Home Food Production and Storage

Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope.

Charles Darwin

Food production and storage is foundational to disaster preparedness. There are a number of decisions that must be made when planning food storage... how much, what type, storage location, useful technology, and preparing food.

The first step is deciding how much food to store. Viewing storage on a timeline is a logical approach... Is your goal, 72 hours, 3 weeks, 3 months, 1 year or multiple years food storage? For a three-month supply, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints recommends in their pamphlet, All is Safely Gathered In:

“Build a small supply of food that is part of your normal, daily diet. One way to do this is to purchase a few extra items each week to build a one-week supply of food. Then you can gradually increase your supply until it is sufficient for three months. These items should be rotated regularly to avoid spoilage.”

However, for an additional unspecified amount the pamphlet states,

“For longer-term needs, and where permitted, gradually build a supply of food that will last a long time and that you can use to stay alive, such as wheat, white rice, and beans. These items can last 30 years or more when properly packaged and stored in a cool dry place. A portion of these items may be rotated in your three-month supply.”

While a three-month supply of food that is "part of your normal, daily diet" seems straight-forward producing and storing that much food can be a challenge. How do you store fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, bakery products, fresh meat, and dairy products? To obtain a three-month supply, we need to amend our usual goal of fresh everything and make at least a few substitutions. For example, a root cellar will help keep vegetables and fruits fairly fresh. In addition, you also can store vegetables, fruits, meat, and dairy products that are canned, dehydrated, and freeze-dried. Substitutions may be made, such as fresh sprouts for salads if you have alfalfa seeds, for example. If you store wheat, you can grind wheat flour to bake your own bread.

You may also have a garden or raise animals. There are several strategies to determining what actual food you want to store. A valuable insight was share with me by a Registered Dietitian is "most people consume the same menu every 21 days give or take 2 days, with a few infrequent meals such as certain ethic or cultural meals every 3 to 6 months."

One approach to determine the food to store is to keep a log of what you eat for 3 weeks then multiply the food menu to the time-frame for your food storage. For 30 weeks, just multiply by 10.

Another approach is to outfit your food storage to a published list. When I served in the U. S. Navy with a Seabee (construction) battalion, the unit had a manual called a Table of Allowance (TOA) that specified all the equipment and supplies a battalion required for military deployment. This TOA was based on the experiences of Seabees their creation in War World II! The TOA would be tailored to mission, geographical assignment, and climate.

An excellent civilian example is Sample 3-month Food Storage Supply list provided at the website The prepared LDS Family. This website has numerous lists and an abundance of information concerning many aspects of preparedness. Additional lists are provided in the book, LDS Preparedness Manual. From such a list, you could delete and add items to your family’s tastes and requirements.

There are six board categories of food for long term storage:

CANNED FOOD

• Advantages: availability at local stores, economical, wide variety, and secure packaging.

• Disadvantages: moderate shelf life, heavy weight, requires large physical space for storage, and typically contain lots of sugar, salt, other chemicals, and preservatives.

GRAINS, BEANS, AND BASIC COMMODITIES

• Advantages: low cost, long storage life if stored properly, and good nutritional value.

• Disadvantages: heavy weight and usually requires large amounts of water and fuel to prepare, and time consuming to prepare.

DEHYDRATED FOODS

• Advantages: lightweight and long shelf life, diy if you have a dehydrator.

• Disadvantages: high cost and the need for water to prepare.

FREEZE DRIED FOODS

• Advantages: light weight, tastes okay, and long shelf life.

• Disadvantages: expense and the need for water to prepare.

MRE (Meals Ready to Eat)

• Advantages: ready to eat from pouch, easy to heat, and a meal in a bag.

• Disadvantages: high cost and minimal shelf life.

FROZEN FOODS

• Advantages: wide selection, can substitute for fresh food, and comparative good pricing.

• Disadvantages: limited storage space and risk of spoilage with loss of electricity.

Having a mixed storage of all these six categories will provide strength in diversity and prevent appetite fatigue. Don’t forget to store comfort foods like candy, drink mixes, and chocolate. Include and rotate vitamins for the members of your group. Consider having a root cellar, storing garden seeds, planting and maintaining a garden, and raising animals (hens for eggs and meat, goats or cows for milk, etc.). Can the food you produce to save on the cost of commercially canned foods.

ADDITIONAL TIPS FOR STORING FOOD:

• Taste the food prior to buying in large amounts to make certain you and your family will eat it.

• Have a variety of foods on hand.

• Nuts will last a long time, but the oils in nuts will make them go bad relatively quickly.

• Do not try to store crackers, cookies, dry processed cereal, snack bars, etc. due to short shelf life and you may find that those foods are eaten over more nutritional foods.

• Any can with citric acid can go bad. Canned pineapple and oranges, for example, may be stored for short periods of time, but keep them separated from other food and insure you rotate/use these cans quickly. They are good sources for vitamin C but will leak over time.

• Maintain a year supply of vitamins.

• Remember spices for flavoring foods stored.

• Consider cooking time and fuel consumption.

• Label each food item with purchase date.

• Use durable, food-safe containers.

• Keep an inventory list of your food with name, location, and date purchased as well as the storage timeline if you have that information.

• Don’t store in places with high moisture, high heat, and varying temperatures.

• Rotate if possible.

• Include in your storage, equipment to prepare food for cooking, like an electric meat grinder, a spice and nut grinder (also for seeds), an electric grain mill and a hand grain mill, peeler, slicer, grater, and sharp knives. And don't forget can openers, scissors and other tools for opening food containers.

• Be sure to store cook stoves, fuel, indoor and outdoor utensils, and other items needed to cook and consume food. If fuel is available, a gas grill or Coleman Stove is a great convenience. A Volcano Collapsible Grill Stove or Kelly Kettle Stove are viable solutions. A Camp Chef Alpine CS14 heavy duty cylinder stove is excellent and can be purchased with a hot water tank accessory. Cast iron dutch ovens and frying pans are durable and practical. A properly built and safe fire pit can be used for cooking as well as for heat.

• If you have to be mobile, plan on storing all kitchen utensils in a plastic tub.

• Store for food sanitation. Cleanup requires dish soap, sponges, dish pans with hot water (3 dishpans: one for washing dishes, one for the first rinse, and, for best results, one for the second rinse). Plan for a disposal method for dish water and residue (dirty water used for washing can be used for watering plants as long as it doesn't touch the edible part of the plant).

• If you have pets, remember to store food and supplies for them, too. Do not abandon or neglect your faithful animals in a crisis. They can sometimes stomach food that humans find distasteful but be mindful of foods that are toxic to your pets.

Basic commodity foods should be the foundation to long term food storage. Commodity foods are both economical, healthful, tasteful if prepared properly, and have a long shelf life. They can be stored safely in number 10 cans, food-grade pails or in mylar bags with oxygen absorber packets.

East Coast Food Storage recommends the following for one person for a year:

1. Grains: 400 lbs.(includes wheat, flour, rice, corn, oatmeal and pasta)

2. Powdered milk: 6 lbs.

3. Legumes: 60 lbs. (dry beans, split peas)

4. Cooking oil : 10 quarts (16 lbs. shortening = 10 quarts)

5. Sugar or Honey: 60 lbs. (67 lbs. of honey = 50 lbs. sugar)

6. Salt: 8 lbs.

7. Water: 14 gals. (suggested for 2 week reserve)

In summary, having the right amount of food, the right type of food, and a method of preparation and sanitation, must be a balance of tastes, economics, availability, weight limitations, storage availability, and technology. Enjoyable, economic , and nutritional menus can be achieved, even in a disaster situation with proactive planning.