Food Storage Pr0n (hot or not) show us your pics!

[rbeau30]

I'm going to start with my meager start at food storage. Post your pics!


I have been concentrating on firearms until this point. This is about two trips to the Commissary with what I have bought extra.

I figure I'll just buy a few extra cases each time I go shoppping for groceries. However, I gotta figure out more canned goods that I think the family will eat that have protein in them so I can add to the pallet.

[OneGuy67]

Eeeewwww, peas!!

[StagLefty]

Good start but I'm with OneGuy on the peas [ROFL1] I have a lot of stocked canned veggies but not one can of peas [ROFL1]
King Soopers has good can sales on their generic brand from time to time. [Beer]

[rbeau30]

I love peas! My kids don't, so I enjoy making them eat them! LOL

[KevDen2005]

I love peas too...but I really hate green beans

[rbeau30]

So when the Apocalypse happens, I can only have corn when I invite you three over then, right?

[KevDen2005]

Lol

[Beer]

I'm sure I will be happy to be anywhere during the apocalypse

[Rooskibar03]

I'll snap an updated picture of the "zombie closet" as we've dubbed it, when I get home.

It's coming along nicely for only having started a few months ago. Here is a picture from about a month ago. (The soda was on sale so I stocked up. I don't consider soda a part of my preps)

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm251/cmuthard03/2021cffb.jpg

[jerrymrc]

Just one of the downstairs pantry. This is the rotatable stuff. http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac44/jerrymrc/canning073Small.jpg

[Prometheus]

Im with kevden2005, green beans are gross, taste like tin to me for some reason.

SODA is a huge prep item I would probably be dead inside a week with out it.
[M2]

[rbeau30]

Anyone storing coffee? Should last a pretty long time if it is in #10 cans eh?

[KevDen2005]

Im with kevden2005, green beans are gross, taste like tin to me for some reason.

SODA is a huge prep item I would probably be dead inside a week with out it.
[M2]


Yeah, if it's the apocalypse then I want my dang soda. I might as well have a few and chill during the end, right?

[hatidua]

Anyone storing coffee?

I'm 45, I've yet to try coffee.

[jerrymrc]

I'm 45, I've yet to try coffee.

You poor thing. Those of us that made it through the 70's would look at coffee as a "gateway" drug. [Coffee]

[KevDen2005]

Been working graves for six years. Was an Army NCO before that...Coffee is a must...

Yes I am storing it.

[Bailey Guns]

I'm 45, I've yet to try coffee.

Blasphemy! A witch, a witch! No one can live that long without coffee unless they're a witch.

[Coffee]

I'm starting to organize our foodstores. So far I've concentrated on getting the house more self-sufficient.

We have lots of canned goods...but no photos just yet.
1000 gal propane tank is kept filled.
Plenty of wood for the wood stove.
A little extra gas for the various machines (with stabilizer)
Generator hooked to the house
Water is available via the wellNow if only I had a gun and some ammo.

[bobbyfairbanks]

Now if only I had a gun and some ammo.


I'll trade you some RVN rifles. Never been fired and only dropped twice.

[hollohas]

Anyone storing coffee? Should last a pretty long time if it is in #10 cans eh?

It stores ok in the freezer but really only a month or two outside the freezer and only if whole bean.

The real way to store coffee is green coffee beans and roast them yourself. Last a long time (years) that way.

More Coffee (http://www.morecoffee.com/)

[bobbyfairbanks]

Just store instant. It will work out better for you in the pocket book

[hollohas]

Just store instant. It will work out better for you in the pocket book

YUCK. I'll speed the extra $$ and get real coffee...imagine the things people would trade for a little fresh roasted coffee when Starbucks and the grocery store are gone. Coffee will be like gold.

[hollohas]

Back to the OP

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae191/sholloh/2011-09-12_12-33-15_776.jpg

The buckets contain wheat, rice, flour, sugar, coffee. One bucket is one of those "emergency food supplies" like Costco has that someone gave me. This is not all my food preps but one picture gives you an idea. I have a long way to go...

[rocktot]

I am prepping Cool aid, and natural sugar. Soda pop is out.

Are you guys watching those EXPIRATION DATES? Canned food does not go longer than 2 or 3 years if that. Mylar bags with dry beans and rice and Sea salt is cheap, good eats, and will last 5-15 years in storage.

[StagLefty]

Are you guys watching those EXPIRATION DATES? Canned food does not go longer than 2 or 3 years if that.

Not true. Posted in another like thread-I just ate a can of beans out of my camper that was 13 years old. No problem. Expiration dates are a guideline not factual. [Beer]

[Rooskibar03]

I am prepping Cool aid, and natural sugar. Soda pop is out.

Are you guys watching those EXPIRATION DATES? Canned food does not go longer than 2 or 3 years if that. Mylar bags with dry beans and rice and Sea salt is cheap, good eats, and will last 5-15 years in storage.

I started my preps with adding to my normal rotation of canned goods, knowing in cooler temps I could go past the "recommended" expiration dates on them. my goal was at least 30 days of nothing but canned goods.

I've now started to add to more long term freeze dried items. I'm starting with staple items, beans, eggs, rice, veggies, and building up that supply and then I'll round off with prepared entree items.

My soda isn't part of my preps, I just refuse to overpay for it so when holidays roll around and it goes on sale I stock up till for a while

[hatidua]

Canned food does not go longer than 2 or 3 years if that.

Actually, it goes quite a bit longer than that.

[rbeau30]

Updated Food Storage (Note to all, this is after budgeting approximately 40 bucks a month or 80 bucks a month not including shelving and re-purposed pallets I got from a buddy at work... depending how my bills went that particular month). So everyone who says it is just two hard to do this. Just add a few cans every month above what you normally get (of things you normally eat!) and you will be surprized.


176 liters (will be rationed one 2-liter per person per day) I have a long way to go. In the crawlspace. This water has been washed bottles, sanitized with 'star-san' and filled from the tap. I have enough Iodine or bleach to render this water safe when needed, however I can also use the 2-liter bottles for SODIS.



This is where I am going to put my bulk items (sealed in 1 gallon sized mylar bags to prevent opening 5 gallon sized bags every time I need a particular item) Rice, Oats, Beans, Krusteaz, Quinoa, Popcorn, Wheat, and Dry Milk. (Meat pickling spice mix, and also various spice mixes for my prep recipes)



Every day stuff Like: Dish washing tubs (4 tub system) Hand clothes washing buckets with plunger style clothes washer. Toilet and bags for the portable toilet...Salt, canning supplies... I really need to get back into canning regularily. Soups, tomato products, veggies that are used in day to day dinner, chef boyardee stuff to keep the kids happy. Crisco! as well. Can't cook much without fat ... can we??


Pallet I am working on... every time I go to Sams or Costco I get an extra case of something. Veggies, potatoes, pork and beans, tuna, and some soups. The highest stack is 4 cases high.


I would say I am almost to where I want to be. I have some other preps like some things that are not food related (soap, gasoline, cat litter to cover each use of the portable toilet, etc, etc.) some are not pictured. Hopefully most of this will go into my nested bug out (absolute last resort) plan of my Expedition trailer build based on a M103 chassis trailer. pulled by my family's bug out vehicle.

I welcome comments.

If any of you have females in the house, I suggest keeping a stock of feminine hygene products on hand. Many worry abou food, water, etc, but sit down and think about what you need day to day. What would your most favorite lady do for several months without some of the things she needs monthly?

[theGinsue]

I'm so far behind the power curve on my preps it isn't even funny.

I've got 3 plastic shelving units downstairs full of food stuffs, mostly canned goods. I've found that the plastic shelves are smaller and while they've held up okay, just aren't as sturdy as I'd like and don't have the square footage of storage space I want. Additionally, the storage of items looks a lot like the pic Jerry posted above. This has taken more of my time than I like for can rotation. I needed something better.

A few months back I purchased a couple of metal shelves from Sams Club to organize some of the junk in my basement (the type with the keyhole slots to mount the shelves). They are longer, sturdier, and have one more shelf than my plastic shelves. After getting them loaded with boxes I decided that this would be a more ideal way to go for my food storage than the plastic shelves. Yesterday I bought 4 more of the metal shelves, 2 for food and 2 for more junk (I really need to start purging my junk), they were only $56/ea which is about what you have to pay for the plastic shelves. My plan is to get 1 more for food and several more for junk storage.

Okay, the shelves will solve the basic storage issue, but not the rotation issue for loose (non-cased) cans. I've been looking at those commercial can rotation racks for years now but golly are they expensive. I'd end up spending a couple of hundred dollars to buy enough for the cans I have now, not to mention expanding my stores. Not an option so it's time to DIY it.

I found several videos online about how to make your own can rotation devices out of cardboard &/or foamboardfor little $$. These options aren't robust enough for #10 cans so I'll need to build those out of wood or metal. The first video below is my favorite but it requires top loading the cans and they feed from the back, but it'll handle 3 levels of cans, 3 cans wide. The second video shows a front load system but it seems a bit bulky for only 2 layers of cans, 1 can wide. I think I'll be trying the type in the first video.

I hope you all find this useful. It may take a while, but I'll post pics when I get it all completed.

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ETA: Regarding coffee, Bobbyfairbanks said the following which drew a bit of negative response:

Just store instant. It will work out better for you in the pocket book

Consider this: Cans of coffee are good for short-term shelter in place situations where you have the ability to brew it, but instant coffee last years and just needs water (preferably hot) to make a cup of coffee. If you're on the move, or doing scouting/guard work, the imstant stuff is your friend for those who meed their coffee. Starsucks (yeah, yeah) has those small single serving tube packs called Via which are expensive but great for carried coffee. I believe other companies are making similar instant coffee products now too. I was recently TDY in a semi remote location where coffee was expensive. A couple of guys brought Via packs and were enjoying their coffee while we were still brewing our pot - and the Via was cheaper than what we were buying locally.