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Food. Anybody stocking up?

Ultradog MN

Ultradog MN

Well-known Member
Location
Twin Cities
I've thought about stocking up some sort of a food supply here lately. Never gave it much thought before. Not a survivalist type. Get my groceries at the supermarket when I need to.
Simple as that.
I know the authorities tell you you ought to have food and water for a few days. Maybe I ought to listen now and then and at least give it some thought and ask for how long?
I googled MREs and got the usual google sponsered ads which looked expensive.
I'm sure that in the collective wisdom of this board there's folks that have better, cheaper answers than Google does. There's a self reliance here.
Someone steer me in some good directions as to laying by the minimum for a time.
At least have a conversation about the subject.
I'd like to know what others are doing.
If they even gave it a thought.
By the way, this topic is entirely OT.
Thanks
 
There is so darn many cans of food in the cupboard here that we could live for a month if we have to.

Bet most people could do the same.

Gary
 
I'd skirt around MREs and go for IGA or A&P. Seriously, any canned goods you get at the grocery store should last for years. Or, can your own veggies (wait until a reaaaally hot day though to do it). You could probably get everything you need at Aldi's or Save-A-Lot. Well, except beer, the golden nectar.
 
Always a good idea to have stuff on hand just in case something happens. Thats one reason I can a lot of my stuff. I also keep a good supply of ammo on hand for my guns because its easy to shot something if the need is there.
Hobby farm
 
no.1 just finished putting up alot of hay
no.2 just going to start putting up about 15
to 18 cord of fire wood
no.3 plenty of chicken, pork and beef going
in the freezer.
This is just a start I believe it will work
well this winter. The wife and I don't plan
on buying alot at the store.
 
I think a person should have enough of everything on hand to last a full 7 days. I have been meaning to start laying in a supply. I have lots of timber, but that requires time and gasoline to cut and split. so you really need that done a year in advance.


Like Old says, you need ammo. For the first week to shoot a deer or a few rabbits. After the first week you need a double supply of ammo to shoot all the folks coming out of the city to take your food away from you.

Never hurts to be prepared.


Gene
 
Just finished helping my wife put up about a bushell of sweet corn. She has been canning tomatoes and pickles for the last 2 weeks. Usually tries to put up 75 qts. of tomatoes and about 50 pickles. She always finds the hottest days to do it for some reason.
 
Well, we buy beef by the quarter from a cattleman friend, so we've usually got a hundred pounds or so on hand. I bake the bread in the family and I've always got enough flour on hand for at least a couple of months of that. Veggies...probably a couple of weeks worth, as well as a couple of weeks supply of MREs, just in case. Ammo? I can probably supply a platoon and still have a comfortable reserve.
 
2 cabinets full of canned good, 2 hogs in the freezer, half a beef in there, folks did 50 some quarts of corn last week, peachs i dont know how many the folks have done but we just did 15 quarts, man my back hurts right now, will be doin peachs for several weeks yet, the applys will be ripe enough here pretty quik, then the pears. we freeze some of the fruit, but we dry a bunch of it. the trouble with that is keepin the grandkids out of the dried fruit, they like it better then candy. of course so do I. will make 5 gallon bags of jerky yet also.
we will not starve here.
my father didnt want me to start plantin all the fruit trees 10 years ago, but he sure likes them now. have over 60 fruit trees of different types.
want to plant some paw paw next year. looks interesting, anyone ever had paw paws?
johndeeregene
 
Starve around this place and it is your own fault two generators on site a good portion of beef in the freezer another ready in October whole hog in there rifles with at least a enough ammo to kill something and lots of canned goods and frozen veggies and fruits 1 bigg deep freeze full two refrigerator freezers and two pantry closets full yeah we will make it a while
 
Not really buying more to keep in stock. Always have enogh in the house to "make it" a week or better. I have been shop'n for a generator for a while. We freeze alot of stuff in the summers and would not want to loose it all in a power outage. Don't want to spend the money for a good gas one. Would like to have a pto powered one. Only thing is if we have an ice storm, I will have to run the generator off a little gas tractor to warm up a diesel tractor.

Not try'n to sound like a wacko here but I will say I am buy'n more rounds than I'm shoot'n these days. No matter what I have in the house there is alot to eat just out the back door.

Dave
 
Just stock up on whats on sale, say an extra 10 bucks a week worth of canned stuff. When canned ham's on sale, get 2 instead of one, same with tuna, vegies, pasta, olives, etc. I'm far from the survivalist type, though I can make do if I have to, I dont want to have to. For 'making it' and we have had 7-21 day power outages here, I try to keep at least 100 gallons of diesel on hand at one farm or the other and at least 5 gallons of gas for the generator (I run it through the atv about every 6 mo to keep it fresh plus stabil). Freezer stays full, whatever kroger has as their loss leader in the beef or pork dept.

I try to work my way through the canned goods when I go camping. Its not so much having any specific thing for me as it is having a variety and making the most of it. I worry more about keeping my 1st aid kit stocked, and my propane tanks filled than anything else. I grilled every day the last outage we had, generator was running the greenhouse most of the time so I was worried about losing the freezer.
 
kyplowboy, have you ever considered a generator/welder that runs off of propane? In my area propane is cheaper than gas or diesel and you could use the portable welder in the field if needed.
 
There are some great sites. Check out the "bird flu" preparation sites for everything from how to can to how to purify water...
 
If you need some pork&beans I have some left from Y2K preparedness. You'll have to get a new opener, all of mine are rusty or bent. :)
 
it costs money to stock up.

And the stupid food that gets stocked up eventually rots in the cans, goes out of date, and all other sorts of schitt.

Forget stocking.
 
Whell being from the gem state the only thing I do is take care of the garden. Cause you have to have veg's with your meat legal or not, people have to eat. And if times get that bad a lot of us here are ready to do what you have to. I realy feel sorry for the folks in town they don't have a clue as to what can happen all they know is that it comes from the store.
 
We rarely have less than a month's supply on hand. This is not especially because we "expect disaster", it's because it's a 50 mile trip to the grocery store and it just makes sense to make one trip a month instead of four.

As others have mentioned, when we shop we buy more than our immediate needs on non-perishables. If we need 2 cans of green beans, we buy four. We have a pantry in the basement that stays pretty well stocked up and we rotate the older stuff to the front. Have NEVER opened a can that had gone bad. Probably everything gets rotated in a year's time, maybe a bit less.

We also have two freezers chock-a-block full by the end of October. Our own chicken and lamb, plus select cuts of this and that whenever the store has a special.

A good generator is a given. Again, not because we foresee Armageddon, but because the local electric utility is a freakin' joke and we have outages every time it clouds up. I have a portable gas unit big enough to run the freezers, well and furnace. I've been contemplating a bigger built-in autoswitch unit, but haven't been pleased with the results reported by local folks that have them. Mechanically they're okay (altho there have been some failures) but electronically they a huge PITA with frequent and repeated failures and long repair delays. I'll keep my old Briggs for right now.

And how much ammo I have on hand is classified...";^)
 
I have stocked up a little, maybe a 1 month supply of food total. But, I only have one refridgerator and the pantry holds only so much. What you need to do is buy food when it is clearanced, like Campbells chunky soup, 3 cans for $5 and canned fruit, 10 for $10 and so on. If OPEC decides to price oil in Euros instead of dollars then the price of food will jump up. Instant inflation. If that happens run to the store and buy what you can store up in your house.
 
Maybe enough for a few days, but then the average pantry has that much anyway. I don't believe in the survivalist crap anyway. The fallout shelter mentality from the 60's. Generally stuff that people stock up for some future disaster, real or imagined just sits there and eventually goes out of date anyway. So, I keep some non-perishables on hand more to save frequent trips to town. We had the ice storm some years ago where everything was shut down for a week, and my normal stocks did fine.
 
(quoted from post at 18:50:31 08/18/08) You could probably get everything you need at Aldi's or Save-A-Lot. Well, except beer, the golden nectar.
Click to expand...
Aldi (and all grocery stores) sell beer, wine, and whiskey here in Germany :)

I'd stay away from the MRE's too having ate my share of them. Was training once and was digging a foxhole and found some old C rations. Couldn't read the labels anymore, but they were still sealed and the food was good (as good as C rations get anyway).

I'd go with canned (or self canned) food also. Opened some stuff from my grandma's basement once that was over 20 years old and was still very good. Even had some home canned beef that was good at 15 years.


Dave
 
After canning and freezing from the gardens all Summer we have about a years worth of food anyway.Folks either have a Grasshopper or Ant outlook it seems. One good little war in the Mideast could drastically affect oil supplies which will would affect trucking/food distribution.Most grocery stores only have few days supply and if a crisis came up they'd be empty in hours.
 
Stocking up on food for what. There is always enoug to survive on for a week or so. What are we supposed to be stocking for are the men fron Mars coming.
 
Common suggestion is for 3 days minimum, but most country folks have far in excess of that. No need for "survival" food at home, just use canned goods. Frozen is ok as well, to the extent you can provide electricity to your freezer. MRE's are nice to have in your vehicle in case you get stranded or have to leave in a hurry. More importantly, though, is to have plenty of drinking water on hand. City supplies run out quickly, and if you have a drilled well at home, you will need a generator. If you plan to stock for a month or more, don't forget about little things like deodorant, toothpaste and toilet paper. May not need them to survive, but will make you much more comfortable and less stressed. I try to keep 2 months supply of food on hand-good idea even if it is just a hedge against inflation.
 
I have been stocking for over 50 years.We were snowed in for 2 weeks in 1948.My mother had no problems with food because she kept a bit ahead.I put a date on everything I buy.Spoiled can goods are rare,just dont let them freeze.It costs little to stock up ,buy only on sales.Just bought round steak at 1.79 a pound and put it in the freezer.Now we can still eat when 100 gal of fuel oil will cost 500 bucks.We had a bad ice storm in 1998 that left us with out power for 10 days some areas were out for 30 days.One radio station ran the transmitter on bottled propane hauled up a mountain on snowmobiles.Many people were out of food in two days.Roads were clogged with downed trees and power lines.Job losses are common,An injury can put you down for a long time.You can do without electric power but no food will get old fast.There are many places in this country where you have to stock up or go without.Your super market holds stock for about 3 days and most cant even sell goods with out electric power.My generator keeps the freezer and fridge running and the water pump working.I can run on wood heat and there is a hand pump on my well.My generator kept our post office running during the ice storm.Parked my truck at the post office mornings and used the generator to keep my place and several other houses from freezing up afternoons.My mom and dad went through the depression and WW2 rationing.They taught me to be ready for hard times.My son has no electic days now and then so his kids have training to handle tough times.any one who dosent prepare is a fool.Brings to mind people who had canned goods but couldnt open them because all they had was an electric can opener.
 
A full scale trucking strike is long overdue.You must think eggs and meat are made in the back room of the supermarket.
 
Mine are made out back of the house.....meat and eggs that is.

If and when some calamity strikes, most of us bumpkins will have enough to eat.......but the slickers are going to find the shelves at Kroger's bare. That is just one of the benefits of living in a concrete jungle...along with all those fine schools for little BillyBob and Nerlene, high taxes, sidewalks, street lights glaring all night, train whistles and of course.......convenience!
 
Theres a hand pump that will work on a drilled well made in Maine.I keep a hand pump on my dug well summer.I keep an MRE in my back pack while hunting along with a small sterno stove.I use chafing dish fuel cans, cost far less than sterno.You can refill with drygas or solvent alcohol.
 
Just a kind thought if yall get hungry just take a vacation to canada and stop by, the wife and i would enjoy yer company for a good meal. we have lots of food and will share with our friends from the us.
 
I don't know what to say about 'stocking up'. I guess it is just part of normal life to have stuff on hand.

The only stuff we buy in town are grains and 'goodies'. My wife has quite a business going selling produce, meat and eggs and there are always enough left overs for us. Our personal budget has gotten A LOT more managable since we stopped running to town with a walletful of money and coming home with none.

I have to admit that drinking water is a problem. If we think there might be a power disturbance we fill up containers of water. However, we have had a few power outages that just happened out of the blue. Fortunately none of these have last longer than several hours at most. How long could you keep drinking water in a food grade barrel before it got nasty?

Christopher
 

Six months in sterilized containers. I assume you have well water, in which case it is recommended to add one-quarter teaspoon of pure bleach per gallon to make sure nothing grows. If you have city water (with chlorine) then you don't need to add the bleach.
Extension document on water
 
Depends on the temp and how close to "drinking" water it was to start with.

If it is cold, dark, and was clean to start with it will keep for a very long time.

One oz of 6% or so Clorox in a 50 gallon barrel would get you about 8 ppm total Cl. With what would be in the barrel and the stuff in most all well water, the free Cl would be down around 4ppm which is the max residual here in KY for public water. If you are a little worried about it, an oz would make it "keep" alot longer as long as the "grow'n" in what you are worried about.

Hope this helps.

Dave
 
This will keep for basically a lifetime as long as it's sealed. It's even on sale pretty often. I put some in the bow of the boat and had to use it about 3 years later. Pretty good as we were hungry....You can also find chlorine tablets but boiling will kill any virus, bacteria or fungi.
 
Most people live paycheck to paycheck with nearly cupboards. 2 weeks without shopping and they would be out of every perishable and consumable item in the house.
Every natural disaster brings them out wandering like scared glassy eyed children with nobody to take care of them. They wait until the government government shows up and "helps" them. The "victims" usually complain about the assistance being too little & too late.
When asked the the victom's say "its the government's job to look after us".
 
I keep a years supply of food with me at all times, if we have a year of Locusts or whatever I'd be about where the doc says I shoud be, wt wise that is.
 
This board moves so fast!
This is at the bottom of page two already.
Had to work some overtine here lately so my check is a little bigger. Neighbor is a member at Sams Club. I think I'll go with him and buy a couple hundred $ worth of can goods.
Thanks for all the replys.
 
Extra hay in the barn is a good idea.We have had so much rain , getting the hay in seems impossible.This is old time advice that holds true.
 
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