Food Storage and SHTF Questions

[TanksHill]

Great questions BB.

1. I have yeast stored in the freezer. I am pretty sure its still good. Less than a year old. I rotate as I use it.

2. Most of the powder items are pretty expensive. I have bought 1 number 10 can of each when I had a bit of extra cash or making an order from Emergency Essentials. If your not going to use it I wouldn't bother with it. I make mixes, Bisquick, pancake etc. so it comes in handy.

3. As for the first aid I have the basics. A couple kits and a few things I have added. I remember during Katrina Rubbing Alcohol was in short supply. So for a buck or two I added some. But I have to tell you the last time I went to the gun show there were a couple vendors who sold amazing first aid kits. I believe military, with all kinds of trauma and fancy stuff. Next time the show comes to town, I'm going for medical supplies. maybe you have something like that near you?

4. I have been ordering my whole grains Organic from Azure Standard so I store some. I found 55 gal steel drums for 8 bucks each. The barrel holds 4 unopened bags if I stack full. More than six if I pour the grains in.

I hope this helped.

g

 

[Britesea]

I would suggest printing out (it's gonna take a lot of ink and paper so be prepared) two books that are available at http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download.php#midwives "Where There Is No Doctor" and "Where There Is No Dentist" and if you think you will need it, there is one for Midwifery as well.

A couple of items people often overlook in a medical kit is temporary filling material for teeth, and antibiotics. I have been buying tetracycline and ampicillen that is packaged for fish tanks. It is exactly the same medicine as that given to people- just have to adjust the dosage. I also discovered that most antibiotics will last for quite a bit longer in the freezer than their expiration date (up to 10 years longer for tetracycline).

The Patriot Nurse has a series of YouTube videos that are geared to SHTF medical needs. You might take a look at what she says. I am impressed with her commonsense.

It's easy to get a sourdough starter going, just using the natural yeasts in the air. People make a much bigger deal of this than is necessary. We keep our yeast in the freezer for long storage and a small jar in the fridge. I also want to store some wine and beer yeast- champagne yeast is the most robust if you can only store one type. The little foil packets they are stored in will keep forever as long as they are kept dry.

DH's family used to use a defunct Van as mouse-proof feed storage for their livestock. His father went through the van, pulled out seats, and plugged up every hole he found with sheet metal and pop rivets. It did a great job for years.

I have a couple of #10 cans of powdered eggs in my storage just because we got an excellent price on them, and I also want some powdered milk and cheese just in case. You can make ghee from butter and it will stay good in canning jars almost indefinitely. We also bought a manual oil press that we can use to get oil from BOSS for cooking, oil lamps, etc.

 

[BarredBuff]

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[Britesea]

I think it's a good idea to have at least a minimal amount of dairy products stockpiled even if you have livestock. Unexpected things can happen, like Icu4dzs losing his cow and her calf earlier this year, and then his entire chicken flock (really bad year there!). Farming is still a chancy living, in spite of our much vaunted technology.

 

[Boyd]

I keep bulk packages of yeast in the freezer, then put it into smaller containers when I open one, and keep one container at a time in the refrigerator. So it lasts a very long time- I usually buy a year's worth at a time. So I would say it could last several years if you could keep it cold.

The powdered stuff- it just depends on what your resources are and what you like to use/eat. If you had chickens and a dairy animal, I wouldn't bother to get much of the powdered stuff. A couple of pounds. Powdered cheese and sour cream? Only if you like to eat it and know how to use it.

Dr. kit- My dh thinks he'd like to get his hands on a suture kit. I'd start looking at camping/scout/survival store.

Animal feed- like FarmerJamie said, be sure to rotate it. If you can keep it cool in an air-tight container, like 5 gallon buckets with gamma lids, it should last a long time.


Do you have water storage or a way to get water without electricity? This is a really important one that people sometimes overlook.

Look at tractor supply.. Vet. supplies aren't as regulated as stuff used on humans.. and it is the same if you know what you're doing..

 

[BarredBuff]

I think it's a good idea to have at least a minimal amount of dairy products stockpiled even if you have livestock. Unexpected things can happen, like Icu4dzs losing his cow and her calf earlier this year, and then his entire chicken flock (really bad year there!). Farming is still a chancy living, in spite of our much vaunted technology.

Yeah thats true, we should stock some but not a whole lot.

 

[k0xxx]

I would suggest printing out (it's gonna take a lot of ink and paper so be prepared)...

Keep a watch on the local Kinko's type office supply stores. A lot of them will sometimes run specials on printing out files. It saves a lot of wear and tear on the printer, and a lot of money. You can usually give the files on a CD as either a pdf or a word document.

 

[daydreamer]

I have an answer about the yeast. I buy it in the bulk package at Sam's or Costco. I keep that in the freezer to refill a small jar that is kept in the refrigerator. I bought quite a few before Y2K and I am using the last of that now. So the one I am working with is well over 10 years old and still is good. It was vacuumed packed and stored in the freezer the whole time except for a week or two while we moved across country. I guess that doesn't give you a total shelf life of yeast when stored this way, but it may help.

 

[snapshot]

I just found an EMT training manual at a yard sale! It has loads of info!!!!!

 

[k0xxx]

I have an answer about the yeast. I buy it in the bulk package at Sam's or Costco. I keep that in the freezer to refill a small jar that is kept in the refrigerator. I bought quite a few before Y2K and I am using the last of that now. So the one I am working with is well over 10 years old and still is good. It was vacuumed packed and stored in the freezer the whole time except for a week or two while we moved across country. I guess that doesn't give you a total shelf life of yeast when stored this way, but it may help.

It definitely has help me. Thanks for the info. And BTW,