Long Term Food and Water Storage.

I’d like to continue with my discussion of food storage that I started in my top 10 food items to store post.   This time, I’d like to share techniques for food preservation as well as what to store.  I’ll be posting a lot of youtube links because I have found several other preppers who have quite a bit of great information on the subject. Some of the videos have bonus material showing other supplies needed to shelter in place.  First off is the foods you rotate.  The common motto is “Eat what you store; store what you eat.”  This one is the most simple and also the most obvious.  What you have in your pantry is the first resort in any survival situation, or even if the power goes out for a few days.   Having 3-6 months of canned and dry food is a good figure for food that has to be rotated.   Great items to store that last a long time are canned hams and sardines/kippers as well as other canned meats.  Entrees are of course also canned, things like ravioli, soups, stews, etc.  Avoid storing large amounts of items with low nutritional values such as raman noodles.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=461275454B1A9413

The next thing to look at once you have 3-6 months of storage of the things you eat, consider getting 1 or more years of storage, depending on your ability.  Look to store grains such as wheat berries, rice, lentils, beans, corn.  Other dry goods such as powdered milk, bisquick mix, peas, sugar, etc can and should be stored as well.  You want to store these in mylar bags, vacuum sealed with an oxygen absorber.  The mylar bag is inside a 5 gallon bucket and sealed.  These can last upwards of 10 years.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C65884F5F13B16C3

Finally, consider freeze dried foods and MREs or Meals Ready to Eat.  The freeze dried food can last up to 30 years and the MREs can last up to 10.  Make sure you go with as close to military issue with the MREs as you can.  Menu C are the best as well as sopako and rothco MREs.  For the freeze dried food, go with mountain house.

The ready store has some great deals on it.