My food storage philosophy

[Purple_Mutant]

Lately I have been thinking about food storage. I got my food storage philosophy down to a very simple motto.

Eat what you store : Store what you eat

Poking around the internets; I have seen many examples of people with stashes of food they have sitting around waiting for the zombies to show up. I don't think that's the best way to go about it. Here are what I see as the issues

• 1. You have to worry about rotating your food. When things are about to expire you have to figure out what to do with a whole case of Spam.
  2. It's a waste of space. Normally it would be considered silly to have things taking up space that you aren't using and hopefully will never use.
  3. It's a waste of money. With most things it's rather silly to buy something you plan on never using. Sure you can donate it to the food bank, but it's still money you spent on something you didn't use.

Your food storage and the food you eat daily should be one and the same as much as possible. Here are the advantages

• 1. Automatic food rotation. Since you are aways eating and replenishing things, you don't have to worry about what to do with that case of Spam
  2. Variety in food. If you eat things regularly, you can store items with a shorter shelf life. I use soy milk daily so I have 15 cartons in my stash.
  3. Consistency in meals. When the disaster hits, your diet will remain more or less the same. You wont have to worry about eating nothing but MRE's and Spam for the next 6 months. Eating what you LIKE to eat and are used to eating will make the PAW suck a whole lot less.

It might take some time to make your eating habits more PAW friendly, but it doesn't have to be done overnight. Back in the days before refrigeration and fast food that's how people ate. People had a pantry full of home canned/preserved stuff and a root cellar full of potatoes and things. Of course 100% of your food intake doesn't have to be PAW food. Fresh meat and veggies can be added in limited quantities. Also, I like having the occasional pizza, Chinese takeout, and ice cream. Your food storage doesn't have to suck! I think I will have rice for dinner, like I do most days!

[Aceman]

I'm really a tiered kind of guy...

Level 1 - Extra pantry stuff (Store what you eat...) and rotation
Level 2 - Freeze dried (easy, light, convenient)
Level 3 - Staples in buckets (rice, beans, etc...
Plus - Some MRE's for good measure.

They all have their place and purpose:
Can't beat a rice bucket for cost/duration performance.
Can't beat an MRE when you gotta leave NOW!
Can't beat cans of Spaghettios when the boys are growing and you don't want to go to the store.
CAn't beat a bag of Mountainhouse Stroganoff for a change of pace and easy prep during SHTF.

Rice plus a can of Veggie soup goes a long way...

[Rambo Moe]

Yeah, I think you're touching on the concept of a rotating supply.

For example, let's say you have a diverse 6 month supply of food.

This week, go shopping for a weeks supply.

When you get home, put the new stuff at the back of the supply, and take the oldest stuff up to your kitchen to be used this week.

This way, you always have food in your stash with a long shelf life.

Then, when SHTF:

1. Cook all your frozen meat, if possible. Cooked meat will last longer than raw if your freezer goes out. If it's winter, you can store the frozen meat outdoors in an area safe from predators and thieves.
2. Eat food from your fridge that will perish quickly.
3. Then move onto your freezer food. If you keep the door closed, ice crystals should keep it good for a few days.

This alone should get you through 2-3 days in most cases.

THEN you can move into your supply, which has a long shelf life because you rotated.

Cheers,
Rambo Moe