For the past several months I’ve been using Shirley J products in my kitchen and have been stocking up on some of my favorites in my food pantry.  Shirley J, the company, has been around for more than 3 decades, producing food products primarily aimed at commercial kitchens.

In 2009, the company made the decision to take their products directly to American consumers.  This is where I come in.  I’m always looking for a way to make quicker meals.  You may not know this about me, but I hate to cook.  If ever an American stay-at-home mom had ADD, it’s me.  When I made tacos for my husband last week and served him, he said, “Just tacos?”  I said, “Yep. When I said we were having tacos, that’s exactly what I meant.”  In other words, no side dish, no freshly baked bread, no dessert.  (I’m so ashamed!)

When I make a Shirley J meal, needless to say, my family is thrilled!

My collection of Shirley J products have helped with quick meals and have given my old, favorite recipes a little more flavor.  For example, their Beef Slow Cooker seasoning makes a rich sauce for the occasional roast.  In fact, since I’m always in a hurry, I’ve even added a quarter cup or so of this seasoning to my pressure cooker when I want a roast dinner ready in about 45 minutes.

I also give a thumbs up to their Whisk Bliss, formerly known as Universal Sauce.  (There’s a gluten free version.) I’ve used this sauce mix for chicken enchiladas, spinach lasagna, macaroni and cheese, and as a thickener for casseroles and even chili.  Whisk Bliss takes on the character of whatever seasonings and ingredients you add.  It’s kind of like tofu, but it’s not.

Another product I’ve had to reorder more than once is Shirley J’s BBQ Sauce mix.  The first recipe I tried was a BBQ Chicken Pizza with grilled onions.  It was absolutely delicious and the sauce mix is now my favorite way of making homemade BBQ sauce.  The BBQ Sloppy Joes were another big hit with my family, especially on homemade rolls using their Honey White Bread Mix.

But here’s what sold me on Shirley J: their Chicken Bouillon.  A year or two ago I was making Dehydrated Dinners in the jar and ran out of store-bought chicken bouillon.  There had to be a better quality bouillon that I could buy in large quantities!  I was thrilled to find the Shirley J brand, which is double strength (you only need to use half the amount), and I can buy it in a 76 ounce container for less than $24.  A little of that goes a long, long way when I’m putting together pre-packaged dehydrated meals.

Are there any products I’m less than crazy about?  Yeah.  Their brownie mix could use some improvement and I’ve yet to make peace with their Universal Dessert Creme, but your mileage may vary.

How does Shirley J fit in with food storage?

This was actually one of my biggest questions when I began using Shirley J products.  I stock up on food for long-term storage whenever I can.  Here’s what I’ve experienced with Shirley J.  Most of the products are for convenience.  It’s just easier to use the BBQ Sauce mix than gather together a dozen or so ingredients for a from-scratch recipe.  Dittos for the Universal Sauce and bread mixes.  Sometimes I just need for cooking to be less complicated.  For me, that’s what Shirley J does.

Additionally, using these products along with freeze dried and dehydrated produce and other ingredients makes my job even easier.

Everything comes packaged in PETE containers, which can be washed and re-used!, or mylar bags.  The shelf life of each product varies, but that shelf life can be increased by storing them in cool, dark, dry places and even re-packaging the bread mixes, for example, in PETE containers.

If your family has allergies or food sensitivities, do read the labels on each product you’re interested in.  Some contain soy products and other potential allergens.

I liked Shirley J products so much that I decided to sign on as one of their consultants.  My official title is, “Executive Chef.”  (Fortunately for me, they can’t fire me for not living up to that label!)

You can read more about their recipes on their blog, sign up for their occasional newsletter, and visit the Shirley J store.  Additionally, the company offers a business opportunity if your interest lies in that area.  You’ll find details on the Shirley J site.

© 2012, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

image by SweetOnVeg

One of the easiest and survival-friendly of all recipes is the classic casserole.  Why?  It’s a one-dish meal that usually combines everything you would want in a well-rounded meal: veggies, grains, protein, and, often, a dairy product or two.  In tough times, it would be even tougher to beat a hot and hearty casserole after a stressful day of fighting zombies or clearing out the back 40.

This week’s Action Step may take some work: collect at least 10 casserole recipes that meet these criteria:

1. your family will eat them
2. every ingredient can be stored long-term
3. preparation is quick and easy

This collection of recipes should then be printed out and stored in either your Survival Mom binder or another collection of recipes that can be easily accessed.  It’s very important that these recipes are easy to make because in a worst case scenario, it’s possible that fuel and/or energy may be hard to come by or very expensive.

If you are either growing or raising food, that’s all well and good, but as you know, all it takes is a freeze, a flood, a pack of really determined snails or deer, and an entire crop can be wiped out.  That’s why having stored ingredients is so important, even if some of them are used as a back-up if the chickens go on a laying strike or a late freeze kills off all your veggies.

To get you started, check out these recipes that I found online.

• Sausage Casserole – Everything can be either home dehydrated (potatoes and onions) or purchased (sausage, either freeze-dried or TVP).  Butter can either be canned or you can combine butter powder with a small amount of water.
• Mexican Casserole – Only the corn tortillas can’t be stored without being refrigerated, and you can learn how to make them from scratch.  The beef can either be home or commercially canned or you can use freeze-dried ground beef.
• Beef and Macaroni Bake – Again, everything can be stored on the shelf, long-term, in one form or another.
• Chicken Asparagus Casserole – Honeyville carries freeze-dried asparagus.  Rehydrate it, pat dry, and continue with the recipe!

Here’s an extra tip.  If you need to stretch your casserole dish to serve more people or you want to make it more filling, add 1/2 or more or rice, cooked wheat berries, or even small pasta, such as macaroni.

Post your food storage-friendly casserole recipes here or provide a link to what you find online.  Add a loaf of bread and maybe some salad greens, and you’ve got a filling, comforting and nutritious meal. Best of all, you can do all the planning and buying now and be ready to serve it years down the road!

© 2012, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

Guest post by Holly Cooley.

Winter is a time that I usually spend organizing and cleaning stuff since I can’t spend a whole lot of time outdoors without turning into a human popsicle!  So one of my winter projects is usually to go through my root cellar and my food storage, rotate stuff, check quantities, check the seals on all of my canning jars to make sure they’re good, and make a list of the things that I need to restock.  I also straighten up and organize my empty jars and other canning supplies to have them handy for the summer time when I’m canning or dehydrating my fool head off.  I’ve usually picked up boxes of lids and rings at the stores in the late fall, since they go on sale and just made piles, along with all of the random glass jars with reusable lids that I regularly save for canning jellies and jams–basically it’s a mess. So I like getting all of that stuff organized and picked up. And I feel like I’ve taken good stock of what I’ve got to work with to feed my family.

Well I want to share something that’s gotten me pretty excited, and maybe it’s something that will excite you as well: meals in a jar.  These will:

• Help you take inventory of your food storage from a different perspective.
• Help you rotate your food storage.
• Give you a better idea of how much you actually need to store of specific food items that you know your family likes.
• Allow you to experiment and work with your food storage without compromising the shelf life.
• Allow you to create healthy, delicious, and inexpensive “fast food” meals for your family with a 5-8 year shelf life.
• Extend the shelf life of some of your spices, pastas, and other store packaged items.
• Give you one skillet meals that will be ready in less than 30 minutes, allowing you to spend less time in the kitchen and have more time for things you’d rather do.

Stephanie Peterson–AKA Chef Tess Bakeresse– has been creating recipes for these meals with ingredients that will fit into a quart sized canning jar. Who would have thought that a meal for 4 people could fit into a quart jar?!

Well, I decided I had to try it. The idea of being able to combine ingredients from my #10 cans to create meals ahead of time was really appealing.  (I might also have a ‘thing’ about seeing glass jars with yummy contents lined up neatly on my pantry shelves, but that’s another story.)

So this is how it happened.  First, I had to order some 300 cc oxygen absorbers.  I chose some that were in packages of 20.   I figured working with 20 jars at a time would be comfortable. (I realize you can purchase them in larger quantities and repackage the unused portion with a vacuum sealer, but, hey, I was already getting ready to do enough repackaging, for Pete’s sake!)

image by Chiot's Run

Next, I checked my pantry to make sure I had the proper quantities of ingredients. I would need to substitute some ingredients for the ones called for, so I experimented, cooked one or two of the recipes with what I already had and made adjustments accordingly, making sure to jot this new version of the recipe down so I could duplicate it multiplied by 20!  I printed out labels with the cooking instructions and a place to mark the date that I packaged them. Then I gathered my 20 jars (wide mouth works best) and sterilized them (I did this far enough in advance to make sure that my jars were good and dry) and gathered the lids and rings.

The morning I attempted this, I assembled the ingredients and began systematically filling the jars with the ingredients.  (Oh, and I measured a set of them into my skillet too…might as well be fixing tonight’s dinner while I’m putting in my kitchen time!)

Using a wide mouth funnel, I would measure an ingredient into a jar; shake it down and twist to help it settle. (If you’ve not worked with canning jars, I’ll just mention that it’s tempting to bang the jar on the counter, but it’s bad for the jar and can weaken the bottom of it.  So, bang it on the palm of your other hand or on a towel covered counter.) Throw in more ingredients; shake it down. Throw in still MORE ingredients….  Shake your head and mumble about how, “That’s never gonna fit.”  Shake down the ingredients and be pleasantly surprised that they all really DO fit after all!

At this point I placed my lids in a warm place, like on a cookie sheet on the wood stove, or in a warm oven.  This softened the gasket a bit so that I could screw the ring down and get a good seal.

I then made sure the rim of the jar was completely clear of any food particles. I placed the oxygen absorber in the top of each jar, being careful that the corners would not interfere with the lid coming in contact with the rim of the jar. I positioned the lid and tightened down the ring.  Then I waited for the ‘plink’ as a vacuum formed inside the jars.  It was really that easy! No hot water bath.  No pressure cooker. It’s called, “dry packing”.  Using the oxygen absorber to form an air tight seal, these meals will have an extended shelf of 5-8 years on average, according to Chef Tess.

What I discovered pretty quickly is that I need to stock up on more spices.  I also need more tomato powder.  And it was interesting to find out exactly how many meals I could hope to get out of a # 10 can of freeze dried ground beef or Sausage TVP.  When you are making twenty dinners at one time, you get a real good perspective on what you should be stocking in your pantry!

Other things I learned:

• I now have a cool new way to store pastas and rice!
• I need to stock up on more canning jars, lids, rings.
• I had the best success rate of jars sealing when I warmed the lids with a dry heat so that the gasket was softer.
• Wide mouth jars worked the best.  Standard will work, too, but I REALLY had to work to get the ingredients shaken down enough to seal.  I also had to finagle the corners of the oxygen absorber down and ‘hold my tongue just right’ to get the lid and the ring on without the oxygen absorber trying to creep out.
• I live in an area where it can be very humid in the summer time.  Planning to assemble these meals in the winter with the wood stove going was probably the best environment for working with my freeze dried foods.
• I did the math and found that if I purchased everything I needed to make 20 of these meals (assuming I already had the jars, lids, rings), each dinner for 4 would cost between $6.00 and $8.00.  That means the cost per serving is $1.50 to 2.00.  That’s pretty good for a nutritious, delicious meal! At that price, my food storage is a really economical option! Not to mention the money I’ll save on gas going to the grocery store.
• It feels really great to see those ready-made, healthy ‘fast foods’ on my pantry shelf!  A couple of hours of work have saved me time in the future for other things. And they look beautiful lined up on my pantry shelves.

Here is one of the recipes that I modified based on what I had:

 “Saucy baked Ziti with Sausage and Mushrooms”

*Put the following in a quart jar:

2/3 cup Tomato Powder

½ cup Freeze Dried Onion

2 T  Freeze Dried Spinach

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp basil

¼ tsp marjoram

Dash of thyme

2 T Thrive Cheese Blend

1 tsp sugar

1 cup  sausage TVP

1 cup (3 oz) ziti, or other pasta

1/3 cup  Freeze Dried Mushrooms

2 T Thrive Carrot Dices

If there was extra space, I packed more pasta in there, piece by piece.

Label for Jar:

Directions:  Place contents of jar in a covered skillet, along with 4 3/4 cups water. Simmer 15-20 minutes until pasta is tender and sauce is thickened.  Serves 4

Thanks to Chef Tess, I’ve found a terrific way to not only rotate some of my food storage, but open it up and see exactly what’s inside! Taste it, study it, make sure my family likes it, and then have fun repackaging it into ready-made meals that will be quick and easy to fix in a pinch! Meals that will still have a lengthy shelf life! I hope you give this a try as well.

Also read:

Dehydrated Dinners, Part 1

Dehydrated  Dinners, Part 2: 20 Tips for Getting Started

*This recipe was created using Thrive food products from Shelf Reliance.  Using other brands may require slight adjustments to measurements.

© 2012, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

 By John A. Heatherly, Author of The Survival Template

 photo by spentrails

Many, when storing food for times of need in the future, stock up on wheat, flour, rice, corn, sugar, etc …, and they do it for good reason.  All of these, when stored properly, have a long shelf-life and can provide carbohydrates for sustenance when needed.  So what about sources of fat (canned butter, oils)?

For me, personal experience, as well as outside research, confirms the importance, dare I say the SUPERIORITY, of a diet that emphasizes fats above carbohydrates.

Here is a scenario: Something horrific happens (for example a natural disaster, disruption of food supply chain, or war) and groups of people are forced to live off of food stores.  A number of studies indicate that a high-fat diet promotes physical and mental health far better than a high-carb diet, even when daily caloric intake is the same when comparing the two.

In my case, I am happier, leaner, and more physically fit with a diet that is high in fat and protein, and limits carbohydrates (especially flour, sugar, and rice.)

In closing: This TIP recommends the storage of high-carbohydrate food sources, for the reasons listed above.  It is more important, however, to have sources of fat available, as it is my belief that in a time of crisis, fats offer “more bang for the buck.”

What are your experiences and thoughts on the fat vs. carb debate, as it relates to food storage?

© 2012, John A. Heatherly. All rights reserved.

Imagine that you have six full month’s worth of food stored up.  You have ample water and supplies set aside.  You’re ready for anything.

Now imagine that you actually have to rely 100% on what you’ve stored.  No more trips to the grocery store.  Restaurant meals, and even fast food, are out of the question.  It’s you, your family, and your stored goods.

Consider the events and circumstances that have caused this to happen.  A total collapse of our economy, perhaps?  A horrific natural disaster or civil war?  A complete and abrupt end to your income flow?  Whatever the case might be, when the time comes that you must rely solely on what you have stored, you can count on high levels of stress and anxiety.

image by wickenden

In the midst of the trauma, it’s dinner time.  The family sits down at the table for their usual dreary meal of beans and re-hydrated vegetables, and what do they see?  Why, a pan of hot, fresh-from-the-Sun-Oven brownies!!!!  This rare treat brings smiles, laughter, and in a matter of minutes, the pan is empty.  That is the power of comfort food and why I recommend that it be part of your food storage.

Comfort foods do, actually, bring a degree of comfort and reassurance.  The foods are familiar and are linked to happy memories.  Maybe for you, it’s a plate full of mom’s recipe meatloaf and mashed potatoes with gravy.  For the Paranoid Dad, it’s fried Spam and rice.  (No joke.)

I’ve stocked up on macaroni-and-cheese (Kraft for short-term storage, #10 cans of macaroni and cheese powder for long-term) specifically because it’s my kids’ favorite meal.  A dozen or so boxes of brownie mix are tucked on a back shelf in the pantry, hidden because we love being comforted by brownies more often than we really should!

What are the comfort foods that you and your family enjoy?  Make a list and begin adding those ingredients to your food storage.  Pay attention to which ingredients are short-term storage only and figure out ways to either store them properly for a longer amount of time or track down alternative ingredients that will yield the same results but are packaged for long-term storage.  This is one part of food storage you’ll be grateful for.

© 2012, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

In case you missed it, my pantry played a starring role on The Today Show’s segment about preppers.  Camera angles can do amazing things, but I have to admit, I’m fortunate to have a spare bedroom for our food storage and we have about 8+ months worth of food.  I thought you might be interested to know what’s in there, so today I took a partial inventory of the foods that were purchased from the grocery store.

However, as I began counting jars and cans, a few really important, underlying principles popped out at me that will apply to your food storage pantry, too.

Grocery store food and supplies

My local Kroger’s was where our official food storage venture began.  They were having a “10 for $10″ sale, and boy, did we stock up by the 10′s!  Spending about $250 on this initial trip gave us a nice little boost to our pantry.  Currently, this is what I have in this section.  (Keep in mind that we continually use the food on these shelves and that I always look for really good deals on foods that I know we’ll eat and store well.)

• 35 cans of chili.  My family rice topped with chili, and sometimes I don’t have time to make a batch of homemade.
• 10 cans of chili beans.  Need to watch for sales on this product.
• 5 cans refried beans.  I started making these from scratch but should probably get this inventory up to 30 cans or so, since they’re quick and come in handy.  I also have 8 #10 cans of instant refried beans.
• 63 cans beans: kidney, black, pinto, Ranch Style, and white
• 10 cans of ravioli.  The kids have pretty much outgrown this but every once in a while, they’ll come in and grab a can for lunch.
• 1 can Beefaroni.  (When will I just give up and donate it to a food bank???  Obviously, no one in the family will eat this!)
• 5 jars of salsa.  Again, need to restock, but with the tomatoes in the garden already producing ripe fruit, I’ve been making homemade pico de gallo.
• 27 cans baked beans.  Have way too much of this as far as everyday eating goes, but they come in handy for picnics!
• 8 mustards, 5 ketchups, 8 mayonnaise, 3 Tabasco, 1 chili sauce (only use this in an occasional recipe), and 15 bottles of barbecue sauce.  All of these condiments I can make homemade when these run out.
• 4 boxes of Cheerios.  My kids just aren’t that much into cold cereal anymore and prefer eggs and oatmeal.  (Yaay!)
• 28 cans pasta sauce
• 19 pounds pasta, plus several more pounds in #10 cans
• 36 boxes of macaroni and cheese
• 19 cans Spam.  Me no like.
• 6 boxes graham crackers.  A recent purchase, and they probably won’t last long!
• 23 jars peanut butter
• 8 jars grape jam (Need to keep an eye out for coupons!)
• 2 gallons honey
• 100+ cans of soup.  We’ll eventually use these up, but I much prefer stocking up on ingredients for homemade soup.
• 17 cans of tuna.  My family just doesn’t care that much for tuna, so I don’t stock up on it.
• 5 cases canned tomatoes, 24 cans tomato sauce
• 4 pounds trail mix
• 7 bottles dish soap
• 14 tubes of toothpaste, 8 packages of dental flossers, and 12 toothbrushes
• 9 bottles laundry soap, plus ingredients to make at least 25 pounds of the homemade stuff
• 42 bars of soap
• dozens of cans of veggies (Please don’t make me count them all!)
• assorted toiletries, feminine products, vitamins and nutritional supplements
• 500 paper plates
• 200+ rolls of toilet paper.  This is what I most fear running out of!
• 11 bottles cleaning spray, but since we pretty much only use vinegar for cleaning, these will last a long time
• 8 gallons of vinegar
• 10 rolls aluminum foil
• 25 packages baby wipes
• 15 boxes zip-loc bags, various sizes
• 8 lbs. brown sugar
• 17 bottles of shampoo and conditioner

6 Principles I Discovered

1. You probably noticed that my collection of food is customized to what my family will actually eat.  There is no point in buying something distasteful and then assuming family members will eat it, “if they’re hungry enough.”  Why put yourself, and them, through that kind of pressure when you can easily buy other food instead?
2. It’s easy to end up with an out of balance pantry!  Keeping track of what you have and where it’s stored is really important.  In my book, you’ll find different methods of staying organized so you don’t end up with dozens of peanut butter jars but no jelly!  (See pp. 123-128.)
3. One reason my pantry seems a little lopsided here and there is because I shop the sales.  If chili beans are on sale but black beans are not, guess which goes in the shopping cart?  I don’t use coupons all that often because they tend to be mostly for processed food and junk food.  Your mileage may vary.
4. Stock up on staples, junk foods not so much.
5. Plan on supplementing your purchased foods with homegrown produce and herbs, if at all possible.  Once your garden gets established, you may find yourself utilizing those fresh foods more than the cans or jars sitting on the shelf.  However, both are important.  In case of an unexpected freeze, a drought, or just the learning curve that is part of gardening, you’ll be glad you have back-ups in the produce department of your pantry.
6. Don’t neglect the non-edibles!  Even in a total collapse of civilization, deodorant is going to be important.  One friend is even stocking up on hair color!

Is that the whole shebang?

Actually, no.  This is only about 25% or so of what I have stored.  I didn’t include items I buy in bulk, such as dry beans, rice, and sugar.  I also didn’t include everything in #10 cans, since those new to food storage don’t typically stock up on those foods first, nor did I list items purchased at Costco (except for the toilet paper).  But!  This is a good way for newbies to start.

It is so important to just get started!  In that first wild shopping spree at Kroger’s I bought some items that disappeared quickly and, as I later learned, didn’t have long shelf lives to begin with.  Those included chips, saltines, and granola bars.  However, those foods weren’t wasted, and I still buy them when they’re on sale.

If you have a few extra dollars this month, you could do a lot worse by stopping by the grocery store and stock up just a little bit more!

© 2012, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

Guest post by Bill and Celia

image by *clairity*

Did you know that you can make your own re-usable food wrap?  It saves money and helps the environment. All you need is a couple of yards of cotton linen cloth and paraffin wax, like the kind used for canning. Gulf brand is very available around here. Ace Hardware usually has a good supply even in February.

Melt the wax in an aluminum pie tin or something similar (or bigger if you like). You can keep the leftover wax in the tin, it cools hard again and will be ready to use to “freshen up” your sheets later.    Don’t let the wax get too hot. Cut the linen into the sizes you want. I made mine a bit too small. They are not quite big enough to wrap a loaf of homemade bread.

Dip the fabric into the wax slowly. After the cloth is saturated, let the excess drip back into the pan and hang the cloth on a line to finish dripping and to cool. When finished, you have a waxed cloth that you can wrap bread, cover bowls, etc. It forms to the shape of whatever you are wrapping.

This will also come in handy if you live far from a store or have no store available. The linen is a bit pricy, but I it pays off in the end.

© 2012, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

image by tmray02

Last week, I read a great comment from Nick:

How about dehydrating and storing vegetables yourself? It’s a heck of a lot cheaper to dehydrate stuff yourself than buying prepackaged dehydrated food.

I looked guiltily at my cans of freeze-dried and dehydrated corn, strawberries, and onions and thought, “Lisa!  You slacker!”   (I have this oldest child/perfectionist thing going on 24/7.)

Well, I began thinking about Nick’s comment, and it makes complete sense when you have a good supply of produce at a very low cost.  When I can harvest a bale of basil from my garden or purchase tomatoes at pennies per pound from a produce co-op, I love to dehydrate them.

Consider this, though.  I buy #10 cans of sliced, freeze-dried green onions from Honeyville Farms for $7.99.  How many fresh green onions would I need to dehydrate to fill, or nearly fill, a #10 can?  If I had a green onion farm, no problem, but when I usually buy them by the bundles at the market, Honeyville makes more sense than doing it myself.

So, this spring I’m planning to enlarge my backyard garden so that I will have more “free” fresh produce to dehydrate and can when harvest time comes.  The lesson here is to shop around, compare prices, and take into consideration your time, effort, and the expense when you decide to do it yourself.

© 2012, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

image by Softly Lit Studios

If you’ve been into food storage for more than just a few weeks, you know that shelf life and storage conditions are key.  In spite of everything we do to maintain a cool, dry, and dark storage area, the fact is, food gets old.  Just like you and me.

No, it doesn’t get wrinkly and gray, but it does change in some important ways, and you should know about them.

Old food loses its flavor.  In a future world where food may be scarce, flavor may not matter.

It loses its texture.  I had a few jars of pickles stored for 18 month or so, and when I opened one of them, I noticed the pickle slices were somewhat mushy.  Still edible, still had most of their original flavor, but no longer even slightly crispy.  Somewhere there must be a recipes that call for mushy pickles, but I chopped them up and added them to egg salad and tuna mixtures.  They didn’t go to waste, and at least the flavor was still there. By the way, old tuna also gets mushy-ish.

Nutrition is depleted.  Over time, old food may look the same and might even taste the same, but it won’t be nearly as nutritious.  You won’t be able to tell by just looking or smelling, but you can count on it being less nutritious.

Foods you wouldn’t expect to, become rancid.  I was stunned the first time I opened a box of old saltines, expecting to serve them with a batch of homemade soup.  They smelled horribly rancid.  Stomach turning, actually.  Rancid foods are unhealthy and should be tossed out. Protecting them from oxygen, heat, moisture, and light can help extend their shelf life, but foods that contain oils will eventually go bad.

Insects can show up.  My daughter is paranoid about having any tiny black specks with legs in her food.  Who wouldn’t be??  The longer your food is stored, the more likely it is to become infested with insects.  These appear either because microscopic eggs in the food have hatched or insects have been able to get through the packaging. You can avoid this by placing dry foods, such as flour, oats, and rice, in the freezer for two weeks.  Be sure to cap them tightly.  The cold temperature will kill any insect eggs in the food.

Old food changes in appearance.  Picture limp, slightly mushy peach slices or discolored pasta, and you’ll have an idea of what old food looks like.  In a starvation scenario, it’s still edible, but it won’t look very appetizing.

All of these provide plenty of motivation for storing food under the best possible conditions and then rotating it by using the oldest food first.  Some people swear by Shelf  Reliance’s food rotation systems to keep track of food before it goes bad.

Join the Facebook discussion: What’s the oldest food in your food storage pantry?

Note:  I am affiliated with Shelf Reliance.  You can read more about the company and their line of food products here.

© 2012, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

Guest post by The Paranoid Dad

image by busyPrinting

In this crazy world of ours, I can’t help but wonder, what if our home was ever raided for food and the pantry emptied?  What would we do?  How long could we live without food?

This thought led me to a pretty creative idea.  What if I squirreled away ingredients to make umpteen batches of soup and hid them in a secret compartment?  I’m not thinking of doing this with tons of food, just enough to keep me and my family going for a few weeks.

First, what would I need?  My preference is #10 cans and we have the extra room to store them, but if you live in a smaller space, store as many smaller #2.5 cans as you will need.  By the way, we buy most of our food for storage from Shelf Reliance*, Freeze Dry Guy*, and Honeyville.  My wife loves the chicken bouillon from Shirley J.

Here’s the list that I came up with for making several dozen batches of soup:

1. #10 can chicken bouillon
2. #10 can tomato powder (for tomato based soups)
3. #10 can beef bouillon
4. #2.5 can salt
5. smaller packets/bottles of seasonings

Those three #10 cans will give me enough soup base to make an awful lot of soup.  Even plain hot chicken broth is nutritious and comforting.  A can of sour cream powder and/or instant milk will make creamier soups, if we get tired of the same-old, same-old.

Next on my list are the vegetables to give my soups plenty of  nutrients.  Note: these are all either freeze-dried or dehydrated.

1. #10 can carrots
2. #10 can celery (freeze-dried is better)
3. #10 can corn
4. #10 can onions
5. #10 can diced potatoes
6. Other veggies we like: green beans, peas, mixed vegetables, mushrooms.

Protein is next, and I prefer freeze-dried meats over TVP for their flavor, but TVP is much less expensive.   There are quite a few options in this category:

1. Multi-bean soup mix
2. #10 cans of individual bean varieties (instant beans are a fairly new option on the market)
3. #10 can freeze-dried chicken
4. #10 can freeze-dried ground beef
5. #10 cans of other proteins: freeze-dried turkey, various flavors of TVP

Finally, to make the soups even heartier, I want to include a few grains and pasta:

1. #10 can barley (My wife likes this more than I do.)
2. #10 can rice
3. #10 can elbow macaroni
4. #10 cans of other grains and pasta, such as quinoa (again, the wife) or egg noodles
5. #10 can of ABC soup mix (has both pasta and legumes)

I haven’t forgotten water!  Without water, there’s no soup, right?  I don’t think that “hoarding” water will ever be an issue, but we do keep a number of water bottles in various places around the house and a couple of large water barrels are outside.

In all, I would have about 14-15 #10 cans to make up my secret stash of soup.  The next step is storing these containers in an area that will not be easily found.  In most homes, hiding several #10 cans is pretty easy.  I’m pretty handy with construction and carpentry, so I’ve been looking around for places to build false walls.

Since these ingredients will be stored in locations that won’t often be checked on, #10 cans will be a better barrier against pests but it’s important that they are not stored anywhere damp.  Heavy duty 1-gallon PETE containers would be acceptable and even clean, dry 2-liter soda bottles are acceptable for storing food.

Usually, a big bowl of soup is enough to keep me going for several hours, but also hiding ingredients to make 40-50 loaves of bread would help your meals be even more filling and nutritious.   This is easy, since a single 5-gallon bucket of wheat will generally make about that many loaves of bread.  If you don’t have room to hide a large bucket, wheat can also be purchased in #10 cans.  Add 1 large packet of yeast (do check on this for expiration dates, since yeast doesn’t last forever), a #2.5 can of salt, and small containers of instant milk, sugar, honey, or other ingredients for your preferred bread recipe.

Finally, what to do about breakfast?  Either leftovers or hot cereals with a mix-in or two is the way to go.  Rolled oats and germade/farina provide warm, filling breakfasts.  These grains can be purchased in large 50 pound bags or #10 cans.  If you buy the bags, make sure to re-package the food in smaller containers, such as the PETE or soda bottles mentioned above. A couple of #2.5 or larger cans of apple or banana chips are good mix-ins that my kids like.  Again, I only want to hide enough food to last for a maybe a month or so as a fall-back.

Is it paranoid to think that marauders, desperate  neighbors or even government agents with orders to confiscate food from “hoarders” might show up at your door?  Well, it’s happened before.  Hiding a percentage of your food may not be paranoid.  It may be the smartest thing you’ll ever do.

*My wife has an affiliate relationship with these two companies.

The Paranoid Dad is married to The Survival Mom.  Together, they have a pretty balanced approach to survival and preparedness, in spite of what their kids might think.

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