Letter Re: Advice on Food Storage and Preparation

Hi James:
Thanks for publishing my past essay and thanks again for what you do on your SurvivalBlog. Your web site and the consequent path I’ve traveled since I began reading here has put me in contact with many folks who are pursuing similar courses of action; to take personal action to be prepared, and when possible to discuss and work with others to secure a survivable future.

Please advise me on some of the best and up to date books you’ve found on food storage. Being new to this line of endeavor, I feel our family needs some better ideas on organizing food and storage methods.

My apologies if you’ve already covered this topic or already made such recommendations on your site. All Our Best, – Jon F. in New York

JWR Replies: Don’t worry about redundancy, Joe. The importance of food storage cannot be overemphasized. Most of what you’ll need to know about food storage is available in Alan T. Hagan’s Food Storage FAQ, which available for free download. I may be biased, but I also recommend my own “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, available from Arbogast Publishing. It is geared toward stocking up with little more than what you can find at your local “Big Box” store or supermarket. It includes some extensive tables on the shelf lives of various foods.

One often overlooked aspect of food storage is how to cook and bake with the foods that you’ve stored. Three books on this subject that I strongly recommend buying are:

Cookin’ With Home Storage

and,

Making the Best of Basics. OBTW, if you use this link to Lehmans.com, we will get a credit from Lehman’s when you place an order for any of their products.

and,

The Encyclopedia of Country Living. (I’ve heard that the new 10th Edition of Carla Emery’s book has just been released. Reader Jeff F., mentioned that his local Costco (in Woodinville,Washington) had the latest edition on sale for $17.99. (The list price $29.95). So check your local Costco.