge or freezer running for a few days.
Henrybear1976@reddit
Thank you!!
SunLillyFairy@reddit
Newbie tips for dry, mylar storage:
(1) I no longer use 5 gallon bags, it's a lot easier when you rotate with 1-2 gallon bags. (2) I only buy individually wrapped O2 absorbers - or for smaller strengths (100-200 ccs) no more than packs of 10. I don't find it works well to try to save extra. (3) Label the bags clearly, including date packed, food, brand, manufacturer's 'best by' date and your expected use or toss by date. Your future self will thank you when you go to use/rotate. (4) Track the food on some kind of ledger. I use an excel spreadsheet, I include calories and it does the calorie math for me, so I know what I have at a glance. I also include tracking the location because I store in multiple places, and as my inventory grew and time passed I didn't remember which closet or nook I had specific stuff in. (5) It's more cost effective to pack yourself, but #10 cans have advantages too - you don't have to buy packing materials, you don't have to go through the process/time of packing, they are a good size for rotation, there is less risk of packaging failure and they are rodent proof. (6) Flour picks up the taste of the iron from O2 absorbers, and becomes compressed. Even after a few years it lost a lot of the original quality. I don't store it even though I bake a lot. I do store flour in a refrigerator. For very long term I store wheat grain, which is cost effective and easy to sprout or cook whole like groats or barley if you don't want to grind it. (7) salt and sugar should not be stored with O2 absorbers. It not necessary and turns them hard. (8) You can get usually get food safe buckets for free or very little from bakeries or restaurants. And if you have room, (like a basement), you can usually get 55 gallon barrels off sellers on Craigslist or whatever your local neighborhood sales platform is. (9) Buckets, totes and barrels are great for protecting Mylar bags, but do not have enough of an air seal for successful long-term storage. (10) Don't bother to store frozen foods if you don't have back-up power for your freezer(s). (11) Don't DIY storage of pancake mix, the leveling can activate over time and cause the bag to swell and rupture. It's quite a mess. If you want it, there are commercially packaged brands in #10 cans, (like Augason or Ready Hour) that are fairly inexpensive. (12) Non-fat powdered milk tastes WAY better if when you reconstitute it you add a few drops of vanilla and a 'lil bit of powdered butter. (13) Any food with 10% or more moisture should not be stored in Mylar with O2 absorbers (like dehydrated apricots, raisins or jerky) - because low oxygen and moisture is a recipe for botulism.
This is a great reference for food storage: https://extension.usu.edu/preserve-the-harvest/files/Food-Storage-Booklet.pdf
cupcakerica@reddit
The knowledge and wisdom in this comment… hoo boy! Thank you thank you thank you, signed a very overwhelmed newbie.
hooptysnoops@reddit
I have literally been scanning posts for the last week looking for this type of info. wonderful to find it all in one post, thank you!
Electronic-Sound9987@reddit
Solid advice
RichieeeRich215@reddit
Yea thanks again!
GigabitISDN@reddit
Great advice. I also write serving size and basic macro info (calories, protein, fiber) on the bag. Making sure we're getting enough fiber and protein is going to be important.
Good tip about the pancake mix. I'll have to check on ours and I'm going to order some #10 cans now.
The only other thing I'd add is to be mindful of where you buy your Mylar bags from. I'm always skeptical of those "HJKLFDSAHGUI" brands on Amazon, because if they get caught just selling non-food-grade plastic bags painted silver, they'll just disappear and pop up under a new name. Even if it's name brand, there's just too much counterfeit stuff out there. I've been very happy with our kits from Packfresh USA.
SuccessWise9593@reddit
Thank you for those tips and lessons learned.
serenidynow@reddit
This is very thoughtful and helpful. Thanks!
suckinonmytitties@reddit
Super helpful thank you so much!
JoplinSC742@reddit
Glass all the way for storage. Plastics, while cheap and light, just don't hold up to pests and contamination as well. It costs more, they're heavy, if you drop it they shatter, but glass has been the gold standard for ages for a reason.
ryan112ryan@reddit (OP)
What do you use for the containers? I wanted something glass and big with a wide mouth so I can still use a Mylar bag.
BadCorvid@reddit
Beans and split peas don't store well in just buckets, and they become damned near impossible to cook. If your family doesn't regularly eat beans, go lighter on them. Lots of stuff also goes rancid faster than you might think.
WhereDidAllTheSnowGo@reddit
Fastest, easiest, safest, cheapest (if you include your time), mouse-proof (10# can), boxed/stacking, dry, well-researched, quality, 30-year, LTS food is from LDS. Low-cost shipping. Stores open to the public… but limited hours. After finishing your Deep Pantry go to https://providentliving.churchofjesuschrist.org/food-storage. After that, freeze-dried and other in #10 cans, on sale, in bulk.
Amazing-Category6113@reddit
I did good quality 5 gallon buckets, mylar bags, and oxygen absorbers. Put up enough rice and beans to feed the family for a long time. The only thing I would do differently is do it all on a nice workbench.
matchstick64@reddit
Round buckets waste space. I would store all my mylar bags in rectangular black bins with yellow lids. I feel like I wasted a bunch of money on buckets with the gamma lids.
issazane216@reddit
Harder for rats to get a bite on something circular
Legitimate-Article50@reddit
Learned a hard lesson when my grain got infested by pantry flies.
Any bag of rice, grain etc make sure you put it in a freezer for a week and then seal it up as well as you can. Then sprinkle DE on top. Then check the containers every 4 months.
GearDown22@reddit
DE?
150Dgr@reddit
Diatomaceous earth
Malumeze86@reddit
A freezer alarm is a must have if you’re gonna store large quantities of frozen stuff.
We lost 11 cubic feet of beef last month due to an undetected freezer failure. We had the extra space in other freezers, we just didn’t know the freezer had failed.
That was an expensive lesson.
suzaii@reddit
Dry lentils or pinto beans only. Every other bean needs to be canned. The water usage and cook time is too high in emergency situations. Dried chick peas can be ground into flour for a high protein option. Dried tofu lasts forever --> TVP, soy curls or knots. Simply rehydrate, spice and cook. Fruit is a necessity. In less than 3 months, one can get scurvy.
Tarsal26@reddit
vitamin pills though?
suzaii@reddit
Sure. Vitamin c would help too.
Clarkearthur601@reddit
Got diabetes and couldn’t eat any of my preps. I had to start over and only stockpile proteins and fats.
Salty-Programmer1682@reddit
Can you give suggestions of what you have stocked? Diabetic here thanks
Clarkearthur601@reddit
I buy meat sales. Chicken breasts, pork loins, steak. Then vacuum seal and fill up my chest freezers. Also hamburger but I cook it first and then vacuum seal and freeze it. I pull out meat that I’ve bought 5 years ago when prices were cheaper. I can’t imagine what costs are going to be in 5 more years.
I also buy a lot of canned meat. Tuna, sardines, salmon, spam, ham, and chicken. These have a long shelf life also.
Eggs I get from my neighbor who raises a lot of chickens. I get unwashed and put them in the fridge so they last longer. Unfortunately I can’t seem to store enough eggs as I go through them so quickly. I haven’t tried freezing them.
weatherlymom96@reddit
You can water glass them. You mix 1 qt water and 1 oz pickling lime together as the ratio. Then the eggs. Unwashed but clean eggs, I believe
KarlWindlaka@reddit
That’s right, they need to be clean (no poop, blood, etc) but cannot be washed because washing removes their natural protective coating. The pickling solution seals them and my understanding is that should last for at least 12 months.
Electronic-Sound9987@reddit
Saw a scientific study on this technique and it was found to be an excellent way to grow very harmful bacteria. I’d stick to freezing or freeze drying eggs if you want long term storage.
KarlWindlaka@reddit
Oof interesting, do you know where you found that?
Malumeze86@reddit
Water glassing is dangerous.
FlashyImprovement5@reddit
And diabetics need low sodium.
Sodium can cause water retention which stresses the body. And that added on water and that can further stress organs like the heart and lungs. The added water and stress can also cause fatigue which won't help you maintain a proper weight.
So when you buy canned veggies, but the "no salt added" varieties and stock up on herbs and spices and find blends that work with you.
popsblack@reddit
Just a little context. Carbs are fuel. Protein as an energy source works because the liver converts it to glucose via the Krebs cycle. This is the reason a type1 1 diabetic must take insulin even if they eat zero carbs, the liver will make glucose from protein (yours or consumed) right to the end.
The downside to protein as energy source (for diabetics and non) is it's way more expensive than complex carbs to begin with, plus the krebs cycle itself is energetically inefficient. Overall a bad bargain.
My opinion (T1) is I will need insulin regardless and I'll need glucose one way or another, so better to store cheap, complex carbs and concentrate on keeping as much insulin as possible. Vegetable protein can provide all that's required to do what we need protein for, and conveniently comes pre-packaged with protein in seeds, beans and nuts.
matchstick64@reddit
I prep for my T1 husband who is also a vegan. We focus on complex carbs. I even stock his cookies because they are a measured dose of sugar when he needs it.
Formal_Pension_9456@reddit
Better to figure it out now at least
GettinReadyForIt@reddit
I packed several 5 gallon buckets with 20lbs of rice and 5lbs of beans. After 8 years I had to pull the beans because they got too hard to use. Now I pack beans in their own buckets.
EverVigilant1@reddit
I would have made very sure I used high quality O2 absorbers and enough of those absorbers for each mylar bag.
Some of my absorbers did not work well, because I did not use enough. Had to go back and do them again.
Always, always use more of the O2 absorbers than you think you'll need.
Background_Change359@reddit
Vastly underestimated the abilities of mice and rats. I thought I had dealt with that, didn't lose as much because of some counter-measures, but still they came.
Now, only steel or glass. Heavy plastic buckets just slow them down. I had re-bagged freeze-dried into mylar from #10 cans, stored in buckets. Won't do that again. When they got done with the bucket they had a go at #10 cans. Those did stop them, but I think even those might have not been enough with more time and a bigger mouse.
ryan112ryan@reddit (OP)
How do you seal number 10 cans?
Background_Change359@reddit
You either don't open the can, or you use galvanized trash cans. Local feed store has 5 gal lidded, or get from azon. Yeah, I know it's not cheap or easy.
Madcat41@reddit
I'd buy only freeze dried foods so I can forget about them for 25+ years.
Adorable_Dust3799@reddit
Rats ate through my plastic buckets, i thought mylar would be good enough. Next time I'll put the buckets inside metal cans with a bungie on the lid.
DifferenceSuper3017@reddit
root cellar
LandscapeSerious1620@reddit
My big lessons learned are even the thickest mylar bags or not rodent proof and don’t forget to FIFO.
FoundationMost9306@reddit
I’d do Only glass jars. Right now I vacuum seal in bags. They slip around and don’t stack well, so I’ve had to buy or upcycle some boxes to keep things contained and stackable. It’s annoying and costly. Bags are not reusable, but glass jars are.
Hot_Annual6360@reddit
Rice must be treated before vacuum packaging, they carry weevils, I would have more pasta, especially spaghetti.
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit
How are you treating your rice?
If rice is stored in an oxygen free environment (either with oxygen absorbers or vacuum sealed) pests like weevils cannot survive.
mrrp@reddit
Vacuum sealed <> oxygen free.
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit
I would clarify that a vacuum sealed environment has minimal oxygen compared to an environment with sufficient oxygen absorbers has zero oxygen.
When vacuum sealing dry goods there is still space between the grains of rice or beans. Plus, household devices do not create a perfect vacuum. Finally, seals can leak over time.
Unique-Sock3366@reddit
(Thank you. It makes me crazy that people still think they should be freezing their rice when vastly superior options exist.)
Own_Instance_357@reddit
I bought a "year's supply of emergency food" in 2008 when I was ultra paranoid about being left by my husband and left with nothing. (He did leave me but the food stayed.)
the stuff in the #10 cans was a little iffy ... the dehydrated fruits largely started to clump together as soon as the cans were opened. (But, they made good guinea pig and bird treats, and compared to the Pet store prices they were a good bargain.)
The wheat grains, rice, oats, sugar ... those were in the giant white utility buckets in mylar bags.
That stuff is still amazingly good and I was even able to mill flour for my neighbors during the covid "flour shortage"
Like, at this point I'll never be out of those things.
JRHLowdown3@reddit
Interesting to know what "brand" of dehydrated you had where the fruits started clumping together.
Lot of newcomers into the food storage/preparedness industry and some are not keeping standards.
A good true dehydrated fruit product shouldn't clump up like that unless opened for a good while under high humidity conditions. The plastic lid top will help, but humidity will get the upper hand over time with certain dehydrated products.
Back when we owned and ran a mid size commercial cannery in the 90's, we would get dehydrated milk in 2,000 lb. "totes" which was just a huge bag. My guys hated when they saw that delivery cause they knew everything else stopped until we packed every damn bit of it. It had to be packed immediately to avoid any losses.
Even the dehydrated fruits and veg that usually came in 50 lb. boxes, once one was open that was all you packed until the box was empty.
NewEnglandPrepper3@reddit
Just do a deep rotating pantry and freeze dried food for the set and forget factor.
GigabitISDN@reddit
We invested in a ton of freeze dried food starting about a decade ago. Prices then were about 1/5th of what they are today, and I'd say we spent about $2k. This gave us a pretty good variety of foods and beverages, enough that if every food source shut down today, we'd have enough calories to feed our family of six for about two months, or just the two of us for about six months. Right now our food stores are probably about 70% freeze dried, 20% Mylar bags that we sealed ourselves, and 10% canned. That's on top of what we normally cycle through.
If I was starting over from scratch, we'd have a LITTLE freeze dried food, and the rest would be canned and Mylar stuff. The cost has just gone up way too much. I think I'd buy one or two of those ARK 60,000-calorie kits from Costco and maybe a ton of instant coffee, and the rest would be DIY.
Obviously we also have about 50 gallons of potable water on hand, plus the means to filter water for a very long time.
Substantial_Studio_8@reddit
I’ll be turning to crime after three years.
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JRHLowdown3@reddit
Also, store lentils instead of pinto beans. They are going to be harder to find, but it's worth it.
Pintos will get hard as a rock after time. Someone will post that you can use tons of fuel pressure cooking them, or soak them longer, or add baking soda, or any number of hacks. We never got one of them to work. The beans stayed rock like no matter what.
25 year old lentils on the other hand, still cook up quicker than pintos, require no pre-soaking and have a higher amount of protein than pintos.
JRHLowdown3@reddit
Started storing food in 1986. Mylar liners and o2 absorbers weren't available then. Once they were in the mid 90's started using them and issues were pretty non existent after that.
Don't waste time/money on FLOUR. Buy whole wheat- hard red winter wheat is a good choice and grind it if you need flour.
Flour will go bad after a few years, I've pitched several hundred lbs of it over the years. Whole wheat is in general cheaper (in bulk not a 5 lb. bag at walmart), stores longer, has more nutrition and is more versatile. Drop some whole wheat kernals in the ground and you'll have wheat grass- drop flour on the ground and you just have a mess...
If you really want your food to make it long term, make good choices on what you pack and use correct methods and materials when packing. Avoid the ridiculous 2 liter soda bottles and hand warmers nonsense.
Packing materials are inexpensive and most can be REUSED. So if you pack correctly, the bucket and the mylar will be able to be re-used later, only the absorber is lost.
Get used to eat storing food. The "eat what you store and store what you eat" expression has been co-opted to mean the wrong thing now a days. It used to mean get out those whole grains, legumes, etc. and learn to cook with them and use them now. People have adulterated that expression to mean store frozen pizzas and poptarts- you know the crap most people eat regularly. I remember a new preppers that was "writing a book on surviving bird flu" 15 or so years ago stating you shouldn't store normal food storage but instead put up "frozen pizzas" as your family was more used to them. OK, so let's leave the most people don't have a reliable alternate energy system to run the freezer part aside, let's think about the premise- bird flu. Your body would need to be in good working order, have good nutrition, etc. to help you fight this, and your going to put "frozen pizzas and poptarts" in it? People just don't think. And seeking convenience over safety, health and common sense is a bit part of why the country has gone to shittake...
Traditional_Neat_387@reddit
Initially (ie building first month supply) completely avoid freeze dried goods and focus more on rice, beans, lentils, and basic canned goods. Would have had my supply built quicker and cheaper, then I would have started getting freeze dried meats
Eredani@reddit
I did a lot of research before I started prepping, so there is not a lot I would do differently but here are some tips and lessons learned:
Wallaby has the best mylar bags. Good quality, gusseted, resealable.
Harvest Right has the best oxygen absorbers. I just use the extra large ones, 700cc. One per 1-gallon bag, three per 5-gallon bag. Never skimp on these.
My freeze drier came with an impulse sealer which works great for the 1-gallon mylar bags (and smaller). Very quick and easy. I use a hair straightener for the 5-gallon bags... this takes some practice and patience.
I use the 5-gallon mylar bags for rice, beans, and oats. The sweet spot seems to be about 25 pounds of rice (long grain, medium grain, basmati or jasmine) or beans (black or pinto). 20 pounds of oats is a very tight fit.
The bags then go into brand new food grade buckets with air tight lids hammered on. Keep some lid openers in your preps. I do not mess around with cheap or reused buckets... these can be used later for food harvest or water storage/treatment.
The 1-gallon bags are well suited for smaller quantities of dry goods, about 6 pounds. I've got my technique down now to remove headspace and go overkill on the O2 absorbers so I always get that 'vacuum sealed' look. This is your best feedback that you are doing it correctly.
The 1-gallon mylar bags are stored in Greenmade 27-gallon plastic totes. Note that you can fill these up with rice and beans ending up with a tote that is too heavy to safely move or stack. I do a mix of heavy dry goods on the bottom and then home made freeze dried goods on top. Bin weight should be no more than 40 pounds. You can stack these two high, maybe three if they are light. I have storage bin racks that go five high which is a much better use of limited space by going vertical.
A FoodSaver vacuum sealer is also a great tool to have. I buy a lot of smaller (1 to 2 pound) dry goods, cut a dog ear off the package, then vacuum seal them. Not quite as good as mylar bags with oxygen absorbers but much cheaper and quicker.
Everything is clearly marked with a black sharpie: brand, item, quantity, date packaged. Every bin has an inventory list printed out... one on the top lid, one on the side facing out, and one in the prep binder. The buckets collectively have their own inventory list.
Regarding the freeze drier, I have freeze dried just about everything. This is NOT a smart prep unless you are the food preservation specialist for a mutual assistance group. It makes zero economic sense for a single family but it is a fun hobby. The absolute best thing you can freeze dry is eggs. Period.
Hope this helps. I think my personality (technical & detail oriented) is well suited to tasks like this. I'm open to questions or suggestions.
OnTheEdgeOfFreedom@reddit
I wouldn't ever buy one of those food bucket claiming 20+ year viability. Complete waste of money. It's all horrible tasting carbs, sketchy protein content, and nothing you'd ever want to live on.
I would absolutely buy nothing from Sam's club, because they delivered badly dented cans and then refused returns.
I would be a lot more careful about where the food was grown and processed. Some of the stuff I mail-ordered from restaurant supply houses turned out to have Chinese origin; and there you are with a bag of heavily processed banana chips and shredded carrot and wondering if you can really trust it.
I would accept that since there is no point (when I lived in the US) to prepping for over 6 months, that long term storage really plays little to no part in my prepping to begin with. I know you rejected that in your post; that's probably a mistake. What I found I wanted was a deep pantry, where I rotated food. Long term storage should be confined to honey, salt, rice, and a few freeze dried foods for variety.
I would look more seriously at canning fresh produce.
These were lessons I learned when I decided to move out of country and realized I couldn't take my food with me, so I tried to live on it for a few months while I prepared for the move. Of the black food buckets, only the pancake mix was tolerable and I ended up donating the rest to a community food pantry. (I hope the poor will forgive me.) The canned stuff was ok, but since I'd been too focused on surviving an entire winter and thought I'd need a lot of calories, I over-represented fatty canned meat like Spam(tm) and I wished I hadn't. It's way too much salt and fat. Canned chicken and turkey for the win. Some low-salt ham is ok.
I'd have paid more attention to spices. Sure they go bad and need to be replaced over time, but a bland diet, long term, messes with your head. Flavors really do matter ad the more variety you have, the better.
Canned vegetables are rarely tasty and often represent a lot of salt water weight and bulk. Freeze dried is a lot more expensive but it's compact and tastes better. Accordingly I'd have looked at buying a freeze drier (and someday I still might.)
I'd have purchased a better propane stove. My coleman camp stove (2 burner) worked fine, but in a long term bug-in convenience is much more important than portability and a real stovetop would have made things simpler.
ThisIsAbuse@reddit
I learned
I should stop buying full meals, and only buy separate freeze dried foods. Learned this about 25% into my accumulation of #10 cans i switched. So instead of "Beef Storganoff" I got cans of mushrooms, cans of beef, cans of egg noodles, etc... So basically going to my storage racks is like going to the grocery store "I will get some chicken, some sweet potatoes to make meals, then have strawberries for desert this week".
My long term storage needs all the extras - milk, eggs, butter, white and brown sugar, shortening, flour, oats, coffee, bread mix, salt, etc.
Formal_Pension_9456@reddit
What’s you guys staple food or must haves for newbie pepper
JL3Eleven@reddit
Ketchup and toilet paper.
Formal_Pension_9456@reddit
Tp I forget about because I use very little with my bidet. Good call. And trash bags to dispose of waste
baby_philosophies@reddit
Flour Dried beans (I prefer pinto and garbanzo, if I had to do a third bean it would be black) White rice Salt Sugar
And for me, I make my own bread regularly, so whole wheat flour and yeast
Formal_Pension_9456@reddit
I got a ton of black so on the right track there. What’s the purpose of flour?
baby_philosophies@reddit
To make bread.
These are foods I eat every month if not every week.
Only store foods that you regularly eat. And if all the food you eat is difficult to store, start cookin! Or baking in my case.
Formal_Pension_9456@reddit
I guess in my situation I’m imagining having no power or way to cook. I was thinking of just doing canned ready to eat foods
baby_philosophies@reddit
Fire 🔥
But also some people (me) prep for food shortage, not for power outage.
Even if the power was out, I could still make a loaf of bread in a Dutch oven in the ground.
In the case of power outage, you could get a generator to power appliances in order to cook.
Formal_Pension_9456@reddit
Yeah I’m no where near that level. I think I need to start with my current resources and branch out if/when I can be better prepared
baby_philosophies@reddit
Definitely!
Honestly if you started with planning what you ate for the week, you'd be better off than most people.
Most people don't even think that far ahead.
Formal_Pension_9456@reddit
Right now my short term plan is to have two weeks of food and water. I’m already set on weapons. I’d like some better first aid. Just trying to do the must have things first. I have a small library for entertainment and home gym.
taipan821@reddit
the only person eating here is myself, so after the last time i dug into preps, and realised I now have a kilogram of powdered milk to use, I am going back through and repackaging the longer term food supplies to smaller servings.
Steve4704@reddit
I read about storage and got some mylar bags and o2 absorbers. I used a clothes iron to seal on things like flour, oats, rice, etc. The bags scrunched up decent. The ones that didn't I redid in another bag. Since then I bought a freeze dryer and have sealed lots and lots of bags. Fortunately the dryer came with an impulse sealer. Even that thing has a learning curve even though it doesn't really have a manual.
What I learned, through mostly error, is how to seal. I am going to redo the bags of flour, etc now that I know more. Problem with the iron is temp and crinkles. I just used what ever temp my iron was set from the last shirt I did. If it is too hot or it is held in the same spot for too long, I don't get a smooth seal. If there is no smooth seal air can get sucked in. If there are crinkles in the mylar prior to sealing it could give an uneven seal which could allow air to get sucked in. Even with the impulse sealer, crinkles in the bag give bad seals. I have thrown away hundreds of bags of dried food that had bad seals.
Also the bag matter. The cheaper bags are thinner which could lead to punctures. I put a thin bag of food in a storage bin, I heard it psssst and started inflating. Had to rebag.
In the bags with o2 absorbers, if it doesn't look like it has been vacuumed - there might be a reason. Obviously there is about 20% oxygen in air so bags should constrict by 20%. It is hard to tell on smaller bags. I leave the sealed bags out a day to make sure they all look constricted or I might have to rebag / reseal.
needanewnameonreddit@reddit
This is really, really great insight. Appreciate you taking the time to provide the details. I am now off to recheck my crinkles!
Significant-Gur4636@reddit
I been vacuum packing most everything you folks are talking about. Rather it be rice,bean's, pasta, flour,sugar, salt etc. I opened up a bag of beans and rice that was 6 years old I found and it cooked up and tasted just fine.I don't use mylar bags or oxygen absorbers just regular vacuum packing bags and store them in food grade buckets. Just make sure they are sealed right and date and rotate and things should be fine. Good luck enjoy and keep prepping.
verticletraveller@reddit
I bought thick bags and an impulse sealer on Amazon. The sealer isn't powerful enough to heat up the bag on max setting. Not sure where to get a good / reasonable priced sealer but open to suggestions
SunLillyFairy@reddit
I use one of these. Works great every time and it find it easier because I can bring it to the bag when it is upright vs trying to get the bag to a countertop sealer. I also use thick bags... I figure the cost savings of thin bags is not worth losing the food. If you go this route, get one with heat setting options and a temperature display.
UnofficiallyDone@reddit
A cheap hair straightener is the best. It gets hot enough and has a fatter surface area for a good thick seal.
Inner-Confidence99@reddit
I use a vacuum sealer and double seal. Also, when it’s pulling the air out I pull on side to get any air pockets out. Been doing this for years open 5 year old flour last week just fine; I had it in food safe bucket. Or I put them in mason jars and push down on powder til it’s hard.
Interesting_Lion3045@reddit
Rotate the beans and eat the older bags before they go bad.