Category: Food Storage & Cooking

Jim- You absolutely must alert your readers to Hillbilly Housewife. Be sure the Memsahib reads “Apron Evangelism.” Hey, I read it, so you can read it too–it’s a wonderful observation on housewifery. I guarantee you and your readers will be hooked on this clever woman’s ideas. ‘Nuff said; I’m going back to her web site for more reading! – B.B. JWR Replies: Great stuff! Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve just added her site and her blog to our Links page. OBTW, the site also has instructions on making do-it-yourself ladies supplies.

Jim: Excellent information on storing dry goods for long-term. I have just a bit of advice to all out there: use foods from you stores in your every-day life. I’m not advocating depleting your stores; rather consuming and replacing them as part of your daily life, thus rotating your stock as well. (This is recommended, however, ONLY after you have acquired your long-term goal (i.e.one year supply, two, etc.). You will benefit in at least four distinct ways from this:1.) your stores will always have a maximum useful shelf-life, as they will constantly be rotated; 2.) you will probably experience …

From what I’ve heard letters and e-mails, most SurvivalBlog readers already have a food storage program, but most of them would like to move on to the next step: buying and storing foods in bulk. To save money you will probably want to buy rice, wheat, and beans in 50 pound sacks. Sacks are problematic, since what you really want is a vermin-proof, moisture proof container that is air tight and preferably evacuated of oxygen. Those are the keys to true long term shelf life, and none of them are provided by a cloth, paper, or woven plastic sack. The …

Mr. Rawles, My the Lord bless and keep you and yours. In response to your mention of the Japanese bread in a can. I found [a similar] canned bread locally (through a friend in West Virginia) at a “Martins Grocery store.” They are mostly a Northeastern U.S. operation. The canned bread is made by B&M (the same company that makes the beans) for about $2.65 a can if I remember right. Tried the Bread and Raisins and it must be kept moist and it is best (IMO) warm and with butter. It is very good, but I have no idea …

Jim, Something just occurred to me as far as an overlooked essential: food plates and bowls. The glass mixes (Corelle, etc) are far better than the stoneware for cleanliness and durability, but they can still be broken. I found out recently that the cheap, media tie-in dishes that extol Disney and various other children’s movies are not only unbreakable plastic, but are immune to gun cleaning solvent–I used an old one, figuring to throw it away when done. But a quick rinse with a dab of soap and it was clean–impervious to the chemical, not even the cartoon image was …

Jim, Here is a source for MRE crackers which seem to last forever! Cracker Seller I ate a pack of crackers last summer during a camp out/ range building weekend, and they were from 1993. Still were crisp and tasty. – Tom

Jim, As I know it’s important for you to have and increase your advertisers ads in order to support survivalblog and as a Survivalblog reader it’s also important to be able to trust your advertisers. I just wanted to drop you a message about Vic and SafeCastle LLC. I placed a large order with Vic a couple of weeks back for some Mountain House cases and I should add that I’m always leery about spending what I consider a substantial investment with someone I’ve never done business with before. Vic responded to my original questions about the order nearly real …

Hello, Jim! I was reviewing my storage of food supplies when a thought came to me: I don’t have anything to put all that peanut butter on! I looked through all of the food suppliers you advertise looking for crackers, no results. Have any ideas of something that would store well?  – Gerry C. JWR Replies: The individually-wrapped “shelf stable” bread mini-loafs intended to supplement MRE and Tray-Pack (“T-Pack“) squad rations have been available off and on for about ten years. This bread is quite bulky to store. I personally don’t like the taste of it (too salty for me), …

James: I am sure the readers are interested in the way that industrial produced freeze dried foods are made. I was a kashrut masgiach (kosher supervisor) at a major freeze dry producer in the United States before I emigrated to Israel. Mashgichim are flown all over the world to places where there is no Jewish community to certify the kosherness of foods for consumption by Jews. (The laws of kashrut are much too complex to describe here). The plant I certified had two major types of chamber one that was bus-sized and another that was the size of a minivan. …