[Stonewall308]

So, I want to stash some longterm food. I've never done this before but I've been reading around here and watched a few youtube videos.

Here is the tentative plan:

Buy 200 lbs of rice, 100 lbs of beans

8 five-gallon buckets, food grade and white, with gamma lids (should hold 300 lbs, according to what I've read on here)

8 20x30 7.5 mil mylar bags

2000 cc of O2 packets per bag

I plan to seal using an iron and 2x4



Comments and criticisms? This is just my first step, I will be getting more fancy items once I complete this (condiments, etc.).


Few questions:

I've read that 1lb of rice makes 10 servings, is that about right? If so, and assuming beans make approximately the same, that is 3000 servings of food. Three person family eating three meals per day, is about 330 days of food. Am I off here?

Does unopened hot sauce and/or soy sauce go bad? I am reading conflicting things on the internet.

Can you do pasta the same way? Will it also have a 20-30 year shelf life?

[cyrsequipment]

Unless you are already eating that diet, don't bet on it. The best thing to do is store what you already eat.

[Stonewall308]

Rotating is one option, long term storage is another. I understand the tradeoffs and I have decided that I am going to have at least some long term stored food. I may start stocking the pantry for rotation after I get this figured out.

[kirgi08]

Add $20 a week ta your food buying,you'll be amazed how fast your pantry grows.'08.

Water #1 and a means ta purify it.
Food
Medical supplies.

[R_W]

I don't know hot sauce or soy to go bad, if in a GLASS jar and the lid is sealed.

Don't forget salt.

I don't think you will get near as much life from pasta. If you are ready to go LONG term, store wheat and a grinder. Pasta is simple to make--even I can do it.

[Dexters]

Originally Posted by cyrsequipment

Unless you are already eating that diet, don't bet on it. The best thing to do is store what you already eat.

Very good point!

Buy what you eat in quantity and rotate the stock.

[Dexters]

Here is my plan for my first step into preparedness

Originally Posted by Stonewall308

Here is the tentative plan:

Are you out of debt, except for mortgage?

Do you have an emergency fund?

[alexanderg23]

That a good way to start, nothing wrong with rice and beans.

[Bolster]

Welcome, and a good place to start; if it were me, my first thought would be water, but you may have that secured already. Thinking through your proposal from a calorie perspective:

1 lb of beans = 500 cals
1 lb of rice = 1690 cals

So you’d be storing around 390K cals.

If you need 2500 per day, you’re storing just over 5 months worth. Your beans may start to get tough after 6 months (that’s the standard shelf life for dry beans), depending on storage environment, etc. (Chefs will tell you to always use the youngest dried beans for a tasty pot.) So I would be surprised if you could eat your way through that many beans during your regular lifestyle, but maybe you have a family to help.

You really should rotate through your stock rather than store-and-forget. The deal I have with my wife is, there are 12 foods that she can not buy at the store, she must get them from me. I give her my stock, and replace. All the items I stock have super long shelf life, except for beans and oil, which are best used @ 6 mo each.

So I’d say you’re jumping into the deep end of the pool. I agree with the ever-laconic Kirgi08, build up a little more slowly. Start with one bucket of rice, and one of beans, and see if you can get through them on a rotational basis before the beans get tough.

Regards pasta, it’s another super-long life food, often given at 2 years, depending on storage conditions, etc. So yeah, vary your diet a bit and stock some pasta, too. Rotate through it and buy more as you use it up.

[Glock30Eric]

How about to learn plant a garden? That will take you last much longer than those dry foods. However you will need at least two month of dry food before you could harvest. When you harvest them then you'll need to canning it to store it for the winter season. It's like a rock hit two birds.

Not only that, I could bug out with those pots I have in my garden. I live in an apartment. All my garden is made in pots and hanging pots. I might need a truck to do that. However it is a workable.

You'll need lots of spices to make the food so flavory. You also could barter with spices because people will die for it. You'll need to think outside of the box than the 99% people do --then you are way ahead of them.

I choose to go down with garden is because of my diet plan. I want to go with the Paleo diet. It's a cheap insurance for your health. That is something for you to think about it.

Bacon is never an enough for you do eat it as much you want. It has high calories # and it comes with thousands of benefits. I plan to do the bacon canning. Maybe I'll do few chocolate bacons. Haha!

God's grace be with you.

Outdoor Hub mobile, the outdoor information engine

[Big Bird]

Long term food? What's that mean?

Is that food you intend to store a long time?

Or food intended to last a long time?

Food is a perishable item. The longer you store it the less value it has--nutritionally and otherwise.

Store what you eat. Eat what you store. Then when things go bad you won't have the problem of figuring out how to cook and eat all that rice and beanage. Because you are already eating it. Otherwise that food will likely eventually go bad and you'll have wasted your time and money.

[quake]

Originally Posted by Stonewall308

...Here is the tentative plan:

Not how I'd personally 'start' (my personal recommendation would be with the "add to your normal purchases first" crowd), but I wouldn't knock it, either. One piece of strong advice is to start (at least occasionally) eating beans & rice meals now, so you get the feel for coooking, seasoning, etc now; rather than when you find yourself in a stressful situation.

Originally Posted by Stonewall308

......I've read that 1lb of rice makes 10 servings, is that about right?...

A lot of folks & sites say that, but that makes for small servings; right about a half-cup iirc. You can figure roughly 100 calories per ounce of rice - 1600 or so per pound. So if it's divided out to ten servings, that's just 160 calories per 'serving'. A similar size of beans will be only 80 or so calories; 240 calories combined of rice & beans two or three times a day isn't much to live on. Double the ratio of rice to beans is more typical, so one cup of rice (300-350 calories) plus the 80 or so calories of a half-cup of beans, still isn't a lot. Even three times a day, that'd still be ~1200 calories a day is all. (My numbers may be off, I'm doing this offhand & from memory. Wouldn't mind corrections from folks more current on it.)

I'd figure about half the time-length of what your estimating; estimating like this, I'd rather be overly cautious and wrong in a safe direction.

[Donn57]

You'll never survive 330 days eating just rice and beans. At some point long before 330 days is up, you'll decide you'd rather jump off a cliff than look at another bowl of rice or beans.

[Protus]

Originally Posted by Stonewall308

So, I want to stash some longterm food. I've never done this before but I've been reading around here and watched a few youtube videos.

Here is the tentative plan:

Buy 200 lbs of rice, 100 lbs of beans

8 five-gallon buckets, food grade and white, with gamma lids (should hold 300 lbs, according to what I've read on here)

8 20x30 7.5 mil mylar bags

2000 cc of O2 packets per bag

I plan to seal using an iron and 2x4



Comments and criticisms? This is just my first step, I will be getting more fancy items once I complete this (condiments, etc.).


Few questions:

I've read that 1lb of rice makes 10 servings, is that about right? If so, and assuming beans make approximately the same, that is 3000 servings of food. Three person family eating three meals per day, is about 330 days of food. Am I off here?

Does unopened hot sauce and/or soy sauce go bad? I am reading conflicting things on the internet.

Can you do pasta the same way? Will it also have a 20-30 year shelf life?

you will get roughly 30-35lbs of rice per 5 gallon.
I never counted calories when planning my LTS. I went the pounds per day/person route.
1 cup of rice is roughly 8oz (iirc) , i figured 1 cup makes enough for 3 people, so 2 cups a day..that 1 lb of rice per day ( if it is used per day).
I did the same with beans etc. This means that even if i am not eating rice each day i have extra. For example-
400 lbs of rice = 1 years of rice for 1 person.
there's 3 mouths in my home so ..... i packed a lot LOL.

Like posted once you cook with stuff you see how much you go through, and it is easier than guessing calories amounts.

Pasta- packed like your doing ( mylar/o2's) Will last just as long as the rice. I packed elbow noodles vs other kinds. Mostly as it can be used in different ways besides just "spaghetti".
Shelf life will run in the 15-20 yr mark for both.If not longer.

Below is a link my channel with what food will look like stored different ways 15+ years down the road. It is a 4 part series with parts 3-4 showing some short term not packed right food results.
We also have the 3 part packing series and a how to seal your bags. Hope they help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBoKCSFA1lQ&list=UUOhrLoJEnTLkrwWNYgYxAPA&index=72&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBoKCSFA1lQ&list=UUOhrLoJEnTLkrwWNYgYxAPA&index=72&feature=plcp

[jason10mm]

While I can't fault you for starting with rice and beans, you REALLY need to make sure you know how to prepare them. Dry beans especially are a pretty foreign food substance to lots of Americans. You may get more "bang for your buck" by diversifying your food into lesser quantities but more variety (some MREs, some dehydrated food, smaller amounts of pasta, rice, beans, flour, salt, sugar, and honey). Still, if you have a good place to store the stuff and are budgeting to have more preps down the road, why not?

Don't forget the water. Everyone underestimates the water.

[kirgi08]

A huge spice rack is essential.Store it fresh and grind as needed.'08.

Water is the A#1 prep,either stored or the ability ta purify.

[Kieller]

Definitely a big +1 to Kirgi and having potable water. If you don't have enough water than all the rice and beans in the world will do you no good.

Another +1 to buying what you eat normally. You can easily mix in some rice/beans that you have stored and keep a rotation with them in your normal diet now. Buying extra of what you eat now is a nice and easy way to work in preps to your normal life without having to make a major change. Trying to eat rice/beans for 300+ days would be difficult at best.

I would definitely look into spices and other additions you can mix with rice/beans to round out the flavor/nutrition.

I don't know if hot/soy sauce ever goes bad but I have used bottles that are 5+ years old that seem to have just as much kick as before (Louisiana hot sauce) YMMV.

[kirgi08]

Soy no,hot sauce yep.O2 it. Grow yer own peppers ain't hard.My lovely Wife decided ta put a sliver of a ghost pepper in my omelete a day ago. . PBIAW.

K, Get in the game dewd,your paying forward by doing so.

[Bolster]

Soy sauce makes place number 7 on the Urban Survival Site's list of Foods that Last Forever. They say:

"7. Soy sauce. As long as it’s never opened, soy sauce also lasts indefinitely. This is mainly due to the high sodium content."

[Protus]

Originally Posted by Bolster

Soy sauce makes place number 7 on the Urban Survival Site's list of Foods that Last Forever. They say:

"7. Soy sauce. As long as it’s never opened, soy sauce also lasts indefinitely. This is mainly due to the high sodium content."

most stuff until opened will last a long time.
AKA- hot sauces- most are just hot packed.
I never refrigerate mine after opening... my home brew stuff i do, because i havent tested the PH levels in it.

eta:
LOL that place has my vids on it LOL
guess i should get out more LOL

[TangoFoxtrot]

Rotation is a good thing especially with can goods.

[TangoFoxtrot]

The first steps is to make a plan. Any plan(for the most part) is better than no plan at all. Follow it and adjust as you go. Absorb all the knowledge you can. Add to your stockpile as your budget allows and go from there. Remember that a lot of prepppers have more money than brains sometimes and not everybody has unlimited funds to use on stockpiling.

[UneasyRider]

Great start to long term storage for a good price! I like your first choices very much for cost and ease of use. My best friend used to bring a ketchup sandwhich to school on a regular basis and would have loved to have a bowl of rice and beans.

It's a logical assumption that you have already added to your normal food suppy of canned and packaged food and are doing rotation, most people start there, and this is a very good second step. You are going to put a lot of meals back really easy.

As you move forward these are good to have...

Wheat.
Oats.
Freeze dried meat in #10 cans.
Solar oven.
Wonder Junior grinder.
Cold pressed olive oil.
Salt and unground pepper plus spices that you like.