Food Preservation...

[zephyp]

Anyone into food preservation...drying, smoking, canning, etc. I can do jerky and dried fruit but thats about it. Thinking about exploring alternatives to freezing that preserves food stuffs "indefinitely." Interested in process, cost, and benefits...

[gunderwood]

Don't forget that canned food, while heavy, is a good cheap option. If you don't damage the cans, they food will last practically forever.

[Palladin]

Mama raised us boys on canning. I doubt it's cost effective, but I figure if it costs more, so what - it's just insurance for SHTF. Plus I KNOW what goes into my mason jars, it's pretty scary how much of the food on the shelves doesn't come from the USA. My kids know (and will know) how to can and preserve. ( 6 of us )

random thoughts, not in any order of importance...

The Ball Blue Book is a great reference source and how to manual.
I bulk can my string beans and tomatoes, shoot for 100qts ea per year if the garden's willing.
Freeze corn cut off the cob (just my preference) but could glass jar it if I had to.
Up to 5 gallons kraut in stone crocks.
Indefinitely?? I've popped lids on 10 yr old jars of tomatoes that were still fine...
Eat other veggies fresh as much as possible to hold down costs...
Sometimes run the pressure canner on the side burner of the propane grill to keep the heat out of the house.
SHTF? Home Comfort wood cookstove will git 'er dun.
Root cellar - apples, taters, sweet taters, winter squash, carrots, beets, parsnips, head cabbage.

man - I'm getting hungry!

[srwg9mm]

http://www.amazon.com/Putting-Food-Plum ... 0452268990
this is a good book if you wanna get into food preservation.

[zephyp]

Thanks folks...funny thing I already had both of the recommended books on order when I put this post up...good to know you are recommending them.

Yes, we go the tin can route for emergency reserves but I also want to preserve my own gatherings. Cost is a consideration but having looked into it from a neophyte's perspective it doesnt appear to be an issue. Besides, what good is a pile of money when the SHTF and all the stores are looted...

[smc331]

I'm not canning as much as bro' does - my little city garden supports little more than fresh food in season. We freeze and dehydrate a few things for now, but that doesn't really address long term. When I get moved back home the canner will come out for more than just Christmas gifts!

Don't forget to stock up on dried beans - talk about keeping indefinitely. Speaking of which - I have a crock pot of Great Northerns and ham cookin' right now. Y'all come!

[OakRidgeStars]

Something else to consider when it comes to putting up food preserves. Don't wait too late to start.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/12b06cee-d300 ... abdc0.html

[gunderwood]

Something else to consider when it comes to putting up food preserves. Don't wait too late to start.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/12b06cee-d300 ... abdc0.html

Yup. The important thing is you start. If you start out small with some can goods from the store, some dried beans, etc. that is better than nothing. Don't bite off more than you can chew at first. Work your way up to the more advanced food preservation methods and you will likely be better off.

[smc331]

M. D. Creekmore has an excellent jump start article - if you can't afford it all at once, take a small chunk of the list each time you make a grocery run to Wally World. I found some plans for can rotation storage - for now I just manually rotate. I'm to the point now that I pick up goods to replace what's been eaten - so it's not a huge purchase each trip (yay).

http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/survi ... e-walmart/

[zephyp]

Dried beans are a good idea and would go well with the 100+ pounds of rice I've got tucked away...

[gunderwood]

Dried beans are a good idea and would go well with the 100+ pounds of rice I've got tucked away...

Yup, but make sure you have access to lots of water. All of the dried food don't eat to well with out it. With canned goods, you can make due with limited water, but not so hot with dehydrated foods. It takes balance.

[smc331]

Y'all do store potable water, right? Enough to get through at least a week of cooking and drinking water? Past that a Berkey or similar filter is a good item to have. Cheaper than Dirt has a filter setup that you use with a couple of 5-gallon buckets - http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/CAMP352-1.html - another piece of inexpensive insurance.

[zephyp]

I do indeed store water which is often more important than food...you can last longer with food and no water than the other way around...joking aside, most of us carry a supply of readily available "food" as it is...and yes, I've tried to warn Young about rice driving up the need to have more water...hoarding rice is to a Korean as hoarding ammo is to one of us...

As a side note to water it is essential to maintaining a decent energy level...most smart doctors put this as a standard question up front for anyone complaining about a lack of energy...its sometimes not the root cause but a variable that must be eliminated...

[smc331]

Whatchu talkin' about, Willis?

What is this carried food supply you speak of?

Hmph - you talkin' about this tool shed* a bunch of us have cultivated?

*guilty as charged

[zephyp]

Seriously, our excesses of food and drink may work to our advantage if food isnt available...you gotta have that water though...and it pays to know a couple tricks...its amazing what you can learn if you pay attention during the nice schools UNCLE sends you to rather than thinking about life back in the world...

[dschflier]

I have gotten into food storage as well. I buy Winter wheat by the 50 lb bag and it is cheap. I also have a wheat mill. I used it this past weekend to make pancakes. I do this so it isn't all foreign to me or the kids if we ever really need it plus it allows for rotation. Pancakes happen to be very healthy if you use whole grain. I mixed 3/4 winter wheat flower to 1/4 cheap pancake mix. It tasted good. I plan on making whole grain bread tomorrow or Thursday.

I also am renting out a small storage space so if some how we ever get robbed most of my food and a good portion of my weapons will not be sitting around the house.

I also got a wood fireplace insert in our downstairs fireplace. It has a cook top portion mostly for boiling water. These will heat your house using wood and you can cook on the part that sticks out.

I have two pretty young kids so I think about this stuff with some frequency now.

[zephyp]

I also am renting out a small storage space so if some how we ever get robbed most of my food and a good portion of my weapons will not be sitting around the house.

I've considered that. Someplace out of town in case we had to leave in a hurry and didnt have the chance to spend an hour loading things up...

[Palladin]

I'm sure Bill will let us pile some stuff in the back of one of his sheds.
I'd feel quite comfortable at his place if the SHTF.

[gunderwood]

I'm sure Bill will let us pile some stuff in the back of one of his sheds.
I'd feel quite comfortable at his place if the SHTF.

At this rate Bill is going to have a small army to command...

[zephyp]

I'm sure Bill will let us pile some stuff in the back of one of his sheds.
I'd feel quite comfortable at his place if the SHTF.

At this rate Bill is going to have a small army to command...

An Army! Does that mean I have to shave every day? Could I be like some sort of civilian consultant then...I could look scraggly and get paid more too...