# Food storage



## Gearhead14 (Mar 20, 2012)

Ok so I have been looking into freeze dried food supplies, and wondering what is best. I am looking for something that is under 80$, but has 60 or more servings of food. I also need advice on cheap long lasting food that I can buy at my local supermarket so any advice on that would be very appreciated. I an only fourteen, and I am the only person in my family that preps, so price is an issue for me. So any advice on how to prepare a months worth of food for four people cheaply would be helpful.....thank you


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

Coupons combined with sales can make your funds go further. Beans, rice, pasta, canned goods, and many other items give more calories per dollar than the freeze dried foods. Don't get me wrong freeze dried is great. You might want to download the LDS Preparedness Manual as this will give you answers to questions you haven't even thought of yet.


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## Homegrowngirl (Apr 19, 2011)

I agree, dried beans, rice, grains; like oatmeal and barley. Dried takes up less room, if you have the room canned is good also. I like Augason Farms for my dehydrated purchases, I can order on line and have it sent to my home, prices vary. Invest in a vacuum sealer, so you can vacuum seal your stores and keep bugs and moisture out.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

Learn to can. You can buy fresh foods when they are on sale then can them for longer storage.

Just ask Old Coot about canning hot dogs!


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## Friknnewguy (Jun 30, 2012)

When I was a kid my Mom would buy loafs of bread when it went on sale for super cheap . We had a big upright freezer in the basement and it was literally stuffed with frozen bread and Tastycakes . Man there's nothin better than a PB&J on not quite completely defrosted bread . Moral of that story , buy low and stock up .


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

If you are willing to put the time in to become good at the shopping you might be able to talk your parents into allowing you to spend their food budget. If you can get what they normally would, or an equivalent, then you get to use the remainder on family preps. Learn to think outside the mylar bag.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

If you have this mindset at 14, your leaps and bounds ahead of most, Kudo's.

IMO, one of the best long term food items you can get on a tight budget, at the grocery stores, are boxes of Oats. Here the large boxes are still around $3.00 or less if you shop around. Have a lot of protein, easy to cook and keep forever if stored properly. They are also lightweight and would travel well if you had to grab-n-go.

As stated above, rice and beans are good choices also.


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## Gearhead14 (Mar 20, 2012)

Ok so oats, rice, beans, canned foods are good preps from the super market. I also want to invest in a dehydrated food supply just because it is easy to grab and throw in the car, if we ever have to leave home. I have looked at mountain house and wisefoodstorage, but both are pretty expensive. Also what about ramen noodles do they have a long shelf life?


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## Gearhead14 (Mar 20, 2012)

Caribou said:


> Coupons combined with sales can make your funds go further. Beans, rice, pasta, canned goods, and many other items give more calories per dollar than the freeze dried foods. Don't get me wrong freeze dried is great. You might want to download the LDS Preparedness Manual as this will give you answers to questions you haven't even thought of yet.


Can you download the LDS preparedness manual over IOS, or do you have to buy a book?


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## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

Gearhead14 said:


> Ok so oats, rice, beans, canned foods are good preps from the super market. I also want to invest in a dehydrated food supply just because it is easy to grab and throw in the car, if we ever have to leave home. I have looked at mountain house and wisefoodstorage, but both are pretty expensive. Also what about ramen noodles do they have a long shelf life?


"Regular" food is way cheaper than freeze-dried. You can store it in 5 gallon buckets so that it is easy to "grab and go". You can get buckets for free from most bakeries or grocery stores.


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## DJgang (Apr 10, 2011)

Get you a five gallon bucket, and just start buying items that you will eat. Rotate items occasionally, you'll be able to grab the bucket and go...

Unless you have a way to heat water, dehydrated buckets won't do any good, start with canned items stacked in bucket. Most canned foods have two years.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

Gearhead14 said:


> Ok so oats, rice, beans, canned foods are good preps from the super market. I also want to invest in a dehydrated food supply just because it is easy to grab and throw in the car, if we ever have to leave home. I have looked at mountain house and wisefoodstorage, but both are pretty expensive. Also what about ramen noodles do they have a long shelf life?


A great way to get the freeze dried foods for cheap is contact the companies and request a sample. Wise will send you one 4-serving pouch 100% free. Other companies like GoFoods, eFoods, Daily Bread and Legacy ask for a small shipping fee that is less than you would pay for the equivalent amount of food. GoFoods charges $10 BUT you get 3 meals (4-6 servings each) and 2 drink samples. This is how I started and built up our food in our BOBs.

If you have a Costco membership they sell the 25 serving boxes of Mountain House for cheap in the spring and summer in store.

If you REALLY have to have freeze dried foods look into the 'everyday-sized' cans from Augason Farms and the 'pantry' cans from Thrive. They are roughly under $10 depending on the contents and shipping is price based.


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## memrymaker (Dec 12, 2012)

*Reply to question on Preparedness Manual*



Gearhead14 said:


> Can you download the LDS preparedness manual over IOS, or do you have to buy a book?


You can go to the AVOW site (Another Voice of Warning) and there is a way to download the PDF. Good to know in advance though that it is over 500 pages. Has a few in the beginning - maybe 10-15, that are religiously based...warning members of the church of their responsibility to be prepared.

It's a great reference book and you can get it for fairly cheap, but I downloaded it too and read parts of it at a time.

http://www.ldsavow.com/PrepManualGe...ress in order to download the LDS Prep Manual.


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

go to costco.com and search for "emergency food" and you can buy 5 gal buckets of Chicken or Beef TVP which are... well, one is like 280 servings and the other is 320 I think and I forget which... but anyway, both of those are only $64 each with shipping included in the purchase price.

you should understand though that this is not REAL meat, this is TVP, textured vegetable protein... so basically it's flavored Soy. But it's a crap ton of servings in an easily transportable container, add to rice/beans for carbs and calories and you have a meal.

They also sell ARK buckets which are 30 days of individually packaged meal components freeze dried and ready to be rehydrated and cooked. Those are about $90 when they are on sale and that one is real chicken.


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