It is important to have a basic understanding of the underlying concepts of emergency food storage so that you can start off in the right direction and avoid wasting time or money. It is not a complicated task, but having some knowledge beforehand is beneficial.
#1 Why Store Emergency Food?
It is advisable to gather a sufficient amount of food supplies to support your family amidst financial struggles, natural calamities, and instances of economic and societal breakdown. In the subsequent text, we will outline eleven justifications for stockpiling food in preparation for unforeseen disasters and family emergencies.
- Job Loss or Illness
- Social unrest
- Pandemic
- The car breaks down, and you have to choose between food and transportation
- A family member or friend has a crisis and needs nourishment.
- Economic Crash
- Natural Disaster
- Famine
- Food Shortages
- War
- Global Melt Down
- Transportation Crisis
#2 Disaster Scenario And Food Choice
The outcome of your exit from a natural disaster or emergency depends on the specific circumstances of the event, including its location, severity, and duration, which will determine whether you evacuate on foot or seek refuge in a vehicle or shelter.
The specific types of food needed for different emergency scenarios depend on the weight and the resources necessary for preparation.
The following are the three types of food for survival that should be stored.
Bugging-in
You can store any type of food as long as you consider the scenario, such as when there is a power outage or during food preparation in a blizzard.
Ensure that the pantry is stocked with enough white rice to last each person for one year, including 300 pounds of beans and 150 pounds of rice. Also, make sure to provide additional items like hard grain, canned food, vitamins, and other necessary provisions.
Remaining in place during a disaster is the most ideal situation to encounter in the event of an emergency. All of your emergency provisions and equipment are easily accessible.
When stockpiling this food, the only limitations are storage space and cash.
Bugging-out On Foot
When moving away from a catastrophic event, the items you can take with you are restricted to what can fit in a backpack. Advised backpack loads should not surpass 20% of an individual’s weight.
When thinking in a logical manner, the following text can be rephrased without adding or removing any information: A bug-out bag contains survival gear such as food, shelter, water purification, clothing, and more. Due to it being only one aspect, food necessitates being lightweight.
Lightweight survival food
Items such as freeze-dried backpacker meals, emergency food bars, nuts, trail mix, dried fruit, instant oatmeal, instant pasta and meals, beef jerky, tuna in a retort bag, and granola bars are available.
It is important for everyone in the family to have prepacked survival food and gear, conveniently located in one place. When the need arises, simply put on the backpack and begin your journey.
Vehicle Bug-out
The car must be able to accommodate the family, food, water, cooking supplies, clothing, and first aid. It is necessary for this gear to be pre-staged and prepared to be quickly placed into a vehicle.
When considering vehicle survival food, it is important to take into account the possibility of road closures, gas unavailability, and the potential need to travel on foot. If you heavily rely on canned foods, it would be advisable to include a backpacker stove, fuel, and freeze-dried meals in order to sustain yourself.
#4 Dry Staples are Cheap And Effective
One hundred years ago, the majority of the planet relied on grain and beans for sustenance. Inexpensive dry staples such as white rice, dried beans, and rolled oats have been established as reliable survival food options when compared to packaged food. When constructing your survival food supply, it is essential to prioritize the following eight foods.
When you think about it step by step, using staples for cooking from basic ingredients costs less than purchasing prepackaged products, and it is also simpler to include homegrown produce, home-preserved items, fruits from an orchard, and gathered or traded food in your meal planning.
- Hard Grains (e.g., wheat)
- Soft Grains (e.g., buckwheat, oats)
- Flour
- Salt
- Sugar
- Dry Beans
- Dry Pasta
- White Rice
#5 Ideal Storage Temperature
To ensure the preservation of your survival food, it is essential to store it in a cool place such as a basement or a room with temperature control, as heat can cause its destruction.
To maintain the same meaning, avoid storing it in environments such as hot garages, sheds, or places where temperatures fluctuate.
If canned food is stored in an Arizona garage, the shelf-life would be significantly affected due to the increase of 18 degrees Fahrenheit, which reduces its duration by half.
Survival food, especially canned goods, can be damaged by temperatures below freezing. When frozen and then thawed, cans of food will exhibit bulges, buckles, and cracks, rendering the food inedible.
#6 Humidity and Moisture
To prevent rusting of cans and the growth of mold, fungus, and degradation of food’s shelf life, it is important to refrain from storing foods in a damp environment.
Staples that are dry are particularly prone to being affected by moisture. It is necessary for hard grains and beans that are kept in Mylar bags with no oxygen to have a moisture content of less than 10%.
#7 Light-free
To ensure food quality remains intact, it is advisable to refrain from keeping food exposed directly to sunlight. This is because sunlight applies the greenhouse effect on the food, which leads to its deterioration over time by diminishing its color, taste, texture, and nutritional value.
Do not place food in proximity to hot utilities or appliances such as a stove or refrigerator.
#8 Oxygen/Air
Due to the presence of oxidizing enzymes, food tends to spoil rapidly. Consequently, it is advisable to employ oxygen-free storage techniques while storing essential food items like beans, white rice, and wheat. This can be achieved by combining sealed Mylar bags with Oxygen absorbers.
Example of Oxygen’s Effect On Food
White rice can last for up to 5 years when kept in store-bought packaging, provided that it remains bug-free. However, if stored in a container without oxygen, rice can last for more than 30 years.
#9 Characteristics of Emergency Food
In every survival situation, not all types of survival food are suitable. For instance, if you need to evacuate on foot, it would be impossible to carry a week’s worth of canned food in a backpack due to its excessive weight.
Long-term
The shelves are filled with canned goods, and there are also 5-gallon buckets containing large and heavy bulk-pack foods.
The food for prolonged survival situations is utilized in scenarios where there is an absence of food in grocery stores, closure of restaurants, unavailability of gas, and non-functionality of credit cards.
When considering this situation, you require large quantities of high-impact foods. Carrying 5-gallon buckets filled with food, purchasing canned food in bulk, and obtaining all the necessary equipment for preparation would result in a significant amount of food and weight, making it difficult to move swiftly.
Lightweight
In scenarios where immediate departure is necessary (bug-out), lightweight convenience food such as freeze-dried meals, prepackaged staples, survival food, and granola bars are beneficial. One can prepare food for stockpiling by cooking it using a backpacker stove, cooking it over a fire, or consuming it directly from the packaging.
No-cook
Survival food that is ready to eat consists of canned meat, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, peanut butter, beef jerky, summer sausage, crackers, granola, and survival bars.
Indoors without electricity
This food is intended for situations such as a snow blizzard where there is a power outage, and it is not possible to leave the house to prepare meals.
This food is suitable for situations such as a snow blizzard, where there is no power and it is unsafe to cook outdoors due to the emission of carbon dioxide from most outdoor stoves, which poses a threat to human life.
Your best option is to choose no cook foods.
There are several types of food that does not require cooking, such as canned meat, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, peanut butter, beef jerky, summer sausage, crackers, and granola bars.
To cook inside, use a butane stove in a well-ventilated area.
How to Repackage Bulk Dry Goods at Home for Long-Term Storage
When repackaging bulk dry goods, the most suitable container is a 5-gallon plastic bucket with a waterproof lid. These buckets are inexpensive, easily accessible, and can be stacked efficiently. Moreover, they provide protection against three out of the four main threats for the food inside, namely water, sunlight, and pests. Nevertheless, they do not safeguard the food from oxygen. Thus, it becomes necessary to use Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers to address this issue.
During the 1950s, DuPont created Mylar, which brought a revolutionary change to the food packaging industry. Mylar is essentially a polyester bag that is coated in aluminum, making it an exceptional barrier against moisture and gases, particularly oxygen. By utilizing Mylar bags to store bulk dry goods and placing them inside securely sealed plastic buckets, it is possible to effectively create a preserved environment for food and safeguard it from external elements.
Purchasing Materials
To purchase the plastic 5-gallon buckets, visit your local hardware store. While a food-grade bucket is ideal, it is not essential as you can use a Mylar lining. You can find these buckets at stores such as Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Menards. Additionally, make sure to buy lids. It is worth spending a little more money on a gamma seal lid, which has a unique feature where the center can be unscrewed for easy access without removing the entire lid. However, this is not mandatory and you can choose a regular lid if you are on a tight budget.
While shopping, ensure that you purchase a rubber mallet, which can be used to seal the lids, regardless of the style. Additionally, acquire a bucket wrench to remove the lids once they are sealed. In the event that your local hardware store lacks a bucket wrench, simply perform a quick online search for “bucket wrench” to explore numerous available options.
A storage container for bulk dry foods can be created by using a 5-gallon food-grade plastic bucket along with a gamma seal lid.
First, snap the outer ring of the gamma seal lid onto a bucket. Then, screw out the inner portion of the lid to easily access the food inside.
In order to seal your food, you will require Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers. Mylar bags function to keep out oxygen once your food is sealed within them. The purpose of oxygen absorbers is to eliminate any oxygen present in the bag with your food. Both 5-gallon and 6-gallon Mylar bags are available for purchase (6-gallon bags offer more space, but are not obligatory). Oxygen absorbers are available in various sizes to fit different containers. For 5-gallon buckets, you will need 2000cc oxygen absorbers. Frequently, Mylar bags and 2000cc oxygen absorbers are sold together as a package.
After acquiring these supplies and your dry bulk goods, you are prepared to proceed with repackaging.
In order to repackaging food in 5-gallon plastic buckets, certain tools are required. These include a rubber mallet for the purpose of hammering the lid, and a bucket wrench to assist in removing the lid.
The purpose of a 5-gallon Mylar bag is to serve as a barrier against oxygen, ensuring the protection of the food that is stored within plastic containers.
The vacuum-sealed package contains 2000cc oxygen absorbers, which will be opened and placed one by one inside Mylar bags along with food. The purpose is to absorb any oxygen trapped inside the Mylar bags. It is essential to keep them sealed until they are needed.
Oxygen Absorber Tips
Oxygen absorbers will begin absorbing oxygen immediately upon being removed from their airtight packaging. Within approximately 30 minutes, they will be completely used up. Therefore, it is not advisable to open the oxygen absorbers and leave them on the table while you are repackaging. Although it is ideal to use an entire package of oxygen absorbers once it is opened, it may not always be practical to fill numerous 5-gallon buckets of food simultaneously. In such cases, a solution is to store the absorbers in a basic 1-quart glass Mason canning jar that is equipped with an airtight canning lid. This lid, which includes a screw-on rim, creates a tight seal that prevents oxygen from entering and keeps the oxygen absorbers fresh in between bucket filling or until the next repackaging session.
Step 1: Prepping Your Bucket
First, place your bucket on a strong work surface. Next, insert your Mylar bag into the bucket and slightly expand it. You don’t need to be overly precise since the food’s weight will take care of most of the task.
Step 2: Filling Your Bucket
Step by step, follow these instructions to properly store your dry bulk food (such as grains, beans, rice, pasta, etc.) in a Mylar bag. Begin by pouring the dry food into the bag, gently shaking the bucket to aid in settling the food. Keep pouring until the bag is filled, leaving approximately 2 inches of space from the top. Finally, add a single 2000cc oxygen absorber directly onto the top of the food.
Step 3: Sealing Your Mylar Bag
To create a smooth, solid surface against which to seal your bag, position a board measuring either 2 × 4 inches or 2 × 2 inches on top of the bucket’s rim.
The top of the Mylar bag should be folded neatly across and over the board before smoothing it out using your hands.
To successfully seal Mylar, begin by using a home clothes iron set on the cotton setting. Start from the center and gradually move towards the edges. By running the hot iron over it, you will notice the Mylar seal forming. Before fully sealing the second side, ensure to leave a 3-inch opening in the Mylar bag.
To extract most of the air from the bag, utilize a Shop-Vac or vacuum cleaner hose before promptly sealing the final 3 inches using a hot iron. By maintaining a few inches of distance between the tip of the Shop-Vac or vacuum cleaner hose and the dry goods, you can prevent the possibility of any suctioning them up.
Step 4: Closing Your Bucket
1. First, neatly fold the top of the Mylar bag and insert it securely into the bucket. 2. Next, utilize the rubber mallet to firmly strike the rim of the gamma seal lid until it is tightly fastened. 3. Apply significant force while hammering to ensure that the lid is pushed down and sealed properly. 4. You can determine if the lid is properly seated by listening for a snap sound. 5. Lastly, proceed to screw in the center of your gamma seal lid.
Step 5: Labeling Your Bucket
In order to easily keep track of the items in your long-term food storage pantry, assign a label to each bucket.
- Date of packaging
- Quantity of contents
You have the option of using a Sharpie marker or a label or duct tape to write on the bucket. Afterward, the buckets can be stored in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. If you plan on consuming the food within several months, there is no need to replace the oxygen absorbers or reseal the Mylar bag once it has been opened. Dry bulk foods can remain shelf stable for many months if they are protected from moisture, sunlight, heat, and pests.
