Preparing for the PAW (Post Apocalyptic World)
Food
Food storage is also important. When the world goes to hell in a handbasket, you aren't likely to find goodies at your local Wal Mart. Food stores tend to fall into 3 categories -- MRE's, Canned and/or freeze dried long term food stores, and bulk commodity foodstuffs. MRE's can be had military surplus, and will store longer than 10 years if kept under 60 degrees. MRE's can be had less expensively as knock-offs and are nearly as good, but MRE's are damn expensive. One year's supply for one person can run into the $5000 range. Canned long term food stores can be had with shelf lifes from 5 years to 100 years, and tend to be less expensive, one year for one person running around $1000 to $2000. Commodity foodstuffs include rice, wheat flour, dried beans etc, and are the cheapest of the lot, one year for one person coming in at $200 to $500. Your best bet is a combination of the three. Some MRE's for the BOB/BOV and anytime you may be out of the house for an extended period of weeks or months; some canned meats and vegetables, and some commodities.
Food is very important for the PAW. Having enough food for your party to survive the duration is very important, and having enough extra food to barter for things you may need is also a good idea.
The real concern here, is long term storage. The nation could go to hell in a handbasket tomorrow, next year, 10 years from now, or never. If you get food to store that goes bad in a year, but the S doesn't HTF for another 7 years, then you wind up with a large stock of foodstuffs that may be more harmful than helpful.
If you go with cans of food from the grocery store, these tend to expire in 18 months. They are still useful, so long as you maintain proper rotation of your stock, so that at any given time you have good long term food. Always prominently label your foodstuffs with the acquisition date, and (if known) the expiration date. That will help a lot with rotation. A simple practice for rotation is to put your new stuff in back, and pull from the front to eat from. If you plan on going with grocery store canned goods, then buying the full lot up front can mean that you have to mostly eat out of your food stores
now while replacing what you eat, in order to start the rotation going. The better bet if you go with grocery store canned goods, is to buy 3x what you eat on a regular basis, and store up the 2/3 that you don't eat, to establish your rotation AS you grow your food stores.
As I mentioned, long term storage food stocks fall into three basic categories. Well, 4 really, if you include the freeze dried stuff, but they really fall somewhere in-between MRE's and canned goods.
My own food plan is about 10% MRE, 40% Canned Long Term, and 50% Commodity.
MRE's, Meals Ready To Eat
MRE's are the most expensive of the bunch. I have heard a rumor that at the Fayetteville, NC flea market, a case of 12 can be had for $24. I have not seen that, but given that a case of 12 military grade MRE's usually go for $70, I'm slightly dubious, although I can believe it, considering the environment of Fayetteville, and the mindset of members of the military.
MRE's are the perfect solution for long term food storage, and if you can actually afford tons of them, then I'd lean heavily in that direction. Stored at 65 degrees fahrenheit, they will last for 10 years without losing flavor, and probably 18 years before actually going 'bad' and losing nutritional value. Stored at 70 degrees, that number comes down only to 8.5 years/15.5 years, and at 80 degrees, it's 6.5 years/12.5 years.
MRE's contain a full meal, and a water activated entree heater. The heater contains a chemical (probably sodium based) that reacts to water by producing heat. If you open the heater bag, slip in the unopened entree, add water, and then let it sit for 3-5 minutes, your entree will be steaming hot with no fire or cooking required.
MRE's also contain side dishes, snack, and dessert, along with condiments like salt, pepper, tabasco, and my favorite in the field: instant coffee, creamer, and sugar. As bizarre as it sounds, if I was in the field and needed a burst of energy, I'd take the coffee, creamer, and sugar, pour them in my mouth and chew on the mixture of powder for a bit, and then swig it down with a bit of my canteen water. It really is not as bad as it sounds, and can really help when you are at the end of your rope energy-wise.
MRE's can be had from tons of places. There are also different kinds/brands of MRE to be had. I tend to rely on military grade MRE's because that is what I am familiar with. I have heard that Canadian MRE's are better, but have never tried them.
Look for them online, or on E-Bay, at Army Surplus Stores, camping stores, flea markets (especially those around Army bases) or, I have heard rumors of them being found at Sam's club and CostCo from time to time. Definitely do your research though, as the prices can vary wildly from as low as $25/case of 12, to as high as $90/case of 12.
Freeze Dried Meals and Entrees
A company called Mountain House sells freeze dried meals and entrees that store for 7 years in the pouch, or 25 years in the can. These, of course, require reconstitution with hot water. Mountain House food is VERY popular with survivalists as well as backpackers, because of their long storage life, low space requirements, and light weight.
http://www.mountainhouse.com/
They sell a 3 day kit for one person for $47.29, and a 7 day kit for one person for $116.00. These each contain 3 full meals per day, per person.
Canned Long Term Food Storage
This is the lynch-pin of my long term food storage plan. I have discovered (through another forum) a company called MRE Depot
http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/StoreFront that has MRE's (very expensive ones) freeze dried foods, and canned long term storage. I am very impressed with their canned long term storage options, especially with regard to their canned meats.
For instance, they have canned beef chunks:
http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/the-241/Yoders-Canned-Can-Beef/Detail
Which, for $69.95 buys you 21 pounds of beef chunks. That's only $3.33 a pound, and because of how they actually fill the can with raw uncooked beef chunks, then can and seal it, and THEN cook it completely, it will store for 10 years.
To me, that's very impressive. They also have ridiculously useful stuff, like a whole cooked chicken in a big can for $9.95:
http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/the-239/Canned-Whole-Chicken-Meat/Detail
(They offer discounts on full cases of 6 chickens)
Canned cheese, butter, chicken chunks, ground beef, pork, sausage, turkey, catsup and a lot more.
They also have long term storage canned desserts, which I found to be unusual; $15.99 for a 26 oz 10+ year shelf life Chocolate Bourbon Cake:
http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/the-274/Canned-Chocolate-Can-Whisky/Detail
Four plus year storage canned garden seeds:
http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/the-214/canned-garden-vegetable-seeds/Detail
Specifically chosen to be heirloom seeds and non-hybrid seeds so that you can harvest your own seeds for the next season. I just bought a case of these canned seeds and am awaiting delivery as we speak.
Canned flours sugars, and rices:
http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/the-Freeze-Dried-Dehydrated-&-Air-Dried-Foods/Categories
Which use a "nitrogen flush then vacuum pack" process which gives whole grain brown rice a shelf life of "indefinite" which might mean 100 years or more. Normally whole grain brown rice goes rancid after 3-4 years.
Explore the site, they have all kinds of useful stuff. Another thing I have gotten from them, have been those little silica pack oxygen absorbers. I buy (for my commodity food plan) bulk whole grain brown rice, which I then vacuum seal in 1.5 pounds per bag, with one of those oxygen absorbers inside each one to prevent/reduce "rancidification." That boosts storage of the whole grain brown rice to something like 7-8 years.
Commodity Foodstuffs
These normally make up 80% of a given food storage plan, because they are far less expensive than the other options, and take up a lot less storage space. Their shelf life, however, may vary widely depending on how they are stored.
These are the items that you are best able to get in bulk at your local CostCo, Sam's Club, or BJ's. I am sure you can find them over the internet, but given that the cost of commodity foodstuffs are set a lot like the price of gold is set (this is why they are called 'commodity') you are probably better off getting them from a bulk/warehouse type store. Now, your average Food Lion/Kroger's will tack a profit premium onto the end of the pricing, so they will be a bit more expensive.
These are mostly a matter of pure preference. You may prefer lima beans over kidney beans. In either case, get a variety. Yes, you can go out and get 5 100 pound bags of rice, but do you really want to eat nothing but rice, rice, and only rice every single day for the next 1-2 years?
In either case, look for dried beans, rices, flour, sugar. Get them in the biggest bags possible for the best per-volume pricing, and plan on using a vacuum sealer to store them in much smaller lots.
When it comes to rice, I do prefer the taste of white rice, but the fact is that the nutritional value of plain white rice is somewhat low. You could potentially keep your belly full, but die of malnutrition (or at least not have the energy to work). So focus more towards brown whole grain rice, which isn't quite as delectable, is slightly more expensive, and doesn't store for nearly as long. But the method of vacuum sealing with a silica gel oxygen absorption pack mentioned above will help increase shelf life tremendously.
Packaging Your Commodity Foodstuffs for Storage
Even if the S never HTF, it is a good idea to get a vacuum sealer. When I need to use one, I go to my mother and stepfather's house to use theirs, so as long as you have one accessible, it is not as important to have one in your house personally.
I take my 50 pound bag of rice, and scoop out a full-to-the-brim 1-quart mason jar of rice, dump it into the bag, toss in a silica gel pack, and then vacuum seal it and set it aside. 35-40 jars later, your 50 pound bag should be empty, and you should have a whole bunch of little 1+ pound bags of vacuum sealed oxygen deprived rice. Then dump all of those into a 5 gallon sealable bucket, toss about 7 silica packs on top (once you have the bucket filled to the brim!) and then put the lid on it, and possibly seal the lid with duct tape to ensure an absolutely air-tight seal.
You can do the same thing with beans, rice, sugar, or any other commodity foodstuff there are.
One thing I have been thinking about doing (but have not done yet) is instead of filling one bucket with rice, another with lima beans etc etc; is to calculate the ratio in which I will use them, and then pack the buckets with a mixture of commodities.
For instance, say one bucket has 15 pounds of sugar, 2 pounds of salt, 20 pounds of brown rice, 10 pounds of white flour, 10 pounds of wheat flour, 5 pounds of white rice, 5 pounds of lima beans, 5 pounds of kidney beans, and 5 pounds of black eyed peas. That way, I can just open one bucket and use it until it's empty instead of opening 5 different buckets to gather a menu I might want; thus maintaining the integrity of the seal on the other buckets, to keep them stored longer.
You will also want to store your food in a cool, dark place. For most food, the difference in shelf life between 60 degrees and 70 degrees is significant, and the difference in shelf life between 70 degrees and 80 degrees is dramatic. If you have somewhere where they can be maintained at around 60 degrees without a lot of light, then you will have food stores for 10 years.
You store spices in the same way as commodities. If you like pepper, then I would actually recommend using a pepper grinder and buying peppercorns, not only for long term storage (they store a LOT longer without losing flavor) but for everyday also, because fresh ground pepper is a lot better than already ground pepper.
Growing Your Own Food
Even if you have 5 years of food stores, you never know what might happen. You may get more people involved in your party, some of your food stores may be destroyed for whatever reason, you may need to barter some of your food stores out for medical supplies, or the 'emergency' might last longer than 5 years.
Bottom line is, no matter HOW much food you have stored, it is a good idea to be able to grow your own food, and it is an even further good idea to know how to do home canning, and have a canning kit available and on hand to store garden produce for consumption in the winter and spring.
The canned seeds mentioned above which sore for 4+ years are a great way to get started on this. You can also store seeds in their envelopes by using the same vacuum seal with silica gel method as commodity foodstuffs to make them last as long as possible.
Regardless of which route you use to acquire and store seeds, it is important, very important to use heirloom and non-hybrid seeds. If you use non heirloom (GMO) seeds, it is possible that your next generation will be sterile, and you will not have any seeds to continue growing, not to mention the potential health effects of GMO foods! Likewise, hybrid seeds will not necessarily be very productive in the next generation.
It is important to save your seeds! Once you grow your first crop, that crop will produce seeds which you can use to plant the next season. If you do not save your seeds, you will have nothing to plant the next season, and you will be out begging for food.
Have a book handy on basic gardening and farming.
Don't overlook the usefulness of having chickens for meat and eggs, and possibly a cow for milk. Hay and chicken feed are very easy to grow, and take very little attention. Milk and eggs will be one of the first things to go in the PAW, so even if you never eat/drink them yourself, they will be a barter commodity as good as gold!
Now, nobody wants to care for cows and chickens for years and years waiting for them to become useful when the SHTF, so become friendly with some farmers so that you can buy one/some from him when it all goes to hell.
