Thinking about buying a few months supply of long term food storage items - dehydrated, etc. Finding names such as Wise Food, My Food Storage, Lindon Farms, etc. Would appreciate any recommendations for sources (links also), and any to avoid. Also any useful books or pamplets.

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TOMBECK

Tom, wheck out Cheaper than Dirt and Sportsmans Guide. Both have a large selection to choose from.

Hey Tom!

Real harcore long term storage items can be found at Provident Living (The LDS Church) at:

Home Storage Center Order Form

These folks take this stuff very seriously....

Drew

There are some items that are very cheap and available locally.

Whole grains store a long time. Wheat is good at least 20 years. Dried corn years, dried rice years, beans years as well. These can be stored in sealed plastic buckets, metal cans, or mason jars with O2 absorbers, and they will be waiting for you when you need them.

Many canned goods have a 2 year expiration date. Buy local and rotate.

Dried pasta lasts a long time. Store in sealed container with O2 absorbers.

Hard candy and sugar both store a long time if sealed.

It is handy to have a grain grinder, my hand cranked grinder cost $20. I also bought several used meat grinders (think wild meat hamburger) for $10 each. Have used them many times on deer meat.

Hit the above stuff heavily, and top off with some of the convenient stuff from the "long term storage specialty item" stores and you should have a good supply.

Clean water and lots of it is also essential, wish I still had that 200' well we had at the old place.

An outfit called Emergency Essentials seems to have a large selection of bulk packed dehydrated and etc. foods --- I found them while looking for one-dish freeze dried "backpacking" type meals. Once again, Google is your friendly assistant in these searches... There seem to be a surprising number of such sites. Those catering to LDS and similar, shall we call them, uh, unusually-opinioned groups tend to have such supplies in huge packages, appropriate I suppose if you have numerous wives and abundant offspring to be fed inexpensively. Me, I think I'd just shoot myself if my only culinary options were rehydrated rice, legumes, and instant eggs.

Don't know about where your are, but the Costcos here in AZ sell just about everything you'll need.
Food storage, water storage and filtration supplies, Mountain House, Augason Farms, ect...

All of the above and stock up on enough MRE's to last until your first harvest. Stock up on ammo. It will be worth more than gold should the SHTF and will help you keep what you have wisely stored.

We've had good luck with Mountain House. We pick up one or two pouches from sporting goods stores monthly. Been doing it for years. It builds up and Mountain House is consistently one of the best brands. They also sell in #10 cans.

I'd have to say that this is long term



The above is in an undisclosed location.

The longest I've had stuff on the shelf and ate it and was still good was five years. I have seen jars that still looked good after ten- the key is to wash the lids and cans after they come out of the canner and keep them in a cool, dry place. Rust from the outside of the lid is the number one enemy. The salt contained in the water inside the canner, if not washed off, will eventually eat through the enamel and steel of the can lid in combination with humidity of the air causing oxidation. Of course, we always rotate and keep it to a maximum of three years.


Glass is the best stuff to store things in if properly sealed. Also, new stainless steel drums are also a great way to store bulk stuff and keep rats and vermin out- but they are very expensive. 30 gallon drums are about the right size to be handy. Plastic are cheaper, but rats can eat into them very easily.

I'd figure that MRE's and other plastic/sealed packages should be put into the most rat and vermin resistant container possible. I hope I don't ever restore to MRE's, as I've never eaten one nor have any.

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Lost it all in a boat accident

One often overlooked stocking item are vitamins.
Food stored long term may still be edible and fill the belly, but can lose it's nutritional value.
I keep and rotate multi vitamins which will supliment my regular diet in cases where food is limited or degraded from long term storage.

Another is Scotch-remember to rotate.
I've still got 4 cases of MRE's from Rita. Ate them for three days and couldn't poop for a week.

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Forum consigliere

Thanks to all of you - useful and humorous alike. This will help me in more research and should help others that are wondering/thinking in the same direction. S-W is a great source with great people. T

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TOMBECK