By M.O.V.
In part 1 we covered disaster preparedness and OPSEC.
Let’s dive right in and take a look at a few options for food storage and prepping.
First, there are a variety pre-packaged long-term storage foods currently on the market today to choose from. Amongst those you can select either freeze-dried or dehydrated.
In this particular case, we will not be discussing frozen or fresh foods, as their shelf life can be measured in hours or days, and not weeks and months, which is our intended goal.
I have personally sampled several of each of those categories and can honestly say that most will sustain you, but you would not want to be forced to eat them every day for months on end. Humans are odd when it comes to our diet. A wise man once said, ‘Variety is the spice of life.” Our palettes tend to become quickly tired of the same types of bland foods, even those that are somewhat tasty when we first sample them. We like to eat a different type of food item for lunch and dinner, and have something entirely different the next day, if at all possible.
This brings up a valid argument for menu planning. If you have children in your family, you know how hard it can be at times to get your kids to try new foods, or even eat a properly balanced, healthy meal on a day-to-day basis. Imagine compounding that dilemma with a SHTF lifestyle, where your stock of food choices is extremely limited. This is when it becomes absolutely necessary for you to have a sit down family meeting, with all cell phones, computers, TV’s, MP3 players et al turned off and put away. Every member of the family should contribute suggestions on food items that they would like included in your menu planning session.
A great way to sell this to your family, without scaring the younger children, is to say, “We want to go camping on vacation this summer. What kinds of things would you like to eat when we are camping?” This gentle approach typically puts the younger minds at ease and gets them to seriously consider food items that they would actually be willing to eat.
Try to base your menu on a two-week schedule, or, if possible, a 30-day rotating schedule. This is a lot of work, but your taste buds will definitely thank you later on for your due diligence in proper menu planning. Once you’ve compiled your entrée items, add in your complimentary fruits and vegetables for your main meals. Lunch can be as simple as soup and / or sandwiches, and breakfast can be a variety of things such as granola, oatmeal, Pop tarts (for the younger kids…not all that nutritious, but great for morale) or dried cereal.
So, what are our choices of prepared, long-term storage foods? I’ve compiled the following list, which is by no means the end-all, be-all. It contains many of the more commonly available brand names and items that you are likely to find in most areas of the USA.
Pre-packaged foods (freeze-dried or dehydrated):
b) Wise Foods
i) Heater Meals
j) AlpineAire (Acquired by Katadyn Water purification systems)
k) Natural High (Acquired by Katadyn Water purification systems)
l) eFoodsDirect
m) MRE’s (Meal Ready to Eat) – consumer and military varieties
(This website has the most concise, accurate and insightful information
about both consumer and military MRE’s from around the world).
Out of this list, I have personally sampled Mountain House, Wise and U.S. military MRE’s (second generation, mid-1990’s version). Like I said before, you can live on them, but these probably should be only a small part of your overall prepping plan, in my humble opinion. After eating MRE’s for a week straight, I can certainly empathize with military personnel who have been forced to eat them for many weeks / months / years on end. It’s not preferable, but will sustain life if given few other options.
Moving on to the do-it-yourself and more commonly available food items for your pantry, you have several options.
First, you can jar or can your own fruits and vegetables. If you’ve never had the pain and pleasure of doing that, visit an aunt, uncle or grandparent who knows how to do this and offer to assist next canning season. You’ll be in for a real treat, and you will most definitely be thanked for your help. It’s a lot of hard work that takes many hours to accomplish, depending on your overall volume of canned goods you will be stocking. For the completely naïve and uninitiated, take a quick visit over to the Ball Mason Jar website and check out your options for canning and preserving. It’s amazing how far technology has progressed in that department, yet how so many of the basics still remain from over 100 years ago as well. It just proves that more things than moonshine can go in a Mason jar! From Moonshine, all the way to the Moon, the Ball company is simply amazing in its scope.
Second, you can buy readily available store-bought foods that your family might already know and love. Here is a list of common items that won’t bust your budget, yet will stretch quite far in an emergency situation:
Common store bought items:
a) Canned food: fruit, vegetables, meats, soups, stews / chili’s
b) Pasta, Rice, dried beans & peas
c) Oats, Cream of Wheat, Grits (easy to make breakfast items)
d) Knorr Pasta Sides
e) Knorr Swiss Soups & crackers
f) Idahoan Instant Potatoes (in 2-serving pouches)
g) Ramen Noodles or similar types with flavoring packets
h) Mac ‘N Cheese – generic brands or Kraft
i) Flour (wheat & white, pre-ground)
j) Whole grain wheat (non-ground)
k) Coffee beans (non-ground), coffee (pre-ground) & Hot Chocolate mixes
l) Jiffy mixes: corn bread, muffin mixes, brownies, biscuits, etc.
m) Pancake / waffle mixes (don’t forget the syrup!)
n) Bisquick will substitute nicely for several items – pancakes, biscuits, etc.
o) Chicken and Beef bullion cubes for soup stocks, etc.
p) Whole noodles – spaghetti, spiral pasta, bowtie, butter noodles, etc.
q) Regular popcorn in bulk bag, 1 LB size or more (great for morale)
r) Cooking oils – Corn, Canola, Safflower, Extra Virgin Olive Oil
s) Granola bars, pop tarts, similar ‘quick’ breakfast food items not requiring cooking
t) Homemade granola / trail mix
u) Drink flavor packets, Countrytime lemonade mix, etc
v) Bottled water, gallon size distilled water, 5 gallon size jugs of water
w) Pretzels, crackers, similar snack / meal items that store well
x) Dry-roasted nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, etc.
y) Dried fruit – raisons, dates, banana chips, apple chips, etc.
z) Salt, pepper, Tabasco, garlic powder / salt, seasoning items that your family likes
From A to Z, this list will at the very least give you and your family a solid starting point to make your own lists of edibles to assist in your menu planning.
Other morale boosters can be chewing gum & hard candy (like Jolly Ranchers, butterscotch candy, caramel hard candy, etc). These should be doled out to fight the inevitable boredom with the menu and to help fight depression in your youngsters.
Once you know what you will be eating, you can then adequately consider your cooking options. With or without electricity, you should plan how you will prepare your menu items and have several backup plans as well. Might I add, consider blue ice blocks in your freezer, solar power, wind powered generator, a small gas powered generator, hand cranked dynamo generator power and other similar options to keep your refrigerator and freezer sustained for as long as possible. At the very least, until you can eat the perishable foods before they spoil. Never let a good chicken breast, steak or burger go to waste!
Also, if you are so inclined, you can consider buying your own food dehydrator and vacuum-sealing machines to create your own version of the prepackaged foods. The best part of this type of venture is that your family can participate in the processing and will be more likely to enjoy the food they eat. The side benefit of it is that you can save literally thousands of dollars over purchasing the ready to eat varieties of prepackaged food. There are dozens of machines to choose from, and hundreds of websites dedicated to teaching you all you will need to know to get started in this process.
I hope that this information gives you the jump-start you need to start prepping for any level of disaster preparedness that may come your way. If you have any additional thoughts, ideas or information, post a response in the comment section.
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