I think this might be where a significant difference between "preppers" may show up. Some of us (and I include myself here) are, for the most part storing food to get us through the next storm or illness or personal financial downturn. Others are looking at a longer term. I like to cook, and I like to eat, and I like to eat well, so I store the stuff I need to do it. Most of that won't ride out the temps in my garage for decades, but I don't ask them to. Till Winter is over , or perhaps a bit over is good. I have a bucket or two of wheat and beans, as well as numerous canned goods (and 2 freezers, unless the power goes), so I am OK for longer - but lacking goats or a cow I will have to forgo milk and cheese if it happens that I can't get to my farmer friend or the market. That's OK. But I don't have kids, and I am the only one in this house who eats cheese. In other circumstances, and preparing for different scenarios, and starting from a different point than I am, other options are necessary.k15n1 said:Sorry to stir pot I'm just posting what I've learned. Not many people get botulism which makes following the tested procedures a bit of a head game. Check out the paper I posted because it describes the botulism test procedure.
On, then.
I read a bit more about cheese and how to store it. Turns out that some types don't keep well---Limburger for example. You may wonder why anyone would even have it in their house, much less want to store it. And all of the soft cheeses (or so I read) have a limited shelf life---weeks or months in the right environment. Even hard cheeses will dry out without proper care, but it takes years. I haven't tried to store cheese yet, but now I'd like to try my hand at it. Some goats would make it more fun, but that would require a new appropriations bill, waiting for the next budget cycle, etc, etc.
I started out trying to store everything for as long as possible. It was a great place to start but now I see that in order to be really SS, you need to have some means of production. Most of us can't produce each thing we need, but that's what bartering is for, right?