Category Archives: Food Rotation

Storing Foods in Less than Ideal Conditions

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A lot of people are now considering storing food for emergencies but feel they have obstacles that prevent them from doing so.  Perhaps they feel they don’t have any free space, or someone told them there is no way they can store food under the conditions they have in their house.  They then become fixated on the problem and get delayed in their efforts.

Living in a hot humid climate for at least 120 days out of the year, I am very familiar with storage issues.

Ideally, food should be stored at around 50-55 degrees, with no more that 15% humidity.   Does that mean you cannot store food if you do not have these ideal conditions?  Of course you can!  The conditions described are “in a perfect world” type scenario, and we all know it’s not perfect, otherwise we would not need to store food!

Summer temperature in Texas reach over 100 degrees with 80% humidity.  To save electricity, we keep the air conditioning at around 78-80 degrees.  The A/C cuts down on humidity, but moisture still seeps in.  This is something we cannot ignore.  We just factor in that the food stored will not last as long as it would have at cooler, drier temperatures.

Here are some tips:

  • Choose canned foods that have the longest expiration dates.  Although some studies have shown they can last a few years past their expiration dates, I prefer not to risk it, especially after a friend’s unfortunate experience.  Getting ill from eating spoiled food is not worth it.
  • Rotate your food constantly.  I mark the expiration date with a Sharpie marker on top of the canned food and on the sides to make sure I use them before those dates.
  • If you are storing bulk foods in mylar bags, observe the proper technique by using oxygen absorbers and letting all the air out.  Plan on using these stored foods within five years, instead of ten, if your storage conditions are not ideal.
  • Clean the area surrounding your food storage thoroughly.  Make sure the area is dry and pest free  For additional protection from pests, keep stored foods in five gallon food grade buckets with tight lids.
  • Label your buckets with the contents and the date the food was stored.
  • If you are storing water for drinking, use and replace the water after a year.  Make a label for each container on when it was stored.  Water develops mold after it’s been sitting in a warm, humid area for a while.  If you do use water that has been stored for a long while, have a backup water purification system by running it through a filter, boiling etc.

We all have obstacles to prepping, but don’t let them stop you.  The key is to try to minimize mistakes,  but continue preparing anyway.

 

Check out the Legacy Premium line of storage foods carried by one of our sponsors, PrepareWise.

 

Don’t let those expiration dates get past you.  An inexpensive but helpful tool to keep track of supplies (Iphone or Ipad users):

 For beginning preppers

Rotate your Food Storage for your UpcomingThanksgiving Feast

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This week before the Thanksgiving holiday, while you are planning your Thanksgiving feast, consider inspecting your your food storage and see if you need to start rotating some of your items.  I’ve only been prepping for a couple of years, but have found a few stored foods are starting to approach expiration dates.

So why not include some of your food storage items for Thanksgiving?

A few ideas:

  • Canned corn and green beans can be added to casseroles
  • Mountain House Noodles and Chicken makes a tasty meal all by itself
  • Use rice, chicken bouillon, dehydrated celery and dehydrated onion in your stuffing
  • Use your stored vegetable or olive oils before they go rancid.  Oils only last about a year in storage before flavor starts to degrade
  • Canned pineapple or peaches can be used for pies.
  • Flour and yeast can be used for your artisan bread

Conversation Starter

It’s a good bet that at least 80% of your guests will not be preppers, and may have misconceptions about stored food.   A lot of people still think that emergency food is mostly dry nutrition bars that no one likes.  While your guests are raving about your dishes, and talk turns to recipes and ingredients, casually mention that some of those tasty foods are actually from your storage pantry.   This may change their minds about the benefits of  storing foods:  convenient, delicious and cost-effective.

Review your Recipes Ahead of Time

As with any meal planning, you need to be familiar with the recipes you are making ahead of time.  Making something new that you have no idea how it’ll turn out may cause regrets.  I’ve had a few failures trying out new, untested recipes for a big event, so I don’t recommend it.  Use tried and true recipes especially if you are using food storage, and leave experimentation for another time.   Some good resources for planning meals:  The Prepper’s Pantry: Building and Thriving with Food Storage by Anne Lang and 100-day Pantry: 100 Quick and Easy Gourmet Meals by Jan Jackson.

Rotate your Stocks

I hate wasting anything, and using some food storage for a nice meal would be worthwhile.  Remember to replace what you just used with more recently purchased items.

 

Visit SafeCastle for your preparedness supplies:

Visit SafeCastle for your preparedness supplies

 

For more preparedness tips, read my book:

Good ideas for building a food storage plan can be found here:

 

What Expired Coffee Tastes Like

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Long time readers know I need my daily dose of caffeine, and am not willing to give it up just yet.  That’s why I have multiple ways to get my coffee whether on or off grid.  I have previously roasted my own beans in a camp popcorn popper, and used a french press to brew my coffee.  In the spirit of “Two is One and One is None,” I also accumulated some instant Starbucks packets – not as good as fresh brewed, but it’ll do in a pinch.

I was looking through my stored items and noticed my Starbucks instant coffee stash had expired.  I started accumulating supplies a couple of years ago, and sure enough, some of those expiration dates are starting to creep up.  This one expired in October 2010.

 

The package felt hard and dried and it seemed there were clumpy bits of instant coffee.  Normally being the coffee snob that I am I would have tossed it.  But what if that is all you have?  I decided to use it anyway.

 

 

I poured it into my cup and the coffee did fall out in clumps.  Then I poured very hot water into the coffee bits and started stirring…  and stirring… and stirring for a several minutes.  Those chunks took a while to dissolve.  You can still see bits floating.  Satisfied that most of it was mixed, I added cream and sugar.  I took a taste, and found out it wasn’t bad at all.   The taste was pleasingly strong and there was nothing odd about it.  Once the coffee was mixed with the water, cream and sugar, it was fine.

I am not going to take any more chances though.  I am rotating my stock by using up this expired batch within the next few days and replacing it with a fresh box.  Do I recommend making a habit of drinking expired coffee?  No, especially if you have a sensitive stomach.  I do recommend looking through your supplies and making sure you use them up in time.

 

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Don’t let those expiration dates get past you.  An inexpensive but helpful tool to keep track of supplies (Iphone or Ipad users):

 

See What’s Inside an MRE (Meals Ready to Eat)

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Two years ago, we bought a few MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) as part of our food storage plan.   Because they come with a heating unit, MREs offer the convenience of being able to eat a hot meal in an emergency.  They also stack well in a small space. Later on, I found out about LRPs which are lighter and more portable than MREs, and stocked a few of those as well.

We noticed the expiration date on our MREs was 6/1/2012 so we decided to start rotating them.  The expiration date is not a firm date, it is more of a guideline.  However, you should always be aware of what’s coming up to expire in your food storage pantry to avoid problems later.

I thought I’d post about what I found in my MRE so I took photos.

The MRE included lots of items:

  • Veg Patty in BBQ Sauce
  • Clam chowder
  • Heating unit
  • Crackers and cheese spread
  • Shortbread cookie
  • Condiments such as tabasco sauce, salt, pepper
  • Coffee and creamer
  • Spoon
  • Tootsie roll

What I found curious was the packet was labeled Penne Pasta with Veg Sausage, but inside the package was “Veg Patty in BBQ Sauce”

The heating unit included instructions on how to use it.  All you have to do is add about 1/4 cup of water (to the line indicated)  insert the entree into heating unit, lay it down diagonally on an incline and allow it to heat.  I only heated the packet with the veg patty as I wasn’t sure whether the clam chowder would heat up.  I boiled water on the stove and warmed up the clam chowder packet in the boiling water.

The heating unit got very hot after a while.  After about 10 minutes, the food packet was ready to eat.  Here is what everything looked like:

Veg patty in bbq sauce

Clam chowder

Now it’s time to taste it.  I tried the veg patty first.  It was okay, but not something I liked very much.  However, if you are hungry and out in the field I bet it would seem a lot tastier.  The clam chowder was another story- it was actually pretty good.  I thought it tasted better than the average canned soup, and had lots of clams.  With all the food included in the MRE, the whole meal was pretty filling.  I saved the crackers and cheese for later.

Writing this article brought up some questions about MREs and food storage in general.  I’ll find out and will post about this in a few days.

 

An inexpensive but helpful tool to keep track of supplies (Iphone or Ipad users)

Good ideas for building a food storage plan can be found here:

Don’t forget to check out our friends at http://PreppingGuys.com for gear review and preparedness projects!

If You’re Starting a Food Storage Plan, Read this Book: The Prepper’s Pantry

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Everyone needs to eat, so one of the first areas beginning preppers focus on is food storage.  Making a long term food storage plan can quickly become confusing and potentially expensive if you jump in without doing some research.  It is enough work planning a “normal” menu for a busy week ahead; planning a emergency storage pantry with all the large quantities can be overwhelming at first.

I read a review copy of The Prepper’s Pantry by Anne Lang and found a book with lots of helpful information especially if you are in the planning stages of your food storage.  This book will help you plan how much to store, what equipment you need, where to find supplies and provide instructions for dehydrating, canning, as well as cooking without electricity. The book provides helpful tips on reputable brands and where to find reasonably priced items, and steps you can take on a regular basis to become accustomed to cooking from food storage ingredients.  I liked the author’s system of packing all the ingredients needed for a loaf of bread in one mylar bag, with the accompanying recipe.  You can’t beat the convenience of just pulling out a bag from storage and being able to have a fresh loaf for dinner.  Lastly, the book includes plenty of main dish recipes that you can make out of stored food.

If you are just starting your food storage program, this book will save you time from having to research all the various choices and sources.  Whether you are preparing for a job loss, economic collapse, hurricane or power outage, the ability to feed your family using a solid food storage program such as one you can learn from this book will give you the peace of mind.

I have added The Prepper’s Pantry to my Amazon Store or you can click on the link below.

 

Find deals on food storage ingredients at Emergency Essentials: Emergency Essentials/BePrepared
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Keep Track of Your Supplies with the Prep & Pantry App

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One of the challenges of preparedness is keeping track of your items and their expiration dates.  Without an efficient tracking system, it is easy to forget how much of a certain item you have, when they expire, and what items need to be replaced.

That’s why I am excited to welcome Prep&Pantry.com as one of our sponsors!  Doug, the creator of the app, a prepper himself, has found a way to keep track of food storage, first aid and preparedness supplies and their expiration dates.  He created an app that works on the iPhone 4 or 3GS, an iPad 2 or the iPod Touch 4th generation.

I actually tried the app myself and it is very easy to use.  By enabling online look-up, you can scan an item’s barcode and it will automatically fill in the item’s name.  All you have to add is the item’s location, a tag (example: vegetables) and the expiration date.  The location can be your storage pantry, bug out bag, car emergency kit, or anywhere you might keep storage items.  You can view lists of your items alphabetically, by location or by expiration date.   Priced very affordably, the app is efficient and user-friendly.  They also have great customer service.

For more information about the app please visit Prep and Pantry by clicking on the link below (or the sidebar) for Prep&Pantry.com.

Expiration Date Experiment

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I was looking for something to make for dinner and found this Rice A Roni in my pantry.   I’d had it for a while and it was well past the “Best By” date, in this case, 10/2009.   How did this get past me?  I thought, “Hmmm.  Should I or shouldn’t I?”  So I did some research on the internet about “Best by” dates.

Technically, the item was not expired, it was past its “Best By” date.   This means the product is past its prime, and may have lost some flavor, texture or appearance.  I opened it, examined the contents and the rice/noodle mix looked fine.  The spice pack looked okay but had hardened a bit.  I cooked it according to the instructions.  When I mixed the spice pack with the rice and water,  it dissolved quickly.   When it was cooked, I tasted the rice and found it was tasty as ever.   So I ate it anyway.

I don’t recommend eating expired food, and I don’t want anyone getting sick from eating a food that had gone bad.

  • If it was a true “Expiration Date”  I would not have eaten it.
  • Fresh food such as meat, fish, dairy, cold cuts should be thrown out after they reach their dates.
  • Expired canned food that have dents, bulges or rust should be thrown out.
  • Don’t give young children, elderly or anyone with a compromised immune system anything past their best by or expiration dates.
  • Here is a link to the USDA website on Food Product Dating:  It had a lot of good information http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Food_Product_Dating/index.asp

Lessons learned:

  • I need to be more vigilant about watching those expiration dates.
  • I marked all my canned food with a sharpie so the dates are now more visible.  I will mark the boxed goods as well.
  • I will place the foods with upcoming expiration dates in front of the shelf within easy reach.
  • If in doubt, throw it out.

Take Advantage of Thanksgiving Food Sales

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There are lots of supermarket sale items this Thanksgiving week, so it is a good time to stock up.  You can easily supplement your emergency food supplies by picking up a few extra cans or boxes of the following:

  • canned corn
  • canned green beans
  • instant mashed potatoes
  • canned cranberry
  • canned mandarin oranges
  • canned peaches
  • gravy packets
  • pumpkin puree
  • flour
  • sugar
  • yeast
  • baking powder
  • baking soda
  • bread mixes
  • canned evaporated milk
  • canned condensed milk

Make sure you check expiration dates before you buy.   Don’t pick the items from the front; those usually have the shortest expiration dates.  Reach way back in the shelf.  I realize some store clerks don’t like this, one pointed out there is no difference in reaching way back.   The stores usually keep the earlier expiration dates in front, so I reached to the back of the shelf anyway.

These deals won’t last.  Last year I waited until after Thanksgiving, thinking the low prices would continue.  But I found out that inventory gets really low after Thanksgiving, and prices go back to normal levels.  This time, I am not waiting around.  If I had more space, I’d have picked up more.

Survival Food Storage

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After shopping around for bulk survival food and storage materials, I am finally ready to start storing.

First, I gathered up all my supplies on the dining table:

  • Food items such as rice, pasta, pinto beans, etc.
  • 5 gallon food grade buckets
  • 1 gallon size mylar bags
  • oxygen absorbers (300 cc)
  • measuring cup
  • iron
  • masking tape and sharpie marker for labeling
  • cardboard to place over the table (under the iron)
  • airtight jar to keep extra oxygen absorbers
  • bay leaves to ward against weevils

The photo shows the mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, masking tape and jar.

  • A few things to note:  Before you start, set the iron to the hottest setting.  Make sure you set the iron on a covered surface to avoid burning.  I used recycled cardboard from a large pizza box, but you should determine what works best for you.
  • While these steps are doable with one person, it is easier to do them with two people, so you have someone holding the bag while the other person is ironing across.  My husband helped me out on this so it went a bit faster.
  • You will need to set aside a solid block of time to do this:  Oxygen absorbers start activating as soon as you open the package.  If you have to stop and leave them for later, you must store them in an airtight container or they will become useless.
  • DO NOT use oxygen absorbers for storing sugar.  This will cause the sugar to harden into a block.

We did the following to steps:

  1. Place one oxygen absorber in the bottom of the mylar bag.
  2. Pour 12 cups of rice (or whatever you are storing) into the bag.  I used a 2 cup measuring cup to as this was quicker than doing it one by one.
  3. Add another oxygen absorber and one bay leaf on top of the rice.  There should be about an inch clearance from the top edge of the bag to where the rice fills up to.
  4. Line up the sides and across the top of the mylar bag flat.
  5. Carefully iron across the top, leaving a 1 inch space open on the left corner.  Don’t worry, the iron will not stick to the mylar, it actually stays smooth.  Do not try to make a fold across the top and iron it:  we tried this and it does not seal as well.
  6. “Burp” the bag to let any remaining air out.
  7. Now you can iron the remaining space and seal it up.  Careful, as the iron can get too hot.  About an hour after we started, we noticed the bags were not sealing as well, then we realized the iron had gotten too hot and the automatic shut off activated.  Make sure your iron does not overheat.
  8. Label the bag with a sharpie pen.
  9. Place the mylar bag in the food grade 5 gallon bucket.
  10. Keep packaging the same food item into mylar bags following the above steps until the bucket is full.
  11. Seal up the bucket.
  12. Label the bucket.  I used a masking tape and wrote the contents of the bucket with a sharpie market.
  13. Store any remaining oxygen absorbers in an airtight jar.
  14. Store the bucket in a cool, dry area.  I cannot store food in the garage as we live in a hot and humid area.  Heat and humidity will shorten the life of stored food.  For now, the buckets are hidden under the dining table with a long table cloth.

The next day, you will notice the bags look shrunken.  This is the oxygen absorber doing its job.

That’s it, the process was actually easier than I thought.

A Way to Rotate Your Canned Food: Cansolidator Review

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I happily won ModernSurvivalOnline.com’s Cansolidator Giveaway a couple of weeks ago.  The item is the Cansolidator “Pantry” which fits 40 cans and is available from Shelf Reliance (http://www.shelfreliance.com/food-rotation-systems).   I’m not a paid sponsor, just reviewing the item since I have never used a food rotation item before.  As you know, I am always on the hunt for an efficient way to store our supplies, since we are always so short on space in our apartment.

We finally decided on a spot to place it and were ready to assemble the Cansolidator.

Here is what it looked like while sitting on our countertop, right out of the box:

The instructions are pretty simple and I was starting to assemble it when my son got interested and decided he would do the assembly.   I was happy to oblige, as this gave me time to empty out the designated pantry shelf.  I actually found a few cans of chicken stock in the back that I had forgotten about.

Here is the way it looked getting assembled on the floor.

We started inserting canned goods into the Cansolidator and enjoyed seeing the cans slide down the path.  We then emptied it out and tried moving it to the shelf and found that… it didn’t fit! Oh no!  By now my husband was home and wanted to know what we were fussing about.   He measured the shelf and found it should all fit, it just needs to be assembled INSIDE the shelf instead of outside.  So they took it apart again and re-assembled.

Here is the first version:

This configuration was okay but we found a lot of cans were left out.  So they took it apart and again and reassembled into the final version below:


We still had a few cans left over so we stored them in the corner of the shelf.

Overall, the Cansolidator is a good item for organizing your pantry shelf.  I originally had the mistaken notion that it is a space saver.  It is not so much a space saver as it is a shelf organizer.  We checked the expiration dates and positioned the items with the closer expiration dates so it is in front of the shelf.   As far as the number of cans it can fit, it actually fit the same number of cans as when the cans were stacked on top of each other.   However, because you can see more of what you have, it will help avoid waste. It performs well as intended:  a food rotation system.  I found a few cans were close to expiration, so this makes me aware that they need to be used soon.

A few tips if you are planning to use the Cansolidator:

  • Measure your space before assembly, or you will find out the hard way, as we did.
  • Group your cans by brand, size and expiration dates ahead of time
  • The cans you have the most of will likely be housed in the Cansolidator to maximize the space
  • Assemble the Cansolidator in the space it will be housed in.