Commander Zero, whom we've met in these pages on several occasions, recently wrote an article asking his readers for feedback on cold weather food storage. His exact question was: "If you were going to store foods in a location that was going to be subject to freeze/thaw cycles, what foods would be best choices?"
Many of his readers responded - 44 of them, as I write these words. They've provided a great deal of information that's useful for anyone considering food storage, even if not in a cold-weather environment. I highly recommend clicking over to his place to read his question and explanation, and their responses.
Peter
7 comments:
Back in the y2k days in northern Minnesota (cold!) I knew people who buried a chest freezer with "just in case" supplies, out of sight and safe from the cold if you buried it a few feet deep.
I saw but did not respond, because I would have said the best way is to drive 20 hours south and eat............
I have several hundred cans of food, both vegetables and meats, maybe 500 at the moment. Then I have about a hundred freeze dried foods, both Mountain House packages and Augason #10 cans. And then I have at least 32 cases of 24 pack bottled water in the garage that we continuously circulate through.
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Plus I have a propane camp stove or two and several propane bottles.
Is this enough for the long term ? No. But it is long enough for six months for four people assuming that some level of infrastructure will be still available. After that, it will get grim.
BTW, Robert Thompson used to say that in case of an emergency, be sure to go to the public food handouts and stand in line for the hours of free food distribution. Otherwise people will know that you have a food stash.
Cold weather (as well as hot weather) present some interesting challenges. I would think that canned food in frozen conditions would not fare too well. The liquid inside the cans will eventually freeze and expand the cans. Not sure what that would do to the contents long term. On the other hand, the same canned food stored in 90+ degree conditions will shorten storage life.
I recently invested in a home freeze dryer. Considerable money up front, but doing my own product comes out 20-30% of what purchasing pre-done product costs. Most of those items should tolerate cold weather quite well, but heat will shorten storage life. Plan your storage area accordingly.
Other factors regarding cold weather... did that cold weather cause power outages? That will also affect how you store your food. Do you have the ability to heat and cook said food? And what's the backup plan? Camping stove, rocket stove, or something else that can product the proper heat to cook over?
I have come to the conclusion that no single plan is perfect, but like money, diversity of food storage should keep you going for a period of time. And like Lynn said above, acting like the rest of the unprepared population will help keep you from being a target.
just a comment on the freeze dried food.. if you seal it in Mylar with oxygen absorbers even with warmer temps it should stay good for a long long time. It is water content and oxygen that are your two big degradation issues. Oxygen being even more important than moisture in that process. That's why proper canned food can last 4 to 10 years. depending on what it is taste will shift after about that 4 year mark but it wont be unsafe to eat.. all warnings about bulging cans and color change and seals that aren't still vacuum tight on mason jars to be observed.
Freeze dried is subject to none of that if the oxygen is removed. You have already removed almost every bit of the moisture content in the freeze drying process and if you drop it in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers that will fix the O2 issue. Shelf life of 20 plus years and probably flavor stable.
If you decide to make a meal kit with stuff that hasn't been freeze dried such as beans, rice and spices that you can drop in a pot and cook all pre done then you are adding moisture back into the situation. I wouldn't not do it with beans or rise or basic amount of spices you need but your good time will be a bit less. I would add a moisture absorber along side the oxygen absorber in that case.
Quality Mylar bags are absolute must as they stop oxygen from moving through the plastic with the aluminum layer. Even a 5 gallon container will allow oxygen through after a while when your talking years and decades.
another great solution is Mason jars. Much more expensive than Mylar bags per volume stored but pretty much bullet proof. As an example a made a pre made meal I had put in a pint mason jar about 12 or 14 years ago last month. it was lentils, rice, dried (not freeze dried) carrots and onions, salt, pepper, garlic powder etc.. I did a bunch of these back then and have eaten one once in awhile over the years. I can't say that I have noticed any shift at all other than maybe color or carrots and onions a little bit. Flavor is just fine. It was all put in jar in layers to look pretty with an oxygen absorber on top and then vacuum sealed on top of that. Most vacuum sealers have or you can get accessories to vacuum all mason jar sizes.
we have a fair amount of canned foods that have aged out. still safe but not tasting so good. When I find them I dump them in with chicken food or if meat maybe give to dog or cat as treats. Tuna actually is one of the things that in my opinion stays good longer than most. I have made some great tuna salad sandwiches with decade old cans of tuna.
again.... bulging cans are an absolute NO! smells bad or tastes bad NO. smells, looks tastes weird but not unhealthy bad is up to you. I'm not picky but that stuff gets given to the livestock here :)
right now I have a #10 can of fruit sitting on the counter that was in the pantry that is bulging like a son of a gun. Really unusual and not that old. It will go in trash. I thought about having fun and seeing what it looked like after 308 but decided not to as I don't want animals to try and eat it off ground. Bulging is bacteria of one sort or another and don't want to risk poisoning them.
all advise is worth what you paid for it with all the usual warnings.
I'm going to comment tangentially to this. We had a mouse apocalypse here a couple years ago.... little bastards will get in anything and if they decide can chew through plastic containers. Our our personal experience was the plastic containers for us and our small size mice worked well. However enough containers to hold everything wasn't going to work. We purchased a couple of the stainless rolling cabinates at sams club for $220 each. Assembly required. Me and 12 year old could knock one out in a couple hours. first they sit high enough on the castors that mice can't reach them. next even if they could they couldn't get in. the doors have a very nice tight fit and there are no holes into them. We have changed our extended pantry house storage and just have a couple of them in there for food items. If we need to move stuff around we can roll them fully loaded around or even out of room. Toilet paper, paper towels and large bulk boxes of stuff go on top :)
it was a life saver during the mouse apocalypse and has been very convenient since them and peace of mind with vermin.
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