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So, in this post in the now (sadly
.) shutdown Glenn Beck thread, granfire said:
Well, lets take a look at that. We keep enough food to feed 10 people 3000 calories a day for a year. 1[SUP]st[/SUP] off, though, I have to say that having a reliable source of water, as well as having some stored for the short-term are key: in the Jemez, I equipped our well with its own photovoltaic power system, as well as a hand pump that fed the houses 3,000 gallon holding tank with its own solar-powered pump to supply house pressure. If youre on municipal water, though, the first thing you need to think about is your rather large water needs-figure at least a gallon/person per day, and try to have a minimum of two weeks worth-you can actually do this with bottled water. If you have room for it, try for a month or even three-for a family of four, thats 360 gallons of water, just a little over seven 55 gallon drums-even stacked up, that's a fair amount of space. If you have pets, figure on a quart of water per day for a dog or cat-though Id advise just cooking the cat. :lfao:
As for food, there are a few inexpensive, nutrient rich foods suitable for long term storage: beans, rice, whole grains, canned tuna, peanut butter, tang, powdered milk, and olive oil are a good place to start-you can start your food stockpile with these items by spending less $10 a week-at least you could before this years lousy peanut crop. There are also other canned foods:greens, carrots,and beets are good, and a variety of freeze-dried and dehydrated foods to be kept to make for some variety-since Y2K these last have gotten to be more and more costly. Grocery stores often run case sales on canned goods, and Sams Club and Costco are good sources for canned goods in bulk.
As far as storage goes, the place is far more important than the containers. Ours is currently our garage. Sure, if there were going to be a hurricane, or tornado-or, far more likely in our case, a volcanic eruption-well, the food would be gone, and likely, so would we. If theres some sort of dramatic social upheaval, or a really devastating epidemic, the stockpile would be intact and useful. We keep all our stuff in large plastic containers in a pantry that Ive built in one of the garages. This storage thing can get really complex for some people, with nitrogen atmospheres to inhibit decay and all other manner of stuff, but having the stuff on the shelf is enough: most canned goods will keep for up to five years, and the freeze dried stuff is usually good for about the same-in both cases, though, thats for as long as their containers remain intact, so good dry storage and safe handling are imperative.
The final key is using these foods regularly, though, to minimize the adjustment should a situation arise, and, since we keep such a large amount on hand, replacing the oldest food on an annual basis. What we do is make a large food donation to a local shelter each year, and get an itemized receipt for our income taxes-this helps defray some of the slight cost of maintaining the stockpile-in spite of working these things into our diet occasionally, I find we mostly use the canned tuna, beans, rice and peanut butter regularly, and have to remember to try the others from time to time-about this time of year were sorting out a whole bunch of canned veggies (we eat A LOT of fresh veggies) and canned fruit (we eat A LOT of fresh fruit) and freeze-dried and dehydrated foodstuffs (which mostly wind up getting used on camping trips.:lfao: ) for delivery to the shelter.
All in all, though, having a food cushion for safety is affordable-though I don't really think you have to go with 1 year for 10 people, unless you're a raving paranoid like I am-and satisfying. I can rest easy knowing that I have this first line of defense against an interruption in our normal food supplies.
the rockin redhead said:
Well, lets take a look at that. We keep enough food to feed 10 people 3000 calories a day for a year. 1[SUP]st[/SUP] off, though, I have to say that having a reliable source of water, as well as having some stored for the short-term are key: in the Jemez, I equipped our well with its own photovoltaic power system, as well as a hand pump that fed the houses 3,000 gallon holding tank with its own solar-powered pump to supply house pressure. If youre on municipal water, though, the first thing you need to think about is your rather large water needs-figure at least a gallon/person per day, and try to have a minimum of two weeks worth-you can actually do this with bottled water. If you have room for it, try for a month or even three-for a family of four, thats 360 gallons of water, just a little over seven 55 gallon drums-even stacked up, that's a fair amount of space. If you have pets, figure on a quart of water per day for a dog or cat-though Id advise just cooking the cat. :lfao:
As for food, there are a few inexpensive, nutrient rich foods suitable for long term storage: beans, rice, whole grains, canned tuna, peanut butter, tang, powdered milk, and olive oil are a good place to start-you can start your food stockpile with these items by spending less $10 a week-at least you could before this years lousy peanut crop. There are also other canned foods:greens, carrots,and beets are good, and a variety of freeze-dried and dehydrated foods to be kept to make for some variety-since Y2K these last have gotten to be more and more costly. Grocery stores often run case sales on canned goods, and Sams Club and Costco are good sources for canned goods in bulk.
As far as storage goes, the place is far more important than the containers. Ours is currently our garage. Sure, if there were going to be a hurricane, or tornado-or, far more likely in our case, a volcanic eruption-well, the food would be gone, and likely, so would we. If theres some sort of dramatic social upheaval, or a really devastating epidemic, the stockpile would be intact and useful. We keep all our stuff in large plastic containers in a pantry that Ive built in one of the garages. This storage thing can get really complex for some people, with nitrogen atmospheres to inhibit decay and all other manner of stuff, but having the stuff on the shelf is enough: most canned goods will keep for up to five years, and the freeze dried stuff is usually good for about the same-in both cases, though, thats for as long as their containers remain intact, so good dry storage and safe handling are imperative.
The final key is using these foods regularly, though, to minimize the adjustment should a situation arise, and, since we keep such a large amount on hand, replacing the oldest food on an annual basis. What we do is make a large food donation to a local shelter each year, and get an itemized receipt for our income taxes-this helps defray some of the slight cost of maintaining the stockpile-in spite of working these things into our diet occasionally, I find we mostly use the canned tuna, beans, rice and peanut butter regularly, and have to remember to try the others from time to time-about this time of year were sorting out a whole bunch of canned veggies (we eat A LOT of fresh veggies) and canned fruit (we eat A LOT of fresh fruit) and freeze-dried and dehydrated foodstuffs (which mostly wind up getting used on camping trips.:lfao: ) for delivery to the shelter.
All in all, though, having a food cushion for safety is affordable-though I don't really think you have to go with 1 year for 10 people, unless you're a raving paranoid like I am-and satisfying. I can rest easy knowing that I have this first line of defense against an interruption in our normal food supplies.
