Category: Food Storage & Cooking

Three Letters Re: What Determines if a Storage Bucket is Food Grade?

Greetings Jim, I have found the folks at the bakery counter at [supermarkets such as] Safeway are willing to give me food grade buckets for free or maybe $1 each. They get frosting five gallons at a time. Once you read the label on that stuff you may never eat store bought cake again! – DAP in Missouri   Jim: I wanted to share the best priced source I have found for Food Grade Buckets. Other than getting them free from food vendors, I haven’t found a price better than $3.99 for five gallon food grade buckets. Lids are $1.09. …


Letter Re: What Determines if a Storage Bucket is Food Grade?

Mr. Rawles, I recently purchased some five gallon buckets at Wal-Mart that I thought would be considered food-grade. I’m afraid these are probably the paint buckets you recently warned against, but I read elsewhere on the web that if there was a “2” inside of the recycle-symbol on the bottom of the bucket, the bucket would be considered food-grade. If these are unsuitable, do you mind going into a little more detail as to why? Thanks, – Ben J. JWR Replies: The number 2 (with the number inside the “chasing arrows” symbol) refers to HDPE, but not all “2” marked …


Letter Re: Food Shortages at COSTCO and Sam’s Club Stores

James, I visited COSTCO store in Woodinville, Washington Saturday morning, right at the store’s opening time. I had my doubts about the reality of the shortages, and needed to shop, anyway, so I thought I’d check it out for myself. They had eight big warehouse guys escorting two pallets of rice out to the showroom floor just about the time I arrived. Six of the eight then stayed with the rice, handing it out to customers as needed. Both pallets were completely sold out by the time I left the store about 45 minutes later. I talked with two of …


Two Letters Re: Food Shortages at COSTCO and Sam’s Club Stores

Sir, Yesterday I went to COSTCO to check out the rice situation (and grab a cheap lunch). Today, a friend said he wanted to go, so being that he doesn’t have a [membership] card I went with him. Not only was all the rice gone except for a few very small bags of some long grain nasty stuff, but where there had been pallets of rice 24 hours earlier, now there was other items (macaroni and cheese and something else). I overheard about a dozen people complaining about the rice situation, and all of them just wanted “a few bags …


The Value of Coupon Clipping in Stocking Up

Our family has always maintained a substantial pantry in addition to our “deep storage” items. One way we keep our pantry stocked is by taking advantage of grocery store sales and using coupons. This does take a bit of time on my part, but definitely pays off in the long run. I utilize www.coupons.com, www.smartsource.com, www.couponbug.com (these sites allow you to print each coupon two times. We have two computers so that = 4 times each) as my mainstays. But recently I have become a reader of MoneySavingMom.com. She posts deals that I would have normally not found on my …


Letter Re: The British Perspective on Food Storage and Preparedness

Dear Sir The two articles linked below detail issues surrounding world food shortages (and possible solutions) from a UK perspective. I thought that they might be of interest to you. Certainly there is increasing concern here about rising food and drink prices and its increasingly becoming part of the national conversation. It seems there are now almost daily broadsheet newspaper articles on the subject and I can categorically state that the UK is now experiencing similar trends to the US, as identified by your readers. Although rationing has not made the news yet, my father – who is a restaurateur …


Food Shortages in the US Underscore the Weakness of JIT Inventory Systems

The mass media is currently in a frenzy about spot shortages of rice, flour, and cooking oil at COSTCO stores. I’ve fielded seven radio interviews in the last couple of days. The only good news is that we set an all-time record yesterday, with 22,217 unique site visits to SurvivalBlog in one day! The rationing situation is getting worse. Several SurvivalBlog readers sent me this: Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club limits rice purchases. Meanwhile, we read in The Washington Times: Americans hoard food as industry seeks regulations. Josh Gerstein, the reporter that interviewed me for the recent New York Sun piece, just …


Letter Re: Dramatic Increases in Food Prices

Jim: Two months ago you could purchase Almond Nut Butter for around $7.50 per 16 ounce jar. Today the Almond butter is selling for $17.00 per jar. Today Cashew Nut Butter sells for around $11.50 and two months ago it sold for around $6.00 per 16 ounce jar. A clerk at Walmart commented that prices are rising fast. Rosauers Grocery Store in Kalispell, Montana had raised its prices more than 11 percent in February and has raised them again in April, some up to 17%. They blame rising fuel costs. What you purchase today will not cost the same next …


Letter Re: The Food Shortages Are Real–Will There Be Panic Buying Soon?

James, I’ve read the recent article in the New York Sun (Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World) regarding the [informal] food rationing that has now begun. Everything is starting to unfold quicker than expected, but it is not a huge surprise. I personally own a small and private operation (cash only) which sells large amounts of bulk food storage for those who have their eyes open and are awake to what’s going on which is not many. We generally move large quantities of bagged and cleaned Wheat, lentils, soup peas, flax seed and all other manner of legumes( beans) …


Letter Re: Potatoes as a Survival Garden Crop

Sir, It’s important to maintain a variety of root and grain crops for use as survival crops. Potatoes are easy to grow, easy to store and are nutritious enough to keep you healthy as a sole food (if you eat 2/3 of them raw). It is true potatoes have to be grown every year and that they are vulnerable to soil pathogens, but they can be grown under relatively low light, cool conditions, so why not take a small part of the harvest and raise them in a greenhouse through the winter with supplemental light. A half 55-gal. drum filled …


Letter Re: Potatoes as a Survival Garden Crop

Mr. Rawles: The problem with potatoes as a survival crop, is that they are susceptible to soil-borne diseases. Before toxic sprays, seed potatoes were grown at elevations above 800 feet, which does help. They also require a very good root cellar, in order to keep all the way through the winter, until the next planting season. Seed potatoes cannot be stored for years like grains. One [year of] crop failure, and you are done. It helps to swap all your potatoes saved for seed with another gardener, some distance from you. Look for someone with a different type of soil, …


Two Letters Re: Potatoes as a Survival Garden Crop

Morning, Jim! Just a quick addition for your readers to your recent note about potatoes gaining in popularity: most of their useful nutritional value is in their skin and outermost fractions of inches. I believe this is true of most root vegetables. Peeling these vegetables just renders them as a wad of starch or carbohydrate – much less useful for your body than the good Lord intended them to be. All they really need (especially if grown in a home garden where you know what went into the soil) is a quick rinse and a light scrub. Ideally your order …


Letter from David in Israel Re: Stocking Up on Matzoh

James I would first like to wish the Jewish readers of SurvivalBlog a happy and kosher passover. And after that I also want to remind everyone that Saturday night is the start of Passover. Why is this important? It means that even in many small towns big packages of matzoh will be available often at a closeout price after the seder night. Matzoh (an unleavened flour cracker) is a good ready to eat food that lasts for several years in the sealed box. If you wonder what good wheat flour crackers are just look online for the recipes we have …


Safe Food Handling, by B.H. in Western Washington

Safe food handling is critical for a healthy life in both good and bad times. As a former restaurant manager, I can tell you food safety or customer safety was priority number one. It’s hard to make money when you’ve killed your customers, which is the alternative to safe food handling. Death or severe illness is the unforgiving consequence to food borne illness. Food borne illnesses doesn’t just happen in restaurants it happens everywhere food is handled and prepared whether it’s during decadent affluence or full scale TEOTWAWKI. Please don’t confuse food poisoning with food borne illnesses. Chemicals, bacteria, or …


The Precepts of My Survivalist Philosophy

In the past week I’ve had three newcomers to SurvivalBlog.com write and ask me to summarize my world view. One of them asked: “I could spend days looking through [the] archives of your [many months of] blog posts. But there are hundreds of them. Can you tell me where you stand, in just a page? What distinguishes the “Rawlesian” philosophy from other [schools of] survivalist thought?” I’ll likely add a few items to this list as time goes on, but here is a general summary of my precepts: Modern Society is Increasingly Complex, Interdependent, and Fragile. With each passing year, …