If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

Here's the scenario:

I ordered the 1 year basic supply package from waltonfeed.com. It is $535 and shipping is going to be a few hundred dollars. That will eat into my prep money and mitigate any bulk benefit I will get. I may cancel this order, since it takes 2-3 weeks to even get ready to ship since they are so busy.

I am thinking of just doing my basic preps for 6-12 months of food for 2 at the local grocery store. I have no access to Costco in my area, it's too far to drive. But my local grocery store is very well priced. If I have $1000 to spend in a few weeks when my next paycheck comes in and I pay off the bills, what do I get? What brands, sizes, and varieties of foods? Do I buy canned foods, or do I buy fresh and then learn how to can to save money or just to know how to can for the future? Brown rice vs. white rice? Are expiration debts firm, or do companies write an early date on the package so you throw it out early and buy more? Essential non-food items like a basic water filtration system or a flour grinder? Are a few cases of bottled water OK for a start? AHHH!!! The more I learn the more I realize I don't know....help.


You guys are lifesavers, probably literally. Thanks.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

I am far from expert on the subject but I just did this recently for myself.

I went and purchased a variety of can goods. Veggies, soups, fruits, ect.

Then I went to the rice/beans isle and stocked up on black beans and brown rice. (I just bought the stuff in plastic bags, I am under the impression rice and beans last for a very long time.)

I then picked up a bunch of boxed almond milk. (Tastes good after you get used to it and is better for your than cow milk)

The rest I got from Sam's Club (costco) but I got more canned goods, powdered milk, more rice, bottled water, and frozen meat.

This is just a rough list obviously but I hope it gives you a couple ideas.

My main focus has been collecting seeds, tools, and knowledge for gardening. Even if I don't plan on starting the garden eventually I want the ability to make one should things take a turn for the worse.

I have been eating about a can a day and plan to replace each one as I always want to have at least a years worth of food on hand.

Good luck, hope this helped a little.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

Thanks. Right now, without detailed guidance from an "expert," that is my intention. A dozen cases of bottled water, a few cases of each vegetable we like, sugar, flour, etc. My logic is similar to that of buying silver: even if I get in at a higher price than if I had waited for a dip (or in this case, bought at the absolute lowest price) at least I have something to feed us here. Plus, food prices seem set to explode this year, so even if I pay a higher price, I should still be paying less than I would a year from now.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

Don't forget the local feed store for steam rolled oats on the cheap.

Its a fast breakfast cereal and can be ground to flower for baking.

Very high protein. Keeps for years.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

I keep a good supply of grocery store food on hand (with long shelf dates) but I'm throwing away too much that goes bad and cycling it is a pain.
I'm going with Mountain House real soon! Put in a closet and forget it.
This is the best price I've found at The Ready Store.
http://www.thereadystore.com/freezed...s.php?load=new
I think the $815 group should get you started.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

The bottom line on food storage, "Store what you eat and eat what you store".

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

Good suggestion , then he can go buy wheat ,oats ,beans, pasta,
rice, Nido, cooking oil and things of that nature localy.....once you get started it becomes addicting. I just picked up 5gal of peanut oil last night at Smart & Final for $32.00....1gal was $16.00 sheesh!

I'm making my own bread from scratch now that I purchased my grain mill, my2yr. old loves to help . Years ago I made a few loaves from rojo wheat that we grew here every other year, I would grind the wheat and pulse it in my vitamix to knead it , the set up I have now is state of the art compared to that and the bread is wonderful . I need to build a wood fired adobe stove like my great grandmother had (nothing left of it now) although my grandmothers is still standing and functional last time I looked....btw my great grandma made flour from acorns , I was thinking of her the other day while showing my daughter how they are edible.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

You have to leach out the tannin in acorns by soaking them in water, maybe water with lye or lime added, before acorns are edible for humans. Grind them for flour supposed to be very good.

As far as what to buy with $1000...

I would buy organic brown rice, a variety of beans, rolled oats, hard red winter wheatberries and 10-25lbs of sea salt. Also olive and corn oils, basic spices, canned tomatoes and tomatoe paste, pastas, potatoes and carrots. Look for local honey. Maybe call your local feed store or county agent and ask, "Who keeps bees around here?" Go see the beekeeper and get a bucket of honey. If you get a list of guys, go see whoever does it as a hobby. Honey will keep for years.

A handcranked grain mill takes time to process flour. Electric mills are faster and worth owning if you store and use a lot of flour.

The best value for home water filtration is the Katadyn Expedition candle type filter with 3gal reservoir. Costs $160 from REI, has 3 candles and they will last forever if you filter only very clean water. If you have to clean your candles regularly, they will have a reduced life span. Our filter has only needed cleaning twice in 5yrs, but we pre-filter our well water with a culligan inline house filter and that thing needs renewal 2-3 times a year.

Best way to buy yeast is in the 2lb industrial pkgs. Cost under $5. Lasts forever if you keep it dry. You can test old yeast with warm water. There are natural yeasts in the air and you can make sourdough starter; but RedStar or Fleishmans is cheap and good stuff.

Shortgrain Brown Rice, organic is a super-food. Very high nutrition, stores well. Use it as often as you can. Red Beans and Rice, Black beans, Adzuki beans, Anasazi beans, Garbanzo beans, red/green lentils, black-eyed peas; with Pinto beans or Kidney beans for burritos. Add sausage or chunks of meat. Brown rice in gumbo or jambalaya, dirty rice, crawfish etoufee; rice is 10x better for you than potatoes, Organics build the immune system.

The Excalibur dehydrator is a superb investment for drying fruits, veges, making jerky from beef, turkey, fish; or doing fruit leathers. use it as a constant low-temp source to make Yogurt or Tofu. About $240 for the 9 tray model, but worth it if you get serious about storing food.

A good blender with food processor and a hand-mixer with a good motor are worth having too. Also a 6 qt or larger Pressure Cooker. For gourmet breads you want to use a baking or pizza stone and spritz them with water and maybe coat the bread with butter or olive oil. If you have a bread machine, use it to mix and rise your dough. A real time saver.

Adams Natural Peanut butter in the 5lb jar is a great value. You might get a deal on a bulk pail of the stuff from a healthfood store. Always buy grains by the 25 or 50lb bulk sack and ask for 10 or 15% off if you pay cash.

For powdered milk, the Milkman brand stuff is very good. We prefer Rice Milk, but the powdered stuff is great for baking and yogurt making.

Jellies store well. Cracked wheat cereal and oatmeal are great for breakfast. Honey mixed with maple syrup is an effective way to cut costs.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

EE--there are definitely better deals out there. Our own 48-can and 150-can MH packages are cheaper and fresher (as priced for our buyers club members).

I would also be wary of anyone selling these packages as being a year's supply of food. It's dangerous to plan on those being worth that much to you nutritionally. MH is great as a basis for a food prep program, and you can survive on it alone for a short period of time. But you need more to round out your daily nutritional and caloric requirements beyond the short-term.

I also am unable to figure out what this means in their listings: Wise investment - with a 30 year shelf life, that's only $83.26 per year ($6.94 per month) for a 100% complete year supply of food for one person.

That doesn't make the least bit of sense, does it?

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

What do you think about Quaker Oats like from Sam's Club? Are these as good as what I would get at a local feed store? And by good I mean keep longer and be better for me.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

I got a bunch. I just made sure to get the "baking" oats as opposed to the instant.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

Any grain, once the kernel is cracked, doesn't last nearly as long the whole grain. Get whole oats (grouts) if possible. Same goes for wheat.

Brown rice is more nutritious than white but goes bad much more quickly. White rice properly stored will last practically forever. So will whole oats, corn and wheat. Also honey, sugar, salt, baking powder, etc. while super cheap now store forever and will be priceless during shortages.

My personal plan is:

A. 6 weeks of "tactical food" - mre's & Mountain House freeze dried pouches.

B. 6 months of "intermediate foods" - store bought cans mostly: fruits, veggies, soups, tuna & meats, ravioli, etc.

C. 1 Year of "long term storage foods" - I skipped the freeze dried turkey tetrazzini route and have concentrated instead on the aforementioned wheat, corn, rice and beans. This is supplemented with freeze dried meats, vegetables and fruits + other stuff to make meals interesting and complete.

D. Sprouts & seeds.

Although there is overlap/flexibility between categories, tactical is really grab and run food. Intermediate is easy prep stuff but much bulkier and requires stock rotation. Long term foods store for more than 5 years but require more prepping to have a meal.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

I may have to give your store a try. With the 20% discount and free shipping the prices should beat thereadystore.com prices.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

my 1st stores is vitamins\supplements, followed by rice, honey, salt, beans

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

Go to your local health food store and get 50# bag of organic.

Its cheap last about a year if you do not take care of it. I then feed to beasts, chickens etc.

Tha lady charges 10% over her cost when I buy like this.

Things are getting harder to get so get when the getting is still good.

Quaker Oats is a joke.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

Thanks for the reminder about vitamins/supplements. What kind are you guys getting & from where? Any thoughts on shelf life?

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

We stored in many categories.

I think of MH as long shelf life fast food. It is high in salt and chemicals and tastes about as good as macdonalds. But it only requires hot water and provides food variety.

Most of our stored food is beans and grains, vacuum sealed to defeat weevils. We also have some big cans of freeze dried fruits and veggies, milk, eggs, etc. Then we have salt, sugar, honey, spices. Then we have a lot of canned goods which we rotate.

In the luxury category is canned brown bread (more like cake), jams and preserves, pie filling, canned butter and canned cheese, stuff that will be real treats if we have to live from our stored food exclusively.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

I'm getting interested in Mountain House, but apparently so is everyone else because it's back-ordered. I have about 5 months of rice, oats, pasta, beans, veggies, and canned meat on the shelves now. Want to get it up to at least 6 months. Might add to my piece of mind to go buy 12-24 cases (6 #10 cans per case) of Mountain House entrees to throw in the closet.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

Our food store mirrors yours along with grain mill, Baygen freeplay AM FM Short Wave radio, Nido(powdered milk) , Large Katadyn water purifier,10 gal. ea. peanut, corn and olive oil, squeezo strainer for seeded veggies & fruits , and a whole lot more shtuff . The wild hogs , deer, quail and rabbits are plentiful around here also ... our power is from the sun and we keep 1000gal. ea. gas & diesel & a large propane tank . I have a large shop fully furnished with tools and tons of raw materials and I can build/fabricate anything.....but don't worry somthing will still go wrong.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

I buy my Mountain House food here
http://beprepared.com/

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

I have always added a little here and a little there as I run into the deals. I would go to your local Amish or LDS store and buy bulk for half that grand.





We have a meat shop down in the ghetto here that gets some deals. Bought 3 10 pound boxes of Armour all beef industrial hot dogs[probabally for the local prisons] for $5.90 each the other day and canned them with apple cider vinegar, hot peppers and horse radish. Uuummmm, but they are too damned tastee and they have a horriblly short shelf life because of that.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

WaoG's right.

You can special order bulk (25-50 lb sacks) dry goods at any health food store. Co-ops are best, most of them have membership fees, but it's well worth it for the member discount they give if you plan on buying substantially more.

Organics are better (less chemicals, more nutrition), but they can be substantially pricier. Most co-ops deal in organics, but if you don't care about the organic factor, ask them if they can get the same product non-organic ("conventional" is the term they use for non-organics) - it's usually (not always) cheaper than organic, and many co-ops can indeed get "conventional" products. You just have to ask.

You can get bulk grains, beans, pasta, TVP, oils, honeys, coffees, mixes, the list goes on and on. Ask them if they can provide a catalog for you to look at.

I know all this, I have previously worked several years in a few different co-ops.

Like AMforPM said, whole bulk dry goods beats the hell out of Mountain House "fast foods" for quality AND price.

Order some mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, and dessicant from sorbentsystems.com and pack it all yourself.

All that MH stuff is just a waste of $ in my opinion. I can get and store twice as much food for half the money by buying bulk and packing it myself.

Here's a thread on packing materials, 02 absorbers, etc:
http://goldismoney.info/forums/showthread.php?t=242182

All you need are your packing materials, buckets and/or tubs, a household iron, and a little elbow grease.

Re: If I have $1000 For Food Preps, What do I Buy?
 

I'm finding this difficult to do, I eat pretty much a 100% fresh diet, I shop around the outside and very rarely go down the other isles.. ( Canned tomatoes, cereals and bags of rice the exceptions)

So given that any 'food' I buy for a SHTF senario.. What do I get that has a long shelf life .. maybe 5 - 8 years.. If the world hasn't gone to hell in a hang basket I'd be prepared to give the food away... I just can't see me eating and rotating canned goods, unless I had no choice.