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HEREFOOD STORAGE BASICS
By: Osage From
Alpha Disaster ContingenciesOVERARCHING PRINCIPLES
Whatever food storage plan you develop must be suited to you (your family, your circumstances, etc) in at least three ways:
Food Allergies and Intolerances: These are unchanging. If a family member is allergic to any food (such as peanuts or wheat) you must not store that food. Kitchen hygiene during an emergency may allow for cross-contamination which can be life-threatening. If someone in the family is intolerant of a food (such as milk) don’t store that food for that person. Substitute safe foods for the ones not stored.
Preferences: These are flexible and adaptable. This is utterly and entirely different from an intolerance. It simply means you don’t like certain foods. First, make the adult decision to be in charge of your own life and not a perpetual victim! Second, develop and institute ways right now to broaden those preferences. During an emergency you’ll be under enough stress; don’t add to it by mandating a major change of diet.
Abilities and Tools: These are easily changeable. Growth here, as in the arena of preferences, can be made an adventure. Learn to cook and prepare foods in new, energy-efficient ways or ways using different energy sources. Purchase and learn right now the tools you’ll need to prepare food. This can be as simple as learning to cook over an open fire and as complicated as the salesclerk at the survival store can convince you to spend hard-earned money on.
TRIAD APPROACH TO FOOD STORAGE
I have recommended for years that food storage be pursued along three complimentary axes, like the X, Y, and Z axes of a three-dimensional coordinate system. These are :
-Quick Food Kit (aka 72-hour kit, bug-out bag, etc),
-Routine Daily Foods, and
-Long-Term Storage Foods.
These meet different needs but the use of one is complimentary to the others.
QUICK FOODS
Quick foods are mainly for acute events which are not expected to last long but which significantly interrupt normal family operations. Events such as hurricanes, ice storms, earthquakes, etc are the sexy players here. But these foods are for anything unexpected that shouldn’t last too long or for the first few days of a longer event.
Foods stored under this heading are generally characterized as being:
-Easy to fix (no more than boiling water),
-Portable (in case you have to abandon your home),
-Familiar (make them familiar right now),
-Good sources of calories (because you’ll likely be working hard), and
-Have good flavor (to lift spirits and encourage eating when you really don’t feel like it).
ROUTINE DAILY FOODS
These serve two purposes. First they are a convenient way to be prepared for short-term events lasting from 1-2 weeks to a few months. Secondly they act as a bridge to the exclusive consumption of foods from your long-term supply. You should store at very minimum a one-month supply of these. Four to six months is much better but is something to develop over several years (if you feel you have the time).
Events such as an extended winter storm (the KY ice storm of 2009 left some folks without power for weeks), hurricane (Katrina: ’nuff said), and others are the sexy players here. But with today’s (Feb 2009) economic situation a layoff or employment cutback is more likely for most folks and can be at least as humbling as their flashier brethren (from sad personal experience).
The role of bridge foods is also critical. Affordable foods for long-term storage taste different from what most of us eat every day and they digest differently. You and your digestive tract need some time to adjust. One Warning ™: do not eat up all your bridge foods then suddenly switch to your deep storage foods. That destroys the whole idea of bridge foods and puts you under unnecessary physical and emotional stress. The simple truth is that you should be eating some foods from your deep storage every week, even if it’s only a pot of beans and rice and some wheat biscuits.
Foods under this heading are the stuff you eat every day with some exceptions. They should not require refrigeration or freezing to store (in case of a power outage). They should be the easier-to-fix items from your weekly grocery trips rather than the all-day-marathon recipe ingredients. In short, they should be easy to fix and familiar.
LONG-TERM STORAGE FOODS
Many people advocate a strict “store what you eat” approach. It has the advantages of familiarity and convenience, but I have neither the space nor the money up-front nor the generator and fuel to support that plan. I store an affordable mix of foods that last a long time in storage and requires no more infrastructure than a dry place to sit. This section is going to be aimed at that approach.
Foods in this category are for sustaining life and health for a long time. They are characterized by a relatively low cost per unit, good nutritional content, and a very long shelf life. Many of these are not familiar in daily American use, but with a tiny bit of work can be made part of the weekly diet of an average family. Included in this ‘deep storage’, as a friend calls it, should be some treats I call brain candy. Hard candy, hot cocoa mix, a few cans of treat-quality canned goods held in reserve, etc are all good ideas. You should also store spices and flavorings to make these rather bland foods more palatable.
The plan I recommend here is based on recommendations from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka LDS or ‘Mormons’) which they released about 1983. It recommends you store foods in the following categories:
-Grains (at least 65% whole grains): 20 – 35 lb/person/month
based on age and size includes wheat, whole corn, rice, oats, pasta,
flour, corn meal
-Legumes (beans, peas, lentils, & the like): 3 lb/person/month
including a mix of legumes (1/2 lb each of split peas & lentils; ¼ lb
each of limas & soy; remainder any bean)
-Sugar (honey, refined sugars, etc): 5lb/person/month
-Milk: 1.5 lb/person/month
-Fats & Oils: 2.2 lb/person/month (about 3/10 gal)
- Adjuncts (including salt, leavening (cream of tartar & baking soda), vinegar).
The LDS Church has recently decreased it’s recommended minimums to 25 lb of grains and 5 lb of beans per person per month.
You will need some extra tools for preparing these foods. You should store most of your grains as whole grains. That requires a grinder of some sort to prepare them as flour or cracked grains. Most whole grains and beans can be sprouted, fantastically increasing their nutritional content. Sprouting kits are cheap or can be fashioned from coarse cloth and a canning jar with ring. You’ll also need to develop skills and gather tools for preparing these foods. A wide-mouth thermos, straw-box cooker, or other insulated container makes cooking beans much easier and more energy-efficient. Cast iron Dutch ovens and the developed skills to use them can turn basic survival foods into a feast.
Copyright: Osage, Alpha Disaster Contingencies, AlphaRubicon.com 2009
you may use this freely with proper attribution. You may not charge any monetary value for this information.
