What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Just to give those of us who are just starting off with food stashes an idea of what to expect to get, any suggestions or personal accounts anyone would like to share?

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

http://beprepared.com/product.asp_Q_...%20(25%20cases)

Here's the food!

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

What if we're wanting to put together our own non-pre-packaged stash? I prefer to buy cases of canned fruits and vegetables that I can dehydrate, bags of my own grains and beans, etc. It's a lot cheaper putting things together on my own rather than ordering them from a company.

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Nothing wrong with that. This is just a fast and easy way in case you feel you're behind the eight ball!

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

If you are going to dehydrate, start with fresh produce--canned is already processed, and there isn't much you can do at home to make it last any longer.

Another advantage is those canned varieties were chosen for look and consistency, and not necessarily for the best taste. Your local farmers market will give you access to wonderful varieties that NEVER show up in the can.

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Would frozen vegetables be a better option for dehydration? I'm just looking for quantity at this time so I can keep a substantial amount of produce ready for rehydration and/or portability at this time. I can fit a month's worth of dehydrated food in a large backpack, which I want to keep on hand in case bugging out becomes a necessity at some point. I do plan to also make use of local produce growers as well--especially for tomatoes--but other faves of mine such as spinach might not be available in substantial quantities locally grown.

On top of that, I can maximize storage space by dehydrating--8 29-oz. cans of diced tomatoes shrinks down enough when dehydrated to just fit into a one-quart mason jar. Multiply that out and you see how much space can be saved. I'm wanting to go all-out crazy with dehydrating quantities of foods not just for my own sake, both for storage and for sustenance, but also to help provide others with food they can take on the fly with them in case of crisis.

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

You should still start with fresh produce. Freezing vegetables has done absolutely nothing to enhance their quality. So defrosting them and dehydrating them will still yield a inferior product. If you buy a big food dehydrator (I think some of the large models have 9 trays) and run it 24 hours a day, you'd be astonished how much food you can dehydrate in a couple of weeks. If you visit the farmers markets this summer, you'll have ample opportunity to dehydate lots of food.

Second, I strongly advise that you purchase some dehydrated foods from Walton Feed in the smaller #2.5 cans so you have an opportunity to sample various dehydrated foods. I'm warning you, they are not all created equal, and you may find that you just flat out don't like some of them. A dehydrated apple slice, for instance, reconstitutes into something that at least looks like an apple slice. A dehydrated spinach leaf will never look like spinach again when you add water, other than its being green :) Better yet, buy a small quantity of each item and dehydrated it yourself so you'll know what to expect

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

I think its important to have three different food storage strategies. One should be a store of foods you eat daily anyway. Then some super pails in case a more long term situation is at hand. Last but not least a fair stash of the light dehydrated freeze dried food that could be more easily transported.

If the situation ever arises where people have to set out on foot a 50 lb bag of rice is not going to work..

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Agree with UL.....

+ Real waste of money to dehydrate canned anything.

What to get ?

Start with what you normally eat in the canned or dry goods area. Then simply stock more of it until you have several months worth of that. Bear in mind this is going to take a fair amount of room....

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Just a little reminder. A year's worth of food and ammo isn't worth squat without a year's worth of water. Given the suggested minimum of a gallon per person per day, that's about 400 gallons per person. At roughly 10lbs a gallon, you do the math.

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Nice pictures Andy. Thanks for posting them.

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Agreed............

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Nice area, Andy. Not too long ago I lived in East TN as well; after moving there from Middle TN. I was living in the Tri-Cities area.

Currently, I live in a largish NC city which changes the storage strategies immensely.
Thankfully, whoever built the house I am in made the area on the other side of my basement wall going into the crawlspace so that there is a ~4' wide by ~20' long by 6' deep trench. Basically, you crawl through the crawlspace entrance and realize you can step down into the trench where you can comfortably stand upright and walk the length of the house. Everything past the trench is typical claustrophobic crawlspace.

I have lined the trench with 6mil plastic sheeting weighted with bricks found in the crawlspace. The area stays plenty cool in the summer but I haven't checked to see what goes on in the winter. My primary storage concerns are keeping out rodents and protection against flooding (buckets!). I am curious what steps I should take to prevent gallon jugs of water from splitting open in the event of a freeze?!

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Very likely in a crawl space, given your location ( similar to mine ) it will not freeze unless you leave a LARGE hole, like the access door open. Earth is an excellent moderator of temperatures, unless there is a lot of air moving over it. Even the normal crawlspace vents won't allow enough cold air in to freeze something in a situation you describe.....though you can get a frozen pipe if it's close to the vent area.


Consider taking a rented block saw to that basement wall where the access to the crawl space is and make it a full doorway.....then hang a door over it......or a set of shelves that "swing" out on hinges if you want some concealment.

When I built my house, I ran into some shale type rock, and only put a 1/2 basement under one end of the house, and ran concrete slab over the first floor of the rest of the house.....it was all I could do at the time, but today, I'd have done whatever was needed to get the rock out, and build a full basement, they are so handy for storage..... pretty hard to dig out under a concrete slab now, so that ship has sailed..........

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

TnAndy continues to establish the gold standard of prepping!

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

nickelless,

Let the frozen food stay frozen. It represents a source of medium-term food that will taste pretty good when properly prepared. There is nothing wrong with canned goods, except when moving them. As others have said, your best bet is to buy your dehydrated or freeze-dried food, and start your home drying now. Where you're at, water isn't an issue, but clean water is. Have storage and/or a means of purification available.

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Hey Andy, I hope the folks new to prepping appreciate your info and photos.
It takes time and money and some sort of basic plan/goal. Food preps can happen even on limited resources.
If all you've got is a well stocked home pantry and freezer you're still very far ahead of the folks with only 3 microwave dinners in the frig and a 1/2 box of crackers in the cupboard.

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Dude, if I catch you in my fridge again, we're going to have a problem.

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

If my house is anything to go by it looks like a depot.:D

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Hope they do too, brewer......I probably shouldn't even post this stuff from an opsec point of view.....my goal is to hopefully motivate some folks to get with the program.

By the way, folks.....brewer and I go way back to another prep board.....he doesn't say much, but is a very poop together person.

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Your postings are greatly appreciated and they do inspire me to get with the program. The pictures are always worth 1000 words. ( or is it 10,000 now with inflation?)

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Hey, it's 4PM.. the sign work is done for the day it's raining and the garden work is postponed for the day..so I'm here with you folks.
Yep, Andy and I go back a few years, so I can report his info is the real deal.
Now here's the coolest thing about Andy.. he got me interested in PMs when AG was $4 and AU $4OO.
Thanks to him I have a stash for future reference.

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Andy,

Thanks.

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Brewer:

I assume my consultant's fee got lost in the mail ?

:D


Some day we're actually going to have to meet up, you know........

Re: What does a typical year's worth of food and other preps look like?
 

Andy, I think we're getting some thread drift here..and you're check is in the mail,,honest I swear it's gonna be there,any day now.