Continued from here.
Here are a few thoughts to share with other preppers.
We used a foodsaver to store flower. We actually purchased 50 pound bags of flour at a restaurant supply place. Also I got some of those paper bags Mom used to put our lunch in. You can put 5 pounds of flour into a bag, fold down the top then vaccum seal the bag. I don’t know what the shelf life of this flour will be, but I’m thinking it will be quite a bit longer than normal as it must essentially stop oxidation.
Other things we’ve put in foodsaver bags: dried fruit, nuts, oatmeal, dry beans of all sorts, butter and cheese (then into the freezer), pepperoni/summer saugage.
Rice and beans are a big part of our SIP plan. 12 pound bags of rice can be bought at box stores. Dry beans are usually in regular supermarkets. I have not found any bulk suppliers that can do any better than the 89 cents a pound at the market. Maybe someone else knows?
Another thing we are doing is thinking about total Calories. Starting with 2,000 calories per person per day, we multiply by 4 people, then by 30 days, and you have the calories needed for the family for a month. Its a good way to get a general idea of how much food you have. All the foods generally have a calories per serving and servings per container label, so its just a matter of a lot of arithmatic and record keeping. Its easier to do on a computer spread sheet, but pencil and paper would work just fine too.
Within this Calorie goal, we are getting as much variety as possible: canned fruits and veggies (not many calories, but important for nutrients), canned meats, hash, peanut butter (lots!), canned tomatos and tomato sauce, some treats for the kids.
Also, we have started to stockpile those important “accessories” to cooking: olive oil, salt, soy sauce, herbs and spices.
Not knowing what sort of problems might happen, and if or not there will be electricity, we have tried not to put all our eggs in one basket so to speak, so some of our food is long term dry storage stuff, some canned, some in the box freezer (lots of BBQ if the power goes out) Speaking of freezers, we have a 10 cubic foot one in the basement. It has some meats and veggies it it, along with cheese, butter, smoked meats etc. Also we filled the remaing space with gallon jugs of water. We figure if the power goes out, all that ice will extend the time until food spoils by several days, maybe even a week or more, giving us time to eat some of it, make beef jerky or can some too. Some of the stuff in the freezer does not technically need to be kept cold, but seems like another way to extend its life.
By the way, about those Calories, a 50 pound bag of flour has (by my calculations) 100,800 Calories and only cost 13 dollars. It does not get much cheeper than that. (Remember to get some dried yeast too, which seems to have at least several years of shelf-life when kept in the fridge). Rice is also pretty cheep per calorie and an easy staple to store for a really long time.
Correction: Flour is about 1,500 Calories per pound, which is 76,000 Calories in a 50 lb bag. This is based on the information on the side of a 5 pound bag of King Aurthur Flour. (76 servings, 100 Calories per serving = 7600 Calories then divide by 5 pounds = 1,500 Calories/pound.)
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