Emergency food supplies

[Sweet Melissa]

Just curious how many people have an emergency food supply. What did you stock it with? Where and how do you store it? How long did you plan for?

Been looking at several websites today, which have been very helpful. Any thoughts from people who have done it would be helpful, though.

[CATCH AND EAT]

Canned soups, veggies, fruit, smoked salmon, ice in the freezer, bottle water(a lot), canned tuna, noodles, charcoal, lighter fluid, propane, candles, granola bars, breakfast bars, pepsi!!!!, camp stoves, cooking oil evoo, beans, you name it, we just about have it. Would be nice to have a generator but..........hey, we have enough to get us by.

Survived for a week just fine some winters back when the power went out and it was in the teens the whole week. Thank goodness for a fire place and lots of blankets. We all slept together on foam pads in the living room that week. Kind of fun actually.

[maniacmikey]

A stack of Pizza Hut coupons and a case of beer.

[Smoked Salmon]

Bernie, you know that you and yours are always welcome out here, or at Bobs. I've got 16kw and 500 gallons of propane, well water, 100 gals of spring water, but no telly beyond the over-the-air. Bob has dish or direct, but not as much generator.

Either way, you're covered.

[Spotted Owl]

My Mrs. clips coupons constantly(15-20 min a couple days a week) and stocks up. Not only can you load up on everything from toothpaste to cheese dip, you can save a bundle at it also, get in a groove pay attention and they will even pay you to take stuff from the store. We have shelves of stuff in our garage, the freezers are always full and ready. She takes pride in hearing the forecasters say batten down and get ready, then being able to say "let'er rip we''er ready". She does this all year long but really hammers on it durring late summer and fall in prep for winter.

Try to stay away from things needing refridgeration(sp). Think of things your family likes that stick with ya for a while. Oatmeal, granola, PBJ, for my son PBBC, if it's cold outside or in, hot chocolate is a great moral booster, a few sweet thing for the kids and you helps keep the spirits up and that type of thing. Not sure where in Yamhill county you live, but if you live in the west valley and out of town you know that the power can go down for days at a time. We live south of Fort Hill. The Dec wind storm we were with out power for I think 9 days, durring the thaw and rain last year we were trapped for 3 days. One stretch we had was 4 days and the temp never got above 18*. Durring the cold the well pump went bad and we were with out water, so she dug this out of her stuff, My son and I drug up buckets from the creek and filled a couple big tubs, with this we had safe water and warm water heated on the wood stove.

http://www.i4at.org/surv/bleach.htm

The two biggest things we have for E-supplies are, 1.) a wood stove(our only heat source) and plenty of wood, and 2.) a generator that will run a few lights and fridges/freezers and most important if you have one your well, life gets exponentially rougher without water. If you have little ones heat and light will make an emergency time much more tolerable. That goes for you and a Mr. if you are married, your comfort will pass to the kids that everything is and will be all right. If you have dog(s) or cat(s) get them out, they will hunker down and be alright, but them getting fidgety will cause you and the kids stress(lack of better word) and tension will start to grow.

Best advise I can give. Be as ready as possible, you will always not have something, can't help that. If you have kids make sure that they and you have as much fun as possible at all times, stay up late, sleep in, go out side and count starts, count leaves fling by, lots of simple fun games. I taught my son durring one time how to play cribbage, now thats what we do. Most fun of all Like C&E said everyone camp out in the living room together. Don't change anymore than you have to from everyday life, other than the fun stuff.

Believe it or not so called emergency times, are some of the best family memories my wife and I have with our kids and each other. Do your best to have great time no matter what the emergency might be.


Owl

[Sweet Melissa]

Spotted Owl,

Good post. Thanks. You touched on several points that I saw on the various websites today.

I would truly like to do much more bulk shopping, especially because I cook most things from scratch. We don't have a garage or a deep freezer, so it makes it difficult. I do the best I can.

We have a generator, but no heat besides electric. We are on Grand Ronde water (we live pretty close to you), so don't have to worry about a well. My in-laws have wood heat, but no water when the power goes out. So, when we get cold, we head over there with a few gallons of water. So far that's been OK, but if Hwy. 22 got closed in a storm that plan would not work.

Red Cross recommends a 3-day supply of food, but after last winter I think a 2-week supply is not unreasonable.

[wthr4d]

you should have a 72 hour kit for each member of your family. this is a "ditch bag" (as they say on the salty dog board) to take with you and keep you sustained if you should have to evacuate.

you should also have a six month supply of food and water for your entire family at your home. We try but during times of financial crisis you end up living on this food and so we are down to about a month right now. We use food grade water tight buckets, vacuum packing and dry pack canning to keep non perishable foods fresh.

almost no one has the kind of money to set this up all at once. You just need to buy bulk where you can and package some of everything you buy. dont forget to rotate your stock.

Paul

[Willis]

just go to the casino they allways have pwer and food.... on a serious note some churches offer food canning places as well as dry storage packaging for its members.

[garyk]

Originally Posted by Smoked Salmon

I've got 16kw and 500 gallons of propane,

WOW! Seriously, are you powering a 16,000 watt generator with propane?!

IF you are, what make is it, and do you have any idea of the average gal/hr propane consumption?

[Spotted Owl]

Originally Posted by Sweet Melissa

I would truly like to do much more bulk shopping, especially because I cook most things from scratch. We don't have a garage or a deep freezer, so it makes it difficult. I do the best I can.

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I don't know how full your house is, but I'm sure there is some room some place. My Mrs. in our last house crammed stuff all over. For winter we would put bathroom towels in the bedroom closets to make room in a cupboard. She bought a small dresser to use as funiture to store dry goods and nonperishables. We had a coat closet that seemed never to be used other than a catch all so I put up some rails and laid plywood on them for shelves. If you have a hall closet get some of those orginizer shelf or hangar things, when you have a place to put things it will free up space to put more things. Get creative on how to use the space you already have. Sealable plastic containers(I think you can buy new unused five gal buckets and lids from Skybergs) can store wrapped things under the sinks, Those long flat rubbermade storage things for under the bed(s). I think it's Cash&Carry in Salem you can get I think 2,5,10,15gal bucket things with lids that snap on and seal, Mrs uses those for her flour, sugar, cornmeal and that type stuff, they all stack on top of each other in a closest so they are out of the way but still close by.
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We have a generator, but no heat besides electric.

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If your generator will pack it, you could try a couple small space heaters. You don't need big monsters, just enough to take the chill off the room you are in. Close all the doors to rooms that aren't being or getting used so you don't have to heat that space. Also keep the curtains closed. Help your kids build a fort out of cushions, chairs and pillows, cover that with a blanket or two and crawl in, turn on the heater and warm up. Just DON"T fall alseep that way. If you go with space heaters be darn sure your smoke/fire alarms are battery and not hard wired to the house electrical, We have a couple portables that get pulled out for these times and get new batteries when they come out. DO NOT use the propane camp type heater or lanterns in the house. I'm sure you know this, but I KNOW some don't, if you use your generator keep it out side while it's running. You would be suprised how many people run their generator while it's still in the house, just because it's in a different room doesn't make it safe.
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We are on Grand Ronde water (we live pretty close to you), so don't have to worry about a well. My in-laws have wood heat, but no water when the power goes out. So, when we get cold, we head over there with a few gallons of water. So far that's been OK, but if Hwy. 22 got closed in a storm that plan would not work.

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Plan on 22 being closed as a real possibility, look what happened to 18 twice. If you got to your inlaws could your generator run their well if nothing else? Speaking of generator be sure you have extra gas on hand. We don't let our gas go more than a month now days with the new mixes being hard on small motors. After about a month we cycle it thru the riggs and refill the cans, We keep about 15 gals on hand from about now on.

Give your inlaws a copy of that link, if they get in a pickle I'm sure the could pull water out of the river if need be, that link will show them how to make it safe for use.

If things get bad enough our doors are always open to those that need help. In the Dec wind storm we hiked up and got a couple hunters that were trapped by falling trees, got them safe for a few days until we could cut our way into their truck so they could get home. Same thing for a crummy full of loggers that were working the ridge above the house when the water came up and trapped us.
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Red Cross recommends a 3-day supply of food, but after last winter I think a 2-week supply is not unreasonable.

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3 days may cover most everything in the cities but out here we both know that 3 days isn't spit in the ocean. I would consider 2 weeks a very good starter stash. Be sure that if you do use it that you replace it.
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I don't want to sound like an alarmist or a doomsdayer, we are just ready for most things that can happen. Especially come winter time out where we live. Being totally cut off last year for three days opened our eyes just a bit more than they already were. With out a helicopter help couldn't get in or we couldn't get out, that makes ya think a bit. Think about this, the Dec. winds, knocked over our 98yr old barn and pushed a '78 C-30 Chev sideways 14" and snapped one of our fir trees like a match stick, it was 39" where it snapped and then peeled it's way down the rest of the way. Things like this get ya thinking.

Another thing, remember the flooding last year? It knocked out the phone communication for a couple days in town. The only way to buy anything was CASH the card machines could not work neither did the bank machines or ATMs. I would recommend that you have some cash on hand, should that happen again.


Be ready, Be safe and have a great time making some great memories, when emergency times come again.


Owl

[KeHols]

I have lots of supplies stored at Cosco, Fred Meyer and SafeWay.

[Fast Water]

Originally Posted by KeHols

I have lots of supplies stored at Cosco, Fred Meyer and SafeWay.

...And if you live near those store and they are open during a local or regional emergency or crisis you are in good shape.

Until they run out of munchies that is.

[jaxflyfish]

We buy items in bulk when they are on sale and then store them in the garage. Another thing is we have canned from our garden and fruit trees at every opportunity. I think we put up 35 quarts of applesauce, 30 quarts of green beans and 12 pints of salsa from the garden. Our corn never ripened this year.....bummer.

One big consideration is fresh water. I have a water purifier and I set up my water heater with two valves so I can shut it down and isolate it.

Our goal is a 6 month supply of food. and we are working on 72 hour kits as well.

there are several websites that talk about 72 hour kits. One cool idea is to keep them in a backpack so you can get out quickly with your kit if necessary.

Just a few thoughts.....

[Smoked Salmon]

And for god's sake, if you have infants, remember to have extra diapers. Food and water are well and good, but baby poop all over the place, with no way to wash clothes...

May as well just burn the house and call it a total loss.

[PIR8 Hook]

Originally Posted by Smoked Salmon

And for god's sake, if you have infants, remember to have extra diapers. Food and water are well and good, but baby poop all over the place, with no way to wash clothes...

May as well just burn the house and call it a total loss.

Better throw in a couple of bottles of handi-wipes and hand sanitizer, too!

[12pulls]

We have a trailer we keep stocked with emergency foods plus a generator filled every winter with fresh fuel. I use the old fuel in the summer to run my lawn mower. It is important to check the dates on the food supplies though, we found about two bags of can food items that were expired by at least two years. Felt bad about tossing them, this time I will be more diligent. We also have plenty of water we keep in milk containers frozen in the freezer, this provides two areas. One, it help keeps the freezer cold if the power is out, and it also provides drinking water when it thaws. We are not survivalists, we have had power outages for up to a week in our younger days when we lived in rural area. After a while you learn. We also make sure that there are a couple of bags of rice and beans sealed up, these staple however boring can be stretched for a long time. Everyone should have a week's amount of food/water stashed away along with a stove, fuel (white gas or propane), lanterns, and some other type of shelter i.e. tent, trailer, etc...available if something happens to the primary shelter. It is better to be prepared and not use it rather than the other way. Natural disasters do happen. Don't forget your vehicles too, blankets, some food and water, candles, and keep the tank topped off.

[MsOutdrs]

Originally Posted by 12pulls

We have a trailer we keep stocked with emergency foods plus a generator filled every winter with fresh fuel. I use the old fuel in the summer to run my lawn mower. It is important to check the dates on the food supplies though, we found about two bags of can food items that were expired by at least two years. Felt bad about tossing them, this time I will be more diligent. We also have plenty of water we keep in milk containers frozen in the freezer, this provides two areas. One, it help keeps the freezer cold if the power is out, and it also provides drinking water when it thaws. We are not survivalists, we have had power outages for up to a week in our younger days when we lived in rural area. After a while you learn. We also make sure that there are a couple of bags of rice and beans sealed up, these staple however boring can be stretched for a long time. Everyone should have a week's amount of food/water stashed away along with a stove, fuel (white gas or propane), lanterns, and some other type of shelter i.e. tent, trailer, etc...available if something happens to the primary shelter. It is better to be prepared and not use it rather than the other way. Natural disasters do happen. Don't forget your vehicles too, blankets, some food and water, candles, and keep the tank topped off.

Same..we have a camper AND a trailer...Even tho our kids are grown, I keep them in mind also for a really bad emergency...just in case. I preserve alot of food...with the kids in mind also.

[Thumper]

150 highway flares (for heat), a freezer full of fish, a generator and 12 cases of Beanie-Weenies. We're gonna make it!!!!!

[cooky]

In my vehicle I am never without my Y2K belt (like a batman belt for jeff foxworthy) and at home I have lots of none perishables and water. Being the forward thinking individual that I am I also have stockpiled booze and adult magazine the thinking being that I will have to entertain myself if the crap really hits the fan because most bowling alleys will likely not be open. Additionally the booze can be used as currency.

[Sweet Melissa]

Originally Posted by Thumper

12 cases of Beanie-Weenies.

You might want to add several cans of air freshener to your list. Just a thought.

[Chug]

Keep enough supplies, to last 2 week's is good starter.

Just think of Katrina, Now Ike. They live in a warm area. Oregon is tad cold in winter. some are still with out Power & shelter. We ready??. Nope!!.

Food, Water, Fuel/Propane, fire wood, Meds.. TP Or shop towels rags works too with Cat holes dug in yard.

I keep water filter with gear, Oregon rains are easy to catch. Few cases of MRE's, canned fruits, Dried goods.

Beer has shelf life. Must rotate weekly.

[pdxkevin]

I hear twinkies last for over 10 years

[Grantspastor]

Originally Posted by pdxkevin

I hear twinkies last for over 10 years

And that's AFTER they've been consumed!

[Smoked Salmon]

Originally Posted by Sweet Melissa

You might want to add several cans of air freshener to your list. Just a thought.

It might be cheaper (and nicer) to just get a BioHazard Warning sign that they could hang on the front door. It would likely deter uninvited guests as well.

If the cloud didn't already do that....

[happybrew]

I gave up on canned and ready to eat meals. They kept getting raided because of convenience. We have 150 lb. of rice, 150 lb. of flour, 50 lb. of masa, 5 gal canola oil, 100 lb. of dried beans, 5 cases of various #10 cans of fruit. We use and rotate it, except for the beans which get used less often. Condiments are in the kitchen. If the power goes out, we have a coleman stove that can run on unleaded. We have an indoor kerosene heater that does a very good job of heating up the house. I am running through last year's kerosene right now to get rid of it, then get fresh kerosene. In a pinch, a very effective kerosene stove can be made with a small can, a rag for a wick, and a larger can to place the pot on. It is very smokey, though, and would need to be used outside, and will ruin the bottoms of the pots. Our emergency water supply is in our 80 gal. water heater. Just shut off the intake and tap from the bottom. For meat and vegetables, our freezer holds ample food, for two months, which would take several days to thaw out if left in a closed freezer. Diet would be simple, but adequate. I don't anticipate having to evacuate so much as live with a loss of services. Worst case would be a hazardous materials train wreck in Salem. We are four miles from the tracks, which is quite a bit, but could lead to an evacuation I suppose. We would likely stay with parents out of town in that case, bring along the ATM card and a bunch of food.

happybrew

[Herring Problem]

Well I know where the reserves are now. I can bring the BBQ.

[ajfishfinder]

With lots of ammo you can always take what you need.

[Duckwheat]

Not that organized.

Something I brought on this trip to Alaska that I was amazed how good they were. Bulk dried potatoes from Winco. I bought the flakes and the shredded and have been very impressed.

I have not eaten a dehydrated potato in probably greater than 40 years, but these were great. The shredded ones made excellent hash browns.

I was on line and I think I going to order freeze dried veggies for the heck of it.

DW.

[Charlie Storey]

There are companies that will sell you home storage all made up. All you need is money and a place to store it. I'm not recommending that, but it is available.

The main thing is store what you eat and rotate it. You don't have to do it all at once. Spread out the buying so it doesn't hit the pocket book so hard and have a goal as to when you will be done. It takes discipline to acquire your years' supply, but you will feel good when you are done. Don't forget non-food items...lights, radio, batteries, toiletries, fuel, skills, money. If one year is too much or too little do something else. The main thing is to be prepared.

[happybrew]

With lots of ammo you can always take what you need.

Until you run into someone with more ammo. Seriously, though, I expect to have to give at least some supplies to my neighbors, without a gun pointed at my head. There are plenty of people who may not have either the means or the inclination to prepare for possibilities in the future. I also anticipate the possibility of burglary. Being on good terms with your neighbors is a way to help ensure security. You can communicate and all be on the same page, and share supplies, skills, etc.

[Smoked Salmon]

Aren't we still talking about a weather related short-term disaster?

[Lured In]

Lots of good options out there from "heater meals" to bagged water and food bars.

Shelf life and storage space are the main considerations. Many of the emergency prep products today are good for 5 years on the shelf. Consider it an insurance policy that has a 5 year renewal period.

[James in Idaho]

Know any Mormons? I live in a community that is at least 70% LDS, those folks KNOW about food storage (I think they're supposed to have 2 years on hand). I'd bet the the church has some excellent information on the web.

[wthr4d]

Originally Posted by James in Idaho

Know any Mormons? I live in a community that is at least 70% LDS, those folks KNOW about food storage (I think they're supposed to have 2 years on hand). I'd bet the the church has some excellent information on the web.

You mean like this?
http://www.providentliving.org/chann...1706-1,00.html

Yes the LDS church has some great resources both in writing and classes and seminars on how to create and manage food storage for a large or amall family.

Paul

[Twitchs_Tackle]

Food for five years, a thousand gallons of gas, air filtration, water filtration, Geiger counter. Bomb shelter! Underground... ++++++++ monsters!.

- Burt, Tremors