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Sugars

The recommended storage amount for sugars is 60 pounds per person per year. Most people in the developed world at this time consume far more than 60 pounds annually. It is definitely far more than we should and what is best for our health. However, if you choose to store less for your family, be sure to increase the amounts of other foods you store to compensate for the loss in calories.

To give you a bit of perspective on sugar demand, here are some historical figures on per person sugar consumption in the developed world. In 1700, sugar consumption was about four pounds per year. In 1800, this amount had risen to 18 pounds per year. By 1900, it was 60 pounds per year. We now consume over 100 pounds of sugar per year.

The 60 pounds of sugar per person is what is used for baking and cooking. It does not include what you would use for preserving foods such as by canning or making jam. If you are including food preservation in your plan, you need to increase the amount of sugar you store accordingly.

Sugar is one of the easiest items to store. Because it does not deteriorate in quality or nutritional value, it is one of those items that does not need to be rotated and is not temperature sensitive. It does, however, still need to be protected from pests and from absorbing odors from nearby items.

There are several different forms of sugar to store. Personal preference is your guide here.

Sugar

We store only pure cane sugar, as opposed to beet sugar. If sugar is pure cane, it will be stated as such on the label. Otherwise, you may be sure that it is beet sugar. Those desiring to avoid GMO products may wish to know that 96% of the sugar beets raised in the U.S. is GMO. We also make sure that our brown sugar and powdered sugar are pure cane as well. It is best not to substitute powdered sugar for granulated in canning. Powdered sugar contains some cornstarch, and this will result in a cloudy product that some mistake for spoilage. Because of the high moisture content, brown sugar does not store well. Putting a slice of bread in an airtight container with the hard brown sugar will soften it in a few days.

Honey

Much has been written about adulterated honey being sold in this country, so I won’t go into that here. Be sure you are buying real honey for your family. Real honey will start to crystallize within a year or so of purchase; the adulterated stuff will not–ever. To liquefy solid honey, place the container in a pot of simmering water. Honey will store indefinitely. It also has trace minerals important to the body.

Other Sugars

Other forms of sugar you may wish to include in your storage to add variety to your diet include molasses, maple syrup, and corn syrup. (Karo syrup has no HFCS, last I checked; most of the other brands do have it.)

Sugar is easily stored in plastic buckets. It does not need an oxygen absorber. In fact, oxygen absorbers should never be added to sugar, or it will turn into a rock hard mess. Be aware that sugar is very heavy, and for ease in handling it should be stored in smaller buckets, probably nothing larger than 4-gallon buckets.

The best way to acquire your sugar supply is through loss leader sales at the grocery stores. The LDS Home Storage Center is usually a more expensive option, and you can’t be sure whether it is beet sugar or cane sugar.

Oils

Oils are an essential component of food storage, because this is where your fats come from. Fat is essential to life. It is critical to brain function. A diet low in fat will dumb you down pretty quickly.

The recommended storage amount is 20 pounds or 20 pints of oil per person per year. There are no set recommendations on what kinds of oils to store. That is entirely personal preference. All oils must be kept as cool as possible. Oils stored in glass or metal will have a longer shelf life than those stored in plastic. When I lived in the Midwest, where concern for earthquakes was non-existent, I stored all our oils in glass. Now that I live in an earthquake-prone area, I still choose to store most of my oils in glass. Most oils—vegetable, corn, canola, and peanut—have preservatives added to prevent rancidity. Olive oil and coconut oil usually do not have these preservatives.

Vegetable, Corn, and Canola Oils

Vegetable oil is soybean oil. Soybeans are almost entirely GMO, as are corn and canola. When I learned about this many years ago, I could not immediately replace all the less expensive vegetable oil in storage for our large family with higher quality oils. I kept the vegetable oils and slowly built up our supply of other oils. The now very old vegetable oil can be used to make oil candles or soap when that need arises.

Peanut oil is what I store for most of my baking and frying. It has preservatives, which I would rather avoid in my foods, but I have not as yet been able to find a peanut oil that does not.

Olive oil is another oil I store for some of my frying and for salad dressings.

Shortening is hydrogenated soybean oil, which I still want to avoid. I only keep one can in the house for making buttercream frosting for cookies and cakes.

Butter

Some just have to have it. Red Feather butter, though it has a great reputation for taste, is a pretty expensive option for many families. Ghee is also up there is price. There are several companies that offer freeze-dried butter. It doesn’t reconstitute perfectly, but the taste is acceptable. It just doesn’t have the right texture. The option oft promoted in prep circles is home canning of butter. Everyone acknowledges that the USDA cautions against such and warns of the risk of botulism, but they also say our grandmothers did it and nobody died. I have canned butter for my family– several dozen pints. In my experience, there is a rather substantial failure rate for the seals. But even when seals did not fail, many of the jars had an off smell and tasted kind of moldy. I decided the risks just weren’t worth it.

However, for some of us, life may not be worth living without butter. So what to do? Is there a palatable long term storage option?

Yes! Coconut oil is second in importance in this house only to peanut oil. Coconut oil has a melting point of 76 degrees Fahrenheit, so it feels “right” in your mouth. It passes for butter in every application, except for on popcorn. And even then it isn’t bad; it’s just that it lacks the buttery flavor. However, even that can be adjusted for. We have found that mixing freeze-dried butter powder into the coconut oil works perfectly—perfect taste and perfect texture. We keep a supply of butter in the freezer for short-term storage, but coconut oil and butter powder are our solution for long term.

Expanding the Basics

Peanut Butter

Because it is so high in fat, it is classed with the fats rather than with beans, and it is a great storage food. However, it really shouldn’t be calculated with the rest of the oils as part of your oil storage. It’s pretty hard to fry foods in it.

Mayonnaise

We make all our own mayonnaise here, using the following simple recipe: 2 tablespoons vinegar, 1 teaspoon dry mustard, 1 very fresh large egg, and 1 teaspoon salt. Blend these well in a blender or food processor. In a very thin stream, slowly add 1 cup oil. (We prefer peanut oil. Olive oil tends to be a little strong in flavor.) After all the oil has been added, continue blending for another minute or so. (Make sure to store sufficient additional oil to meet your needs for mayonnaise, and remember that mayonnaise is used in salad dressings and dips as well as on sandwiches.) Store in the refrigerator for up to three weeks.

Bacon Grease

Save all your bacon grease. If you accumulate more than you can currently incorporate in your diet, pressure can the excess in canning jars for long-term storage. Follow the directions for canning meat. Use vinegar on a paper towel to eliminate any grease on the rim of the jar.

Lard

Of course, you can buy lard in the grocery store, with all the added preservatives included. Or you can very easily render your own. (See the link at the end of the article for instructions.) Lard is the very best stuff for making biscuits and flaky pie crusts. It is hard to imagine today, but our forebears raised pigs as much for their fat as for their meat. If you have friends who raise their own pork, see if you can get some of the kidney fat for rendering your own. You definitely won’t regret it.

We store far beyond the minimums for oil here. Frying in oil can make almost any food more palatable. While those with dairy animals and pigs can produce butter and lard, everything else is much more difficult to DIY.

Salt

Salt is the easiest of the basics to gather and store immediately. You can pick up a year’s supply for a family of four for less than $20 on your way home from work. The minimum storage amounts range between eight and ten pounds per person per year. Now this may seem like an awful lot of salt. You may think that there is no way that you use that much table salt in a year. In normal circumstances you would be 100% correct. However, when you are cooking everything from scratch, you use substantially more salt. Err on the side of caution and store ten pounds per person.

Most people leave salt in its cardboard packaging. Most of the time this works just fine. However, we are preparing for emergencies and other extreme situations. In humid areas, even salt with anti-caking agents added can become hard. And in all areas, cardboard cartons do not protect salt from water damage.

So what is the best way to store salt? Store it in a two-gallon plastic bucket. Put as many salt cartons in the bucket as it will hold. Pour loose salt from other cartons to maximize the storage capacity of the bucket. Do not store salt in metal cans, as it will rust out the metal. Also bear in mind that salt is very heavy—a #10 can of wheat weighs about 5.8 lbs, while the same volume of salt weighs 9.6 lbs. You definitely do not want to store salt in anything larger than a two-gallon bucket. Salt does not ever go bad, unless contaminated by water. Accordingly, it does not need to be vacuum-packed or stored in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, unless this is to protect it from water.

When it comes down to deciding what kind of salt to store, bear in mind that all salts are not created equal. Half of the salt in your storage should be iodized salt. Infants and small children require iodine for proper brain development. Iodine deficiency leads to cretinism in children and is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation. Iodine deficiency is also linked to hypothyroidism and goiter in adults. Salt is essential to proper nerve and muscle function and in the regulation of water in the body. Bear in mind that raw sea salt and rock salts lack sufficient iodine to prevent iodine deficiency diseases. Also, kosher salt is not iodized either.

With all this in mind, one may wonder why anyone would buy anything but iodized salt. But plain (or table) salt also has an important place in your home storage plan. Iodine retards the action of yeast in bread, and so plain salt is desired for bread-making. While the inhibition is not substantial, when it comes to making bread we sometimes need all the help we can get. Canning salt, which lacks the anti-caking agents found in plain and iodized salts, is preferred for canning.

Salt can be purchased in bulk bags at restaurant supply stores, but the savings is minimal and may not be worth the extra effort of storing in buckets. Because salt does not deteriorate, and because its nutritional value is not affected by heat or cold, it can be stored anywhere that is dry. Of course, it does not need to be rotated.

Ten pounds is the minimum amount to store for one year. However, if you are drying, curing, brining, or canning meats and vegetables, you should double the amount to twenty pounds per person. (Historical note: During the Utah War, the Mormon pioneers defended themselves admirably and severely delayed General Albert Sidney Johnston [later to die in the Civil War serving the south] and his army from entering the Salt Lake Valley. The pioneers harassed the army in the Wasatch Mountains, and in the process destroyed the army’s salt. The army then paid the Indians $5 per pound for salt.)

I tell my family that those are the three most dreaded words in the English language. At the same time, I often think about how very difficult life is going to become when most women will not be able to answer that question for their families. While those who are preparing for complete collapse of the economy and our society may feel they have the situation covered, the reality is that the vast majority of preppers, at least those I have conversed with and observed, do not. The reasons vary. For most, it is lack of knowledge of what foods should be stored in what quantities. For some it is normalcy bias—life can’t possibly be bad for that long, so I don’t need to store much or worry about a varied diet. For others it boils down to the mistaken belief that if they and theirs are hungry enough, they’ll be content to eat whatever they have. This article is not focused on correcting a person’s normalcy bias. I will, however, address the other two widely held beliefs I have observed among friends, family, and mere acquaintances and as one who taught food storage classes over the years.

When it comes to food storage, I have observed that most people fall into one of two camps. The first is composed of people who store primarily the long-term basics of grains, beans, oils, salt, and sugar—a plan that resembles to varying degrees what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) has counseled their members to store. It is the most economical way to stockpile the minimum emergency storage. The second group is comprised of people who store primarily what I call the “expanded storage”. This storage provides much more variety and therefore requires more attention to record-keeping and rotation. Both storage plans satisfy the minimum number of calories for individuals who are not stressed and physically exerting themselves, but we are not planning for a life of ease when TEOTWAWKI hits. If we want our family to thrive in the hard times, we really need to have a comprehensive storage of the long-term basics as well as the expanded storage.

THE BASICS

Let’s begin with the bare basics using lists of the essential long-term storage foods put forth by the LDS. I use their lists because the LDS have a long history of counseling their members to be prepared for uncertain times and have done the research on what staples to store and in what quantities.

These amounts will provide 2000 calories per day– the minimum for survival– for one year. For comparison, you can go to any of a number of food storage companies and see that they offer “year’s supply” food packages that provide between 1200 and 2000 calories per day. This is the minimum number of calories. Please keep in mind that when the body is stressed, as most people will be when TEOTWAWKI hits, the body needs more calories. When we are cold, we need more. When we are working hard, we need a whole lot more. (Can you imagine telling your husband or teenage sons who have been at hard labor all day that they are limited to 2000 calories?) This is not the time to decide to lose that extra weight. That will come regardless. A decreased calorie intake will result in a decreased ability to think. It will also result in a decrease in body heat generated and an increased need for more layers of clothing and blankets.

List A: 300 pounds grains, 75 lbs dry milk, 60 lbs beans, 60 lbs sugar, 20 lbs oil, 8 lbs salt.

List B: 400 pounds grains, 20 lbs dry milk, 60 lbs beans, 60 lbs sugar, 20 lbs oil, 10 lbs salt.

These two lists provide 2000 calories per day for one year. List A is for children and pregnant and nursing women who need the extra calcium and vitamins for proper development. List B is for the rest of the people. You will note the differences are in the recommended storage amounts for grains, dry milk, and salt. List A has more calories and calcium from the dry milk, and less from grains. List A also needs less salt due to the lower grain amount.

Now that you know what you need to store in what amounts, let’s discuss each of these staple items in detail so that you can make the most informed decisions for your family’s storage program.

Grains

Grains are the basis for most food storage programs. Calorie-wise, they provide the biggest bang for the buck. Whole grains are recommended, not only due to their higher nutritional value but also to their generally longer storage life, the primary exception being rice. (White rice has a much longer shelf life than brown.) The LDS church advocates a minimum of 400 pounds per year (with the complementary 20 pounds of dry milk) for adults or 300 pounds per year for children and nursing and pregnant women (with the complementary 75 pounds of dry milk). Wheat and milk have all nine essential amino acids for making a complete protein. There is no recommendation for how much to store for each kind of grain. That is personal preference. In our family, wheat comprises about 70% of our grain storage, with pasta, rice, oats, and popcorn in about equal proportions for the balance.

Wheat

Wheat has been advocated as the best choice for food storage in the United States primarily due to the fact that it is what we eat in this country but also due to the fact that wheat and milk combined (in the same meal) provide all the essential amino acids for protein.

There are four major types of wheat– hard red, hard white, soft white, and durum.

Hard red wheat is what our pioneer ancestors raised for centuries. Kept cool and dry, it has a long shelf life. The flour is slightly darker, the grain itself a little bitter. According to Chef Brad of Fusion Grain Cooking, hard red wheat is an acid-based grain. It is this acidity that causes some people digestive problems. Hard red wheat is only very slightly more nutritious than hard white wheat. Hard red wheat was all that was available to me when I began my long-term storage program over thirty years ago, and it was acceptable because it was the only option. However, with the advent of hard white wheat, hard white is all I will buy. I can’t recommend it enough.

Hard white wheat was developed from crossing hard red wheat and soft white wheat and selecting for the desirable traits of both. It is very slightly less nutritious than hard red wheat. As an alkaline-based grain, it is easier for most people to digest. Hard white wheat flour bakes into perfectly light loaves of 100% whole wheat bread. It makes delicious cookies. And because it lacks the bitterness of hard red wheat, you can use less sweetener than 100% whole wheat recipes normally call for.

Soft white wheat has a shorter shelf life due to its higher moisture content. It is prized for pastries, pasta, cakes, and crackers.

Durum wheat is most often used for making pasta.

Wheat is the most versatile of the grains. Not only can it be ground into flour, but the berries, whole or cracked, can be cooked into a cereal, boiled and used to extend hamburger, and sprouted to provide a vitamin C source when there are no other options.

Consider also storing some wheat to sprout and feed to chickens. Sprouted wheat contains small amounts of vitamins A, B, C, and E not found in whole grain bread.

For maximum nutritional value, whole wheat flour should be used immediately after grinding. Otherwise, store freshly ground wheat in the freezer until ready to use.

White flour (which has had the bran, the oils, and most of the nutrients removed) has a shelf life of 1-2 years. I store only 25-50 lbs, just enough to keep the family pastry chef happy.

Rice

Rice and beans also make a complete protein. Brown rice is high in oils and has a shelf life of about six months. For this reason, it is not recommended for inclusion in your home storage program. White rice, on the other hand, has a 25-30 year shelf life. It is also a good choice for extending your supply of dog food. You can also make your own instant rice by cooking the rice fully and then dehydrating it. To prepare, do just as you would for commercially prepared instant rice.

Oats

The two main choices with regard to oats are rolled or quick. Rolled oats have a longer shelf life than quick oats, but for most people the choice comes down to personal preference. In this house I prefer quick; my husband prefers rolled, so we store both.

Popcorn

We hope popcorn will only be used for snacking, but it may also be our emergency food on those days when dinner gets a bit overdone or a recipe goes horribly wrong. Some preppers advocate grinding popcorn into flour for cornbread. It makes a gritty cornbread. If you like grit, great. If not, store dent corn for this purpose instead.

Dent Corn

Dent corn is what you want for grinding into cornmeal to make corn bread. Dent corn is also what you would use for making the flour for corn tortillas and masa; however, you need to add lime in a process known as nixtamalization.

Pasta

Pasta adds variety to your diet. It has a shelf life of about eight years.

Even the most careful of food storage practitioners will occasionally find that some of their grain has been compromised. Fortunately, unless it has become moldy, it does not have to be wasted. It can be fed directly to livestock, sprouted and fed to livestock, or grown in the garden and then tilled into the soil for a green manure.

Of all the food groups, it is most important to become accustomed to eating wheat now but gradually. Some people need time to make the transition, or they will experience intestinal discomfort.

As of this writing, wheat can be obtained most inexpensively through the LDS Home Storage Center (link at the end of this article), for about $7.00 for 25 lbs. They carry hard red and hard white. If your local Wal-Mart doesn’t stock bulk bags of wheat, they can be ordered in for about $14 for 25 lbs.

Loss leaders at grocery stores are a better option for rice and pasta. Dent corn can be purchased from Honeyville Grain. Oats are most likely least expensive at the LDS Home Storage Center.

To prepare all grains for storage, place them in the freezer for at least 72 hours to kill any bugs. Remove from the freezer and let come to room temperature before putting into buckets or mylar bags. If you are using oxygen absorbers, you can skip the freezing step.

All grains should be stored in a cool, dry place, preferably below 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

Beans

The minimum recommended storage amount is 60 pounds of dry beans (not green beans, not commercially canned) per person per year. Beans are high in protein and low in fat, and are a good source of many trace minerals. It does not matter what kinds of beans you store—white, pink, pinto, red, kidney, black, lima, garbanzo, lentils, et cetera. In this house we store only what we really like. The chief cook and bottle washer here is of Mexican descent, so we have a lot of pinto beans. We also store some black beans, some white, and a few pink and garbanzo.

While most of us think of beans as a side dish or component of soup, they can actually be used in a wide variety of recipes. Beans can be sprouted. Mung beans are especially suited for this. Beans can also be ground into flour using a grain mill. This flour can be used instead of wheat flour or cornstarch in thickening soups.

Bean puree is also advocated for use in baking as a way of substituting for oil in baking and boosting the nutritional value of sweets. I’ve read rave reviews from people praising the use of bean puree in chocolate chip cookies and cakes. In the interest of research and providing my classes with samples, I have made some of these recipes. Using the full amount of bean puree recommended results in a very heavy product. Small children might be fooled; I don’t know, as I didn’t have any around at the time to offer samples to. My older children and teens were not fooled. When I used half of the recommended amounts of bean flour, most people said the result was tolerable but not desirable. Basically, they’d rather just do without. If you want to give this a try, here are the suggestions on how to go about this. For bean puree to substitute for oil in baking, mash beans with enough water to make a puree. To substitute for butter in baking, mash cooked, drained beans into a paste. Substitute in a 1:1 ratio, meaning that if your recipe calls for one cup of oil or butter, use one cup of pureed or mashed beans instead. White beans are recommended as being the best to substitute in baking.

Because dry beans require a long time to cook (and will thus require a lot of fuel in a grid-down situation), I always keep a good supply of beans that I have pressure canned at home. Dry beans are among the easiest foods to can. Consult your Ball Blue Book (the exact title has changed over the years, and the current edition is no longer blue, but usually the title includes Ball Blue Book, and that is how it will be referred to in this article) for exact directions. Basically you soak the beans overnight, rinse in the morning, add the appropriate amount to your jar, add salt and boiling water, and process according to instructions with your pressure canner. There are also several websites that advocate the canning of beans that have not been presoaked, i.e., dry beans are put into the jar, salt and boiling water are added, and then the beans are canned under pressure. This method is not USDA-approved, which may not matter to you; I have never seen any reasons offered as to why this is the case. However, I and others who have tried this method have noted a much higher seal failure rate that we can only attribute to the beans being unsoaked.

For many people beans are not a favorite food storage item. This is not due to the eating of the beans, but rather what happens afterwards. Numerous remedies are suggested for this problem, but the fact of the matter is that people who are not accustomed to eating beans on a regular basis lack the proper intestinal flora to digest beans properly. Once you start eating beans regularly, any problems with gas should disappear entirely.

Beans are very sensitive to heat and should be stored in conditions as cool as possible. Beans exposed to higher temperatures become tough, take longer to soak, and longer to cook. Unfortunately, we sometimes have beans that won’t soften with cooking. There are several ways to address this problem. First, add acidic foods such as molasses, tomatoes, and vinegar near the end of the cooking time as these items tend to toughen bean skins. For the same reason, salt should not be added until just before serving. Second, hard water may cause hard beans. If the cooked beans are still not soft, try adding ¼ teaspoon baking soda to soften the beans. If this still doesn’t work, there is yet another remedy to try, but it won’t work for tonight’s dinner. Try freezing the beans. As the water in the beans freezes, it will break down the cell walls to soften the beans. If that still doesn’t work, pressure cooking or canning the beans almost always will. And if that doesn’t work, the beans can still be ground in a mill and the resulting flour used in soups. However, bear in mind that the increasing toughness in the beans suggests a corresponding decrease in nutritional value.

The LDS Home Storage Center sells a few varieties of beans (white, pinto, and black) in bulk bags as well as #10 cans. The HSC also sells dehydrated refried beans. While I know of a few people who have been happy with the product, I have not, and therefore I cannot recommend it. (Perhaps it is my heritage coming through, and I’m too picky about the consistency, or perhaps my beans were old and tough.) The prices for the bulk bags are comparable to grocery stores’ sale prices.