Fall and winter preps

[TheGrey]

Grey, great question. Staring to think I don?t know.

Here is my goal. Get the family ready for a 6-3-6 prep. Six weeks of eating well to smooth over disruptions in supply chain like we saw earlier in the year. Three months of eating ok in case of 2020 dialing things up past 11. Six months of getting by total nourishment, so the last 3 months can be rice and beans and vitamins but honestly don?t know. (After 6 months well.... we are all going to have bigger problems)

We are blessed with a large pantry that can feed us well for several weeks with shelf stable foods, and a freezer we are filling up. Pantry is being worked by my wife to bring it up to 6 weeks. She finally saw the light. I want to get to 3 months of shelf stable foods that we normally eat and will be rotated and replaced, sort of our own store.
The last 3 months of food is is what I am trying to figure out. Rice and beans in buckets? Rotate it yearly- donate to food pantry and buy new? Flour and lard? Yeah, not sure what to do here. This is meant as sustenance to be augmented with whatever can be found and not meant to be great eating.

Any guidance appreciated.

So part of me here is thinking this is a bit much, but even my Los Angeles based friends who have never even considered prepping are stocking up something fierce. That includes a new garden, generator and deep freezer to name a few.


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I'm going to offer what I would do, were I in your shoes. I'm sure others will chime in with their experiences/ideas, because we've got people from all walks.

I'm not sure I would do a 6-3-6; it seems very restrictive. I get where you're coming from- you want belt AND suspenders. But I think having a "if all else fails, we've got this shoe leather we can make soup out of" idea is going to serve you and your family well. If you are blessed with a large pantry and a freezer, you've got an excellent start. What I would do is make a log of everything you've eaten in the last few weeks- that's your normal consumption. If your wife is the de-facto chef, have her make a list of foods that she likes making, and then a list of meals that she likes to make for special occasions. Keep in mind that although it's hot as hell out now, it will be winter soon- that means soups, stews, hearty breakfasts and warm beverages, too. Holiday meals. Your pantry should reflect that- dry storage such as canned veggies, dried beans, spices, stock and broths, rice/grains, cereals, baking supplies, yeast (for the love of little green apples, get yeast!) and such. Soup and stew-making stuffs can mostly go here.

What we're doing is keeping meats in the chest freezer, and the fussy stuff in the freezer below our refrigerator- veggies, frozen pizza, ice cream, and bits and bobs. But our freezer is mostly for meats and flour, because I can our veggies and fruits. I take things like sugar (or sugar substitutes, as we are a low-carb family due to medical issues) and put them in airtight containers that I can see into at a glance. Nothing drives me up a wall faster than thinking I've got some sort of foodstuff in storage and finding out that we're out of it or it's gone bad. Beverage mixes are important- keep those handy.

It's easy to get overwhelmed, too- try and keep an inventory on a clipboard.

Don't forget fun stuff like Jello (or whatever treats you prefer.) If we have a strict lockdown, I don't think there will be an easy or 'fun' trip to the store for a while. So buy popcorn while you can.

Think about what was not available before. Eggs. Milk. Butter. Pasta. Rice. Bread. Bread, you can make with a bread machine as long as you have basic ingredients. Eggs can be frozen (though not in the shell.) Milk? Absolutely can be frozen. Creamer? Not so much. Better get the dried stuff and stick it in the just-in-case section.

Getting the basics, rather than the already-completed meals (soup fixings, rather than the ready-made cans) may be better for long-run storage. You can make a lot of different foods with combinations of basic ingredients than if you had 40 cans of the same soup. Food fatigue is a REAL thing.

Before I forget- this will show you that the expiration dates on these foods are arbitrary for most things. Sour cream and yogurt can last far longer than the date stamped on the package.

One other thing, before I forget- do you have a Food Saver? Get one, and get extra bags. You will not regret the investment.

That's all I can think of for now.

[Great-Kazoo]

I would think that planning for the future would be fairly easy based on what was in short supply in Feb-April of this year. Nobody is going to die from running out of toilet paper, but food comes in handy from time to time. Rice/beans are cheap and with an adequate stash of salsa/hot sauce can be pretty tasty.

I would guess that everyone on this site has enough lead to risk the integrity of their foundation, so get some food and don't go around licking door knobs and you will likely be as prepared as you can be.

If you like profiteering, get a few cases of N95 masks and 'supply' those that didn't think ahead.

We're redoing an out building, to have a dedicated place to store paper goods. That will free up another building we can climate control, if needed for canned goods. Sadly neither the spouse or i have gotten in to canning. So we're browsing costco and other larger stores (shamrock/foodservice warehouse) for bulk buying. Also have an in at restaurant depot. for long term shelf items. Unfortunately for livimg in a small rural town is. The trip to the valley for bulk buying is a full day.


The most important thing we've seen that people tend to ignore is.... Checking expiration dates. Buying in bulk is nice. Providing the pallet of goods you have, doesn't expire in 6 months.

[tactical_2012]

Was at Shamrock today picked up (2) 40lbs cases of chicken leg quarters for $16.59 each. Boneless skinless chicken breast went up use to be around $42 for 40lbs but is niw $53.99 picked up a case of it. 80/20 ground beef is $1.99lb in 10lbs logs. Picked up a couple bags of sugar and a few 10lbs bags of fettuccine for long term storage

[hatidua]

The most important thing we've seen that people tend to ignore is.... Checking expiration dates. Buying in bulk is nice. Providing the pallet of goods you have, doesn't expire in 6 months.

Depending on the item, exp. dates don't mean diddly.

Not directed at you Great-Kazoo but I think the obsession with expiration dates is, to an extent, generational. My next door neighbor will toss a bottle of ketchup that has been in the fridge since new the day it expires, same with mustard, she thinks beer in the fridge goes bad, etc. Read up a bit on why expiration dates are when they are, and how the FDA determined that. They aren't all that.

My favorite ramen comes from Asia and I've never found a packet in the U.S. that is still in-date, we eat it regularly and are still alive. I can all but guarantee the various canned beans we have are not days, weeks or months past retirement, but years. They may not be quite as flavorful (maybe) but they are fine.

A can that now looks like a grapefruit I'd avoid, otherwise, eat up, it's likely far less harmful to eat expired food than breath the air in any metro area.

[Gman]

Most of the expiration date hoopla has been dictated by states. I think New Jersey has a max limit of 2 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expiration_date

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/se...ety-2013-09-19

[tactical_2012]

There is a show on History Channel called "Eating History" where they taste test old food

[Gman]

There is a show on History Channel called "Eating History" where they taste test old food

I find this YouTube channel more interesting and entertaining;

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2I...idnnbWgJFiMeHA

An example:

[Aloha_Shooter]

LOL, I remember taking Flight Rations as my pack lunch on a school outing in 1982 or 1983. The Flight Rats were dated 1946 or 1947, my dad brought a case home for emergencies since the Department of Civil Defense was throwing them out. I think the spaghetti would have been perfectly fine if I'd warmed it up (although middle America's idea of what constituted spaghetti in 1946 was kind of pathetic). The peaches were fantastic.

Expiration dates on canned goods are a crock. Look for a bulge to see if it's gone bad.

[StagLefty]

Had a couple of cans of beans left in my old camper for about 12 years. So they'd been in 100 degree heat and frozen for several seasons. No bulges or signs of rust so I thought what the hell. Slight off taste but perfectly edible with no side effects.

[tactical_2012]

Picked some fresh rosemary and oregano to cook up some spaghetti meat sauce for dinner. Also picked some fresh lettuce and zucchinis to go with dinner