What kind of food?

[ANDY1997]

The stored food poll got me thinking. What do you have the most off?
We have probally 60% canned, followed by 30%frozen,and 10% freeze dried. If we lose power, the frozen food is at the mercy of me keeping the generator running. :roll:

[SheWoff]

Most of ours is canned. Home canned about 85% and store bought about 15%. I do have some foods that I have dehydrated also.

At one time we had used a lot of frozen foods to the tune of three freezers! I have been working on reducing that and we are down to just two now since I started canning things such as chili, soups, and other convienance foods. Still working on getting that down to no more than one full freezer.

She

[momof23goats]

most ofour is canned .I had some meat in the freezer, if the power went out,
out would come my canners, and i would can it up, and fast.

[Freeholder]

Most of ours is dry (rice, beans, split peas, oatmeal, cornmeal, salt, sugar, etc.). We have some canned, and some stuff in the freezer which would have to be canned in a hurry if we lost power for very long in warm weather.

Our major prep is the goats, and I have hay for them, and enough grain to last several months. The chickens would soon have to go to eating kitchen scraps and foraging if we couldn't buy feed for them. Don't get too many eggs from them that way.

Kathleen

[momof23goats]

we also have hay, for our goats, but in the spring , summer , and fall, my goats would pasture, and forge, with a calf, we have. the chickens would free range. eggs would be down, but they would make it, and I would save grain ,and hay, for winter months.

[h_oder]

most of our stuff is canned/dry goods. I've also been running the dehydrater for a lot of frozen veggies. Once dried, I vacuum seal them. I figure that'll add some variety & it's easy to throw in a handful of something while heating up soup (to add some bulk).

[momof23goats]

I've also been doing that, and and also getting alot of pearl barley, and figuired I could throw in that into the mix, for soups. and lentils as well.

[teadrinker]

1/2 canned...1/4 dehydrated.....1/4 frozen

We also can a lot of our garden produce. Have been dehydrating apples, green beans things like that.


But just this week we found some HUGE heads of cauliflower at Aldis and my DH bought about 4 or 5 . We decided to try and dehydrate them so I cut them up in little flat pieces and blanched them. Dryed them for about 14 hours like the book said to do and what a failure.

Some of the cauliflower smelled like it was spoiled and rotten and the rest of it was a dark golden color. I had to go through all of it and throw out some of it because even after 14 hs. some did not dry and smelled to high heaven. I don't know what we did wrong but I think as far as cauliflower goes I will buy canned stuff from Emergency Essensials or the USA site.

Anyone else ever have trouble with drying cauliflower?

teadrinker

[momof23goats]

cauliflower is hard to dry at home. i have done it, but it does turn golden, unless you put in fruit fresh first,
and of course, stem it.
I think it is best, not to dry it. might just can it up. it will be mussy, but fine for soups.

[jazzy]

we have alot of dry goods and then canned, both home canned and store bought. i tend to make home canned 'meals in a jar' as opposed to single items, except for meat, i like to can alot of meat, as much as possible.

i was in albertsons and a itty bitty tiny ham thing was $19.00, i remember buying the same durn thing for $8.99 last year. i think very soon meat will be a flavoring instead of the main part of a meal.

[momof23goats]

I think so too, Jazzy, at least for most families, if prices of meats continue to climb.
I have my own, thank goodness, in the freezer, and on the hoof. but butchering prices are climbing out of control. so just might have to butcher my self, and I really didn't want to do it. yes, i have done it many times, just a great deal of work. and then doing hams and bacon, is a job and a half. but I guess, i will have to, if prices continue to climb.

[hisbluelady]

I too have mostly canned food, some frozen, some dry & dehydrated. The canned food at this point is mostly commercially packaged. It's what I consider "prepper fast-food": commercial spaghetti sauce, mac & cheese, tuna & mayo, that kind of thing. Good to have around, especially for busy times when things first get really bad, but too expensive & not available to keep going that way. I'm gradually switching to home-canned & dehydrated food, dry staples like rice, beans, & grain, and having a garden & animals. I plan on using the freezer mainly for the grains & other things that won't go bad quickly.

I like the idea of dehydrating frozen veggies; I got some really cheap the other day at Grocery Outlet. It will keep us going until I can get a garden going.

[momof23goats]

that is great. when i see a sale of frozen veggies iget them and dry them.

[fruit loop]

IF TSHTF - simply take your meat out of the freezer and can it. Stock extra propane for the camp stove, and have empty jars standing by.

If it's winter - pack it in coolers (to keep out animals) and store it outside.

[momof23goats]

that is exactly what i intend to do .i wil just start canning up the meat.

[Disastercat]

Mixed with a heavy reliance on dried stuff. Wheat, beans, oats etc., with lots of condiments/veg like onions, garlic, chilies etc. Some US number 10 cans of broth, eggs etc., a few used in rotation, most kept back in case of need. If we don't use within the next 3 years, and things are still OK we will probably order another small lot if we still have friends with APO addresses over here. We don't have a lot, but some things to mix with the dry goods to make things taste better and add nutrition.

We also always keep some canned goods (good for power outages which we get often) meat in the freezer (with salt in case of emergency). In a crises we would try to salt down as much freezer meat as we could and eat as much as possible that wasn't salted first. Much of the year it is cold enough that meat could sit a day or two while the guys rigged a smoker back up again. If things were too bad to do that, we'd just do what we could and feed some to the animals as well.

What we don't have are MRE's or much other pre-packaged freeze dried meals. No one in our family can stand them, and it seemed wiser to invest in old fashioned stuff the family would and will eat. Since the most likely near term problems I can see are economic (and distribution living on an Island) I thought we were more likely to have food shortages in certain areas (like bread, milk or meat) rather than a complete cut off.

For generations here people have used a combination of salting, smoking, curing and drying to preserve their food (this last often done near the fire because the climate is so damp). There is no culture of home canning (hence the only supplies I have are from the US and limited) but there is a tradition of preserving fruit with sugar. As a border-line diabetic, I can't use much of this but my family can. In a pinch I would eat limited amounts with other foods, but save most of it to keep the family happy. We also have some dried fruit, home drying of fruit is difficult but possible.

Another thing we do is stock up at certain times of the year (like the Holiday Season) when stores here still do the big bags of baking stuff. Like dried fruit, nuts, icing sugar, brown sugar etc...no one blinks an eye if you show up with a cart full of 10 kilos of sugar, they just figure you are making Christmas puddings for your friends and extended family. Also, people here still have a concept of a pantry, so as long as boxes are not piled to the ceiling, there are less worries about seeming strange when buying 12 cans of tomatoes, instead of just one.

Right before Y2K, we went out and bought tons of canned goods and other stuff, which we learned was a mistake. Unless you are pretty sure the asteroid (or the world's computers) are going to fall/fail tomorrow; it proved unwise for us to buy things we would not normally eat. Oh some things are a good idea, after all having some canned beef might be a good idea as a back up - but winding up using 25 cans to feed the dogs three years later because no human in the family will touch it is a waste of money. Better perhaps to spend the same amount on a combination of canned things people like (a few pre-prepared things for treats), some beans, and canned vegetables to put in soup made with the dried barely as well as few cans of the dreaded beef.

As my husband says, "why store spam, if you are not likely to eat spam?" unless you think it is likely that things are about to go "pear shaped" as folks say over on this side of the water, very soon indeed. Otherwise, try and experiment with local canned goods/easy to prepare stuff and then keep track of: what family members really like, what family members are OK with but not wild about and what food they are sneaking to the dog under the table.

Finally, the other thing about dry goods like whole wheat berries and oats is that you can mix them with seasonal wild foods during a long term crises. Here it would likely be netles in the Spring, snared rabbits in the Summer, wild berries in the fall etc. That's if the problem is long term and you need to extend the food supply. Canned goods are a much better idea if you are more worried about short but sharp emergencies like the aftermath of an earthquake or storm.

Great hearing what other folks are doing it helps give me ideas..

Disaster Cat

PS - another good exercise seems to be to look at how people where you are living traditionally stored food to get through the year. Be it on the frontier, Native American or European Village life. Sometimes in a pinch, the oldest way, may be the easier and less risky way over the long haul, after all people spent hundreds or thousands of years figuring it out.

[momof23goats]

well, the majority of my stuff, in my freezers, are , rice flour, sugar, powdered milk, to kill off all the bugs, so if the grid goes nothing will be ruined. I do have some meat in it, but not a great amount. I can my meat. most of it, that way what every happens, i have my meat. Same with fruit and veggies, i dry it, or can it.

[littleoleme]

Well, i prefer the dry grains, oats (cuz dogs&cats can eat em too), wheat,
rice, barley, lentils, split peas, etc cuz they will last longer. I didn't get
cornmeal cuz don't know how long it would last, but i think cornmeal is
sort of important. I went thro some of my "stuff" and found rolled oatmeal
that was ten yrs old in very good shape. I had to throw away some cans
of tomatoe sauce stuff that were almost ten yrs old. A few cans leaked this
black gooey stuff all over the bottom of the bucket. I soaked bucket in
soap and bleach, scrubbed and it would NOT come off ! So i use the bucket outside now. I won't be storing much tomatoe stuff now...BUT i
read somewhere that you can take tomatoe paste, spread it on your
dryer sheet and dry like leather, roll up and store. I want to try that. I also
found cans of tuna and sardines that were ten yrs old. Perfectly fine. I gave them to the cats tho. I didn't eat them, but they looked & smelled good, cept the tuna was a little "mushy". I like to cook and plan on cooking somehow. In winter on woodstove. In summer outside. Don't
know how to use a gas grill ! I usually dig a hole, put sticks & charcoal
in and grill like that with a long fork or a grill on top. One of my friends
prefers to store all can goods cuz he says we may not be able to make
a fire and the smell of cooked food can give us away if "they" are looking
for us. He plans on eating outa cans. I don't agree. I got more can stuff
on his suggestion, but prefer the dry mainly cuz will last longer. I'm also
saving a lot of my wood ashes in case i have to make soap the old
fashioned way. I have some cans of cheap shortening got at Aldies store.
Just gonna use it for making soap. I found an old fashioned receipe on
that Davids Diary site. I will try it outside this summer. I live in NY where
it's cold in winter. I have a good number of real wool sweaters i got at
the Goodwill stores, and my friend gave me some nice ones cuz he got
too heavy for them. Always trying to tie loose ends up, but when the
time comes all of us will say, "gee, why didn't i get ____ when i could?"
My only fear about posting all our "prep supplies" here is that tptb can
read it too, know all our addresses and come and take our stuff away
when that time comes. What are the chances of that occuring??

[momof23goats]

I prep what we eat, I raise chickens, and each year butcher out some .I freeze a few for frying. the rest go into jars. same with hogs, and beef. can and prep what you family eats.
I do prep beans, but I also can the ham to go into the beans. and I prep rice, I don't care much for it, but I do use it in my dog food, and I also rep oatmeal.

now, I do raise fruits and have a huge garden.
I dry my tomatoes, then if I want paste, I grind them into a powder, In a blender, and add some water, you have fresh tomato paste fast and easy.
nothing to it.
The thing in prepping is this, prep what you eat. I also prep cocoa, because we like chocolate cakes, pies, and hot chocolate. remember to get s few things to make comfort foods. I grow bantam corn, why? because i do dry a lot of it for our sue, and i do grind it into meal for corn bread, i also feed it to my chickens.
there are many things you can do like that.
I pickle beets, and other veggies . but the main thing is this,
prep what your family likes, and plan on eating that.
things are going to be bad , so why add extra stress, to your family by feeding them food, they have never eaten before. I am drying a lot of my preps, because they last longer, now if you don't have garden space, remember that frozen veggies from the grocery store do dry well.
and remember it is going to take alot of food to last.
I make my own soap, so i have no worry's there, however, i do have some spare dish soap that I get at sames club, a gallon of dish soap for under 4
4 in their commercial cleaning isle. same with floor cleaner, it is cheap,and it lasts a long time. IT is good to have this also to barter, with.
and salt, spices, can be used , so prep salt , not just table salt, but kosher salt and pickling salt. I don't like spam to well, so i can ham.

[littleoleme]

I do eat what i store. I like to cook. Split peas for pea soup, lentils are
good with rice, or beans and rice. Wheat for cerial, sprout, or popped,
oats for cerial and to extend pet food, barley is my favorite. Makes a
thicker creamier soup and good for a cerial too. My german dad taught
me that if you don't have sugar you can put salt & milk in the cooked
barley and it tastes real good as a cerial. Oh, with butter too. Great
idea of drying the tomatoes for paste. I have a small garden and 2 yrs
ago i dried a lot, put em jars with olive oil and vinegar, garlic pd., salt.
Yummy......got a lot of jars left and wonder if they will be preserved or
spoiled after a few years? Not canned. So i am afraid to open one now
and eat. I did dry some peas&carrots. Came out good. What else is good
to dry?

[kelee877]

My only fear about posting all our "prep supplies" here is that tptb can
read it too, know all our addresses and come and take our stuff away
when that time comes. What are the chances of that occuring??
(quoted from above)


Always wondered about that myself...I had read somewhere the difference between hoarding and prepping...prepping is for seeing something that might happen and preparing for it, when quantities are available to do so, without effecting others lives...
hoarding on the other hand is having something happen and you buy as much as you can come SHTF...I think the governement will be more worried about hoarders then preppers...

and for the small amount we each have in comparision to the big industries...I am not as much fearfull of the government as I would be gangs...that will roam the streets looking for anything they can get their hands on..but as we have seen in alot of news releases when situations have occuried they are most interested in TV,s and Freezers, then they are food..lol..

and the benifits of posting what you have prepped, out weights the worry...by posting what we are brining in, we are helping those that have just started prepping...

[momof23goats]

well, it would be pretty hard for the average person, to figure out where you live, from your postings, I don't worry about that. I just dry my tomatoes, [well, i do can some also], I dry a lot of them, then I simply grind them up, if I want paste, makes a good paste with just a few drops of water added or some olive oil added, and some water, for sauce, and some Italian spices for sauce. only takes a few seconds to make into a fresh sauce.
just like grinding some dried corn for meal. that is so easy, but I do have a vitai mixer, and I just grind about 2 cups or so, for my corn meal.then I have my fresh meal, to make corn bread with. I made some the other night, added some shredded cheese to it, it was wonderful when baked.
I am not concerned about people coming in and taking what I have, becaue no one around here , knows what I have.