Save Money, Get Prepared, and Eat Healthier with Intermediate Term Food Storage, by Travis A.

…large amount of food needed to sustain a period of extended crises. And while its nice to have 5 gallon buckets stacked full of red winter wheat, many do not have the equipment or knowledge for preparing and cooking storage foods like wheat, should the need arise. In addition, an important aspect to any food storage program is the regular rotation and use of your storage food as part of your regular diet. The average family exploring preparedness for the first time is not going to make major changes to their eating habits overnight. Since most sound advice suggests having at least one year supply or food on hand, there is no apparent reason to stockpile foods with a storage life of 15+ years. When properly integrated into your daily diet, foods with a storage life of 1-to-3 years can form a good base for your food storage program. (An…




Let’s Talk About Calories Per Dollar, by Mississippi Girl

…per dollar spent is much higher with the bulk foods from the warehouse store than in the long term storage year-supply packages.  Because of this, I recommend that you first make sure that you purchase some of the more cost-effective items initially to build up a short-term pantry before you start spending lots of money on the items packaged in #10 cans and super pails.  You will be able to build up your calorie reserve much faster on a smaller budget starting with your short-term storage.    Short term storage isn’t limited to bulk items from the warehouse stores.  Don’t forget about the goods in your local grocery store.  Most canned goods can be kept in the pantry for at least 2 years.  Creamy condensed soups usually contain more calories than their ready-to-eat counterparts because you are storing less water in the can.  One brand of cream of chicken soup on…




Three Letters Re: Storing Food in Commercial Storage Spaces?

Mr. Rawles, I have a small follow up question/suggestion to your response regarding commercial storage spaces. In my area, I have a solid 4-to-6 hour drive in good conditions to get to my safety location from my greater metropolitan area home. After having to do this drive last year with the chaos of an incoming Hurricane, I decided to take advantage of your “Doug Carlton” suggestion from your novel “Patriots” . I decided to rent a small storage unit (5’x5′) at what I considered the half way point between my city and my objective location. I pay $20 per month to store a small cache which consists of 20 gallons of stabilized gasoline (ventilated), 7 days of freeze dried food, and bottled drinking water. All in all, it consists of about $100 in supplies. I do not consider this a long term solution, but at $20 a month it is…




Review of the Self-Reliance Expo in Colorado Springs, Colorado, by L.K.O.

…friends at Backwoods Home Magazine has added new issues which will now join the ranks with their extensive and popular back-issue inventory. Other returning vendors included: American Preppers Network (self-reliance education), AquaPail (gravity-fed portable water treatment systems), Daily Bread (food storage, including freeze dried), DoTerra (d?TERRA essential oils), Emergency and Disaster Prep (food storage products for all types of personal crisis & disasters, backup & emergency power systems), EnerHealth Botanicals (cocoa, coconut milk, meal powder, etc.), FalloutX (radioactivity mitigation), Forge Survival Supply (Survival Cache gear), G & R Foods Inc. (nutritional powders, storable/canned foods, shredded cheeses), Humless (compact portable pure sine inverters with a generous assortment of output connectors), Life Sprouts (sprouters with a diverse assortment of sprouting seeds), LPC Survival (water filtration, storage and many other survival products), National Geographic (film crew for ‘Doomsday Preppers’ episode interviewing exhibitors and presenters), New Millennium Concepts (water purifiers), Project Appleseed (Revolutionary War…




Spice Up Your Food Storage, by Linda P.

…to make flat breads, wraps and crackers such as rice, chickpea and legume flour. There are also several books on cooking with food storage. Don’t be afraid to substitute items either, you may be surprised how easy it is to create your own meals with what you have on hand. Top 6 Deep Larder Must Haves (that you may not have already) In addition to the ethnic-specific and basic long-term storage foods, I would like to recommend some essentials that may not be on your list. I find that the most flexible and economic way to store food is to keep the majority of your storage to individual food items such as grains, vegetables, fruit, dairy, and meat products. Compared to “just add water” entrees, you’ll discover greatly increased savings and diversity options. Once again as much variety as you can manage will serve you well, both in flavor, texture and…




The DIY Food Storage Article, by KSO

When one thinks of SHTF and TEOTWAWKI, The Walking Dead kind of scenario may enter one’s mind. I know it does mine (mainly because I’m obsessed with the show). Realistically speaking, however, TEOTWAWKI will not be because of a zombie apocalypse, but because of many other reasons– natural disasters, economic collapse, a nuclear bomb dropping on us (courtesy of an antsy enemy), and/or a pandemic. In any crisis event, having food stored for a lengthy period of time is essential for survival. There are many food storage options out there, as well as manuals and how-to articles. In this article, I will explain some of these storage options, how much food you should store, and what I believe to be the most important DIY food storage product. Canning In a TEOTWAWKI situation, having basic homesteading skills will become life-saving skills. This includes canning. However, assuming that you do not have…




What’s For Dinner?- Part 2, by J.R.

…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…




Paleo Food Storage With Ideas for Celiac/Gluten Intolerances and Dairy-Free Diets – Part 1, by Utah Suburban Prepping Gal

…regular butter. The other advantage is that it is delicious. Face it; you cannot say that for much of the food that keeps well long-term. My mother told me that years ago when the family went through a financial crisis and she was using the food storage to feed us that the recommended amount of oil in the LDS guidelines was far too low. She said when she was cooking and baking with the food storage every day that she went through the oil very quickly. The rest of the year’s supply lasted a year, but the oil ran out at about three months. So, even if you aren’t eating Paleo and are following standard food storage recommendations, you might want to grab some extra fat/oil. To sum up, stock canned clarified butter and palm shortening for the long-term; freeze olive oil and keep coconut oil on the shelf for…




Hidden Storage For Strategic Tools and Security Items- Part 2, by Old Bobbert

…the floor up to the cavity’s bottom lip, over the pouty lip, and then back down to the floor again. Next, position the piece of wood in between the two wall studs with very little of the piece being higher than the top line of the existing drywall previously cut. Use the two (of the four available) drywall screws to screw the old drywall to the new piece of wood. Position the screws about two inches from the end of the wooden piece. This will form the bottom of your secret, long-term storage space. And yes, you really should try to finish the bottom first because that’s the way my granddaddy showed me that he did it. Repeat the entire step #26 process and install the other wooden piece as the top of the storage cavity. Now is the time to prepare your items for storage in a manner suggested…




Food Storage–A Necessary Preparation, by Melanie G.

…changed jobs a few times.  Fortunately, the pantry that my parents filled in times of feast, fed our family of five in times of want, until my father found the next job.  If there was such a thing as unemployment or food stamps back then, I never knew.  My dad would go out and find work quickly and mom would continue to squirrel away food to feed us. There are some guidelines for emergency food storage.  It is recommended that you have two weeks of water per person and year’s supply of food, clothing and if possible, fuel in your storage.  A first aid kit is also recommended. An important part of any food storage system is to have on hand the basics:  flour, grains, beans/legumes, oils, rice, salt, sugar/honey, and water just to name a few.  These basics can help you to sustain your life if you are prepared…




SecureIt HG-02 Pistol Case, by Thomas Christianson

…of that experience, I completely abandoned fire protection as a goal for my firearms storage containers, and prioritized the other three goals. SecureIt History In 2001, SecureIt CEO Tom Kubiniec began providing organized and efficient weapon storage systems to the U.S. Army Special Forces Command. SecureIt eventually became the largest weapon storage supplier to the U.S. military. Eventually, SecureIt began offering products on the civilian market as well, with a focus on systems for safely securing firearms while keeping them accessible where and when they are needed. Conclusions I found the SecureIt HG-02 to be a versatile and reliable handgun storage lockbox. It provides an effective and reasonably priced solution for someone who would like place secure handgun storage at a number of key locations throughout their home. Disclaimer SecureIt was kind enough to provide me with a sample of their HG-02 Pistol Case for testing and evaluation. I tried…




What’s For Dinner?- Part 3, by J.R.

…the miracle of turning water into wine but making powdered milk palatable… well, that may require more faith than we have. (But have faith! Read on.) When you learn how to improve the flavor, you may wish to increase the amounts you store. Powdered milk must be kept as cool as possible (without freezing) at all times. Even brief exposure to high temperatures will render it unpalatable. In addition, it must be kept completely dark as any light at all will also degrade nutritional value and taste quickly. (So do not store it in plastic buckets as I did when I was starting out. That was an expensive lesson to learn.) However, when it is stored properly, powdered milk has a shelf life of up to twenty years. Milk Now there are many options in powdered milk storage. All the major long-term storage providers have their own powdered milk lines…




Honey–Storage Life, Crystallization, Storage Quantities, and Medicinal Uses

…loses about 3% of its diastase per month. This makes long-term storage honey slightly less nutritious, but it is still quite useful as a sweetener and as a useful carbohydrate. Q.:I have some old honey that solidified in storage. How do I restore it to a useful consistency? JWR Replies: Store honey at room temperature rather than in a refrigerator. If honey becomes cloudy, it isn’t cause for alarm. That is just normal crystallization, which happens over time. Place the honey jar or bucket in a bath of warm water on the stove (the classic “double boiler” arrangement) and set the stove element to low. (Not hot enough to melt a plastic bucket!) Even a two-pound bucket of honey that has fully crystallized will usually liquefy in less than an hour. BTW, an alternative method that doesn’t require fuel is just to leave a honey container on the floor a…