How to Buy Food for Storage and Survival by John Davis Food Storage Overview After water, food

is the next most important topi for the survivalist! "t is possible to survive for wee#s without food, but who would want to$ During a prolonged emergen y there will be a lot of wor# to do! %veryone will be better able to perform their hores if they are well&nourished and satisfied! A healthy and balan ed diet will also help #eep resistan e to disease high'an essential part of preventative and survival health are! (interna )gi a **x +he ,olden -ule of Food Storage. Store what you use, and use what you store! All foods have a limited shelf&life, no matter how they are stored or preserved! "t is imperative that you have a plan for rotating your food stash to #eep it fresh! %ven if your food doesn/t spoil, through time it will lose mu h of its nutritional value and flavor! )any survivalists spend a lot of money on spe ially prepared foods that they will never eat! An example is the highly&touted )-%/s 0)eals -eady to %at!1 )-%/s were invented by the military for long&term storage of omplete meals for survival situations when there is no means for preparing or oo#ing food! +he problem with )-%/s is that they are very expensive, espe ially if you are preparing for a prolonged emergen y! " do not re ommend that you rely on them for the bul# of your emergen y food stash! A few )-%/s in your bug out bag is o#ay! But forget about storing ase upon ase of )-%/s in your home stash! "n ,round Storage +he simplest method for short&term food storage is your garden! 2ertain root vegetables, li#e arrots, turnips, parsnips and horseradish, may be left in the ground through the winter! After the ground begins to free3e, over them with mul h, su h as dry leaves or straw, to prote t them from hard free3es! +hey an then be dug up as needed in the #it hen! Other old&hardy rops, su h as lettu e, abbage, beets and auliflower, may also be left in the garden, prote ted by a heavy mul h, for several wee#s after the growing season! -oot 2ellaring "n the old days before anning, people relied heavily on their root ellars, whi h allowed them to store fruits and vegetables through mu h of the winter! )ost fresh foods need a very ool and slightly moist environment! Dirt floors are ideal, and the pro edure wor#s best in areas where the winter months are very old! )ost basements today are too warm and dry, espe ially if they are e4uipped with a entral heating unit that is used to heat the house, so root ellars may not be pra ti al for many of us! +here are several ways around this problem, in luding insulating off a portion of your basement, or even better, digging outdoor pits for storing your vegetables and fruits! +o learn more, he # out the ex ellent boo#s mentioned in the Additional -esour es se tion at the end of this web site, in luding -oot 2ellaring. 5atural 2old Storage of Fruits 6 7egetables by )i#e and 5an y Bubel! 2ommon )ethods of Food 8reservation Before we ta#e a loo# at the various methods of food preservation, it will be helpful to dis uss the

fa tors that ause food deterioration and spoilage! 2hief among these are mi roorganisms, whi h onsist of ba teria, yeasts and fungi 0molds!1 )i roorganisms, or 9mi robes,9 re4uire the presen e of water to grow and multiply! )ost mi robes, in luding molds, also re4uire the presen e of oxygen! Some anaerobi mi roorganisms, in luding botulinum'the ausative agent of botulism, an extremely dangerous form of food poisoning' an thrive in the omplete absen e of oxygen! %n3ymes, whi h o ur naturally in plants, will ause foods to deteriorate in time resulting in the loss of nutritional value, flavor and palatability! %n3ymes also re4uire the presen e or water or moisture! %xposure to light will ause the destru tion of some vitamins, and the rate of all hemi al and biologi al rea tions, in luding the a tions of en3ymes and the growth of mi robes, will in rease as the temperature in reases! So all preserved foods will #eep better and longer when prote ted from light and stored at ooler temperatures! Dried Foods Drying or dehydration is an ex ellent way to preserve food! :ithout moisture, the mi robes that are responsible for food spoilage an not thrive and the en3ymes that lead to deterioration are ina tivated, so the food is preserved in a form that is suitable for long&term storage! 8roperly dehydrated foods do not re4uire refrigeration! +hey an be stored in airtight ontainers or plasti bags and will #eep for a year or longer'the dryer the food the longer it will store! :hen dehydrating food for long&term storage, are must be ta#en to insure that most of the water is removed, otherwise spoilage, parti ularly by molds, ould be ome a problem! As with all preservation te hni4ues, some nutritional value is lost during the drying pro ess, but dehydrated foods retain most of their nutritional value and dehydration remains one of the best ways to prepare food for storage without the need for refrigeration or sterili3ation! Sin e water is responsible for mu h of the bul# and most of the weight of any food, dehydrated foods are lighter and more ompa t, ma#ing them ideal for ba #pa #ing or for your bug out bag! "f you want you an restore dehydrated foods by soa#ing them in water for a few hours before eating them! Dehydrated vegetables are great to use in soups and stews! )any dehydrated foods, parti ularly fruits, are deli ious right out of the bag without rehydration! :e will dis uss food dehydration in more detail later in this hapter! Storage of dried fruit As seen in the photograph above, dried foods are stored in airtight ontainers made out of plasti or glass! Survivalists prefer plasti be ause glass an an be easily bro#en during a disaster su h as an earth4ua#e! ,lass ontainers should be prote ted from brea#age and light! ;ou an put them in a brown paper bag to prote t from light! )ore on Food Dehydration in luding my instru tional video! 2anned Foods 2anning re4uires the omplete sterili3ation of the food and ontainer, ompletely eliminating all tra es of mi robes! +he en3ymes that would in time lead to deterioration are also destroyed by the heat used in the anning pro ess! Spe ial glass <ars 0e!g!, )ason <ars1 and two&pie e lids are used for home anning! +he lids are designed to ompletely seal the <ars with a va uum inside whi h prevents the entry of mi roorganisms! 8roperly anned foods will #eep almost indefinitely, but their 4uality begins to deteriorate after about a year so it is re ommended that they are onsumed within a year or two! 2anning sterili3ed foods in a => minute boiling water bath in sterili3ed <ars is ade4uate for high&a id foods su h as fruits, tomatoes and foods pi #led in vinegar! 5ona id foods su h as meat, fish, fowl and vegetables re4uire a higher temperature 0?@>o F or ==Ao 21 whi h is obtainable only in a pressure

anner! A pressure oo#er will double as a pressure anner providing it is large enough to hold the glass <ars that you are using! :e will dis uss anning in more detail later in this hapter! 2omplete instru tions for home anning an be found in the instru tions that will ome with your anning e4uipment or in any good anning re ipe boo#! +he instru tions should be followed losely! 2li # here for )ore on Home 2anning! 2ommer ially anned foods'the familiar items that we find on our gro ery store shelves'usually ome in either glass <ars or tin ans! "n my opinion anned foods, whether ommer ially prepared or anned at home, should ma#e up the bul# of your food storage program! +hey are by far the least expensive option when it omes to food storage! +hey do not have to be refrigerated and they re4uire minimal preparation before serving! )ost an be eaten right from the an! 2anned foods also ontain a fair amount of water, whi h an ome in handy in meeting your daily water needs! Due to their water ontent anned foods are heavy when ompared to dehydrated foods, but you probably won/t be hauling your home stash around anyway! 2anned foods ome in onvenient si3es, so an opened an will probably be onsumed without leaving leftovers whi h would re4uire refrigeration! +hey also sta # well ma#ing it easy for you to rotate your stores! ;ou an gradually and e onomi ally build your home food storage stash by pur hasing a few extra anned goods ea h time you buy your gro eries! "n my opinion anned foods should ma#e up the bul# of your food storage program! Stash of anned foods +he metal shelf pi tured above, whi h " use for storing anned goods in my basement, has been assembled with the shelves upside down! +his gives ea h shelf a lip around the edges to prevent the ans from sliding off the shelves during an earth4ua#e! 5ote also that " have used metal strapping tape to fasten the shelving unit to a wooden <oist in the eiling above, adding further stability and preventing it from toppling over! On ea h shelf " store a different type of anned food'starting at the top with anned fruits and ontinuing down with soups, vegetables, beans, fish and nuts, meats and finally sau es on the bottom! +hat way, a 4ui # glan e reveals the types of anned foods we need to pi # up on our next visit to the gro ery store, helping us maintain a balan e of ea h food type! (arge number => ans Spe ial foods pa #ed for long&term storage, li#e the powdered mil# substitute and the whole powdered eggs pi tured above, are produ ed <ust for survivalists! +hese foods are pro essed for very long shelf lifes and anned in nitrogen gas in large B=> ans! +hey have a re ommended shelf life of at least => years! +he only problem " have with them is they ignore the 9store what you eat and eat what you store9 rule! +hey are not as easy to rotate into your daily diet as regularly anned foods! Storing glass <ars Sin e your home& anned foods are stored in glass <ars, it is parti ularly important to prote t them from brea#age! :henever possible, your <ars of food should be stored in the original boxes that the <ars ame it, along with the ardboard partitions inside whi h will #eep them from banging against ea h other! +he <ars that are not in boxes are wrapped with bubble wrap or separated with ardboard! Storage abinets +he photograph above shows how we se ure the doors of the shelving units that we use to store our

glass <ars, to prevent the <ars from falling out during an earth4ua#e, by simply sliding a small board through the handles! +o #eep the shelving units from toppling over they are se urely fastened to ea h other and to the wooden supporting beam behind them with s rews! Fro3en Foods Free3ing is an easy and onvenient method of food preservation! "t is also very good at retaining the nutritional value of your food! +here is one huge and obvious disadvantage to free3ing. :hat happens when the ele tri ity goes off$ ;ou an invest in a gasoline or propane&powered generator to #eep your free3er running during power outages! But eventually you are going to run out of fuel for your generator! For that reason " suggest that you do not rely on your free3er for your primary method of food storage! "f you are a hunter or have a garden and prefer free3ing to anning that is fine! Hopefully you will have a generator and will be able to onsume your fro3en foods before you run out of fuel! But you should also have a stash of foods that do not re4uire free3ing for those longer emergen ies! :hen the power goes out the food in a full freestanding free3er will be safe for about two days, providing you don/t open the door too mu h! A hest&type free3er is mu h more desirable than an upright free3er be ause it will retain the old longer! -emember that the foods at greatest ris# are meat, poultry and foods ontaining dairy produ ts! :e will dis uss free3ing in more detail in a later se tion of this hapter! Free3e&Dried Foods Free3e&Dried Foods are ommer ially prepared foods that have had their water removed by a te hni4ue that involves several steps. First the food is fro3en! +hen it is pla ed in a va uum ontainer and heated while the air is removed from the ontainer! +he heat auses the i e rystals to melt and the va uum removes the moisture from the food and the ontainer leaving only the dried food behind! Free3e&dried foods are preserved in mu h the same way as dehydrated foods and will #eep a long time without refrigeration! Free3e drying is a good method of food preservation, but free3e&dried foods are too expensive to use as your primary stash! "f you want you an in lude a few in your bug out bag! (i#e dehydrated foods, they are ompa t, lightweight and do not re4uire refrigeration! But " do not re ommend that you rely on free3e&dried foods for your primary food stash! 2ommer ially&8repared Dried ,oods +his ategory in ludes <ust about every food on your gro ery store/s shelves other than anned goods, fresh foods and refrigerated items! +hey are prepa #aged and for the most part ready to go dire tly from the store/s shelves to the shelves of your home stash! Obviously shelf&life is an important onsideration and some foods will #eep mu h better than others! ,ood examples of foods that will #eep well are sugar and powdered 9instant9 mil#! Some items, li#e wheat flour for bread ma#ing, are best pur hased in a less pro essed form! -ather than storing flour it is far better to store whole wheat berries! Flour has a shelf&life of only a few months, while whole wheat berries, when stored properly, have a shelf&life of a thousand years! 07iable wheat berries thousands of years old have been found in %gyptian tombs!1 ;ou will also need to stash away a hand&operated grinder to grind the wheat berries into whole wheat flour when it omes time for ba#ing! 0)ore on this in the next se tion!1 :hen onsidering whi h ommer ially prepared dried goods to store, and how mu h to store, remember our ,olden -ule 0whi h " repeat be ause it is so important1. Store only what you use, and use what you store! Stash of dry goods

)ost ommer ially&prepared foods have limited shelf&lives and you must have a program for rotating them into use on a regular basis! Does your family use mil#$ "f so, do you buy it in the bottle or arton or do you buy powdered 9instant9 mil#$ "f you use the former, may " suggest that you start using the latter$ 8owdered 9instant9 mil# is an ex ellent survival food! )il# is high in nutrition, parti ularly protein 0whi h may be in short supply during a prolonged emergen y!1 "nstant mil# stores well and doesn/t re4uire refrigeration until it is re onstituted with water! ;ou an easily re onstitute a little at a time, as it is needed, avoiding refrigeration entirely! "f your family is used to drin#ing mil# from the arton they will have to ma#e an ad<ustment to the slightly different taste of instant mil#, but the ad<ustment is easily and 4ui #ly made be ause instant mil# tastes <ust as good as regular mil#! "t is <ust slightly different! Stash of dry mil# )y family does not drin# a lot of mil#, but we use some in oo#ing, " add a little to my offee, and " use it to ma#e homemade yogurt and fro3en yogurt! " #eep a full year/s supply of instant mil# in my stash at all times, whi h for us onsists of nine @ pound 0=!C= #g1 boxes! +he #ey again is rotation! :henever " empty a box of mil#, " pur hase another one at the gro ery store, but " am areful to put the new box at the very ba # of the shelf, moving every other box toward the front so that the oldest box 0whi h by now is at the front1 will be used first! All of your stored foods, in luding your anned goods and even your fro3en foods, should be rotated in this manner! Always put the newest item at the very ba #, moving every other item forward so that you will use the oldest first! +hat way, as long as you are storing what you use, and using what you store, your sto # will always remain fresh and your food will never go bad! Other dried goods that you might onsider storing in lude. Dried beans, orn, ri e, ous ous and other grains! 2offee & "t is best to store whole roasted offee beans rather than ground offee! ;ou will need a offee grinder! 0Don/t use an ele tri one! :hat will you do when the ele tri ity is off$1 2offee grinder ;ou an grind your whole roasted offee beans with a hand&operated offee grinder, li#e the one shown above! Or you an use the same hand&operated grinder that you use to grind your wheat berries! Sugar and Salt are important staples that should be stored in suffi ient 4uantities! Both have a shelf&life of =>> years or longer, as long as they are sealed from air and prote ted from moisture! Just about every food that you pur hase from the gro ery store, other than refrigerated items, fresh produ e, and fresh ba#ery goods, an also be stashed away in 4uantity, as long as you remember to store what you use and use what you store! )ore on preparing foods for long&term food storage in luding my instru tional videos an be found on the next page! A tion Step D. Food 2he # (ists & Food Storage

+urn to the page in you A tion 8lanner where you have begun your 9,et9 and 9Do9 lists for Food and begin ma#ing your lists! As you progress through this hapter, and the remaining hapters of this web site, you will thin# of additional items to add to your lists! :hen you a 4uire an item or a omplish a tas# he # it off your list! +hat way it will be very easy to see your a omplishments and to monitor your progress! +his will give you additional in entive and motivation and you will a omplish your preparedness goals in a surprisingly short period of time, and in an effi ient and almost effortless manner! Here/s a way to 4ui #ly and systemati ally build up a one&wee# 0or longer1 supply of emergen y food. %a h time you buy gro eries, for one or two of the nonperishable items on your shopping list, buy twi e as many as you need! "nstead of buying one bottle of #et hup, for example, buy two! 8ut the extra bottle in your pantry! :hen you are running low of #et hup, rather than using the extra bottle, put #et hup on your gro ery list as you normally would and buy another bottle! Just don/t forget to rotate the older bottle of #et hup out of the pantry, using it first and putting the new bottle on the shelf behind it! "f you will do this ea h time you buy gro eries, for <ust one or two of the items on your list, in no time you will have a umulated a one&wee# stash of emergen y survival food! "f there is ever an emergen y, and the gro ery store shelves are empty, or if you an/t get to the store for a wee#, your family will not go hungry! :hen it omes to emergen y preparedness you will already be way ahead of most people! ;ou will also have ta#en the first step toward establishing your survival food stash! After your one&wee# storage goal is omplete, you an wor# at in reasing it to a two&wee# supply, or a one& month supply, or whatever your goal is for your home food stash! And while you are at it, you an use the same pro edure to sto # up on nonfood items li#e soap, toilet paper, personal items, et ! (ong&+erm Storage of Spe ial Survival Foods After you have established your short&term stash, whi h should get your family through emergen ies lasting from a wee# to several wee#s, you may de ide that you would li#e to store larger 4uantities of food in preparation for longer emergen ies! "n this se tion " will dis uss a long&term food storage te hni4ue! +he following foods if stored properly have an indefinite shelf&life. :hole :heat Berries :hite Sugar Salt 8ure Sorghum )olasses 8ure Honey (interna )gi a **x 2ertain other foods, if stored properly, an #eep for E to => years or even longer! All stored foods should be dated so they an be rotated out when the time omes to repla e them! Other ereals, su h as oats Dried Beans Dried 2orn -i e 2ous ous

:hole Spi es Before " dis uss the best way to store these foods, lets ta#e a brief moment to review the ma<or reasons why stored foods spoil! Food is spoiled primarily by the growth of mi roorganisms! "n order to grow and reprodu e, most mi roorganism re4uire two things, water and oxygen! :hen foods are anned they are preserved by #illing all the mi roorganism in the food and the storage ontainer by sterili3ation, and by #eeping the ontainer ompletely impervious to the entry of additional mi roorganisms! :hen foods are preserved by dehydration nearly all of the water is removed! +he mi roorganisms that are in the food are not #illed but without water they an not grow and reprodu e! :hen foods are fro3en the live mi roorganisms remain in the food, but the extremely low temperature stops their metabolism so they do not grow and reprodu e! 0;our refrigerator does not stop the growth of mi roorganisms, but their metabolism is slowed enough to prevent the food from spoiling before it an be onsumed!1 8ure honey and molasses are spe ial be ause they naturally ontain ingredients that prevent the growth of mi roorganisms! +he best way that " have found to store whole dried foods, li#e whole wheat berries and dried beans, is to seal them in ompletely airtight mylar bags made spe ially for the purpose of long&term food storage! Other plasti bags will wor# but the mylar bags wor# the best! First you must start with foods that ontain very little moisture, or you must remove the moisture by pla ing the food in a low temperature oven for omplete drying! +he oxygen is removed from the bag and the mylar bag is sealed ompletely airtight with a hot iron! )ylar bags are strong but they are not pun ture proof! +hey must therefore be en losed in a strong, preferably airtight, ontainer su h as a E or A gallon plasti bu #et with an airtight lid, su h as the ones that you an pur hase at hardware stores! +here are two good ways for removing the oxygen from the airtight mylar bags! +he easiest way is to throw in a ouple of oxygen absorbing pa #ets <ust before you seal the bag! +hese an usually be pur hased from the same supplier who supplied your mylar bags! +he other way to remove the oxygen is to use arbon dioxide to repla e the oxygen in the bags! +he easiest way to employ arbon dioxide is to use dry i e, whi h is fro3en arbon dioxide gas! Dry i e an be pur hased from the same i e dealers that sell blo #s of regular i e! ;ou will find them in your ;ellow 8ages! Dry i e is extremely old and must be handled arefully! "f it tou hes your s#in it an ause a 9burn!9 "t must therefore be handled with gloves! Fill your storage ontainer to within about a half in h 0= m1 of the top! 8ut a pie e of dry i e on top of the food and put the lid on but do not seal the lid yet! As the gas evaporates 0or sublimates1 it will ause pressure to build in the ontainer whi h ould rupture it! ;ou have to wait for the dry i e to evaporate ompletely, turning ompletely into arbon dioxide gas, and then you seal the ontainer! As it sublimates it will drive the air out of the ontainer! 2arbon dioxide is heavier than air and so it will remain in the ontainer if you do not disturb it too mu h! One to two oun es 0E> g1 of dry i e is all that is needed for ea h E to A gallon 0?> l1 bu #et of food! Oxygen&Absorbing 8a #s )y favorite way to remove the oxygen is by using oxygen absorbing pa #s! +he food most ommonly used for long&term storage is whole wheat berries 0:inter wheat1 so " will use it as an example! Below is how " do it from start to finish. " pur hase organi ally grown whole wheat berries 0:inter wheat1 from a natural foods gro ery store that sells in bul#! :hole Foods )ar#et is a national hain that sells bul# foods but there are others in luding lo al sour es! -ather than buying from the bul# department of the store, " pla e my order

with the store manager and re eive my wheat berries in E> lb bags! +hey give me a dis ount of about =>F when " order by the bag! " also pur hase other grains and beans for long&term storage in this manner! +he video on the right shows the storage of wheat berries that " pur hased from an animal feed and seed store at a substantial dis ount 0?= ents per pound as ompared to G=!=D a pound for the organi ally grown berries!1 +hese berries were heaper be ause they were bagged for 9seed!9 0:heat berries and other whole foods bagged for animal feed are ideal!1 +hey are essentially the same berries ex ept they have not been leaned 4uite as well and of ourse are not organi !

(interna )gi a **x As " mentioned earlier, the E or A gallon 0?> l1 plasti bu #ets that you an buy in hardware stores are a onvenient si3e in whi h to store your bul# items! +hese bu #ets are made out of two different types of plasti , one is food&grade and the other is not! " seal my foods in mylar bags so they don/t ome in onta t with the plasti bu #et so it doesn/t matter to me whether they are food grade or not! "f you store any of your bul# foods in dire t onta t with the plasti bu #et you will want to use food&grade bu #ets only! +hose that have already been used to store foods, li#e the ones that restaurants use, are perfe tly fine, and you may be able to a 4uire these for little or no money! " order my mylar bags from :alton Feed, "n ! online at http.HHwww!waltonfeed! omH! +hey ome in many different si3es but " have found that the ?> in x I> in si3e is perfe t for E or A gallon bu #ets! " pla e the mylar bag in the plasti bu #et and fill it with the wheat berries! +hen " throw in one ?>>> oxygen absorbing pa #, or two or three of the smaller si3ed pa #s, s4uee3e the ex ess air out of the bag 0or su # it out using a plasti hose1 and then seal it with a hot iron! ;ou have to wor# 4ui #ly to avoid overly exposing your oxygen absorbing pa #s to air, whi h will de rease their effe tiveness! 5ext " trim off any ex ess from the top of the mylar bag 0optional1 and firmly seal the lid on the bu #et using a rubber mallet! +he wheat berries are now ready for long&term storage in my basement! " use the same te hni4ue to store other items that " buy in bul#, in luding pinto beans, orn, oats, et ! )ost other items will not have the =>> year or longer shelf&life that the wheat berries have! "f you start with whole foods that have a very low moisture ontent, most foods will have at least a => year shelf& life when stored in this way! Obviously you should label ea h bu #et with its ontents and the date it was sealed! "t would also be a good idea to put a 9Jse by9 date on the bu #et, in ase you forget what the shelf&life is or in ase it is opened by someone else! Sealing mylar bags Here/s a hint for helping you seal the mylar bags with a hot iron. +a#e a I> in h 0or C> m1 ?x@ board and wrap an old towel around it a few times to ma#e an 9ironing board!9 ;ou an staple or nail the towel on the underside of the board to #eep it in pla e! :hen you are ready to seal your mylar bag lay this ironing board a ross the top of the bu #et and lay the mylar bag over it to ma#e your <ob easier 0as demonstrated in the photograph above and in the video!1 )a#e sure your seal is omplete, and then trim off any ex ess from the top of the mylar bag! ;ou will have to experiment a little with your iron to determine the ideal temperature! +rim off a small strip from the top of one of your mylar bags and try sealing it with your iron to determine the best setting!

+he list below gives the approximate shelf&life for some ommon bul# items when stored in this manner! +hese numbers are onservative! "t is 4uite possible that the foods will #eep longer! However, all foods lose some of their nutritional value when stored over an extended period of time! +he longer they are stored the more nutrition is lost! ;ou should therefore try to rotate these foods out, repla ing them with new sto #, a ording to the shelf lifes suggested below! "f you open a ontainer and find that the food is moldy, it will most li#ely be be ause it ontained too mu h moisture when you sealed it, or else it was exposed to air due to a faulty seal! +hrow it in your ompost! "f you are wheat intolerant then obviously you will want to store other grains! But #eep in mind that most other grains will not have the shelf&life of wheat and so you will need to rotate your sto #! Hard ,rains 0wheat, orn, #amut millet, dry flax spelt, triti ale1 =E&?> years Soft ,rains 0rolled oats, oat groats, rye, barley, 4uinoa1 C years -i e. :hite ri e will store for C & => years! Brown ri e will only #eep for =&? years Beans 0soy, ad3u#i, bla #eye, barban3o, #idney, great northern, lentils, lima, mung, pinto, et !1 C&=> years Dehydrated vegetables 0bro oli, arrots, elery, abbage, onions, peppers, potatoes, et !1 C & => years Dehydrated fruit =>&=E years Dried dairy 0powdered eggs, powdered mil#, whey powder, heese powder, o oa powder, powdered butter or margarine1 E&=> years Flours and ground produ ts 0All 8urpose Flour, unblea hed flour, whole wheat flour, white flour, ornmeal, ra #ed wheat, gluten, wheat fla#es, mixes, et !1 E years 8asta 0)a aroni noodles, spaghetti, et !1 =>&=E years 8ure honey, salt, sugar, and sorghum molasses an be #ept indefinitely as long as they are #ept free from moisture! 0)a#e sure that your honey does not ontain additives! Sometimes water or sugar are added to honey! 8ure honey will rystalli3e when stored for a long time! "mpure honey will not!1 ,arden seeds or sprouting seeds will remain viable for ?&I years 0+he ex eption is alfalfa, whi h will #eep for at least C years!1 How to use your wheat berries ;ou an roast your wheat berries, sprout them and even grow wheat grass! But the most popular way to use wheat berries is to grind them into flour, along with other grains or dried beans if you li#e, and use them to ma#e bread, pan a#es, or any number of other ba#ed goods! :heat grinder ;ou will need to have a good hand&operated grinder for ma#ing flour from your wheat berries and other grains and dried beans! 2oo#boo#s are available ontaining re ipes for using the grains that you have stored! A ouple of my favorites are mentioned in the Additional -esour es se tion at the end of this web site and under 9-e ommended -eading9 at the bottom of this page! :hole :heat -e ipes "n her =DAD lassi , 8assport to Survival. Four Foods and )ore to Jse and Store, survivalist writer %sther Di #ey re ommends whole wheat berries as one of the four foods whi h should ma#e up 9the basi omponents of an emergen y survival diet!9 0+he others are powdered mil#, honey and salt!1 Her boo# is a ri h sour e of re ipes for the many and varied ways in whi h you an use your whole wheat berries, from sprouting 0an ex ellent way to add fresh greens to your diet1 to ma#ing gluten 0a sour e of protein1 to ba#ing whole wheat bread'the staple of life! Jnfortunately her ex ellent boo# is out of print, but used opies are still available at Ama3on! om!

A :ord About ,luten and :heat "ntoleran e "f you store wheat berries, learn now how to sprout them to ma#e wheat grassK Sprouted wheat berries and wheat grass are mu h better for you, and are mu h more easily digested, than the other ways that you will onsume your wheat berries, even better than grinding them to ma#e bread! :heat berries ontain gluten, whi h is a diffi ult protein to digest! )any individuals develop an intoleran e to gluten and must avoid it entirely! Often, the more wheat you eat, the more intolerant your body grows to it! So even if you don/t have a lot of trouble eating produ ts that ontain gluten now, you an develop the problem in the future, espe ially if wheat ever be omes a ma<or food sour e, li#e after a ollapse when you brea# out your wheat storage! 2aution should be used when onsidering wheat berries and wheat produ ts, be ause many people have sub& lini al 0below the surfa e1 problems with wheat, in luding hidden wheat allergies! But with a storage life of pra ti ally forever 0when stored properly1, wheat berries are of ourse an ex ellent food to put up for long&term emergen y storage! Sprouting your wheat berries will go a long way in adding additional nutrition and variety to your wheat berries, and will help prevent wheat or gluten intoleran es that will surely o ur if people are ever for ed to rely on stored wheat as a primary sour e of food! 5utritional Supplements Do you ta#e a multivitamin$ +here are so many nutritional supplements on the mar#et today that trying to de ide whi h ones you need an be onfusing! :hile there are many supplements that may be helpful for individual needs, there is one that " onsider essential for everyone! "f you ta#e nothing else you should ta#e a good high&4uality multivitaminHmultimineral supplement on a daily basis! )ost vitamins are fat&soluble and an be stored by your body! 0+he ex eptions are 7itamin 2 and B& omplex, whi h are water soluble!1 +ra e minerals, whi h are grossly la #ing in the typi al Ameri an diet, are also very important for maintaining your health, and li#e fat&soluble vitamins they too an be stored by the body! How mu h better ould your body survive hard times if it is well sto #ed with these important nutrients when the emergen y o urs, as opposed to beginning su h a stressful situation with an already defi ient supply$ :hen we are under stress, our bodies use up our nutrient stores faster, and therefore we may need even more than usual! An ade4uate supply of these important nutrients will allow you to endure stress more easily, in reasing your resistan e to mental and physi al disease! As " have already mentioned, the longer foods are stored the more nutritional value they lose! And we all understand that one of the #eys to sound nutrition is a highly varied diet! But during times of emergen y we will no doubt be restri ted in the variety of foods that we have available to us! "n fa t, we might be eating a lot of the same foods over and over! +hese fa tors, along with the fa t that our bodies need more vitamins and minerals when under stress, mean that it will be even more important to ta#e a multivitaminHmultimineral supplement during times of emergen y than during normal times! So " onsider a good supplement to be an essential part of any emergen y food stash! 7itamins have a shelf&life of at least two years! )inerals are literally ro #s that will #eep forever! After the re ommended two&year shelf&life has been ex eeded, the vitamins will still be viable! "t/s <ust that they will have lost some of their poten y! +he older they are the more poten y they will lose! ;ou do not have to dis ard your vitamins after the expiration date! ;ou an ontinue ta#ing them! +hey may not be as potent as when you pur hased them but they will be better than nothing! 7itamin and mineral stash " #eep a one year supply of Super Supplemental 7itamins and )inerals in my emergen y food stash! %veryone in my family ta#es this supplement so we do not have a problem #eeping our sto # fresh! :e <ust have to remember that when we empty a bottle and pur hase a new one it has to go to the ba # of

the shelf, and every other bottle has to be moved forward! :hen we ta#e a bottle off the shelf we are areful to grab the oldest one, whi h will be the one in the front! +hat way all of our vitamins always remain as fresh as possible! Super Supplemental ontains some al ium, but sin e we try to ta#e a higher amount of this important mineral, along with additional magnesium, a mineral that is heavily lost in food pro essing, we store a year/s supply of 2al ium&)agnesium as well! ;ou may hoose to store additional supplements 0and essential medi ines as well!1 Just remember to store what you use and to use what you store'and above all, don/t forget to rotate your sto #K ,rowing ;our Own Food After a lo al emergen y, if we are lu #y things ould be ba # to normal within a few days! But other disasters ould drag on for many wee#s or even months! +here is no way of predi ting how long a national or global emergen y ould last! "f you are ever involved in a prolonged emergen y, your food stash, no matter how large, ould eventually run out! "f a prolonged disaster is on your list of on erns you should thin# about ways to replenish your stores by growing some of your own food! %ven if you are not able to meet all of your family/s needs, your stash will ertainly last longer if you are able to supplement it! +wo s#ills that every survivalist should learn are vegetable gardening and fruit growing! Both involve trial and error so don/t wait until an emergen y o urs to start learning these important survival s#ills! ,rowing your own ginger (interna )gi a **x Shown above left is a ginger plant growing in a =? in h 0I> m1 pot! 0:hen the green leaves turn brown and die off the ginger root is ready for harvesting!1 %ven people who live in a high&rise apartment an grow a few vegetables, fruits or herbs in pots or ontainers! 5o matter how small, your property is apable of produ ing some homegrown foods! "f you have a small ba # yard you an grow 4uite a bit, espe ially if you plan your garden arefully! ,o Organi K :e have seen that an important part of survivalism is self&suffi ien y! +he less you rely on the hemi al industry the more prepared you will be when their expensive fertili3ers and pesti ides are unavailable! As a survivalist you should learn organi growing te hni4ues! 5ot only will you be more self&suffi ient, but your family will live healthier as well, and you will be ontributing to a leaner and safer planet! "f you are new to gardening, or even if you are not, you will want to invest in one or more good 9how to9 gardening boo#s! Be sure to hoose boo#s that emphasi3e organi methods! "n the Additional -esour es se tion at the end of this web site " have suggested some good gardening boo#s! (earn how to fertili3e your garden without hemi als, and how to ontrol garden pests using natural methods! (interna )gi a **x 2omposting %very organi gardener #nows the benefits of omposting! 2omposting allows you to re y le vegetable matter from your #it hen, as well as your yard and garden wastes, to onvert it, with the help of

benefi ial ba teria and industrious earthworms, into an ex ellent material that you an wor# into your garden soil to aerate and fertili3e it! 2omposting an be done anywhere, even in the ity where spa e is limited! ;ou an even #eep a small earthworm ompost bin <ust for #it hen s raps in your basement or garage! " do not add meat s raps or dairy produ ts to my ompost, preferring to #eep the material of vegetable origin only, in order to eliminate odors and flies! +he ex eption is egg shells whi h an be added to ompost without reating any problems! +he al ium in egg shells is also great for your soil! %ven if you do not have a garden you should ompost your vegetable trash and yard waste to produ e less strain on our overflowing land fills and garbage dumps, and to be less reliant on ity servi es, whi h may be interrupted during a prolonged emergen y! 0:e will dis uss waste disposal in a later hapter of this web site!1 -ain barrels and ompost bins +he two ompost bins that " #eep behind my garage are shown in the photograph above! +his type is normally too expensive in my opinion, but " was fortunate enough to a 4uire these two at estate sales for only a few dollars ea h! ;ou an easily ma#e your own ompost bins by forming hardware loth or hi #en wire into a ylinder, leaving it open at both the top and the bottom! 05ote the two rain barrels also in this photograph!1 Fruit +rees 8lanting a tree$ :hy not ma#e it a fruit tree$ +he dwarf varieties also ma#e ex ellent ornamental trees! (interna )gi a **x " have a very small front yard, but it was large enough to plant two dwarf fruit trees'an apri ot and an Asian pear! Dwarf trees rea h a maximum height of only =E to ?> feet 0@ to A m1, but they produ e about the same amount of fruit as full&si3ed trees that would re4uire a mu h larger spa e! Semi&dwarfs are also available that grow to heights somewhere between a dwarf and a full&si3ed tree! "t is also easier to harvest your fruit from a dwarf or semi&dwarf be ause you don/t need a tall ladder! Apri ot Blooms with honey bee "t would be hard to find an ornamental tree that ould ex eed the beauty of a dwarf apri ot tree! )y apri ot tree produ es a bounty of fruit ea h year'far more than my family an onsume, even though we preserve mu h of our fruit by anning and dehydration! Apri ot trees are among my favorites not only be ause of their deli ious fruit, but also be ause they produ e beautiful and fragrant flowers in the early Spring! +he photograph above shows a honey bee pollinating the blossoms of my apri ot tree! A bee hive will provide plenty of deli ious honey'a natural sweetener and healthful sugar alternative' and as an added bonus the industrious little wor#ers will insure that all the blooms of your fruits and vegetables are pollinated, whi h will maximi3e produ tion! Asian pear tree +his beautiful dwarf Asian pear tree in my front yard 0above1 also produ es a bounty of deli ious and healthful fruit! ,rowing many different types of fruit not only provides variety, but the wor# of harvesting and preserving is spread out sin e ea h ripens at a different time! (interna )gi a **x

Ba # yard or hard %ven though my property is in a suburb of a ma<or ity, and is only average in si3e, " also manage to grow a pea h tree, two apple trees, two herry trees, another pear tree and a paw paw tree in my ba # yard! +his is in addition to a long row of => bla #berry vines, another of => grape vines, and a ni e& si3ed vegetable garden! Author pi #ing apples "t is ama3ing how mu h of your own food you an grow, even on a small property! "f you live on a larger lot you an of ourse grow mu h more, maybe even orn, wheat and other grains! 5ut trees are also ex ellent if you have the spa e and are willing to fight the s4uirrels for your nuts! Bla #berries Bla #berries 0above1 are easy to grow if you have a sunny lo ation! 2he # the pri es in the gro ery stores 0even when they are in season1 and you will understand why this is also an ex ellent ash ropK (interna )gi a **x (interna )gi a **x 7egetable ,ardening Fruit trees are in redibly easy! For most varieties all you have to do is plant them, prune them on e a year, and then olle t your bounty of fruit! 7egetable gardening involves a little more wor# be ause the ground has to be bro#en and the garden has to be tilled, planted, hoed, et ! But the small amount of effort is well worth it! (interna )gi a **x "t is not the purpose of this web site to give details on how to grow fruits and vegetables! +here are many good boo#s available, in luding the ones in the Additional -esour es se tion at the end of this web site and under 9-e ommended -eading9 at the bottom of this page! " suggest that you a 4uire a few good boo#s and start learning now! "f you are new to gardening you may find that some of your efforts will not pan out at first! But through time, with experien e and learning, you will build your s#ills and develop your repertoire of favorite plants! ;ou will get better with ea h season and when the emergen y o urs you will be ready! Save ;our Seeds Store&bought seeds will remain viable for at least ? to I years, although their germination rate will de rease through time! Store your extra store&bought seeds by #eeping them ool and dry in airtight ontainers su h as mason <ars or plasti bags! -efrigerating or free3ing your seeds is not re ommended! ;ou should also save your own seeds from your garden! Just be sure to dry them thoroughly in the sun before storing them! Dealing with +hieves

%ven during normal times " find that there are sometimes people who will help themselves to the bounty of my labor, parti ularly to my fruit! "magine how mu h more of a problem thievery will be ome when there is a shortage of food during a prolonged emergen y! ;ou might want to give some thought now to amouflaging or hiding at least part of your garden! " have seen people hide their gardens by growing edible plants in flower beds lose to their house! +here are so few people these days who #now how to live off the land that most people don/t even re ogni3e a ommon edible plant when they see one 0although everyone #nows what a fruit is for!1 Some foods, li#e parsnips, potatoes and arrots, grow underground and are even less obvious to the uninitiated! (interna )gi a **x (ivesto # +o help meet your protein needs you might also want to #eep some type of livesto #! +here are many animals to onsider, depending on spa e and lo al 3oning laws! ,oats will provide mil# as well as meat! 2hi #ens will provide eggs and meat! For ity dwellers the most pra ti al animals to #eep are pigeons and rabbits! 8igeons are too messy for me so " greatly prefer rabbits! -abbit meat is deli ious and healthy! -abbits are extremely prolifi and will eat <ust about any plant materials! Don/t throw your orn hus#s into the ompostK +hey are a favorite food for rabbitsK -abbits do not ta#e up mu h spa e! +hey are 4uiet and easy to hide from your neighbors! :e have a small one& ar garage where we #eep six rabbit hut hes along with my garden tiller, lawn mower, a stash of twelve ?> lb propane tan#s and a few bails of hay'And we still have room for our ar as wellK Florida :hite rabbit Florida :hites are the best breed to #eep for survival food when there are spa e limitations to onsider! "t is a ompa t breed that has been developed espe ially for meat produ tion! +hey are a medium&si3ed breed, but they produ e the greatest amount of meat per pound of feed onsumed! And the meat is ex ellentK +hey also re4uire mu h smaller hut hes than the larger breeds and so they ta#e up less spa e! +hey are perfe t for ity survivors! 8arts ? through E will follow automati ally in the same window! -abbitry in garage " built these six hut hes 0above1, ea h measuring ?x?xI feet, for my Florida :hites using the instru tions found in my favorite rabbit boo#, Storey/s ,uide to -aising -abbits by Bob Bennett! +o get the most from my limited spa e the hut hes are hung from the <oists in the eiling of my garage! :orm bins underneath the rabbit hut hes help #eep odors and flies to a minimum! :orms love rabbit manure and are happy to speed up the de omposition pro ess produ ing ri h soil for the garden! -abbit manure is the best fertili3er available for your garden and is highly pri3ed by growers everywhere! "t an go dire tly from beneath your rabbit hut hes to your garden without any danger of burning your plants! %ven if " didn/t eat meat " thin# " would #eep rabbits <ust for this 9bla # gold9 for my garden! Florida :hites mun hing on plaintain leaf

+hese Florida :hites are 9sharing9 a plantain leaf! +he best food for your rabbits is the pellets that you pur hase at hardware and feed stores! +hese should form the bul# of their diets, but you an supplement with hay, 9weeds9 0that have not been sprayed with herbi ides1, and vegetable waste from your #it hen! -abbits en<oy the parts of the vegetables that you would normally throw in the ompost, in luding orn hus#s, arrot tops, ores, s#ins, et ! +hey absolutely love bla #berry leaves, grape leaves, plantains and dandelions! 2omfrey is an ex ellent food and a medi ine as well and is easy to grow in your garden! Bla #berry leaves are also good medi ine for your rabbits, parti ularly good for diarrhea 0whi h is probably due to overfeeding your rabbits'the most ommon mista#e that rabbit owners ma#e!1 "t is a good idea to #eep a few bails of hay 0not straw1 on hand for supplemental food, nesting material, and for emergen y food for your emergen y food! A tion Step =>. Food 2he # (ists & ,rowing ;our Own +urn to the page in you A tion 8lanner where you have begun your 9,et9 and 9Do9 lists for Food! Add to your lists the items that you want to a 4uire and the things that you want to a omplish to help you prepare for growing some of your own food! ;ou might in lude items su h as gardening e4uipment, and boo#s pertaining to organi gardening and growing livesto #! As you progress through the remainder of this web site you will thin# of other things to add to your lists! :hen you a 4uire an item or a omplish a tas# he # it off your list!