# What are good food items to store???



## JackAysJake (Feb 16, 2009)

What are some good foods to store? So far, I am thinking oatmeal, rice, canned beans, canned corn, canned grean beans. Im going to check on canned meat next. What else can you guys think of?



Jake


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## Canadian (Dec 14, 2008)

Freeze dried foods last the longest. Canned foods taste better but don't last as long. Grains tend not to last as long. Everything lasts longer if it is properly sealed and stored in a cool dark dry place. 

Think of how long you want to store the food. That will determine if you want freeze dried or canned. Then think about how many people will be eating and what they like to eat. Then go and buy it. Keep a list of when the food expires and replace the food as the dates come up.


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## Herbalpagan (Dec 8, 2008)

I belive in the saying "store what you eat and eat what you store". I just have more and rotate what i have.


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## Jerry D Young (Jan 28, 2009)

Canned meats (roast beef, tuna, chicken, turkey), lentils, dried fruit, canned fruit, hard candy, milk (powdered or Parmalat UHT), canned meat soups, grits, sugar, cocoa, Velveta cheese, powdered eggs, bacon bits or pieces, flour, baking powder, yeast, packaged mashed potatoes.


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## ke4sky (Oct 21, 2008)

*Preparing for Disasters: Your Food and Drinking Water Supply*

Good resources:

FCS9195/FY617: Preparing for Disasters: Your Food and Drinking Water Supply

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Emergency Water and Food Supplies

Consumer's Guide

Disaster Survival - Food Safety

Food and Water Supplies


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Don't buy food just to store - buy food that you normally prepare at home to eat ... just buy lots more of it and find a good home for it all to be placed.

My normal lunch at work is a package of chinese noodles - so I buy a couple cases at a time (48 per case) and store a few in my storage room at home and one case stays with me at work.

I like tuna, chicken, salmon, turkey and ham sandwiches. All I need for those is a can-opener and some MiracleWhip and various spices to match. A single can of ham (for $0.97) can make enough food to feed 2 adults and at least one child if combined with some sort of bread / bun or homemade biscuit. Because I like those canned meats - I will snag a case-lot at a time and rotate my older canned meats to the top of the pile and the newer at the bottom of the pile on the shelf.

I also eat alot of rice, vegies, beef, deer, moose ... and such. Again - storage and rotating that stored food in very large amounts is what you are aiming to do.

Buy as much as you can - and - as much as you can afford.

There is a restaraunt / convience-store food warehouse here in Calgary. When I am needing to restock my shelves with bulk-amount of stuff - that is where I go. They have everything you need to run a restaraunt there including all the take-out disposable containers, bulk breads, buns, cheezes, chicken wings, chicken drumsticks (perfect for bar-food), case-lots of pops, juices ... For a family stocking up on food / prepared food / for for preparation - the restaraunt warehouse is perfect.


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## Canadian (Dec 14, 2008)

I didn't buy any freeze dried food because my wife and I did a taste test and we didn't like how it tasted. We just stock cans and packages of what we already like to eat. We buy cases and make sure the expiry dates are as far out as possible.


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## endurance (Nov 26, 2008)

I store different foods for different purposes. While I agree with 'store what you eat, eat what you store' there's also some balance to that. First off, I'd like some super easy to prepare meals if I'm without power for a few days, but expect power to return shortly. For that, I have some freeze dried backpacking meals and some MREs. I have probably 2 weeks worth in the house. Next, I have an 'enhanced' pantry with lots of pasta, rice, and canned foods that I consume on a regular basis. In addition to my freezer, my pantry could probably get me through 3-4 months. Beyond this, I store grains. If I knew I was in for the long haul, I'd take the time that I don't have now to bake breads, make stews, and cook proper meals. I've experimented, made some stews, use my bread machine on a weekly basis, but don't have time to grind wheat or tend to a stew while I'm at work for 9-10 hours a day. If times get tough, I'll do what needs to get done, and in the meantime, I'm well stocked.


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## Expeditioner (Jan 6, 2009)

I use a variety of prepared and raw foods for my emergency supply. I use in this order:

1. Persishable foods first - anything in the fridge and extra feezer provided these are still running and/or the food has not spoiled.

2. Canned goods, rice, pasta, etc. (3 month supply)

3. Freeze Dried (Mountain House) and Star MRE's. (6 month supply and long shelf life)

I rotate these foods on a regualr basis (first in and first out) to keep the supply fresh. I also grow my own vegetables and have a large herb garden.


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## endurance (Nov 26, 2008)

I have a solar electric freezer, so barring EMP, as long as I can generate 75 watts for five hours a day for at least five days a week, I'll be set for frozen foods. I'm still not overly dependent on them, but it's nice to have that insurance.


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## Expeditioner (Jan 6, 2009)

endurance said:


> I have a solar electric freezer, so barring EMP, as long as I can generate 75 watts for five hours a day for at least five days a week, I'll be set for frozen foods. I'm still not overly dependent on them, but it's nice to have that insurance.


Endurance - did you build the solar freezer or did you by it off the shelf?


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## endurance (Nov 26, 2008)

It's a Sundanzer. They're spendy as heck, about $1,100 for an 8cu.ft., but it uses far less energy than anything else and runs on either 12 or 24vdc. If your goal is to go off grid, it's far cheaper to buy a high efficiency freezer and buy fewer solar panels and a smaller inverter than buying a cheaper freezer and more panels. There's even a dealer out there that sells the freezer as a package with the solar panel, charge controller and battery.


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## testhop (Dec 20, 2009)

endurance said:


> I store different foods for different purposes. While I agree with 'store what you eat, eat what you store' there's also some balance to that. First off, I'd like some super easy to prepare meals if I'm without power for a few days, but expect power to return shortly. For that, I have some freeze dried backpacking meals and some MREs. I have probably 2 weeks worth in the house. Next, I have an 'enhanced' pantry with lots of pasta, rice, and canned foods that I consume on a regular basis. In addition to my freezer, my pantry could probably get me through 3-4 months. Beyond this, I store grains. If I knew I was in for the long haul, I'd take the time that I don't have now to bake breads, make stews, and cook proper meals. I've experimented, made some stews, use my bread machine on a weekly basis, but don't have time to grind wheat or tend to a stew while I'm at work for 9-10 hours a day. If times get tough, I'll do what needs to get done, and in the meantime, I'm well stocked.


 get a slowcooker then start your stew before work set on low and when you get home supper is ready.
you can cook almost anything in the slowcooker meatloft ,roast, soupand lots more.


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

original question * What are some good foods to store? So far, I am thinking oatmeal, rice, canned beans, canned corn, canned grean beans. Im going to check on canned meat next. What else can you guys think of?

Jake *

wheat, rice,dry beans,groats,sugar,salt,water, stock a half ton of each, then branch out with tools, a grain grinder,fruits and vegs,cloths,radio.animals and a garden if you have the rm.


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## HarleyRider (Mar 1, 2010)

*Imho*



JackAysJake said:


> What are some good foods to store? So far, I am thinking oatmeal, rice, canned beans, canned corn, canned grean beans. Im going to check on canned meat next. What else can you guys think of?
> 
> Jake


Anything that has a long shelf life and tastes good! 

Also, anything that increases your comfort and/or is necessary (like toilet paper and medicines).


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## GroovyMike (Feb 25, 2010)

JackAysJake said:


> What are some good foods to store? So far, I am thinking oatmeal, rice, canned beans, canned corn, canned grean beans. Im going to check on canned meat next. What else can you guys think of?
> 
> Jake


Jake the biggst thing that you haven't mentiond is pasta.

As the other posters said, store what you normally eat. Just buy a six month supply when you see it go on sale at discount prices. In the end you pay LESS for food because you only buy it on sale and in bulk.

I have pails of rice and oatmeal as emergency longterm storage foods to stretch the normal groceries should we ever need it but I try to have at least 3 months worth of regular grocery store items on hand at all times too.


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## sailaway (Mar 12, 2009)

I just bought a small canned ham, I plan on using it shortly and seeing how it tastes. I plan on cooking it a couple of different ways to see how it tastes. My mom used to buy them when I was really young. I don't remember how long they stored or what they tasted like, but they may be worth buying for food preps.:scratch


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## horseman09 (Mar 2, 2010)

Don't forget parched corn. It is cheap if you grow and parch it yourself, versatile, lots of calories and protein, stores easily and almost forever.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

horseman09 said:


> Don't forget parched corn.


OK. You got me with this one. :scratch Is this dried?


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## horseman09 (Mar 2, 2010)

UncleJoe said:


> OK. You got me with this one. :scratch Is this dried?


Parched corn had been called pioneer candy. If done right, it's very sweet in the dried form and sweet like sweet corn when cooked.

We freeze all our sweet corn in quart bags. Most years we freeze about 125 quarts in freezer bags -- straight from the corn patch to shucking and into the pot for blanching. The oldtimers' saying was to have the water boiling in the pot before you pick your sweet corn.

Since we have a large wood burning cook stove we don't parch our corn until heating season. We have two 20" x 30" doubleboiler drying pans that works really well for parching corn. If the temp gets a little too high it will turn the kernals brown instead of golden, so the woodstove/double boiler drying pans are perfect.

We line the pans with heavy duty aluminum foil, spray with just a touch of Pam, and spread four or five quarts of thawed sweet corn --juice and all --on the pan. I turn a fan on it and let it dry, turning it a few times with a pancake turner. It takes about 8 to 10 hours per batch to properly dry.

The difference between dried corn and parched corn is dramatic. Typically, dried corn is dried on the cob without blanching. Blanching locks the natural suger in place rather than allowing it to turn to starch. The result of parching is a very sweet product. Lots of our friends and neighbors like to munch it dry like candy.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Do you think it would work using a dehydrator as opposed to the stove top method? It sounds tasty.


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## horseman09 (Mar 2, 2010)

UncleJoe said:


> Do you think it would work using a dehydrator as opposed to the stove top method? It sounds tasty.


Ya know, UncleJoe, I'll bet it would. It has lots of moisture in it, so you'd have to be careful about putting too much corn in your dehydrator or it might go sour. Darn. You'd just have to make hooch out of it then. 

If the wife and I can make it down to Ag Progress days, I'l bring some parched corn for you.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

This week I dried 12 trays of peaches and plan on taking some of those along as well as the apples I did last fall.


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## Rourke (Jul 23, 2010)

There have been lots of good responses here - not much I can add - except......

I think you can make a decent poor mans MRE using Hormel's Compleats ready made meals. They are usually found in the canned goods or pasta aisles. They have an expiration date of about 2 years out or so & already cooked. They have many varieties from Turkey & Stuffing, Chicken & Potatoes, Meatloaf,Beef Stew, etc.










I am an avid "Store what you - eat what you store" like others here - and I eat these Compleats meals at work for lunch.

Oh - they run around $2.00 each.

Take care - 
Rourke


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## testhop (Dec 20, 2009)

Canadian said:


> I didn't buy any freeze dried food because my wife and I did a taste test and we didn't like how it tasted. We just stock cans and packages of what we already like to eat. We buy cases and make sure the expiry dates are as far out as possible.


 you will be suprised how much better the freezed dry food taste when you get REAL hungry but i too buy what i like NO barley or lentles for me


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

testhop said:


> you will be surprised how much better the freeze dry food taste when you get REAL hungry but i too buy what i like NO barley or lentles for me


But, but, But! I like beef barley soup and I can make a killer lentil and smoked ham hock soup!
I think I just like to cook and have tried so many different types of food from other countries that I could probably do well in that chef cooking show where they give them "surprise" baskets with odd stuff in it and they have to use it to make dinner.. hehehe  hubby is even surprised at how many odd foods I can use...
Now if I could find some live baby octopus we could have some good eating!


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