Good Evening,
I recently purchased your book, How to survive the end of the world as we know it. I wanted to say that I have found it to be extremely useful and very helpful. I have been researching everything that I need to do to keep my family safe WTSHTF, but I have not been successful at finding information on how to properly prepare and safely store food for my larder. My second problem is were to find a store that sells bulk oats, wheat, flour etc. I live in northeastern Ohio and have not been very successful at finding a store. If you have any suggestions on were to look or what exactly to look for I would greatly appreciate it. I have tried other books from other authors but yours seemed more common sense to me. Heck one of the books tried to tell you how to catch and cook rats and mice if you really need to, while this may be helpful at some point, I am much more interested in getting stuff together before it is to late.
I am not a total idiot when it comes to knowing how to survive. I am ex military, and did the whole Boy Scout thing for most of my life, so I have some general knowledge.
Thank you again for any help you have already provided and anything else you maybe able to help with. – Rick G. in Ohio
JWR Replies: The information that you are looking for on safe long term food storage methods can be found in one place, in the “Rawles Gets You Ready” family preparedness course, which is presently being offered at a sale price. And if you are willing to take the time to dig, much of the same information can also be found in the SurvivalBlog Archives (which have grown to nearly 8,000 archived posts).
As mentioned in the preparedness course, many of the bulk foods that you’ll need, most notably rice and beans, can be bought quite inexpensively at the major “Big Box” warehouse stores like Sam’s Club and COSTCO. Check your local Yellow Pages for “Restaurant Supply” stores, many of which are open to the public, or at least to anyone with any sort of business license. Contact your local Latter Day Saints (LDS) church, and ask if they have a cannery that is open to the public, and their hours. These “dry pack” canneries sell bulk wheat, rice, beans, and other foods at cost, and have #10 Can sealing machines, with cans and lids again available at cost. You just add the labor and a bit of clean-up time.