Stockpiling Family Food Staples Rather Than Prepper Food Staples?

[Unglaubliche]

I've been lightly prepping for nearly 10 years, but now I'm really starting to get into it... but, I want to do so in a way that is economical. Does anyone stockpile typical family staples instead of traditional prepper items like freeze dried foods? I'm just worried that we'd pour tons of money into foods and items we'd never use. We have some freeze-dried foods and meals, but I'm thinking I'd rather focus on things we eat often and just keep restocking as stores run low. My initial goal is to have two months worth of food and water, but my ultimate goal is enough for our family for a year. Any advice, wisdom, or experience is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[jontte]

get what you and your family eat,
sure mre's sound nice but eating only those will be yuk..
personally I get cans which I rotate,have some mre's just in case I need to..

 

[Brent S]

I think your on the right track with starting out with foods you normally eat. As your supply builds and you get to a point where you have more available money then you can add some long term freeze dried products. I have accumulated some freeze dried cans but hope to never even try them out, so it does seem like kind of a waste. Just an insurance policy in my opinion. I still advise everyone to have at least two good quality long lasting water filters on hand before worrying about anything else. I like the Berkey filters but there are some generic ones out there now with the same design that are a little cheaper. Way more people are going to die from lack of safe water than starving to death in an emergency.

 

[Unglaubliche]

I think your on the right track with starting out with foods you normally eat. As your supply builds and you get to a point where you have more available money then you can add some long term freeze dried products. I have accumulated some freeze dried cans but hope to never even try them out, so it does seem like kind of a waste. Just an insurance policy in my opinion. I still advise everyone to have at least two good quality long lasting water filters on hand before worrying about anything else. I like the Berkey filters but there are some generic ones out there now with the same design that are a little cheaper. Way more people are going to die from lack of safe water than starving to death in an emergency.

Thank you! With the Berkey, are you talking about the larger quantity ones that sit on counters? We have a couple individual filters like the Sawyer and Water Straw, and a fridge/pitcher ZeroWater filter, but have always talked about getting something more large-scale and comprehensive.

 

[Unglaubliche]

get what you and your family eat,
sure mre's sound nice but eating only those will be yuk..
personally I get cans which I rotate,have some mre's just in case I need to..

Thank you! This is sort of what we've been doing... I've got stores of various grains, dried goods, and herbs/spices, some canned goods, and some frozen goods (though, I realize that were the power to fail, the latter would be lost in time).

 

[Brent S]

Thank you! With the Berkey, are you talking about the larger quantity ones that sit on counters? We have a couple individual filters like the Sawyer and Water Straw, and a fridge/pitcher ZeroWater filter, but have always talked about getting something more large-scale and comprehensive.

I have a sawyer, and a couple other small portable filters, but they would only be good for traveling on foot. The counter sized filters are just way more efficient and durable. I bought a big Berkey that is used daily, and have the travel Berkey as a backup. I also bought several extra filter cartridges both in charcoal and ceramic. I’ve been prepping for a lot of years, so have had time to accumulate most of the supplies I thought were good. I would trade any other items I have for good water filters in a heartbeat though.

 

[bigpaul]

there is an old prepper motto: "store what you eat, eat what you store".

 

[Arcticdude]

I store a few months worth of food; cans, dried, freeze dried and MRE's. But most of the food that I stockpile is on the hoof. In the form of cattle, chickens and pigs. This spring we'll be adding rabbits, ducks and possibly geese. Of course we have a lot of wild game around here too; deer, elk, turkey, quail and grouse. My pond is stocked with catfish, trout and bluegills.
Plus with our garden and orchard I don't worry too much about going hungry.
Like Brent said above, clean drinking water is the most important thing that you can have, or have access to. We have a deep well with pure clean water, a spring fed pond and several creeks. I keep a couple water filters on hand and in my every day carry bags.

 

[Brent S]

I store a few months worth of food; cans, dried, freeze dried and MRE's. But most of the food that I stockpile is on the hoof. In the form of cattle, chickens and pigs. This spring we'll be adding rabbits, ducks and possibly geese. Of course we have a lot of wild game around here too; deer, elk, turkey, quail and grouse. My pond is stocked with catfish, trout and bluegills.
Plus with our garden and orchard I don't worry too much about going hungry.
Like Brent said above, clean drinking water is the most important thing that you can have, or have access to. We have a deep well with pure clean water, a spring fed pond and several creeks. I keep a couple water filters on hand and in my every day carry bags.

I like that most of your meat is always fresh. Once you get a greenhouse and can extend your growing season you will be set pretty well.

 

[Arcticdude]

I like that most of your meat is always fresh. Once you get a greenhouse and can extend your growing season you will be set pretty well.

A greenhouse is definitely on my list of projects. Since we still have a couple feet of snow in the garden area a greenhouse would go a long way towards making us more self sufficient and in better control of what we eat. But the greenhouse may have to wait until next year. As soon as the ground thaws out I need to start building a working corral for the cattle.

 

[Danil54grl]

I buy and stockpile food staples that we use for everyday. I grow a garden almost year round and preserve in multiple ways which include canning, dehydrating, freezing and freeze drying. What I do can be considered both really, with short and long term. Recently I had one of my chest freezers go out. I was lucky enough to not lose the majority. . . I did end up losing 10 lbs of list pig fat that I ran out of time processing, I count my blessings.

 

[Petoski]

We grow all our own veg but the problem we have living so far north is getting plants to produce seeds. I now understand why the Finns mostly eat potatoes.

 

[Unglaubliche]

Thank you, everyone! This is great! I really appreciate all the knowledge and opinions! We run a garden, too, but are not in a place where we can keep farm animals. Our long term plan is to buy land with a well and water rights and space for animals, but that's likely 7-10 years from now. Until then, we're making do with our current set-up.

 

[Kevin L]

I tend to store bulk amounts of rice, kidney beans, soy beans, and quinoa in 5 gallon plastic restaurant buckets.

These buckets are lined with mylar bags, and I put oxygen eaters in these bags.

When I put the lids on the buckets, I sealed them with clear silicone caulking.

I then label the outside with contents and date using a black Sharpie marker.

I also store large amounts of canned food.

I'm a big fan of canned hams, canned chili, canned carrots, canned corn, canned spinache, canned beef stew, and so on.

I also add a small amount of beef jerky and small quantities of freeze-dried foods for unique situations.

My situation is special because I can't eat anything with gluten (wheat, rye, barley, and oats*) or dairy products due to food allergies.

I've said it before, but scratch and dent sales can provide canned food for pennies on the dollar, grains can be purchased cheaply in bulk, and some foods like honey and salt never go bad.

If you go with bulk grains, get a few wide-mouth soup thermoses. A thermos can be filled about a quarter of the way with grain, boiling water poured in, sealed, and you have perfectly cooked grains in a few hours with no waste.

Such a cooking method also conserves fuel.

* There are gluten free oats, but they have to be labled as such and must be specially certified.

 

[KateMTx]

I tend to store bulk amounts of rice, kidney beans, soy beans, and quinoa in 5 gallon plastic restaurant buckets.

These buckets are lined with mylar bags, and I put oxygen eaters in these bags.

When I put the lids on the buckets, I sealed them with clear silicone caulking.

I then label the outside with contents and date using a black Sharpie marker.

I also store large amounts of canned food.

I'm a big fan of canned hams, canned chili, canned carrots, canned corn, canned spinache, canned beef stew, and so on.

I also add a small amount of beef jerky and small quantities of freeze-dried foods for unique situations.

My situation is special because I can't eat anything with gluten (wheat, rye, barley, and oats*) or dairy products due to food allergies.

I've said it before, but scratch and dent sales can provide canned food for pennies on the dollar, grains can be purchased cheaply in bulk, and some foods like honey and salt never go bad.

If you go with bulk grains, get a few wide-mouth soup thermoses. A thermos can be filled about a quarter of the way with grain, boiling water poured in, sealed, and you have perfectly cooked grains in a few hours with no waste.

Such a cooking method also conserves fuel.

* There are gluten free oats, but they have to be labled as such and must be specially certified.

These are some great tips. I'm going to have to use a few of them for my family; one of my sisters can't have gluten or dairy so it's been challenging feeding her with all the resources we have (she has some other weird restrictions too) so any suggestions you have are welcome.

 

[Kevin L]

These are some great tips. I'm going to have to use a few of them for my family; one of my sisters can't have gluten or dairy so it's been challenging feeding her with all the resources we have (she has some other weird restrictions too) so any suggestions you have are welcome.

Thank you.

Quinoa is excellent for people with gluten problems, as it's a complete protein.

Brown rice is more nutritious than white rice, but white rice keeps for years while brown rice goes bad realtively quickly.

Oxygen eaters and mylar bags are available cheaply on Amazon.

Keep in mind that the grains must be very dry. Botulism can flourish in an anerobic environment (ie: oxygen free), and while we associate botulism with poorly canned meats, it can happen with vegetarian foods (like grains) as well.

A typical scenario for botulism can happen if sliced onions are kept submerged in cooking oil that's been allowed to cool.....as might happen in a fast-food place that serves onions on hamburgers.

The oil protects the onions from oxygen (oxygen is toxic to clostridium botulinum bacteria), and this allows the bacteria to flourish and create the toxin.

Botulinum toxin is so deadly, that a half gallon of it is enough to kill every human being in all five boroughs of New York City if it was equally divided and adminstered to each person.

So, do your research before storing grains in this way, and make sure that everything is dry.

And don't get the idea that you could feed small samples of suspected food to animals as a safety test to see if they get food poisoning first. Dogs are completely immune to botulism toxin, and I suspect (but don't know) that rats, squirrels, and rabbits are as well....although--as I said--I don't know this for a fact.

Be careful, and do your research. As long as the grains are very dry, there should be no problem.