# what foods should I start with



## Hawkeye (Feb 17, 2012)

Hi All! Hwkeye here and I'm just getting my feet wet in Prepping. I want to know what food choices can I get as I shop at Wal Mart every week. I plan to add a portion at a time to build my family of 4's food bank. I would appreciate your input please.


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## TheAnt (Jun 7, 2011)

The best I can advise is to purchase more of what you already purchase that has a good shelf life and can be prepared without electricity. For things that you purchase that dont meet this criteria find a good alternative that does. Start thinking about food storage as a way of life. Eat from your food stores and ultimately get so that you only need to shop maybe once a month to maintain your desired level of food storage. This of course requires extra space dedicated to food storage but you can find ingenious ways to maximize storage space that you already may have. Start with acheivable goals: first store 1 month of food for your household, then 3, 6, 12. Once you get 3-6 months of food stored start USING your food storage and rotating it as you replenish it (even if you only replenish it monthly). That would be my advice... oh, and dont forget to store water, condiments, spices, drink mixes, disposable plates/utensils (for when dish washing water may not be readily available), etc.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

White rice, dry beans, sugar, and flour. Then either buy the food-grade buckets with airtight lids, or ask at places like grocery store bakeries for buckets. Clean the buckets (even new ones should be washed) and make sure they're thoroughly dry. Set the food to be stored in the same room as the buckets for a few hours to equalize the temperature, then pack the food in as tightly as you can. Snap on the lids and put in a cool, dark place, if possible. 

You can get the 25-lb. bags of these foods at Wal-mart. Sure, you can shop around for the best price among stores, if you want, or just buy them at Wal-mart. People will say "Those aren't nutritious foods", and by themselves (other than the beans), they're not. But take rice, for example, you can add just about anything to it: Vegetables, meat, fruit, whatever. At any rate, you're just looking for a simple way to get started. Those foods will keep you going. Other people will argue endlessly about things like moral issues of shopping at Wal-mart, but try not to get hung up on that. If Wal-mart is your store of choice, get over there and start your prepping. 

Then get an extra bucket and buy a bottle or two of all your favorite spices, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, and some salt and pepper. Pack the bucket with them and put it with the rest. 

After that, start getting things like boxes of powdered milk. If you have (or can buy or borrow) a vacuum sealer you can repack the powdered milk. You can branch out and start buying things like instant potatoes and repacking/storing them.

Keep it simple. Buy what your family will eat, and make sure you know how to cook with what you store. As for how much, just get a bag of something each month, or even one of each thing each month. I have a daughter who buys a 25-lb. bag of each every month. I have a neighbor how gets a 50-lb bag of rice and a 25-lb bag of pinto beans every month at Costco. It slowly builds up. Just do what you can each time. Every bit helps.

Edit: When I posted I saw that Ant posted while I was writing. His advice is exellent too.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

If you are just getting started, you can start with just picking up extra cans or packages of shelf stable items that you normally buy. Things like cans of green beans, corn, evaporated milk, boxes of oats, bags of beans, rice and even powdered milk.

IMO, you should stock up on things that your family normally eats, or will eat without too much complaining. Until you decide exactly how you are going to proceed and which avenue you are going to take, dont get started down a path that will cost alot of money....such buying expensive specialty items(Freeze dried foods, MRE's or bulk food items hermetically sealed in #10 cans). 

You can pack away a lot of sugar, flour, beans and rice for the cash you will spend on all the specialty stuff. It will also be important to decide if you are going to stay put or "bug out" when the SHTF. If you are going to hit the road it may well be better to invest in that specialty stuff or produce your own versions of it.

Before you ever buy the first can of beans, you should know what you are preparing for, so planning is the first step, not buying.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Hawkeye said:


> Hi All! Hwkeye here and I'm just getting my feet wet in Prepping. I want to know what food choices can I get as I shop at Wal Mart every week. I plan to add a portion at a time to build my family of 4's food bank. I would appreciate your input please.


Listen to those guys, they will not steer you wrong.


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## TheAnt (Jun 7, 2011)

gypsysue said:


> Edit: When I posted I saw that Ant posted while I was writing. His advice is exellent too.


Thanks! Now if I could only follow my own advice as well as I can hand it out!!!! But isnt that always the hard part?


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## DJgang (Apr 10, 2011)

Wendy Dewitt, google her and watch her you tube videos.

Honestly, I've started with a way to filter water and a way to cook. I am in the woods and could use fire, but I got a sun oven anyway, I love it! Cooked four meals when the tornado hit us last year. 

I bought three berkey filters and have 5 gallons buckets to make a filtering system, we have a water source, but plan on making another water source on our property this summer.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

gypsysue said:


> Edit: When I posted I saw that Ant posted while I was writing. His advice is exellent too.


When I started typing their were no replies, when I submitted the reply, I was third in line.

If you ask a question on this forum, you will likely receive more replies than you can process in short order.


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## TheAnt (Jun 7, 2011)

Davarm said:


> When I started typing their were no replies, when I submitted the reply, I was third in line.
> 
> If you ask a question on this forum, you will likely receive more replies than you can process in short order.


Thats because we have such excellent folks on this forum! Very helpful indeed! Me, I was just lucky and typed fast


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## Claymore5150 (Nov 17, 2011)

We are in the same boat, maybe a little farther along, but not much.

Still in the store bought canned goods stage. Case in point, was at the wallyworld last night picking up canned goods and shelf stable stuff. Most everything is good until AT LEAST mid 2013. That is the stuff we eat every day. Green beans, canned chicken, canned ham, mini raviolis, Knorr "Sides" packs of noodles/rice stuff...the "basics". Stuff the kids will eat with us. 

We also, on occasion, make sure to pick up a BIG can of dehydrated milk, and are starting to look at more Long Term Storage foods, as well as building our seed bank with heirlooms. 

It really is surprising how much canned goods you can get of the stuff you already eat with 2-3 years shelf life on it. I like to go shopping later in the evenings, like 9:30pm, that way I don't bug everyone by looking at all the dates and holding them up. I spent less than $200 last night, got probably 3 or 4 weeks worth of canned goods and shelf stable stuff, a couple hundred feet of rope, about $20 worth of batteries, and other "assorted" items. So I probably only spent like $120 maybe less on the actual food preps.

Once you've got a good supply of the stuff you're going to eat anyhow, then start sliding some other stuff into the mix like eggs, cheeses, etc. 



Don't forget your WATER.....It goes faster than the food will.


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

And don't forget a MANUAL can opener!!!


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

gypsysue said:


> White rice, dry beans, sugar, and flour. Then either buy the food-grade buckets with airtight lids, or ask at places like grocery store bakeries for buckets. Clean the buckets (even new ones should be washed) and make sure they're thoroughly dry. Set the food to be stored in the same room as the buckets for a few hours to equalize the temperature, then pack the food in as tightly as you can. Snap on the lids and put in a cool, dark place, if possible.


All of a sudden I had a flash-back to the '70s when there was a series of "cartoons" Saturday mornings. The flash-back was to the SchoolHouse-Rock cartoons, in particular, the "Beans-n-Rice" one. I found it on YouTube






Beans-n-rice has been listed as a good combination of food that is easily stored, easily cooked and has great energy-levels.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Hawkeye said:


> Hi All! Hwkeye here and I'm just getting my feet wet in Prepping. I want to know what food choices can I get as I shop at Wal Mart every week. I plan to add a portion at a time to build my family of 4's food bank. I would appreciate your input please.


Ok - to your question.

First I would probably setup a room in your house that can be turned into a food-storage-zone. The room doesn't need to be large, but, it would be best if it didn't have HVAC-systems running through it or into it. Meaning, the temperature stays at a constant cool temperature, not too hot, not too humid and not too cold either. It would be best if the floor is plain concrete or tile and at the lowest point in the house.

Next, I would fill that room with shelving as far as the arm can reach easily. On the lower sections, place the heaviest stuff - bottled-water, flour, sugar, green-peas, pastas, rice, dry-beans,etc. Next to that, have bulk-water supplies like the 10-gallon water-cooler bottles. Have a water cooler or water-bottle pump-dispenser to pull that water out. Keep at least 4 full bottles (as you have a family of four) in the storage room and have one on each water-cooler and have one spare beside each water-cooler. Keep on top of keeping the bottles full and rotated.

On the first-shelf above the heavy-items, place your purchased canned goods that includes pasta-sauce, soups, canned-beans, canned potatoes, etc. For a family of four, I would probably have at least 52 purchased cans of each style to get started (one can shared per week of the year). That would be supplemented with the next shelf-above which would be your home-canned goods. Have a garden to grow as much food as possible. Can your home-grown carrots, make your own tomato sauces, make your own jams, etc. I would also consider setting aside space for "comfort-foods" that can include cookies, granola-bars, hard-candy, soft-candy, chocolate, etc.

The next shelf up should be your canned / preserved meats. Go hunting and make jerky, canned stews, etc. Fill a shelf with all that.

The top shelf I would fill with personal-grooming supplies - toothbrushes, tooth-paste, mouth-wash, body-soaps, shampoos and I would also fill it with medical-supplies including Asprin, Advil, Excedrin (and similar pain-killers), basic first-aid supplies (seperate and apart from your bathroom first-aid-kits) that can include things like crutches, canes, splints, slings, etc.

In a seperate area, I would probably load-up on industrial-grade cleaning supplies. I purchase SprayNine in bulk and refill their bottles. Amazing stuff, kills all the bad stuff quickly. I use it in bathrooms, kitchens, on vehicles and even use it to clean my hands. I also have bulk-bottles of products like Windex for the Ammonium-content which is a great disinfectant and cleaner - can be used to wash hands in a pinch.

Now, with all that being listed, don't go nutz and try to do it all in one day. That is virtually impossible as most people don't have the money or time to do it all. I am close-to that level of food preparation and it has been years in the making. Some months I can put away more food-supplies, some months I can't put away any extra and I dip deep into my food-storage. As long as you have space that is set-aside for food storage, you will slowly fill it up. Don't use that space for stashing sporting-goods or holiday-decorations ... keep it pure food-storage and keep the shelves as full as possible.

Good luck!


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## Nstoneiam (Feb 18, 2012)

My husband and I started with canned goods, rice, beans, tuna, chicken. Things like that. He asked me to start picking up a few extras when I went to the store. I found it difficult, trying to think about what we needed both upstairs and downstairs while trying to watch my spending too. I wasn't getting enough that way. Now we set some money aside and make a seperate trip for our food storage. we began by looking at how many people we have, what we will actually eat, and the means to prepare it. we also picked up stuff for breakfast. we picked up pancake and biscuit mix, jelly, syrup, honey, granola, powdered milk. then stuff for lunch like peanut butter, ramen noodles, stuff to make bread. along the way we would get fuel for cooking the stuff we bought that week or month, and lots of 5 gallon bottles of water. It started getting fun at this point so we went yard selling, and to the flea market in the summer to find stuff like a scavenger hunt. that was or entertainment for awhile. picked up solar panels, a generator, heater, 250 gallon water container. A lady was selling big baggies of hotel soaps and shampoos for $1. great for a bug out bag. Now we are in the groice and are focusing on comforts and long term food replacement, like gardening, hunting, canning and such. Mainly, focus on week one and getting everything you would need to survive for that week, then go to week two. Imagine life at that point. Step inside it and think about what you will need to do everything!


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## DJgang (Apr 10, 2011)

My favorite.

Wendy presents it all so simple and easy. Really made me not so overwhelmed.

http://letusprepare.blogspot.com/2009/01/wendy-dewitt-food-storage-seminar.html

http://everythingunderthesunblog.blogspot.com/

November 2008 post is a great outline of the video presentation.


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## Goblin (Jun 28, 2009)

Initially, stay away from foods that have to be cooked. Get a 30 day supply of bottled water and canned foods.Stay away from food that needs water to prepare!!


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## Claymore5150 (Nov 17, 2011)

School House Rock......
Wow, that takes me back a little....

"I'm just a bill on government hill...." hahaha.


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## fatboytactical (Feb 16, 2012)

When I started we bought a lot of canned goods and we didn't rotate well. When I checked a bunch it was 6 months from expiration so we donated it to the local food pantry and took the tax wright-off. when I replaced it we purchased stuff we use more and the food pantry said they always give out food pretty soon and were OK with the expiration dates. Win win for everybody.


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## Claymore5150 (Nov 17, 2011)

mdprepper said:


> And don't forget a MANUAL can opener!!!


I thought that was what the 702 Plinkster was for??? hahahaha. :2thumb:

Yep, a good study manual can opener or two, for sure!


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