I can basically live off of homebrewed liquor and frozen pizza for months (only actual life skill college taught me) but if the crap hits the fan, It'd be better to have some better sustenance. I always have at least a 7day emergency supply on the ready, but I'd want to hear from you guys which one would be better if stuff goes real for a couple months. Also, do those solar water boilers work ? I'm thinking of getting one.
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Anything Mike Adams offers. He is a food scientist, has a food lab to test his products, has his own factory, everything is Organic, non-GMO etc. He also has a free downloadable PDF on Surving a food emergency. https://www.healthrangerstore.com He also has very informative daily updates https://www.healthrangerreport.com
Agreed!
I second that, also get some sprouting seeds, and don’t forget water and gravity purifier.
To keep your immune system in tippy top condition:
Plus water and healthy food that will keep. (Honey keeps forever but it's basically fructose so please don't eat a lot of it!)
First things first. You can survive for up to 30-days with little food. You can't survive for more than 3 days without clean water.
If the SHTF, the absolute #1 killer of people in North America (with possible exception of other people) is lack of clean water. Waterborne illnesses and diseases will wipe out the populace. Most people have some access to water, but drinking unsanitary water will have it's toll.
I would highly recommend getting a Berkey water filtration unit with a pair of filtration elements. The two elements will filter up to 6,000 gallons of water, removing greater than 99.999% of viruses and greater than 99.9999% of pathogenic bacteria, inorganic minerals, heavy metals (including arsenic, lead, mercury, chromium), etc... In short, you could pour lake water, rain water or swimming pool water into your purifier and within an hour, you are drinking purified water free of contaminants. However, Berkey does have a great design, is stainless steel and looks good, but a decent system can cost $300 to $500 through them.
You can build the same system yourself for 1/4th the price. Those exact same elements are sold on Amazon for maybe $40 for 2-elements. You can then build the rest of your system using clean plastic 5-gallon buckets with lids, simple valve and spout and a few minor modifications. You can have an entire setup for possibly $60 in materials and a little labor. Spend the rest of your money on buying a few spare elements for future.
Focus on CLEAN WATER access before you even think about food. When 50% of the population is dying or incapacitated due to lack of clean drinking water... you can then take THEIR food.
I already got this one scratched off the list. Clay filters. They're dope, easy to mantain, and the water always comes fresh cold. Got bottled reserves aswell.
Lots of good advice on Prepper web site. One recommendation I used some 15 years ago was a 5-gallon plastic bucket with tight-fitting lid. I filled 10 of then with staples (beans, rice, flour, etc.) all of which I had vacuum-sealed. Then put a cube of dry ice in the bucket and sealed it. The dry ice deletes the oxygen and moisture and leaves behind inert gas. I opened one container this week as a test: everything was good, like fresh. I made sourdough bread and used some flour to make pepper gravy for biscuits also made from the bucket contents. Added dried beef strips to the gravy mix. Note, each bucket has a list of what's inside with simple recipes. Oh and the Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper were packed in there too. One bucket is food for one person for 15 days if you add game from your .22 excursions. Only thing that's wasn't so good was a pack of Marlboro Red non-filter cigarettes, pretty dry!
it's kinda bouzzshie, but if you use Boveda packs at whatever humidity you want they'll last up to a few years if you put enough of them in the bucket with the cigs. i could see myself charging 15 rounds per cig, post-boog.
A few months would be easy. Learn to forage if you want long term security. Lots of info online about it.
Start with a 30 day pantry of what your eat regularly. Rotate and replace. Then start adding long(er) term storage. Commercial prep sites are way EXPENSIVE. Mormon warehouse is about 1/3 the cost. (They don't proselytize). Limited choice but a really good place to start for basics 0 milk, flour, oats, etc. Then go to the commercial guys. Several of the companies offer sample packs you can buy to see if you like their stuff(or to just put on the shelf). Bulk is really good but once open, you've lost the protection and there's a LOT of food in there unless you repack in smaller packages. Remember sanitation supplies for your cooking area - bad juju to get sick in an already bad situation.
If you need to grab it and run, can't beat MRE's and distilled water.. I personally have a lot of home-canned stuff and ammo..
As long as you're somewhere in nature that has water you can just boil the water and for a fire all you need are matches and tree branches
Canned food all the way. Stick to things that can be eaten cold, in case of power outages. Dried lentils are cheap and have seen many a poor student through further education, though unless you're doing something than making a simple soup with it, it's most definitely somewhere at the desperation end of the scale. If you look up "prison cooking video" on YouTube, you can do some interesting stuff with Ramen noodles and a microwave.
Canned is good but it can't be transported as easily so I like to have a crap load of dried food as well in case of the need to bug out with a lot of food
20+ lbs of pinto beans and 30+ lbs of whole grain rice to start. Eat it or plant it. Add corn, wheat, more beans...
My patriot supply seems to be reputable and I believe they are the ones who produce most of it (infowars, Steven crowder, etc I think all use them). Its a bunch of Mormons i think and I imagine they run a pretty clean food operation. Lasts 25 years too. I have about 3 months of it.
MREs
https://www.good2goco.com/
Love my solar boilers, have 3, in Florida can boil in less than an hour even in winter.
Mountain is best IMO, but also very expensive. My Patriot Supply is not bad, supplemented with extra rices/pastas/freeze dried veggies. Lots of tuna for homemade tuna helper (also make with canned chicken/white meeat) both have long shelf life. Spam and Vienna Sausage have long shelf life. Powdered milk lasts forever, canned only about a year. Stock up on oatmeal packets, very filling and tastes good, I've been successful in vacume packing brown sugar +3 or more years. Simply Salad "pasta salad" keeps well and only need water and a couple tablespoons oil.
Buy a vacume packets, pays for itself over and over. Flour in sealed 5gal buckets for bread making and breading fresh caught fish. RED FEATHER canned butter and cheese.
Store LOT'S OF SEASONINGS. (Can't stress that enough)
If you thinking two months, get four. Don't forget paper goods and toiletries.
Plan on having to share unless you live alone on a mountain top or have your own island. The smell of food cooking will draw hungry critters a long ways. (Better to share than die or kill over it)
Thanks for the info. I already got some fall back sites and some friends to share the food with.
I wouldn't recommend any of them. The best thing to do is to consider what you actually eat most and then find out how to properly store those items long term. Remember to store lots of spices. You can grow herbs yourself, as most of them will grow like weeds. Salt, sugar, and honey are some of the items that will last forever when stored properly.
On the other hand, if you're rich and lazy, most any brand will do.
I like to have a mixture. We do have a large family so can deal in 50 pounds bags of oatmeal and #10 cans of spinach...
(1) Foods we eat often: rotate stock.
(2) Foods that can be eaten in an emergency stress situation, don't require cooking or thinking to pull together: MRE's, backpacking foods. We use them camping and hiking so the stock is rotated.
(3)Long Term Dehydrated that are easy to make meals with. These have 20+ years storage life so I can set them aside and forget about them.
(4) Large supply of basics: wheat berries, oat groats, rice, cakes of yeast, etc. Takes more work to make meals but if the world changes (massive inflation, war, natural disaster that takes out infrastructure, etc) we'll need those stores.
(5) Comfort foods. Even bad for you things like candy, things to lighten the mood. Especially needed if you have kids, but aren't we all kids at heart?
Stuff you already love to eat but lots more of it. Once you feel silly for having so much you're probably just beginning to have enough.
I'm partial to canned goods. Especially after the recent power outage. Amazing shelf life and easy to heat off a portable gas burner in a pinch.
Don't forget to FIFO your food items. I've got enough that I've been changing mine out for dinner. Then I go shopping and replace them. Canned vienna sausage, spam, danish ham, diced chicken, tuna, beef stew, chicken and dumplings, chili, roast beef and gravy, canned soups and ravioli's. Then just load up on can veggies, pasta, tomato sauces and bouillion along with mac and cheese. Don't forget some canned fruit for the little ones. Bon appetit!
Most of those "survival foods' taste like crap, are way too high in sodium, and have small servings. I've found that if you just go to a grocery store, especially someplace like Aldi's or other cut rate stores, and buy canned foods that have a long shelf life, plus bags of rice and beans, and pasta, it will keep for a long time in a cool place like a basement. Cans are still edible long after the sell-by date. Every once in a while, go through and purge the very oldest cans, especially if they are rusty or bulging, and replace them.
I have enough such food in my basement to feed my wife and I for almost a year.
And don't forget water. COSTCO has bulk water for cheap and it lasts a long, long time. It's in plastic bottles that are safe and won't leach stuff into the water.
You don't need a brand just buy rice, beans, pasta as a start
I have the following on hand, a 6 to 8 month supply:
Toilet paper
Paper towels
Coconut milk
Oatmeal
Rice
Dried beans
Canned chicken, tuna, corned beef
Sugar, salt, flour, baking powder, spices
powdered milk
instant mashed potatoes
pasta
canned veggies and fruit
Honey, nuts, syrup, peanut butter
liquor, wine..for bartering
diapers, sanitary napkins, tampons, soap, tooth paste, shampoo/conditioner
batteries
water purifier
syphon (for gas)
antibiotics and first aid kit
condoms
candles
lighter fluid (lots of it)
gun/ammo
canning wax and jars
seeds
Water
We live on a well and have propane for fuel and a generator if we lose power. went off the grid last year in the wake of the riots. Have been preparing ever since.