October 14, 2008

Food Storage/emergency prep.

We want to get on this food storage train but need some help. I know nothing about food storage. I spoke with our ward expert lady and learned a bit, and got the list of foodstuffs we can get at our cannery, but I'm looking for any advice on any aspect of food storage and other emergency stuff one should have.

Fist question: how do I figure out how much food it will take to feed 2 adults and 1 kid for 6 months or a year? The church website had nothing helpful. Does anyone know of any website or calculator for that?

Do you get most your food storage through the cannery, or are there things that are better or cheaper that you get through other places?

Any other advice on what to get or not get?

Aside from food and water, here are the things I can think of offhand that we should have extra of. Tell me what i'm missing:

flashlights, kerosene heater/cooker, fire starting stuff, sanitary stuff, bigger clothes for kids, batteries, crank radio, medical and first aid stuff, 7 or 8 guns, cabin in Montana, camo gear.

Tell me your thoughts, whatever they be.

13 comments:

Jo said...

Yay-- I'm so glad you're doing this! I can share some some info with you, but am leaving in the morning for a couple of weeks. Remind me then and I'll look some things up. Smart to check the Church site and talk to people who've been doing this for years.

davis@dontdodumbthings.com said...

Look, a lot of people are going to laugh at this, but I've been training for a lot of different scenarios by using a computer battle simulator named "Halo." Here are a few pointers:

1. Rather than focusing on food and clothing, worry first about weapons. You're most likely going to be facing down a crowd, so keep that in mind. I recommend a turret gun and a rocket launcher.

2. Should any of the crowd make it past your perimeter defense, you're going to need a close-quarters weapon. This is why you need an energy sword.

Ryan@dontdodumbthings.com said...

Actually, Davis's comment dovetails with mine. Rebecca, I just think you need to get Chris lots of guns. If he just has lots of guns and bullets around, you guys are going to do just fine.

Reminds of Denny Godderidge's position on food storage: "A pocket knife is all I'll need to feed my family in the wilderness." Good on ya Denny.

Andrea W. said...

Very funny, guys. I can't tell who wrote this post, Chris or Rebecca? It kind of sounded like Christian to me?

I'm just trying to get organized with this too and here's what I've learned.

I've heard that while the cannery does have great prices it isn't necessarily the best deal you can find, and I don't want 5 million #10 cans, so that and the difficulty of getting there because of kids has kind of ruled that out for me.

I have bought things before that just ended up being wasted so my goal is to stock things we actually use and can rotate like peanut butter, tuna fish, pasta, rice, flour, sugar etc.

Secondly, the church website under provident living and long-term food storage has a calculator for how much grain and legumes you need. For a family of 3 for 12 months it recommends 900 lbs of wheat, rice, corn or other grains and 180 lbs of dry beans and other legumes.

Tara Fears said...

Rebecca (assuming you wrote that post) we NEED to talk! I've been having 'promptings' on the same thing lately! So, let's work together on that one!

Kristie Lee said...

I am working on the exact same thing at the moment! Here is a great website that I have found that is helping me out a lot. http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/ and a great one for using food storage is everydayfoodstorage.blogspot.com
We are hoping to have at least our 3 month supply by January! Maybe there is a reason we are all being prompted to do this... scary!!

Anonymous said...

Rebecca,
My ward gave me this breakdown.
per adult /year
Grains 400 lbs
Lugumes 60 lbs
powdered milk 16 lbs
cooking oils and fats 10 quarts
sugar or honey 60 lbs
salt 8lbs
water- you should have a two week supply =14 gallons
Sadie

Anonymous said...

p.s. i have tons of great handout if you are interested i can e mail.
Sadie

christian@dontdodumbthings.com said...

Thanks for everyone's help. Btw, twas I, Christian, who authored the post.

Ange, what other places are you looking at buying the food storage from?

Davis, big time lol.

Amanda said...

I have something that I can email you. Every month you buy something for your long term storage and 72 hour kit - food storage is so overwhelming but this guide has you just do a little bit every month. Jordan and I just started it. Once a month we have a food storage FHE. want me to send it?

Andrea W. said...

Costco, and then caselot sales at the grocery stores.

The Allred Family said...

cabin in montana...a must have for survival, I agree. As far as the emergency prep goes I know a tiny bit b/c of my calling.....have you gone to providentliving.org??? Doesn'thtat website give you everything you need??? As far as how much stuff you need for a fam of your size. I went to a class not long ago that this lady in my ward taught and she is a PRO. She lives off her food storage just so her fam can be accustomed to eating that way and b/c it's so affordable. Obviously, that's a bit extreme. But in her class she was saying she gets some stuff at stores and some at the cannery. I think if you are wanting to do the basics then the cannery is fine...but if you are cooking gourmet (like this lady) you might need to outsource. I have a recipe bok that has everything from the cannery...no outside ingredients. I haven't cracked it yet...but I bought it! :)

Hannah Stayner said...

check out this website, it should help:
http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm