A Guide to Survival Food Storage in Ten Easy Steps

My wife has been storing food since before we were married. I may be one of the few men who received a dowry of 800 pounds of wheat. She has gotten a bit more sophisticated in the past 30 some years. Somewhere she has a #10 can full of candy and I’m pretty certain there is a stash of chocolate. Her inventory of sanitation supplies alone is fairly impressive. The one thing she doesn’t see addressed and, therefore, asks other women about is what have they considered for birth control. She tells me that eyes open wide when they realize that biology won’t be taking a vacation. We talk a lot about preparing for change but neglect, too often, to prepare for the little but crucial things that won’t change.

Thank you for the review. I like to drive to a city called Centralia and visit the Yard Birds store there every six months or so because of the expense of gas and not really wanting to increase the wear and tear on the vehicle. About a year ago I picked up two 8 lb. cans of Hershey’s brand chocolate syrup, some large jars of spices and other institutional-sized goods for the shelves. We really appreciate the fact that we can keep the syrup in a cupboard for several months before it will even mold and it gives a little topping to a baked desert and chocolatey sweetness to regular and powdered milk when we get a hankering. On the next visit, I took my mother with me and she purchased several bags of Bob’s Red Mill 25 lb. bags of grains and beans and I bought some more goods and about 1 pound of yellow corn that was already dried from one of the self-serve bins from the Mexican foods section and we put some of that into a few of our bags because it will be nice to either eat it or plant it if need be. It was fun to get things and every time we add things to our supplies that just keeps bringing us closer to having an overabundance of things that we will eventually need. When times get hard, if we are overstocked, we will be able to feed the numbers of family members that we have which reach well over 50 at this time. My grandmother plans to share all that she has with the family but when tallying up what she has in comparison to the amount of food that each person currently eats, she has about a week’s worth and then she will be emptied out. She is not even considering that when she is out that everyone is out and that they are not going to be feeding her because they have nothing. She is so tiny, very frail, and cannot even garden anymore because of arthritis, her hands so badly crippled, and we are going to have to figure out things after she is cleaned out. She has always boasted to everyone about her supplies, shown them, and has tried to let them in on a little secret but many of them have not taken this to heart. They have had over twenty years to get theirselves prepared and they have had the incomes to do so but we are planning that because should they not be prepared that we have enough wheat berries and salt to give to them so they will at least have bread. As soon as the packs orders are about finished then at the time the funds will allow it, I am going to go shopping there again and buy as much as I can. Some of the experts are relating that times are going to continue getting harder for everyone and we should take them seriously. So glad I have a little chocolate on hand-what a bartering item that could be because many people LOOOOVE chocolate, beans, rice, wheat berries, salt, flour, butter, hard grain grinder, crocks, dried herbs, salted seasonings, etc. and that I will not go hungry. Glad your survival site is here.

M.D. I don’t bother trying to can myself. I am happy with the quality of service i get from Walton Feed. I order mostly #10 cans of everything but you also have the choice of #2 1/2 cans for the things you don’t use a lot of. They also have a selection of organic grains. I buy the organic oats. They have the best selection of other grains such as Amaranth, Quinoa and such.
I store a lot of Mountain House and also Alpin Aire. Alpine Aire’s food is purer than Mountain House if anyone has allergies.
I order my canned seafood (crabmeat, low mercury tuna and shrimp)
from Oregon’s Choice Seafood. The best quality around in my opinion.
I use everything in my storage except the MH and AA right now. It is too darn expensive to use right away.
I also think the amount of wheat is excessive and i love bread.
This is a very comprehensive post and I know most, especially newbies will find it really useful. Thanks

and that doesnt even include the most important thing not on the list.. water…

You talk of wheat, grain mills, and bread, but I noticed no mention was made of adding yeast to that storage list. I buy yeast in 1 lb bulk pkging, called “saf-instant”. It is an instant yeast, and it comes in a hard block package. Once opened, it’s looks just like a little packet of Red Star or a jar of baki-pan. Little instant yeast granules. If you feel as though you couldn’t possibly use up a 1lb pkg of yeast at a time, put it in the freezer in a glass jar with a sealing lid. It will last up to a year and still works just fine.
Another fine storage item ~ canning equipment. You can scrounge around for all the fruits & grow all the veggies in the world, but in the end, if you want to make it through the winter, you’d best have a good way to preserve those efforts. Canning domes, rings, vinegar, salt, sugar, water bath pan, pressure cooker, & glass jars are all crucial parts of preserving the bounty. If you get into the habit now, you’ll be in the habit.
Also, one last excellent storage item ~ lye. If you have fats, & lye, you can have soap. Soap is cleanliness, & cleanliness is paramount to healthy survival.
Oh, and I forgot to add, matches are key as well. Stored in a 5 gallon metal honey tin, you can fit about 10,000 matches. Keeps them dry & in one spot.

When it comes to emergency preparedness, most people I talk to think that nothing will ever happen to them- I constantly hear “why should I bother”. In today’s world it sounds crazy to talk about storing food. Why bother when restaurants, convenient stores and grocery stores are open 24 hours a day, 7days a week? We have grown up in the age of consumerism and take for granted there will always be food on the shelves. Well, what if there is a national emergency? Or if the unions repeat what happened in France – and stop delivery trucks in protest. What if our government keeps spending and hyper inflation occurs? Just look what happened in Boston. Why not be prepared just in case? It drives me NUTS when people have their heads in the sand!! But I know I am not nuts.
As a father of 3 small children, I have always tried to protect and provide for all their immediate and future necessities. I could not come home and tell my kids there was no food on the shelves. Now, I can sleep in peace having purchased years of emergency food! I love having the peace of mind, the feeling of being empowered– that my family and I are covered with the necessary emergency food, and survival supplies for the next 20 years at TODAY’S prices for what ever comes our way.

I recently purchased the book “Cookin’ with Home Storage” through Backwoods Home website. There are recipes for EVERYTHING in this ‘cookbook’; not just every type of food imaginable, but tips for cooking with cast iron…right down to making emergency candles and flea powder. There’s even sections on Preparedness Tips, reconstituting dried foods, home storage lists and where to buy preparedness products. I HIGHLY recommend!!