Your Food Storage Equation...

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TuckerDane

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There's a lot of conflicting information out there about what's better to stock up on. Freeze dried food storage (buckets, kits, MRE, etc) or just non perishable foods.

What are you stocking? Is there a company you prefer? Are you doing a combination of non perishable and freeze dried?

Interested in seeing your ideas.
 
I have mostly home canned, store bought canned, dried beans and riced, pasta, powdered milk, home freezer stuff. The only freeze dried I have is coffee, strawberries, butter and eggs. The freeze dried food is expensive so that is why it is limited in my home store and pantry.
 
I have a combination of mainly non perishable items both from the store and garden along with home canned and dehydrated foods. Recently I was able to get a freeze drier since I do garden pretty much year round so it made it a good investment for us. Things that I can't grow or don't have enough room to grow the amount we need is what we buy, like flour, sugar, baking supplies etc. When starting out your food storage, take a look at what you eat now. Those that are long term or semi long term is what you need to buy a little extra when you go to the store. Learn how to cook from scratch if you don't already. It's way cheaper and most basic items have a descent storage life when done correctly.
 
That was my thinking too although I haven't stocked any freeze dried company stuff yet. Which brands you like best?
Mountain house seems to have the best pricing on average. I check Walmart and amazon periodically and buy stuff that’s on sale regardless of brand if it fits what I want to store.
 
My two top freeze dried brands are Mountain House and Daily Bread.
Daily bread is one I haven’t seen yet. I will compare them for price and variety. I did buy a can of chili, broccoli, cauliflower, apricots and 2 cans of potatoes last night online. They were all Augustan Farm, and the main reason was a sale price on amazon, and this thread reminded me! I mostly have gotten premodern main meals in freezedrieds so far but figure some variety would be smart.
I just saw some of the cans I just ordered were from Saratoga farms. There’s a lot of companies to choose from. I mostly watch for sales vs loyalty to a specific brand.
 
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Does anyone know what to do to store freeze dried snack bags of fruit? The best buy date is 113019 but I thought freeze dried was supposed to last for years. It is in little bags, silver lined( I assume mylar type bags). Should I just keep sealed and store in a dry climate controlled place? Should I repackage? I bought some from a store going out of business, I can get more if I was sure I could store for a long time.
 
Does anyone know what to do to store freeze dried snack bags of fruit? The best buy date is 113019 but I thought freeze dried was supposed to last for years. It is in little bags, silver lined( I assume mylar type bags). Should I just keep sealed and store in a dry climate controlled place? Should I repackage? I bought some from a store going out of business, I can get more if I was sure I could store for a long time.

frig or the coolest place in the house, it will be fine past the date, I've eaten freeze dried fruit 8 years past the date, as long as the sun, moisture and air don't get to the content it will last for years, I store mine at roughly 65~70deg at around 40~45 humidity
 
frig or the coolest place in the house, it will be fine past the date, I've eaten freeze dried fruit 8 years past the date, as long as the sun, moisture and air don't get to the content it will last for years, I store mine at roughly 65~70deg at around 40~45 humidity
So I am guessing I could keep it for 3 years. so I will get more. It was only 75 cents per package, on ebay it is a lot more than that. They are the "So Natural" brand. 0.71 oz size.
 
frig or the coolest place in the house, it will be fine past the date, I've eaten freeze dried fruit 8 years past the date, as long as the sun, moisture and air don't get to the content it will last for years, I store mine at roughly 65~70deg at around 40~45 humidity

IMG_3457.JPG
 
Does anyone know what to do to store freeze dried snack bags of fruit? The best buy date is 113019 but I thought freeze dried was supposed to last for years. It is in little bags, silver lined( I assume mylar type bags). Should I just keep sealed and store in a dry climate controlled place? Should I repackage? I bought some from a store going out of business, I can get more if I was sure I could store for a long time.
I would leave them in th original packaging and just keep them stored in a cool dark place.
 
I stashed a combination of grains, rice, beans, etc. in mylar bags with oxygen eaters in 5 gallon restaurant buckets. I've put away about 30 lbs. of soybeans, 80 lbs, of rice, 60 lbs. of pinto beans, 60 lbs. of quinoa, and 30 lbs. of black beans. I seal the lids with clear silicone caulking, and label the contents and date on the outside with a black sharpie.

Then I added all kinds of assorted canned foods such as fish, ham, canned beef stew, mandarin oranges, fruit cocktail, peanut butter, and so on.

I also included supplements like Brewer's yeast and multivitamins.

I'm allergic to wheat and dairy products, so I've omitted a lot of things that other people might have.

A great item to have with my preferences is a wide mouth soup thermos.

A mix of dry grain and beans is used to fill the thermos one-third of the way, and then add boiling water and tighten the lid. A few hours later, your grains and beans are cooked to perfection with little to no waste.

I did say combo of beans and rice because your body is better able to utilize vegetable protein if you complement the missing amino acids by mixing different kinds of rice and beans together.

Note that I believe that it's better to have many smaller cans of canned food rather than one big can.

A small can can be opened and finished, while the extra food left in a big can may spoil before it's eaten later...especially if there's no electricity for refrigeration.

Also, small cans are easier to trade with, and small cans of food are easier to hide and transport.
 
I stashed a combination of grains, rice, beans, etc. in mylar bags with oxygen eaters in 5 gallon restaurant buckets. I've put away about 30 lbs. of soybeans, 80 lbs, of rice, 60 lbs. of pinto beans, 60 lbs. of quinoa, and 30 lbs. of black beans. I seal the lids with clear silicone caulking, and label the contents and date on the outside with a black sharpie.

Then I added all kinds of assorted canned foods such as fish, ham, canned beef stew, mandarin oranges, fruit cocktail, peanut butter, and so on.

I also included supplements like Brewer's yeast and multivitamins.

I'm allergic to wheat and dairy products, so I've omitted a lot of things that other people might have.

A great item to have with my preferences is a wide mouth soup thermos.

A mix of dry grain and beans is used to fill the thermos one-third of the way, and then add boiling water and tighten the lid. A few hours later, your grains and beans are cooked to perfection with little to no waste.

I did say combo of beans and rice because your body is better able to utilize vegetable protein if you complement the missing amino acids by mixing different kinds of rice and beans together.

Note that I believe that it's better to have many smaller cans of canned food rather than one big can.

A small can can be opened and finished, while the extra food left in a big can may spoil before it's eaten later...especially if there's no electricity for refrigeration.

Also, small cans are easier to trade with, and small cans of food are easier to hide and transport.

Just curious, why don’t you gamma lids on your 5 or 6 gallon buckets instead of caulking? More reliable and resealable.
 
Just curious, why don’t you gamma lids on your 5 or 6 gallon buckets instead of caulking? More reliable and resealable.
I can reseal with more caulking, and Florida is hot, humid, and mildew and pests are in an endless supply.

I can clean away the old silicone caulking and recaulk if I need to.

Mold and mildew get everywhere.
 
I can reseal with more caulking, and Florida is hot, humid, and mildew and pests are in an endless supply.

I can clean away the old silicone caulking and recaulk if I need to.

Mold and mildew get everywhere.

Gamma lids still protects against that and less work plus not messy. I've used them for years and never had a seal brake on them, in fact gamma lids are a mainstay in most long term food storage's though not as cheap as caulking.
 

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