Category: Food Storage & Cooking

James,   First, thanks for all that you do. God bless you and your family.  Second, to reiterate what you’ve already posted, the five gallon buckets sold at Home Depot and Lowe’s are not food grade buckets. They are stamped with the number 5. Yesterday I discovered that the buckets in the paint department at my local Wal-Mart are marked Food Grade. They are selling for $2.50 each, which is half the price of those at Home Depot and Lowe’s.  Also, the lids, which have rubber gasket seals are selling for .98 cents each. Be sure to check your local …

Mr. Rawles: I’m befuddled. My husband says that the new orange 5-gallon buckets they sell at Home Depot are the same as “food grade” buckets, because they are made of the same plastic. But my sister says they aren’t food grade. Who is right? Thanking You in Advance, – Lena in Indiana JWR Replies: This has been discussed before in SurvivalBlog, but it comes up so often that it bears repeating: As I explain in the Rawles Gets Your Ready Family Preparedness Course, determining whether or not a plastic bucket is truly food grade can be a challenge. I’ve had …

Letter Re: Cooking & Canning Beans and Meat Mr. Rawles, Thank you for all of your efforts to share such useful information that can be used in our daily lives and in the times ahead!   I would like to compliment Marie H. for sharing much useful information on pressure canning beans and meat. However, there is one bit of information that scares me big time: using a tongs to remove the pressure regulating weight to decrease the pressure quickly. Even the thought of doing this sends shivers down my spine.   As a multi-generational food producer and processor, with …

James Wesley, I’d like to add my experiences regarding locally grown feed stock corn. One of the big motivators to buy local is cost savings. Shipping grain to add to food storage is expensive. I discovered the thousands of acres of locally grown feed corn may or may not be safe for human consumption. As you note there are higher levels of bacteria in this corn and the corn is not necessarily handled in a food grade manner. The local big name co-op will not recommend eating the feed stock corn they sell. While not as critical, yellow dent corn …

Dear Mr. Rawles:   In response to Marie H.’s essay on canning beans and meat, I’d like to add a few thoughts.   The ability to preserve food through water-bath and pressure canning is, in my opinion, one of the most important of the domestic arts survival skills there is.  But as every experienced canner knows, the Achilles heel of canning is maintaining a supply of lids.  The problem with the everyday canning lids you find at the grocery store is that they must be discarded after every use.  Oh sure, I’ve experimented with reusing lids with some success, but …

We have beans, perhaps hundreds of pounds of beans. How exactly am I going to eat these? Nutritionally beans are great. Logistically though, they are a tough sell for the average, inexperienced bean cookers. For example Bernie has his big cast iron pot, some wood, and a bag of beans. After working all morning getting his camp fire set up, he pours his beans into the pot with water and maybe some salt, and waits, and waits. And stirs, feeds the fire, and waits. It has been four hours, the kids are looking hungry. “Is it done yet?” they ask. …

James Wesley; I have been following your blog for a little over a year and have always been one to stockpile items that I know we will use, having lived nearly all of my life (less four years of college and two years of my working life) in a rural location. You simply buy things in bulk, so you don’t need to run into town to get that one thing. Growing up Mom always kept a full pantry (and still does though the kids are all grown and married and live elsewhere), a root cellar, etc. We have continued that …

James Wesley, I am starting to store food for the future and have some wheat, beans and rice.  I would like to store corn to make into cornmeal, however I haven’t seen any available for this purpose.  I live in the southeast ands there is lots of corn we use to feed deer.  Is this suitable or can I get seed corn from the local feed store?  Any help you can provide would be appreciated.   I read your site each day and have learned a great deal from you and your readers. Thanks, – Gary M. JWR Replies: Unfortunately, …

Sir: I am an avid reader of your blog. This particular article touched a chord and I’d like to suggest one place for a great many staples this person will need to store. I am a Mormon.  The LDS bishop’s storehouse is available to me – however, this same resource is also available to non-members.  I have regularly taken my close non-Mormon friends to the local storehouse in the Sacramento, California region.  The prices I think are on-par with Sam’s Club and they have things that Sam’s Club simply won’t carry. (Wheat is one of those).  Here is a link …

Hi James,   First and foremost thank you for all of your efforts and wonderful guidance in the art of survival.  I am currently about 70 pages into your novel Patriots and I love it!   I have a quick question that I can not seem to get great advice on with regards to food storage.  Is it better (cost effective, overall nutrition, and space saving) to purchase pre-packaged “kits” like eFoodsDirect’s one-year or six-month supply of dehydrated foods, or build your own storage?  I know that most may say get all you can or do both…but if you had …