Food storage for the rest of us Schmucks: All the rest

Food Storage: Fruits, vegetables, beans, meat, and dairy

Please note: I just read an article written by Red Cross volunteer KP on Survivalblog. He/She went into full detail of what it has been like helping people after a hurricane or ice storm, and suggests that we keep at least two weeks worth of supplies (on top of being a witness that FEMA has a tendency to do nothing during disaster recovery). I will link to J.W.R.'s blog at the bottom of the page.

Now that we have talked about the basics and about basic grains, lets get into other stuff.

Legumes

At one point in time, Legumes were a stable around the world. Beans and other dried legumes (this includes peas, believe it or not) are inexpensive to purchase, easy to store, but a little time-consuming to prepare. It could take all day in a crock pot to turn pinto beans into refried beans. Dry beans are said to stay good for about a year...after then, it may be difficult to get them to reconstitute. Pinto beans turn into the most staple American bean food, refried beans. Barbecued beans tends to be a simple white bean swimming in barbecue sauce. Soy beans can be purchased from an Asian Market, but frankly...I wouldn't know what the heck to do with it other than feed it to an animal. Sorry, but I've had fresh soybeans before and found it lacking. Having a mixture of beans, peas, and lentils can make things more interesting.

If you don't care for beans (many people don't), go ahead and purchase a few, or even just a soup mix of beans. Beans and a grain mixed together make a complete (or at least near complete) protein, and are more than essential if you are a vegetarian. Corn bread and barbecued beans, or Spanish rice and refried beans...just a couple of suggestions. One my personal favorites, though, is a mixed bean soup made with a meaty ham bone, with some pumpkin bread on the side. Mmmmmm....

Vegetables and Fruits

If there is one thing in your pantry that you want to have a mixture of storable types, its fruit and vegetables. Eating just dried items is considered to be nutritionally deficient and not good for your gastro-intestinal system. You will want a mixture of frozen, canned, pickled, dried, and fresh.

Frozen foodsFreezing is one of the better ways to preserve food...as long as you can keep the food free from freezer burn, and if you expect the power to stay on. There are many emergencies...tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, ice storms...where the power could easily go out. In that case, your frozen food will have a very short life. However, there are other emergencies where you may still have power...such as a flu pandemic and the government decides to quarantine an entire city, state, or region...or you perhaps have a power generator.

Canned foods

Quite simply, canned is canned. The same gook you find in the grocery store. Canned goods will stay good for about a year or so (longer if kept in a somewhat cool place, like the basement). After then, the vitamins and minerals will begin to deteriorate...but, and here's the key, they will STILL BE GOOD TO EAT. If you are stuck between starvation and a can of green beans that is three years old, the green beans will be mighty tastey.

You may wish to have a variety of tomatoes, from sauce, to paste, to chunks...and don't forget the ketchup. My favorite home-made vegetable beef soup absolutely requires beef bullion, onions, and tomatoes. Without them, the soup just tastes weird. We don't often realize how often we in North America use this fruit. However, it has been realized that anything made with tomatoes can actually help you if you are dehydrated or suffering from heat stroke. Of all the fruits, this may be the one that you want to keep the most in your pantry.

Fruits are found canned in a syrup. Jelly, jams, and the like are another method of preserving fruit, although they might have fewer calories and more nutrition if you can these yourself instead of relying on the grocery store's version. If you are going to start canning yourself, I find these fruit jellies and tomatoes to be the easiest to do.

Dried fruits and veggies

Dried foods take up less space, but take more water to prepare. As a precaution, they are also subject to meal moths, so take proper consideration when storing. If there was anything freeze dried that I would purchase from one of the online internet sources, it would be fruits and vegetables. Thankfully, there are some dealers who will sell the fruits and vegetables without forcing you to purchase them as a part of a total year's worth of food. If you are unsure about the quality or taste of these foods, here's a tip: many of the larger stores that sell backpacking and camping equipment will also sell these freeze dried foods in single or double servings. It may be well worth the trip to go there and check it out.

You can dry fruits and vegetables yourself, but they won't nearly have the shelf life of freeze-dried foods. But remember, we aren't making a food storage system that you pack away and forget about until you need it...we are making a food storage system that we will use daily. It doesn't take that much effort or any special equipment. I simply use an oven on its lowest setting with the door open and a cookie tray. Part way through the drying process, I give my little guys a stir to allow air to get to the underside. These are great to use in soups, stews, or anything "saucy".

Potatoes are what you will find most often freeze dried in your grocery store. Occasionally, you will be able to find dried items in the store...I have found that a decent-sized Asian market will have a lot of storable vegetables, both dried or mylar-packed. The Asian market I prefer to shop has seaweed, mushrooms, turnips, and other vegetables dried or mylar packed.

Dried vegetables aren't as easy to find in the typical grocery store (except peas and potatoes), but it increasingly easier to find dried fruits. Has anyone heard of raisins? There are also cranberries, strawberries, bananas, apples, pineapples, and dates. Usually these are sold as snacks to be included in some form of trail mix, but no one said you couldn't cut up a few of these and mix it in with your oatmeal in the morning.

Pickles

Pickled foods can help make things interesting. You can make your own pickles as well if you don't trust the grocery store version.

Fresh...

Huh? Fresh foods are storable????

Well, in a sense, they are. Or rather, their seeds are. The sale of storable seeds has become quite a popular business lately, and I have found some of these companies to CHEAPER than buying the same amount of seeds in tiny packets from your local hardware store, even if they lack the variety that I prefer. If kept in cold storage (the freezer) they will last for a long, long, LONG time, and you may end up with more than your family can use in a year. If you plan on a particular emergency lasting longer than a month, then seeds may be just the thing you will want, even if you live in an apartment. Many apartment complexes are surrounded by great swathes of glorified, unused golf courses that we call a lawn. If the entire complex is starving, I seriously doubt the complex owner is going to throw that much of a hissy fit if part of the lawn is torn up for a vegetable garden...or at least during the time that the emergency is lasting. He can fix it after the emergency is over...if the emergency is ever over.

Green, leafy vegetables, such as lettuce and spinach, and radishes are the fastest to get food out of in a short amount of time. Even when very small, you can pick a leaf or two off each plant. They sell these in the grocery store under the label of "baby greens".

If you are going to store seeds, you may want to store some other things. Tools you'll probably want are shovel (full size), fork, hand shovel/gardening trowel, hoe, and gardening rake. You'll also want something to feed the ground with. Survivalist gurus of mine suggest 10-10-10 fertilizer...don't worry, master gardeners consider that to be organic...or you could store a little powdered blood and bone meal, also considered organic. (Bone meal has the added bonus that it may prevent blossom-end rot on tomatoes). Herbicides are unnecessary as you can hand-weed. Bug sprays may be necessary if there is an extreme infestation, but I have found many garden pests can be handled by simply picking them off the plant.

Dairy Products:

Unless you are vegan, you are going to want some dairy products.

A decent store-bought dry milk is difficult to find. Out of those that I have tasted, only the Sanilac brand of premium dry milk does not have a burnt taste and greasy texture. And because of that, it is also more expensive. Even our pickiest of children have never turned their nose up at it, and thus I consider that a success. However, there is only one store locally that sells it, and I haven't found it for sale on the internet yet.

I have purchased dried buttermilk at the grocery store, but to this day...well, its never been opened. Its probably not good anymore, and thus has joined a few other old things that we won't eat (most given by a thoughtful grandmother) in our "charity" food store...you know, that stuff that you keep in case a gun-toting jack-booted thug comes knocking on your door demanding charity from you. Think it can't happen? Well, it happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

There is one cheese food that is easily storable...I know, some people are going to roll their eyes. Velveeta (or the store-versions). The old timers remember this under the name "government cheese". I don't actually know the shelf life of Velveeta, but it stays fairly well in our basement pantry until we get it out.

Powdered cheeses and "odd stuff" can be purchased through the internet. Through Amazon.com, I have purchased white cheddar, popcorn cheese, and sour cream powder, and I've been happy with all three. Sour cream powder is suppose to be used for adding to baked goods, but for a couple of years now we've turned it into sour cream for cooking and topping potatoes. Frankly, it has a much stronger, and better, taste than fresh sour cream purchased at the store. Adding just a little to your dried mashed potatoes can help the potatoes taste more real.
A little freaked out about the prospect of powdered cheese? Well, let me ask you this: have you ever purchased a dried rice-dish with cheese, or macaroni with cheese, a dried cheese soup, or hamburger helper? Yep....dried cheese. Its the same stuff. Occasionally, you will be able to find dried cheese sauces in your grocery store.

Canned butter can be purchased from overseas or from the occasional internet storable food company (I know "Survival Enterprises" carries it when they are able to). Or you could make it yourself...just remember to shake the jars as they are cooling to keep it from separating.

Eggs:

You can purchase dried eggs through the storable food companies. On the other hand, Cordi Howell of "Cordite Country" (weekend afternoons on Oracle Broadcasting) assures us that you can scramble your eggs, dry them in the oven(as you would anything else), and then zip them up in a blender to make your own powdered eggs. She also informs us that powdered eggs work just fine to use in baking. Another option is to use Ener-G egg replacer (which, due to a chicken egg allergy, we do use). So far, it has worked great for everything but brownies.

A good Asian Market does have preserved duck eggs...unfortunately, as they are either severely salted or preserved using lye, they wouldn't be a good option for baking. Still, the kids and I like the lye-preserved ones, even with the weird green color.

Another option, if you can get away with it, is to raise your own chickens and ducks.

Meat:

Ah, yes. Everyone knows about tuna and spam. I don't know about you, but I can do without spam...I only have two very, very small cans of Spam with bacon. But did you know there are more options than just those? Our grocery store has canned roast beef, chicken, turkey, and ham (real ham, not spam), and Vienna sausages. In the canned fish isle (where tuna fish is kept), we have come across canned oysters, mussels, salmon, sardines, herring, crab, and shrimp...er, I don't recommend the shrimp. Our favorite Asian market carries canned roasted eel (call me weird...I love eel) and freeze-dried shrimp (oddly enough, the freeze dried is better than the canned). Occasionally, you will find a storable-food company that sells canned bacon...looks to be pretty good, too!

Now, you could always just purchased flavored Textured Vegetable Protein, otherwise known as TVP. Excuse me while I puke. Why does TVP always remind me of Soy Lent Green? Anyway, if you are unsure about TVP, purchase some "bacon bits". Unless you are getting the one made out of real bacon, it is TVP. Did you like it? Yeah, that's what I thought. In no way is that crud a good substitute for real meat. However, some people still purchase it. Now, I have seen unflavored TVP for sale in our grocery store (from Red Mill, which usually sells baking products). I have been told its even worse than purchasing the flavored ones.

Most of my homesteading gurus preserve meat themselves using a pressure canner. Ms. Cordi Howell assures us that you can also dry meat yourself. I suggest going to her website (listed below) and reading through her very informative "show notes" to find out how. Trust me...visit her website. She has a LOT of information about food, herbalism, gardening, and "uthu stuff" those of us interested in survival are concerned about.

Complete meals:

Don't discount the easy-to-fix complete meals, either. Kurt Wilson of the Armchair Survivalist Radio Show (and Survival Enterprises) mentioned his own food storage contained Macaroni and Cheese and Spaghetti-O's. Stan Deyo from the Millennium Ark put "Bear Creek" soups within his food-storage program. We ourselves have a few, including rice and bean meals from "Viggo", and a wide range of dried and canned soups (although I much prefer to make soup from scratch). These are great for those times when you just can't, or don't want to, spend the time making your food from scratch, such as when you or the main cook in the house is ill.

Some people mentioned in this blog are:

http://corditecountry.com/ (no www. Cordi Howell of Cordite Country)

http://www.dehydrated-food.net/ (Kurt Wilson of Survival Enterprises and the Armchair Survivalist)

http://www.standeyo.com/index1.html (Stan Deyo, Millennium Ark)

www.survivalblog.com/ (James Wesley, Rawles, Survival Blog)