Here's a test

[Diesel]

Here's a test

THE SHTF!!

Quick do a survey of stored food and water you have in your home. How long would it sustain your familly if there was no longer access to gocery stores or water.

[Muckraker69]

about a week of food. A pool full of water that may be over run by neighbors, but there is no short supply of pool water in Phoenix. Virtually every house has one. Then there are three loved Maltese for making "hot dog" meat.:rolleyes:

Good point! The economy makes it tough to put money aside for food storage, yet it is exactly the reason to do so because it can get worse.

[Diesel]

But guess what... when you look at it, most of us fail.. so this little "here's a test" should be an eye opener, right? :)

Let's get on it guys!

[TheUnboundOne]

Here's A Test

Dear Diesel,

I have months worth of canned and packaged non-perishable foods, including:

* beef stew;
* chicken and dumplings;
* soups;
* mixed vegetables;
* greens;
* vacuum-sealed chicken broth;
* vacuum-sealed milk;
* vacuum-sealed soy and rice milk;
* cans and vacuum packs of tuna and fish filets;
* boxes and jars of cereal, oatmeal, grits, farina, dried mashed potato mix, crackers, peanut butter, soy butter, tea bags, sugar, and honey;
* jars, bottles, and shakers of salt, pepper, seasonings, spices, and bouillon cubes;

and

* a sealed 5-gallon bucket of rice;

I keep few perishables, but the few things I do have are mostly condiments like ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, sauces, etc. I keep bread and a cheese loaf in there too, but they can stay at room temperature for a time if needed. I have blue gel freezer packs in the freezer, which would keep these items chilled at about refrigerator temperature for a couple of days.

I also have 14 gallons of sterile water in 2 plastic containers and countless two liter bottles of water and rotate every 6 months. I also have charcoal filters, sand, and pebbles for filtration.

I'm sitting pretty...for now at least.

[tracker]

I have 200lb rice and 100 lb pinto plus lotta can food. I am on a well but wonder how I will be able to get the water out of the ground,I have a gen but how long will I be able to get fuel to run it? I also have a question on storeing the rice and pinto bean If I get the storage buckets with the gamma seal lids will that be sufeciant to keep the rice and bean good ??

[Diesel]

wow tracker you're def on your way to being prepared that's a great start!

As one shelf life i'm not sure but I have read several years, and that may not be even in a gamma sealed bucket.

How do you like that system by the way?

[tracker]

wow tracker you're def on your way to being prepared that's a great start!

As one shelf life i'm not sure but I have read several years, and that may not be even in a gamma sealed bucket.

How do you like that system by the way?

Sorry its been awhile since I have checked in. What system?? I ordered a couple good books today Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse and Crisis Preparedness Handbook. I would love to find a old hand pump to get water from well. I saw one on the internet but it was $650. can not afford that.

[Diesel]

sorry meant the gamma lids

[Rustyshakelford]

I just took the time to do an inventory

I would say that if we rationed it properly, we could make it on the food for about 6 months.

I prefer cans rather then the fancy long term storage stuff. I keep my stuff rotated out since I rarely eat out.

Here are a few things I recommend and have on stock.

1. Spam. Has a half life of plutonium. I have 15 tins.
2. Lots of tins of vegetables. Red Kidney beans are my fav. I have about 10 tins of them.
3. Sauer Kraut. I have lots of the Bavarian style. You would be suprised how good the worst cuts of meat can be when smothered in good old Kraut.
4. Coconut Milk. See number 3. I have 5 tins.
5. Water packed fruit cups. Small and easy to carry and packed with nutrients. I have about 40 of those.
6. Tins of kippersnacks. Fish is good for you. I have 20 of them.
7. Lots of tins of tuna, salmon, vienna sausages, and Armour dried Beef.
8. Various tins of other stuff such as olives, mandarin oranges, beets, etc. Probably 30 tins. This offers some variety in flavours and nutrients.
9. Numerous bags of rice, lentels, beans, and split peas. Probably 20 in all.
10. 12 tins of canned milk. The whole stuff, not the fat free junk.
11. Flour, corn meal, and numerous boxes of corn muffin mix. Just add water and cook, or make hot cakes.
12. Lots of spices. Just because you are in a survival situation, does not mean you cannot spice things properly. Salt, pepper, some small containers of saffron, thyme, dried celery, onion powder, garlic powder, small bottles of cajun style hot sauce, paprika, etc. All in small containers and they take up small spaces.

I also keep 20 P-38 tin openers in the cupboard.

For water, and I live in the desert, I have a couple of good solutions. I buy Arizona Teas in the 1 gallon bottles. The tea is pretty good, but the containers are amazing!! The matieral they are made of does not degrade in sunlight, and are tougher then any other container I have ever seen. I keep 5 of them around, and when I drink one, I fill it with water and store it. I think I have at least 20 of them stored. I also have a 75 gallon fish tank. There are fish in in it, but the water is just water. I do not use chemicals. It would be a last resort though.

[Diesel]

whats the lifespan on those fruit cups?

when u say tin u mean a single soup sized can?

surprised u dont have more spam

No powdered goods? milk or cheese?

you should store you grains etc in sealed buckets
And being in the desert with no pool? I'd say you are SEVERELY unprepared water wise. I would immediately start a long term water program using 30 gallon or 50 gallong blue water drums treated with bleach or another long term preperation. Get a hand pump, this water could be VERY valueable for you. Water is EVERYTHING

I would say that if we rationed it properly, we could make it on the food for about 6 months.

I prefer cans rather then the fancy long term storage stuff. I keep my stuff rotated out since I rarely eat out.

Here are a few things I recommend and have on stock.

1. Spam. Has a half life of plutonium. I have 15 tins.
2. Lots of tins of vegetables. Red Kidney beans are my fav. I have about 10 tins of them.
3. Sauer Kraut. I have lots of the Bavarian style. You would be suprised how good the worst cuts of meat can be when smothered in good old Kraut.
4. Coconut Milk. See number 3. I have 5 tins.
5. Water packed fruit cups. Small and easy to carry and packed with nutrients. I have about 40 of those.
6. Tins of kippersnacks. Fish is good for you. I have 20 of them.
7. Lots of tins of tuna, salmon, vienna sausages, and Armour dried Beef.
8. Various tins of other stuff such as olives, mandarin oranges, beets, etc. Probably 30 tins. This offers some variety in flavours and nutrients.
9. Numerous bags of rice, lentels, beans, and split peas. Probably 20 in all.
10. 12 tins of canned milk. The whole stuff, not the fat free junk.
11. Flour, corn meal, and numerous boxes of corn muffin mix. Just add water and cook, or make hot cakes.
12. Lots of spices. Just because you are in a survival situation, does not mean you cannot spice things properly. Salt, pepper, some small containers of saffron, thyme, dried celery, onion powder, garlic powder, small bottles of cajun style hot sauce, paprika, etc. All in small containers and they take up small spaces.

I also keep 20 P-38 tin openers in the cupboard.

For water, and I live in the desert, I have a couple of good solutions. I buy Arizona Teas in the 1 gallon bottles. The tea is pretty good, but the containers are amazing!! The matieral they are made of does not degrade in sunlight, and are tougher then any other container I have ever seen. I keep 5 of them around, and when I drink one, I fill it with water and store it. I think I have at least 20 of them stored. I also have a 75 gallon fish tank. There are fish in in it, but the water is just water. I do not use chemicals. It would be a last resort though.

[Rustyshakelford]

Grains

Look at the expiration on a bag of rice. Mine show good until 2011. I will consume them and replace them many times over before them.

My Del-monte Lite fruit tins are good until 2012.

I apologize using tins. My parents are European. By tins, I mean cans. 16 ozs for the larger cans, and the tomato sauces are 8 ozs. Some of the vegtables need to be rotated out, as I don't eat them fast enough...especially the corn..yuck.

In the even the ballon goes up, I have no plans on staying here. This is an oil town and the neighborhood is not friendly anywhere here to civilized folks.

I do not need powdered stuff. Canned milk is enough for me. I generally don't do much dairy, plus meat provides everything needed.

I also fogot to mention bags of pasta's and noodles. Nothing better then noodles and Kraut!!! God Bless my German mother. She taught me the finer things in life.

Another thing that folks forget to understand. Water here in the desert is scarce on the surface, but is plentiful beneath the surface, and almost every rancher around here has a windmill to pump water. I have plenty to last us quite a while.

[forever_frost]

I'm pretty screwed on water, although I'm within walking distance to Cooper lake so I should be kind of okay there. I have several dozen cans of various vegetables, a 25 pound bag of rice, various pastas that just need water and heat, coffee (how can you forget coffee) and the like. Something bad happens, outside of my weapons, I'm pretty much SOL.

Yall hurry up and come put in that garden

[kenno]

I'm down to about 6 months of food, both dried and canned. I'm still using my Y2K stock stored in mylar and Gamma lids. I went through the rice alot faster than the beans, the salt and sugar only lasted a few years as I do alot of canning. Although the beans are quite dried out by age I have found that the pressure cooker does an excelent job of cooking them.
Water is no problem, I have several sources and the local water supply is filtered and gravity fed.

[Applejack]

We have just inventoried our stock to see just what we do have and what we need.
we are now up to 300 lbs of asorted dried beans, 400 lbs of rice, canned goods (store bought) we have 524 cans of assorted green beans, corn, butter beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste, kidney beans, fruit fillings for pies, fruit, etc. Then we have everything we have been canning ourselves from the garden and still canning. this includes green beans, salsa, pepper relish, peach preserves, butter beans, squash, may peas, okra, etc. We are just starting to can meat.
On store bought can meat we have 85 cans of tuna, and even more of canned chicken, spam,( underwood develed ham, chicken, beef). canned hams about 27 of these. canned cambells soups. odles of noodles, all kinds of speggetti, and different types of elbow mach. We are on a rotation system that is working well for us and i really did not realize we have the amount of food that we have. We have instant milk both store bought and mountain house. We have a very large amount of the 20 to 25 year foods plus 3 cans of emergency seed food banks. We may have enough to feed our family of us plus our 5 grandchildren and 2 daughters and son in law for a good 2 or more years. This should get us through anything that comes our way if nothing happens. And yes I have run out of room so now I am going to start loading up my daughter's houses as soon as they finish making room. I just hope the well holds out for years to come. May have to make some alterations on it though. not sure about that yet. We have a lot of bottled water as well. and the big berkey water filter with about 8 sets of the black filters. need to get more of these as money allows. both daughters are going to order a big berkey also. that will be a tolal of 3 berkeys for all of us. This should give us enough drinking water per day if not more. i really did not realize just how much food we have until we started to count and check dates on everything. we have 25 jars of peanut butter and just for hubby, i think he can eat a jar in 2 days. As for condoments we have loads of mustard, mayo, ketchup, etc. need to get more white vingar. we have been going through that a lot. Spices we are loaded on. I really had not realized we had as much as we have. We have been stocking now over 4 years. The only thing going out of date are the store bought canned tomatoes and I am making speggtti sauce and salsa with that. It will give those another year at least if not more.
AJ

[ZAGran]

I would love to find a old hand pump to get water from well. I saw one on the internet but it was $650. can not afford that.

In the meantime get or make a well bucket,then get a pulley and some rope. I did. You can find how to make one out of PVC on you tube. Cheap and they work. That should hold me until I can afford a hand pump.

Depending on how many make it to the BOL we can hold out for one to two years.