What canned goods to buy for food storage?

[win308]

OK....I got all the wheat, rice and beans I'll need, (hundreds of lbs of wheat, a couple hundred of rice and 50 lbs of dryed beans). I have cans and cans of rolled oats, (oatmeal). Also all the dehydrated survival food I want, (Sam Andy, Mountain House, etc). I live by the Ohio river so a well would not need to be too deep before striking water.....or I could build a solar still and haul the water up from the river.....either way, I don't think water will be my issue. (I have 6 cases of bottled water anyway). I have couple gallons of Wesson cooking oil and 5 lbs of Morton Salt and 50lbs of sugar.

I have some cases of N95 medical masks and a couple hundred pairs of hospital exam gloves. I have hand sanitizer, boxes of Tide, Crest toothpaste, Dial and Baby wipes, (plus some old Sears catalogs). I have several 300 count bottles of multi vitamins. I'm working on my Dr. to give me a large perscription for Tamiflu.

I have firearms....... and ammo enough.

So my question.....what canned goods should I now be getting? Tuna?? Chicken?? Soup??? Stew??? I need to start to balance out all my carbohydrate stash with some protiens. I want to buy a case of something every payday from Sam's Club. Canned food lasts about 2 or 3 years, so it has to be something I can rotate through my normal kitchen meals over the space of the upcoming years to keep my supply fresh. What lasts longest, tastes best and will fill the bill?

Also, what small items have I over looked??

Thanks for your ideas.......

[ThunderGod]

Tuna, both water and oil(for the fat). Fish steaks/cakes. Mack Salmon. Sardines. Pork-N-beans. Any other beans. Green beans. Peas. Spinach. Spinach. Corn. Beets. Carrots. Peanut butter. Okay, basically anything you can get in cans or jars. Canned veggies/beans don't need rehydration and can be eaten cold. Great for those moments where fire ain't gonna happen.

P38 can openers, 50.:biggrin:

Oh, yeah, cheap, condensed soup: chicken noodle, cream-o-mush/chick/celery, tomato, blah, blah...

Maybe even Spaghetti-Os, or a knock-off, as a treat for the kiddos...

[Bruce Allen]

A person needs a minimum of one gallon of water a day.

Are your sanitation needs (read here human waste) taken care of?
Toilets don't make water, they just use it.

Just sit down with you wife (assuming you have one) and think of the daily products you use.

Water.
Food.
Light.
Heat.
Books or other nonelectric amusement, because you will have times with nothing to do.
I believe nonprescription drugs for "recreation" is a real bad idea, and little alcohol.
Coffee and a decent stove top coffee maker is a must, at least at my house.

I am assuming you have adequate preparations for food preparing/cooking and clean up.

If you have a gasoline powered generator you will obviously need gasoline, and if you plan to use an ATV or small motorcycle gas for them.

Oh - a good pair of tennis shoes and boots

Trash and garbage disposal means. Large piles of garbage attract animals.

[Powderfinger]

Canned fruit, Spam, corned beef, chocolate...bleach, lime, batteries

[FTW2012]

be sure to rotate your stock on a regular basis
nothing like going for a can of something and finding it all bloated
Although cans are usually good for a lot longer than what is stamped on them
you want to keep your goods fresh

[Da Nerd]

Sam's Club has some very good canned chicken & turkey breasts.
I also buy canned beef that comes from south America.
Buy things you will eat on a regular basis, and then eat them on a regular basis so as to rotate the stock.

[buckshot007]

I don't know if you guys get them over there but her in the UK Heinz make tinned sponge puddings that are definately worth stocking up on. OK deserts are not essential but they are great for moral. They do them in chocolate, raisin, and golden syrup varieties. Tinned custard to go with above Mmmm!!

I have a large stock of Corned Beef which lasts indefinately and is an excellent source of Protein and Fat. Spam is another winner.

Tinned Rice Pudding makes a great quick snack and energy boost containing both simple (Sugars) and complex (starches) carbohydrates.

[Fn/form]

Something I saw in Pakistan a few years back... Nestle had milk cartons you kept on the shelf til you wanted to open them. No refrigeration needed... at least, not til you opened it. The milk tasted fine.

What's the story on that? I don't remember the shelf life.


-josh

[Richard W.]

I think you're talking about shelf-stable milk. It's cooked more than regular pasteurized milk, so more bacteria are killed and you can keep it at room temp for months.

I first tasted it in the Army when overseas. It has a cooked milk flavor that I find preferable to regular milk.

I get a brand called "Parmalat".

[mosbysmen]

sounds like your doing really good .
do you regular cook with your wheat ,rice and beans ?
start making them a regular part of your diet .
any chance you could sink a well ? hualing water is a waste of time you dont need.
i have made a bunch of solar stills , if there is mosture in the ground they work fine, in august when the ground is like concrete,they dont work at all ..
we have a well and the pump has a plug on it so i can unhook it from house power and plug it into the genny .
plus i have a way of getting water out of it with no power except muscle power.

buy spice's in glass jars ,they last longer then plastic jars.
tabasco , can make anything taste good..
make sure to date everything so you know what to use first... 3/6
march/06

[Da Nerd]

Originally posted by Fn/form
Something I saw in Pakistan a few years back... Nestle had milk cartons you kept on the shelf til you wanted to open them. No refrigeration needed... at least, not til you opened it. The milk tasted fine.

What's the story on that? I don't remember the shelf life.


-josh

I got some of that milk given to me on the Navajo Indian reservation. They were passing it out to the Indians. I think it is irradiated.

[doubletap]

I find that Aldi's have better canned stuff than the local Sam's Club carries, better price and for the most part really good stuff. Be advised that Aldi's only takes cash, no checks, but for 300 bucks or so you can lay in a pretty deep stock of food.
I particularly like their Beef Stew, better tasting than the Dinty Moore stuff, their chili is good, tuna is decent as is the albacore. Peanut butter is acceptable, jams fine, and their canned veggies are about the same as the big name brands. Their canned soup is OK as is their house brand Spam.
They used to carry the little 1 lb. Celebrity canned hams so you could buy them by the case, but no more. For those I've been hitting the local Fleet Farm, Walgreen's, and Wally Worlds. I found no difference between the Celebrity, DAK, or Royale (Canadian made) ones, so whatever is best priced for them.
No dirinking milk I don't worry about that, just keep butter powder around for dairy.
One thing you might want to look at is building a real root cellar, doing some subsistance gardening, and stocking up your cellar with some fresh, long keeping veggies instead of just relying on the canned stuff with their lower vitamin and mineral counts. I'm not too sold on the pill substitute for vitamins. From what I've read most have real solubility problems in the digestive tract so you aren't getting as much as you might think. They're also time sensitive for storage, might want to check for how long before you lay in a 10 year supply.
BTW, Tamiflu apparently isn't very effective for the current version of the bird flu, might be nice for a more typical influenza though.

[olsarg]

Back when field rations were c rat and 5 in 1 s
The Army found that the first foods to go bad were things with tomatos in them . Like pork & beans also tuna seem to go bad fast. The ham and potatos and canned hamburger patties seem to last forever. Also watch the canned eggs. For trading and medicine might stock a little tobbaco in tins. Edge the house with viggie gardens instead of flowers look nice and still eddible. Pplant bed style. They do this in Europe.

[ONG]

Here's the place to buy vitamins that are made to store 10 years. Nitro-Pac (http://www.nitro-pak.com/product_info.php?products_id=1022) I am using them now.

Nitro-Pac has been a good company to deal with. They have lots of nifty survival related products, food and gear. Freeze dried ice cream anyone?


Win308 from what I have read I would use the veggy oil now and replace it with olive oil. Olive oil is not only better for you, it will store much longer.

[richbug]

Dollar general has the 1# canadian hams for $2, pretty good stuff, IIRC the shelf life was 5 years.

[win308]

Richbug....

I went to Dollar General and looked at the hams. I bought 7 cans and asked the manager if she could order me a full, unopened case. Well, she just didn't know about that !! I offered to pre-pay, and she wouldn't take the cash. She might...........or might not.... be able to get a full case from the distribution center on her next order. I asked how many came to a case, (thinking it must be 50 or 60). She said 12.

OK, the next time you order (next Friday morning she said), order a case, don't open it, and I will come in each day the following week on my way home from work to see if it has, or has not, come in. Once she realized I was about to annoy her to no end, she finally agreed to order a case, stating that she ordered on Friday and that the truck would come in on Sunday afternoon. I told her I would see her Monday.

One problem, the ham is from Canada, so there is no expiration date that I can see on the can anywhere. She assured me these hams had just come in last week and were fresh. The actual use by date was printed on the box the 12 hams came in, (that's why I only bought 7 of them). I'll keep you posted....and thanks for the suggestion.

[Prototype Services]

You have gotten a lot of good advice. I think you might find yourself short on the salt and sugar though, depending on what you are planning for. I do a lot of canning, and both sugar and salt go quickly in food prep. Both store forever, and can be used for barter as well. Sam's also carries dried yeats, which will be needed in bread making, alcohol production(for fuel or medicinal purposes:-)).
Learning gardening is a renewable resource.
Good plan.
Dave

[goldenspurholderx2]

I always store food that I normally eat or have eaten during my two year long tours overseas. Spam, rice mixture pouches, canned tuna, canned chicken, stove top, rice-a-roni, bottled squeeze butter, pasta, canned sauce.

I just store and rotate, always got about three months of real food around that doesn't require refridgeration. This summer I'm canning my own veggies to stretch my dollar.

Water, I'm still working on that. Thinking of treating some 5gal jugs and rotating them out?

[fastfreddy]

Don't forget about the possibility of hanging a country ham in the cellar.

Parmalat (and similar) milk lasts without refrigeration because of "retort packaging". There's always powdered milk to back that up.

Granola bars seem a good idea. Well packaged jerky has been a staple of long term provisions for centuries. Don't forget the fruit to keep the scurvy away. Arrrrggghhhh.

Multivitamins.

Sounds like you're on the right track.

[Eclipse]

Hard candy, coffee, tea, salt (100lbs), powdered milk, toilet paper, flour, firewood, bottle gas, batteries, solar radio with crank, games, books, other things to keep up morale.

[olsarg]

I find that I can buy salt in 50 and 100lb bags for 4.?? and 8.?? I just buy saltfor cheese making ect at my local farm store. Its non iodized for pickling and canning don't buy iodized salt for food preservation. Here in the midqwest its fairly common to find. Salt is one of the most important things to stock for survival.

[richbug]

I wouldn't worry about the food from DG. I used to do maintainance work for them, they sell a ton of stuff through those little stores. The food was always fresh.

What about powdered cheese. It is cheap at $3 a pound or so, and it must be equal to 4-5 pounds of cheddar per pound.

[D.Fenestrate]

"Large piles of garbage attract animals."

So, let me get this straight, I won't have to go out of the yard to bag that possum or coon for dinner? D.F.

[Bruce Allen]

Or black bear and now coyotes..

I am in the upper part of South Carolina.

It happens.

[warlord_mind]

just by canned foods you can rotate in i find grabbing a few sleeves of canned chicken at sams works well long shelf life and 1 can feeds does well for portion control i also like adding a can wit a apack or two of ramen noodles some extra water and a bullion cube 3 buck dinner feeds 3 good appetites
get creative and buy first by what you will use often and then by shelf life
keep it simple

[411man]

Chicken noodle soup provides for diversity in the menu as well as meeting some medical needs. Think what would be needed to feed stomach ailments and colds/flu sufferers.

You may want to consider can Tamales, chili, stew, hash, etc. not only as items to serve as food items but to put on all that rice you have. Variety is key to moral as well as nutrition.

Select those can foods which will be must enjoyable to those in your group. That requires thought be given to the different ages and sexes tastes.

Food is about nutition, moral, and happiness in a survival situation.

[gunplumber]

To echo saom of the advice here: buy what you are going to eat anyway.

I have a lot of instant rice because its quick and eay and will rehydrate in cold water. Costs more than regular rice, but I use it anyway in day to day cooking, so it rotates.

Powdered milk - I don't use regular milk in cooking, only powdered, so it rotates.

Large cans of food - if you need them, there probably wll be no electricity either, so what are you going to do with the rest of the can after you open it? I buy small and medium cans, which cost more, but are more versitile..

Also makes them easier to rotate. I can throw a 2 pound can of beans into the crock pot with my chilli, but I sure wouldn't want to throw a 10 pound can in..

Being an avid reader I have many bookshelves throughout the house. I store the food behind the books, since the shelves are usually deeper than the books.

When I go grocery shopping, I buy 2 of whatever dry goods are on my list. Put them in storage and take one out of storage. My supply grows steadily and rotates.

I used to store them in a corner cabinet that was really deep. I could fit maybe 400 cans of food in there. But the problem was in was fist in last out with no rotation, and I couldn't even see the back of the cabinet to know what I had.

My next kitchen I am going to build a pantry with doors on both sides so I can load the cans from one side and unload them from the other .

[English Mike]

Canned fish - be it Tuna, Salmon or anything else is one of the best things there is. Better still if it is in oil.
Corned Beef is better than beef stew (use dried veg for bulk).
Spam is better than tinned ham (less added water)
Apricots are the best value for money as tinned fruit (dried is a whole lot better)
Economy baked beans are always worth buying (a little curry powder improves the taste).

Tinned Beer for those special occasions:wink: :tongue:

[gunplumber]

Originally posted by ENGLISH MIKE
Canned fish - be it Tuna, Salmon or anything else is one of the best things there is. Better still if it is in oil.

I was traumatised when I discovered the canned mackeral was the whole thing shoved ina can, bones and all. Tastes fine but is a real tedious mess to pick out the bones.

[Da Nerd]

you are suppose to EAT the bones........

[ONG]

Don't forget sardines, they make a great snack. Tried them in an omlet one time, don't recommend them fixed that way.

[tommygun2000]

Originally posted by gunplumber


I was traumatised when I discovered the canned mackeral was the whole thing shoved ina can, bones and all. Tastes fine but is a real tedious mess to pick out the bones.

No need to pick out the bones, they are cooked and crumble easily. It's the same with sardines.....imagine trying to pick the bones out of one of those little things?

Canned salmon is the same way. When I use canned salmon, I try to give the dogs the bones and skin as a treat (they smell the can being opened and line up with their "wheres ours ?" look) but have eaten them often in salmon patties.

[rigormootis]

Being an avid reader I have many bookshelves throughout the house. I store the food behind the books, since the shelves are usually deeper than the books.

- that's exactly where I store 1-2 handguns and a good amount of my ammo. I never thought of putting canned food there. Nice tip.

:aug:

[want2race]

:eek:
:bow:


First time visiting this particular thread. Uh. wow.
I have so much to learn. Here I thought I knew a thing or two about making do.
Most of my experience is making do with what's on my back. To think, I hadn't really considered making do inside my house for any real length of time. I feel so stupid right now I can't even express it.

[Sig220]

Well, if you have the feeling to stock up........

don't forget to pick up some dried fruits......a mix of cranberrys and blueberrys are pretty tasty. But I am sure most can find some they like. :)

[win308]

Want2Race

If............and it is a big IF....this bird flu thing does hit the US and does mutate into a virus that is easily transmitted from Human to Human, there will be little advantage to the bug out theory. Unless you have a well stocked cabin in the back country to go to, the next town isn't going to be much better than your town....unless you are living in the inner city now.

The prediction is that there could be shortages....especially if a medical quarantine is put in place for Flu hotspots. If EVERYBODY would stay home for 3 weeks when it hits, the pandemic would be over in less than a month. Of course, that will never happen. So an outbreak could last up to 6 months and if that does happen, there will be shortages galore.

CNN has already had an hour special on how this could evolve.....tomorrow night , (Sunday, April 23 at 7 eastern on Primetime) NBC will also have a special on how this could go down, and how best to prepare.

If I go out, I will wear a medical mask. If food dries up, and I don't need to go out, I have 4 months of sick leave and I will just call in every day and eat what I have stored.

No matter how much we prepare, there will be something we didn't think of that we will need....so I suspect some barter will take place.

If it doesn't happen....then all I did was buy and stock pile food and supplies that I will eventually eat or use.

It's like health insurance...you hope you don't need it, but if you have to go to the emergency room some day, you're glad you have it.

[g5]

Canned tomatoes are nice to have. Lots of water and a little salt.

[olsarg]

Make sure you rotate the stock of anything with tomatos in it. Shelf life is not as long as some other items. Might be due to the high acid and salt to preserve. For tomatos we like canned in jars seem to last longer.

[funfaler]

You may want to consider a British Berkefeld (sp?) or AquaRain water filters. Stuff to make collodial silver, if you are concerned about viruses. Black Elderberry Extract is also very good at preventing/treating the flu. Pure rock salt is cheap and very useful, as well as bulk sugar (which will store forever if kept clean and dry). Lots of spices will help make what you have taste better, look for things that will store forever, like honey, peppers, salts, soy sauce. Also, short wave radio, so that you can listen to world news, make sure it is Single Side Band (SSB) capable, a HAM radio would be even better. Rechargeable batteries to run your equipment and a solar charger. Keep in mind that if things get so rough that you will actually be relying on this stuff, you will more than likely be trading with your neighbors for some of the things that you have forgot, so have extra to barter with is always good...like LOTS of extra ammo, 22LR is easy and cheap. Sounds like you have most of your bases covered, just keep plugging along and you will run across items that you have overlooked.

[win308]

RichBug and DaNerd,

I was shopping at Sam's Club yesterday and saw the 1 pound tinned hams by DAK....3 pack for $7.23. Expiration date was 2009, so I bought a case. A little bit more than at Dollar General, but I could never get an unopened case at DG that still had the use by date printed on the box. The DAK brand has it printed right on the underside of the can, so even though a little bit more expensive, I will get this from Sam's from now on.

I hope it tastes more like ham and not like Spam, (I like Spam too).

[English Mike]

As was mentioned earlier in the thread; buy tinned stuff that you use all the time & once you have a stock built up, keep rotating it - corned beef & tinned tomato goulash on rice for me tonight:D

[Hebrew Battle Rifle]

Most excellent thread.:shades:

[ONG]

Threw a beef bone, package of stew meat and a small venison steak in the crock pot, with 2 bay leaves and several quarts of water. Cooked it overnight then added some salt, celery and parsley.

Had soaked beans overnight, cooked them until almost done and then added some rice and some lentils. (sp) When they were done added the meat (shreded) and the broth. Finished cooking the beans. Very good to eat, cheap, and good training.