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Note: This article is part of a series on personal preparation to help you answer the question, "What should I do?" Our goal is to provide a safe, rational, relatively comfortable experience for those who are just coming to the realization that it would be prudent to take precautionary steps against an uncertain future. Those who have already taken these basic steps (and more) are invited to help us improve what is offered here by contributing comments, as this content is meant to be dynamic and improve over time.
Storing Food
Everyone should have a minimum of three months' worth of food stored. It's cheap; it's easy; it's a no-brainer.
Three good reasons for storing food are:
- Because it's cheap
- Because it's prudent
- Because your great-grandparents would yell at you for not doing it
Once upon a time, there was a person in every community whose job it was to ensure that sufficient food stocks existed in their town to carry the people through the winter. Their job was to travel to all the farms and granaries, total up all the food, divide by the number of people in town, and assess whether the community would be able to make it through the winter. In fact, it is only very recently that we have lost this function, and today most people think it rather odd to even wonder about food security.
But for all of human history, and even up until about a hundred years ago in the United States, this was not odd at all. In fact, the reverse—going into winter without ensuring a local store of food sufficient to feed the community—would have been considered incomprehensible.
After I examined the "just-in-time" delivery system that keeps us fed in this country, I began to grow concerned. Most communities have, at most, a total of three to five days’ worth of food on hand in their local grocery stores and supermarkets at any given time. In other words, if delivery trucks stopped rolling into town and everyone then went down to the store to buy what they needed, the stores would be stripped bare in no time at all. I've seen this happen several times living down in hurricane country—which were formative experiences I can tell you—but for people who haven't seen this dynamic at play it may sound quite foreign.
The list of things that could disrupt the food-distribution chain is frightfully long. Fuel scarcity, flu epidemics, terrorist events, martial law, and economic breakdown are but a few of them. So our food-distribution system is best described as both highly cost-efficient (with low inventories and rolling stock) and extremely brittle.
Step 1 - The Deep Pantry
Given this knowledge, Becca and I decided that putting some food into storage made sense. The first step that you should take is to simply take a peek at your current pantry and then buy more of whatever is in there. This is called the "deep pantry" strategy, and it is simple and easy.
The first rule of increasing your food security is to buy what you already know you like to eat. Obviously you should consider the storage limits for the foods you would seek to store, as there is no sense in buying three years' worth of something that has a shelf life of 12 months. And this strategy requires some sort of a rotation process, but it need be no more complicated than simply placing newly purchased items at the back of the shelf while pulling forward the items that are already there. As an added bonus, when the price of food is rising, buying food in advance of when you plan to use it is a real money-saver.
But once the deep pantry is stocked up, then what?
Step 2 - Long-Term Storage
Having researched food storage for a while, we discovered that we could store food in a manner that would last for thirty years and would cost us less than $3 per person per day's worth of food. A burst of concerted effort and we would not have to think about food security again for up to 30 years.
So we made that a priority. But instead of sweating it out alone, we held a food-storage packing day with fourteen local families and made a grand old time of it. Many people opt to buy food already prepackaged for long shelf storage; there are many sources providing such products.
Today we have eight months’ worth of food stored for our entire family, plus additional food set aside in case it will be needed by anybody else. It's been a year since our food-packing day, I have not worried about food security or storage since then, and I won't have to think about it for twenty-nine more years. All for $3 per person per day. That is the cheapest peace of mind one can buy.
There are a lot of resources to help you decide what foods to store, how much, and where to get them. Knowledgeable members in our community forums have amassed links to many of the better providers.
And if you’re the ‘set it and forget it’ type who gets peace of mind by purchasing everything in one fell swoop, there are convenient food storage kits available for a variety of time lengths and budgets. We like the packages offered by The Ready Store, many of which offer complete daily meals and a 30-year shelf life:
Whether you decide to store a little food or a lot, I encourage you to get started right away. If the idea of food insecurity has been gnawing away at the back of your mind, you might be surprised by the amount of relief you feel at having taken the relatively simple and inexpensive steps that I've outlined above. I was.
And make sure you have sufficient resources available for cooking your food if access to conventional power sources becomes unavailable. We’ll have more on cooking/heating/lighting in an upcoming post.
These first steps are only a start toward increasing personal resilience through food security by building a deeper pantry and developing a food storage plan. Much more can be learned about growing, preparing, storing, and cooking food in our community discussion forum.
There is an incredible wealth of guidance amassed there by many ChrisMartenson.com members who are passionate and experienced about developing personal and community resilience – and many are happy to help answer questions posted on the forums. So please consider joining the forum discussion if you have questions. And if you’re one of those experienced forum mavens, thank you for all that you’re doing to help new members start on building resiliency into their lives.
If you have not yet seen the other articles in this series on resilience, you can find them here:
- What Should I Do?: The Basics of Resilience (Part 1 – Getting Started)
- What Should I Do?: The Basics of Resilience (Part 2 – Water)
- What Should I Do?: The Basics of Resilience (Part 3 – Storing Food)
- What Should I Do?: The Basics of Resilience (Part 4 – Growing & Preserving Food)
- What Should I Do?: The Basics of Resilience (Part 5 – Health & First Aid)
- What Should I Do?: The Basics of Resilience (Part 6 – Heat, Power & Communications)
- What Should I Do?: The Basics of Resilience (Part 7 – Protecting Wealth)
- What Should I Do?: The Basics of Resilience (Part 8 – Community)
- What Should I Do?: The Basics of Resilience (Part 9 – Your Next Steps)
Full disclosure: In this and future articles, we will recommend specific products and services that we have found to be especially suitable and relevant. If you click on a link to purchase one of the recommended products or services, ChrisMartenson.com may receive a small commission. This will not impact the price you pay for those items -- you can locate and buy these products elsewhere if you wish -- but with the funds we receive as the result of these transactions, we can continue to expand our other community offerings, produce the next wave of videos, and bolster our outreach and educational efforts. You win by saving time and having easy access to our well-researched product recommendations, and we win by receiving your support and encouragement to continue doing what we do.
We’d also love to hear any feedback based on your firsthand experience with the products and vendors that we recommend. Our goal is to ensure that we’re doing our utmost to offer the best guidance for utility, value, and service.
Part of the copy in this series is excerpted (and slightly modified) from a book chapter I wrote for The Post Carbon Reader: Managing the 21st Century’s Sustainability Crises (Richard Heinberg and Daniel Lerch, eds.)
This content is being reproduced here with permission. For other book excerpts, permission to reprint, and purchasing information, please visit http://www.postcarbonreader.com.
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Dr. Martenson , Thank you for sharing your personal preps. Leading by example is the best way . People always appreciate thinking there is something they can do and if you are going to reach the people there has to be a trusting relationship.
FM
The link to food storage packing day doesn't go anywhere. I was hoping it would give more info on what you put by and how you did it.
Admin: Try it now.
Greenfield, MA
kwalter:
Thanks for flagging. We've fixed the link. Please try it now - think it will provide the details you're looking for.
We do the deep pantry and some prepackaged too. But we heard from others about bulk packaging and have that as plan B. I can't vouch for it (30 yeaars is a long time to wait around for testing) but here is what I did after reading a few forums on the subject. Please do your own research on this. The uncertainty is why we have plan A.
We took food grade plastic gallon buckets and sanitized them with brewing saniizer. In a pince you can use household bleach diluted 1/2 tsp/gallon of water. I had the sanitizer because I brew my own beer. (It's a social expectation up here in the Pacific Northwest!). Do not touch the inside surfaces of the bucket or lid after sanitizing - your hands are dirty even after you wash them. To purge the oxygen, we then placed a small "fresh" (no frozen water vapor) chunck of dry ice in the bottom. It is key not to use "old" dry ice as you will introduce water vapor into the bucket = rot) This was then covered by dryed beans or dried rice bought at Costco. (Cubans live off of these two items almost exclusively...protien and carbohydrates). The lid was placed partially sealed on top to provide sort of a check valve to let air out, but not let it back in. We then let the dry ice "melt". This basically purges all of the air out and replaces it with CO2 which is mostly inert. It is not as good a nitrogen, but this is what others have done. I keep an overabundance of multivitamins in to round it out. These are my plan B items, in case the world goes to heck much worse than I expect it to....we each have our own point of view. But this was cheap insurance in case I am wrong and things get skinney. If I am right, we will never touch thiese supplies.
This is the cheapest yet effective way I found to do this...it is our plan B. Please do not rely on this. I would feel terrible if you did and I was wrong. If anyone out there can think of a better way to do this...please weigh in.
One thing people must consider and mentioned by bikemonkey is where you are going to get your nutrition . Sure eating stored food will give you the calories, but more than likely after 3-5 years of food being stored, all nutrition will be for the most part non-existent. So people must consider where they are going to get their source of nutrition. In every day life we typically get our nutrition from our food and take supplements for the vitamins/minerals we may be missing. If you end up eating from your food storage , you need to reverse this process and look to a supplement for most if not all of your nutriton. Easier said then done ,since most vitamins in pill form do not provide the necessary nutrition when compared to real food. I like Dr. Schulze vitamin powder and Vega vitamin powder. These are expensive , but all natural products. Also, you must remember that even though you are packaging your food in food grade plastic buckets, air will still penetrate ,even if you have an airtight seal. Their are microscopic holes in buckets made out of plastic. I purchase wheat in buckets from waltonfeed.com The wheat is first sealed in an airtight bag with nitrogen packets. This will last 10-15 years. Wheat is one of the hardiest grains. It has a very hard outer shell , which means it can be stored for very long periods(in the right conditions). In fact wheat found in Egyptian Tombs was still edible have thousands of years. Rice has a soft outer shell, so its shelf life is 6months to a year and maybe a couple years if stored in an airtight bucket. Same with beans. Just my two cents
This will not be popular here but I do not seal up the grains or beans . This is just from my experience of storing rotation for the last 14 years . I keep a three year rotation going . I freeze the grains / rice for two days then put it in the bucket put the lids on and it lasts for years . For dried beans and pop corn I store them in one gallon pickle jars they last for five years now .
If you are worried about your beans pressure cook them . Make your chili pressure cook it . Make your soup pressure cook it . It will last for very many years ... Do not store them with the rings on !
The biggest challenge is knowing how much you will need . Each family is different ... Make your meal plans go from there . You know how many times a week you eat fish , chicken ,hamburger etc . Example , I know my husband drinks 1/2 pint of home made tomato juice a day the others do not . So I know bare minimums . Keeping a diary will help .
Now HERE is the Challenge . Getting your garden to produce most of your needs ! I still to this day glean what others will not take time to Put Up apples, plums , pears and so on .
This year I am planting more fruit trees on the edge of the hay field . There is so much unused land it would amaze you . In fact we get paid not to farm some fields . This money pays the taxes for the rest of the place . Sometimes I think what a waste ! I could be raising food on those acres .
If you do not know how to can and dehydrate go to your county extension office and they will know someone who can mentor you . These supplies will need to be on your list . Lemon juice , sea salt ,sugar , honey , sure jell , vinegar , spices , jars, flats .
You know how simple I am this is not hard to do just get started . It will save you so much money just by not having to make a trip to the store for something you thought you had . No one runs to their neighbor to borrow a cup of sugar anymore .
Oh My Wow ! If you have not made freezer pickles you are missing out on a treat .
FM
Example , I know my husband drinks 1/2 pint of home made tomato juice a day the others do not .
FM,
I'm curious. Does hubby have any problems with arthritis?
ao ,
Amazingly no he does not have arthritis at all ! Although there is a family history of it . Everyone's body has it's own make up for certain . It makes cooking meals challenging . We use Kinesthiology to test what foods are not good for our body . His is grains ,potatoes, molasses and sugars . So we know to watch the diabetic signs as well . Even one of our young sons body reacts to these foods .
Kinesthiology an interesting science .... saves us many medical bills and are in our 50's without meds.
Curiosity is good .
FM
Bikemponkey....you are on the right track with the buckets.
Having eaten out of a bucket of food stored for thrity years, I would like to add a few recommendations for those considering it.
Place 1 to 2 inches of non iodized salt in the bottom of the bucket. This acts as a dessicant and will safely store any of the excess moisture during the dry ice stage or condensation due to temp changes throughout the storage life.
Place your product (corn, wheat, rice, beans etc.) into the bucket, on top of the salt, leaving about 1/2 inch of room on the top. Place a small piece of wax paper, 3 inch by 3 inch maybe, on top of the product and centered. Put 1 0z of dry ice on the wax paper.
Keep the buckets in a place where they will not be disturbed by anything, including air, while you are doing this. I use my garage, and I place a ring of old cardboard boxes around the buckets while the ice is melting off to help keep the area saturated with CO2.
As the dry ice melts the CO2 drops into the bucket and displaces the oxygen, rendering the destructive life forms inside, inert.
Once the ice is melted, gently remove the wax paper and place a couple oxygen absorbers onto the product if you want, then seal the lids on.
Store your buckets out of direct sunlight, in an area that maintains fairly reasonable temps, preferably 70 or below. The bucket I ate out of had been stored in a garage, with huge temp variations for thirty years. The rice was fine, although at the bottom there was a clump of "burnt" rice due to his placing the dry ice in the bottom of his bucket wrapped in newspaper, on top of the salt. This is no longer recommended obviously, but it works.
Best of luck.
Jager
Hi,
I'm wondering if someone has a list a goods that could be stored many months/years but which are not necessary canned food. Example, coconuts, peanut, dry prune...
Thanks for sharing information !
Yohann