How many folks keep a few months worth of food staples at their homes? I've been thinking for quite awhile now about putting up a few hundred pounds of staples (beans, macaroni, rice etc.) as an emergency food supply.
When I look at the world around me, with all of the economic insecurities, the natural disasters and such, this makes perfect sense, but to be honest, I find the entire topic a little unsettling. On the other hand, I'd rather look foolish than have to explain to my kids why there's nothing to eat.
For those who do keep emergency food supplies, any suggestions on vendors or what I might want to keep? Thanks.
Crazy Bob
Back in the 60's when we were doing the duck & cover exercises under our desks at school and people were building bomb shelters in the back yards of new homes, my mom (a dyed-in-the-wool Catholic) stockpiled water and canned goods in the garage in case of emergency. They all got thrown out, eventually, which was a good thing. My dad's whole family was Mormon. They stockpile food and necessary items as part of their religion. If we all followed their common-sense approach to certain aspects of life, we would be well-served. The other stuff in their belief system doesn't need to affect our appreciation of their practical approach to life. Did I get off-subject? Sorry.
You forgot "AMMO UP"
We keep a fair amount of stuff on hand already, dried beans, pasta, canned goods - rotate the stock as you go, combine it with fresh veggies, frozen and other perishables in your menu as you go...
Amazes me how many people live only with enough food for a couple of days.
We used to live in Fairfield, Iowa, gound zero for the Transcendental Meditation movement. At the height of the Y2K flap, the meditators were stocking up like crazy. When the garage sale season rolled around in the spring of 2000, there were some really good deals on 100 lb. bags of beans, gasoline generators and jerry cans.
Like Mr. Chain, we keep a fair stock of dried beans, rice, pasta, canned goods, etc. and rotate the new in and the old out. We probably have 2 to 3 months worth of staples on hand at any given time. This is not an overt survivalist act, just the result of Joyce’s expert manipulation of coupons and sale prices.
Here on the Gulf Coast where most of us have experienced hurricanes at some point in our lives, being without power for days or weeks teaches us to stock up. Right now we have two weeks worth of dried and canned goods, as well as a 500 gallon water tank with a hand pump. Anyone who has been without running water knows 500 gallons is not as much as it sounds, if rationed will last 100 days, 30 days if bathing and washing dishes.
Let a depression hit the alley north of Cuba, and we ramp up to 30 days worth of supplies, as well as stocking up on Coleman bottles and batteries. All then big box stores know to ramp up inventory as well, with the local radio stations announcing when one of them has received a truck of something.
I don't have a need to ammo up. Ammo has a crazy shelf life, still have boxes of .22LR from 1999 that shoot just fine.
Bob: I sense the same possibilities.
I don't think it is alarmism. It doesn't take much of a disaster to shut down lines of distribution.
We stock a lot of food because of family size and preference and stocking deals. For example, if tuna goes on sale, we will buy a case. We notice that Walmart rarely gives deep discounts, a lot of more traditional stores will give deep sales on certain items to attract customers. These are what we stock up on. Canned goods keep well and eat well for years. Nitrogen packed 5 gallon buckets of staples like oatmeal or beans will keep well for many years and are easy to prepare to eat. Salt, Pepper, spices, sugar are excellent things to keep on hand (packaged well). We rotate our stock in and out. We do not stock up for the next disaster, just feeding a large family and folks that come to our house with their large families.
I do kind of what Sam does, keep my eye out for sale items and pick up a few extra cans here and there. I buy pasta and rice in bulk because of the cost savings, and they store well. It is really nice to have a well stocked pantry to draw from, and you save a little money. Having extra on hand for emergencies is a plus.
I have to tell you something funny.
When Ike hit Houston my in-laws took to bathing in cold water for about a week.
Then one day, while talking with a neighbor, my F-I-L mentioned how he was getting tired of bathing in cold water.
The neighbor said, "Well you have natural gas, why are you bathing in cold water?", to which my F-I-L had no good answer.
He went inside and took a hot shower.
That's funny, Dan.
Knowing what you have and how it works helps in an emergency situation...;-)
At the risk of sounding like an alarmist-Dan
On a related note.
Last year there was a planned water main repair that would put us all out of water for about 10 hours. My neighbors, a newly married couple, young and very inexperienced came to ask me for advice. Bryan said "We've got a little one so are we going to have to run to the store to use the toilet?" I kid you not. They did not understand that a toilet was gravity fed and that they only had to fill up the bathtub before the water was shut off and then use a bucket to fill up the bowl when they needed to flush it.
Our worse problem in Lawton is the danger of tornadoes which can hit without much warning. The second problem is our stupid ice storms. I keep a ditty bag in the closet with flashlights and other things and our cabinets have probably enough for three months, excepting of course if Sam and Nate showed up with their family. I might have to go shopping in the morning if that happened. 🙂
Deral
Hawaii is hurricane prone, so we always have extra supplies from May through November at least. Includes at least three weeks of canned food, (all varieties), water, batteries, your level of paranoia may vary...
Forgot to mention condiments and spices, thanks for the reminder. A can of Tony Chachere's seasoning is worth it's weight in gold, as well as whatever spices you prefer.
I also keep some powdered Gatorade and Koolaid (which we never drink under normal conditions) just for the variety.
I always keep our house stocked with at least one month's worth of canned goods, as well as bags of rice and beans. Not doing to well on keeping water stocked, though. A friend of mine always has 1 years worth of MREs on hand.
Need to be prepared for even the minor emergencies such as ice storms, so yes I have emergency supplies on hand.
Good for freeze dried supplies and many non-food emergency items:
Excellent place for whole grains and legumes, just make sure to have a manual grain grinder for emergency use. Highly recommended.
You can also pick up some of the freeze dried Mountain House meals in the camping section of outdoor stores like Gander Mountain.
