Dear JWR:
Like most of us I am storing food in preparation of something bad happening. I have some super pails along with regular grocery items as well as some freeze dried items. I have a pantry which has long since been over run with supplies, so I built a couple heavy duty cabinets in which to store my overflow. When the great SEE (Society Ending Event) comes about I am quite sure our government won’t just shrivel up and go away. Quite the opposite, they will go from house to house looking for stored supplies. If they come to my house and search they will rejoice in the cash of supplies they will retrieve from my family. Not to be selfish but these are my supplies that I made personal sacrifices to acquire. They Are Mine! What can I do? If I hide them in my attic the heat will destroy them in the summer and the cold could possibly freeze the can goods in the winter. Under the house is a decent place to hide my stores with an even temp year around, but who are we kidding… this location is difficult to get to and under most houses there isn’t a lot of crawl space. More importantly the men in the black suits will probity take a long and hard look under the house anyway. And what can You do if your house is built on a concrete slab?
I have read several articles about burying your supplies. I am ashamed to admit I currently have 65 pails in my supplies and more on the way. I have an old barn on my property and over the years I have given serious thought to tearing it down. I am so glad I didn’t. In my stall area I have dug a hole 4 X 8 that is four feet deep. I built a simple box from plywood. On the outside I sealed it with [asphalt emulsion] the same sealant used on the outside walls of a basement (this can be purchased at your local hardware store). This tar-like coating will protect moisture from reaching my stores for some time. I am able to store 63 buckets inside. When I am done I lay plastic over the lid and cover and conceal everything. If you don’t have a convent barn then a small metal shed will suffice as possible cover. I have plans to install a second one for my can goods which I will use old milk crates for easy storage and access of any can goods inside.
Cool! This idea has some merit… but if I don’t have an old bard or the space or even the time to build this vault what is another option? I have 5 gallon buckets buried around my place. With this the problem lies in finding your bucket later without digging up half the yard. One cool way to remember their location is take a photo of the exact spot with your kid or dog in the photo for subject matter. One minor problem is finding the exact spot again. While this is a good idea I have another thought, a map. I already hear your grumblings about this idea, if the men in the black suits find my map then they find my food. Not If It Is Coded.
I live in the sticks, I have a lagoon for my sewage needs. The county requires a fence built around this to keep unwanted animals out. I have numbered the corner post 1-4. On my “map” I write 1S (this tells me to go south from that post) 1S 65 + 2S 53. I measure from post 1 on the south side 65 feet. I also measure from post number 2 53 feet. Where these two points intersect there is my bucket. I also have color Gamma Seal lids for the buckets. Red is for dry goods like beans and rice and noodles etc all mixed together. This is enough food in each bucket for my family to eat on for a week. Yellow is used to store different types of can goods. and Green is for meat items like stew and ravioli etc. Blue is bullets. A typical entry for my ‘map’ would be R 1E 73 + 4E 25. From this I know what it buried in the bucket and the precise location of it as well. If I need more can goods I go to the yellow location and dig. Any reference point can be used as long as you remember the points, such as a flag pole and a mail box or the corner of your house. Use your imitation.
This won’t do you a lot of good if the whole neighborhood watches you dig these holes in your yard while you have your bucket siting next to you ready to place in the hole. I have a small 2×4 tee, this is the depth of the hole needed and how wide it needs to be. Once my hole is dug I can come back under the cover of darkness to place it in the hole and cover it up quickly and quietly. This needs to be done early enough in the spring to allow the grass to grow back over the top of this bucket. An easy place to put your ‘map’ is on the inside of the breaker box cover, if the map is discovered it is a bunch of meaningless numbers. I personally don’t store this info on my computer in the event of a power down situation. My stores are in a safe location from the elements and any one who wants to come and take them from me. Happy Digging.
In His Service, – WKR