- Joined
- Sep 20, 2016
Are you a longtime prepper or brand new? Let's talk about preparedness and help each other out.
It's never too late to start, even though inflationary forces are making it financially more difficult every day to do so, if you've never prepped, the time to begin is now.
You must, must have a three month food supply on hand for you, your family, and pets. When you attain that goal, don't stop. Keep going.
There are a lot of charts and calculators online that will tell you how much you need. Don't look at them. They will only discourage you. Think about what you require to eat twice daily to survive for one week. Do you need three pounds of rice? Two pounds of oats? Five cans of meat? Multiply one week's worth by twelve. The total is your three month supply. Keep this in mind: store what you eat, and eat what you store. If you hate peas, don't store them.
Of course there are the staples of dried beans, rice, oats, powdered milk, flour, barley, pasta, but also think of things like canned and dried vegetables, jams, sweeteners, spices, tomato powder, cocoa powder, coffee, bullions, leaveners, FATS, etc. These are the things that will make it all palatable and keep you from eating a bullet instead - if you can find the ammo.
Buy Ammo
I don't want to get into politics with this, but ammo is hard to get and increasingly expensive due to several factors - none of them good. If you are unfamiliar with firearms or are afraid of them, please seek out training. Almost every gun range has courses just for women to educate them on firearms. The more you know, the more comfortable you will feel and the less afraid you will be. Every woman should be armed regardless of social, economic, and political climates.
ammoseek.com
Storage
Long term! Short term! Omg Mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, and buckets!
Be very wary of Mylar bags sold on Amazon. Many of them use metalized plastic or sprayed on aluminum as the middle layer. You want something with a solid film of aluminum between the plastic. Your food is now safe from light, air, insect invasion, spoilage and with an O2 absorber, it can be viable, nutritious, and flavorful for over 20 years.
Fill your bags with as much as they can hold. With the absorber and a heat seal, this will give you a vacuum pack in appearance. If the bag does not brick up, then the absorber is a dud or there was a breach in the seal. I don't care what YT "experts" say. Rebag it.
BONUS: If there were any insects or eggs in your food, the absence of oxygen will kill them/prevent them from hatching.
Make sure your buckets are food safe if you're going to store loose wheat berries or oats or whatnot. Get the lids with a gasket in them.
Vacuum sealing. Yes! Just be aware that unlike Mylar, all plastic has a slow seep, so periodically check your packs for soundness and store them in a dark place. This won't really give you the decades of freshness like Mylar + O2 absorbers can, but it will greatly extend the shelf life of any dry good by many, many years.
Mason jars. Excellent for both short and mid term storage (and of course canning). If you can afford to buy them new and can find them, grab them. Hunt thrift stores for them. If you don't have a jar attachment for your vacuum sealer, an O2 absorber inside will pull a vacuum and nothing is left but nitrogen.
Equipment
Buy an alcohol stove or learn how to make one! These can be used indoors if necessary. Isopropyl can be used in a pinch, but denatured alcohol is ideal. It burns super clean with no soot. In a grid down situation this will be invaluable. You can cook and boil water for drinking and hygiene.
Learn how to make a solar cooker out of nothing but cardboard and tin foil!
Dehydrators. There are basic models like this and the one I own like this. You can sometimes find them in thrift stores. Get one. Shop sales and farmers markets. Did you know you can dehydrate RoTel for long term storage? Yes ma'am you can. Make sure your final product is bone dry. For storing long term, your food must be under 10% moisture.
Things to dry and store: potatoes, green beans, peas, celery, carrots, onions, garlic, zucchini, peppers both sweet and hot, corn, tomatoes, mushrooms, cabbage, apples, strawberries and more! Some of these require blanching first and some do not. All of these things will add nutrition and flavor to your emergency staples as well as stretching them. Pro tip: frozen vegetables are pre-blanched.
Grain mills. Man, these are expensive. But if you wish to store wheat berries and other grains, you will need one. Flour in the absence of oxygen is good for five years, but whole grains properly stored are good indefinitely. Consider one that can grind both grain and beans. If you're physically able to use a manual model, get one that has a flywheel. They're much easier to operate. This will serve you very well in a grid down event.
If you have the space and climate, grow things. Even if it's just a few pots on a balcony or herbs in a window, then preserve them.
Get started by buying some extra cans, or a case of ramen, or potato flakes every week. Every week. There is a dire shortage of fertilizer and the price has tripled since January with no ceiling in sight. No fertilizer=no food. Add to that hyperinflation, labor shortages, gas prices, supply chain issues, an open, undeclared war with Russia and top down mismanagement by abject incompetents of various degrees of evil and shit is hitting the fan, my friends.
Do everything in your financial and physical power to look after yourselves, your family, and those who cannot take care of themselves. Work hard. Don't stop. Time is running out.
What are you doing? What do you want to know? What knowledge can you impart? I've kept this OP mainly focused on food preparedness, but let's talk about all areas of prepping for the very bad times ahead.
It's never too late to start, even though inflationary forces are making it financially more difficult every day to do so, if you've never prepped, the time to begin is now.
You must, must have a three month food supply on hand for you, your family, and pets. When you attain that goal, don't stop. Keep going.
There are a lot of charts and calculators online that will tell you how much you need. Don't look at them. They will only discourage you. Think about what you require to eat twice daily to survive for one week. Do you need three pounds of rice? Two pounds of oats? Five cans of meat? Multiply one week's worth by twelve. The total is your three month supply. Keep this in mind: store what you eat, and eat what you store. If you hate peas, don't store them.
Of course there are the staples of dried beans, rice, oats, powdered milk, flour, barley, pasta, but also think of things like canned and dried vegetables, jams, sweeteners, spices, tomato powder, cocoa powder, coffee, bullions, leaveners, FATS, etc. These are the things that will make it all palatable and keep you from eating a bullet instead - if you can find the ammo.
Buy Ammo
I don't want to get into politics with this, but ammo is hard to get and increasingly expensive due to several factors - none of them good. If you are unfamiliar with firearms or are afraid of them, please seek out training. Almost every gun range has courses just for women to educate them on firearms. The more you know, the more comfortable you will feel and the less afraid you will be. Every woman should be armed regardless of social, economic, and political climates.
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ammoseek.com
Storage
Long term! Short term! Omg Mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, and buckets!
Be very wary of Mylar bags sold on Amazon. Many of them use metalized plastic or sprayed on aluminum as the middle layer. You want something with a solid film of aluminum between the plastic. Your food is now safe from light, air, insect invasion, spoilage and with an O2 absorber, it can be viable, nutritious, and flavorful for over 20 years.
Fill your bags with as much as they can hold. With the absorber and a heat seal, this will give you a vacuum pack in appearance. If the bag does not brick up, then the absorber is a dud or there was a breach in the seal. I don't care what YT "experts" say. Rebag it.
BONUS: If there were any insects or eggs in your food, the absence of oxygen will kill them/prevent them from hatching.
Make sure your buckets are food safe if you're going to store loose wheat berries or oats or whatnot. Get the lids with a gasket in them.
Vacuum sealing. Yes! Just be aware that unlike Mylar, all plastic has a slow seep, so periodically check your packs for soundness and store them in a dark place. This won't really give you the decades of freshness like Mylar + O2 absorbers can, but it will greatly extend the shelf life of any dry good by many, many years.
Mason jars. Excellent for both short and mid term storage (and of course canning). If you can afford to buy them new and can find them, grab them. Hunt thrift stores for them. If you don't have a jar attachment for your vacuum sealer, an O2 absorber inside will pull a vacuum and nothing is left but nitrogen.
Equipment
Buy an alcohol stove or learn how to make one! These can be used indoors if necessary. Isopropyl can be used in a pinch, but denatured alcohol is ideal. It burns super clean with no soot. In a grid down situation this will be invaluable. You can cook and boil water for drinking and hygiene.
Learn how to make a solar cooker out of nothing but cardboard and tin foil!
Dehydrators. There are basic models like this and the one I own like this. You can sometimes find them in thrift stores. Get one. Shop sales and farmers markets. Did you know you can dehydrate RoTel for long term storage? Yes ma'am you can. Make sure your final product is bone dry. For storing long term, your food must be under 10% moisture.
Things to dry and store: potatoes, green beans, peas, celery, carrots, onions, garlic, zucchini, peppers both sweet and hot, corn, tomatoes, mushrooms, cabbage, apples, strawberries and more! Some of these require blanching first and some do not. All of these things will add nutrition and flavor to your emergency staples as well as stretching them. Pro tip: frozen vegetables are pre-blanched.
Grain mills. Man, these are expensive. But if you wish to store wheat berries and other grains, you will need one. Flour in the absence of oxygen is good for five years, but whole grains properly stored are good indefinitely. Consider one that can grind both grain and beans. If you're physically able to use a manual model, get one that has a flywheel. They're much easier to operate. This will serve you very well in a grid down event.
If you have the space and climate, grow things. Even if it's just a few pots on a balcony or herbs in a window, then preserve them.
Get started by buying some extra cans, or a case of ramen, or potato flakes every week. Every week. There is a dire shortage of fertilizer and the price has tripled since January with no ceiling in sight. No fertilizer=no food. Add to that hyperinflation, labor shortages, gas prices, supply chain issues, an open, undeclared war with Russia and top down mismanagement by abject incompetents of various degrees of evil and shit is hitting the fan, my friends.
Do everything in your financial and physical power to look after yourselves, your family, and those who cannot take care of themselves. Work hard. Don't stop. Time is running out.
What are you doing? What do you want to know? What knowledge can you impart? I've kept this OP mainly focused on food preparedness, but let's talk about all areas of prepping for the very bad times ahead.
