10 Tips for stockpiling food

(Natural News) Having a well-stocked refrigerator, freezer and pantry is a good idea in the best and worst of times. It can help keep you and your family fed and safe when SHTF.

Ideally, your stockpile should have nutritious foods that fuel your body so you can easily handle emergencies or carry out vital survival tasks. Your stockpile should also have shelf-stable foods so you can stretch out your supply for as long as possible. Here are more tips on stockpiling food: (h/t to DystopianSurvival.com)

1. Stock up on foods you eat on a regular basis

Only buy foods you actually eat on a regular basis so you don’t waste money. List down what types of foods you and your family regularly eat and take note of any special dietary restrictions. For perishable items on your list, replace them with non-perishable versions if available. For example, buy powdered milk instead of the usual milk in a jug or carton. If there is no suitable non-perishable substitute for a certain food, cross it off the list.

Once you have a comprehensive list of foods to buy, buy enough of each to last three days at the very least. This means the overall amount of food you buy should be enough to cover your whole family for three days.

2. Stock up on foods you actually eat

Only buy foods that you will actually eat. If you don’t want to eat a certain food now, chances are you won’t want to eat it later as well. Buying foods you don’t like can unnecessarily take up space in your stockpile.

3. Stock up on ingredients

You can’t and shouldn’t live off of canned foods and dried meats forever, so stock up on ingredients. Take note of the dishes you serve on a regular basis and list down their ingredients. Versatile ones to add to your stockpile include herbs, spices, tomato paste, canned mushrooms and chicken or vegetable stock.

4. Stock up on tea and coffee

Tea and coffee will be hard to come by during tough times. Both are typically hit hard by inflation as well. If you or your family are avid tea or coffee drinkers, stock up on tea bags and coffee beans or grounds.

5. Stock up on potable water

Water will be one of the first few utilities to go when SHTF. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends storing at least one gallon of water per day for each member of your household. If possible, create a two-week supply of potable water. Don’t forget to store extra potable water if you have pets.

6. Stock up on foods that don’t require cooking

Don’t dismiss the possibility of being without electricity or gas in the event of a major disaster. Stock up on foods that don’t require cooking, such as peanut butter, crackers and canned meats, fish and fruits. You can eat these foods on their own or use them in no-cook recipes to make filling dishes.

7. Don’t stock up on foods that need to be chilled or frozen

If the power goes out, frozen and refrigerated foods will be the first foods to spoil, so don’t include them in your stockpile. It would be better to stock up on non-perishable alternatives, such as dried meats and canned fish.

8. Store foods properly

Improperly stored foods will go bad quickly, even if they’re supposed to be non-perishable or shelf-stable. Keep canned goods in a cool, dry place. Dry foods, such as rice, pasta and beans, should be kept in airtight containers in a cool, dry place as well.

9. Don’t rely on expiration or best-by dates

Many shelf-stable foods, such as canned foods, typically have “best-by” and “use-by” dates. The best-by date indicates the recommended time to use the product for the best flavor and quality, while the use-by date indicates the final day that the product will be at its peak flavor and quality. After this date, the product’s flavor and quality will begin to deteriorate but the product itself will remain edible.

In most cases, eating food after either of these dates just means a decline in quality. When in doubt, use your senses to determine whether or not the food has gone bad. Signs of mold, a foul odor, an “off” texture and bloated or leaking cans are all red flags. Discard any product that exhibits any of these signs.

10. Build your stockpile slowly

Unless you have hundreds or thousands of dollars to burn, don’t try to build your stockpile in one go. A good strategy would be to buy extra food items for your stockpile whenever you go to the grocery. That way, you can build a decent stockpile without having to blow your grocery budget. (Related: 8 Must-have foods for your survival stockpile.)

Go to Survival.news to learn more about what to include in your survival food stockpile.

Sources include:

DystopianSurvival.com

SpoonUniversity.com

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About the Author: NC Scout

NC Scout is the nom de guerre of a former Infantry Scout and Sergeant in one of the Army’s best Reconnaissance Units. He has combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He teaches a series of courses focusing on small unit skills rarely if ever taught anywhere else in the prepping and survival field, including his RTO Course which focuses on small unit communications. In his free time he is an avid hunter, bushcrafter, writer, long range shooter, prepper, amateur radio operator and Libertarian activist. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his blog at brushbeater.wordpress.com .

10 Comments

  1. Luke November 9, 2021 at 15:27

    Great tips sir. Have forwarded the email to all my family and friends. We are at the hardened crew now when it comes to vaccination hesitancy. Pulling an Australia over here is impossible I THINK (emphasis on THINK)!!
    –decentralized LE
    –States rights
    –Armed citizens

    But TPTB have known this. The good news is I suspect they thought they would have another 25% of us on board. They’re going to have challenges implementing the boosters too. What to do, what to do, what to do?

    Break the economy and starve us could be the answer or make life a real pain in the ass. IMHO I do not think they can afford to fail and neither can we. It’s do or die for all parties involved. Hopefully we can somewhat enjoy the holidays but 2022 is going to get dicey.

  2. Michael November 9, 2021 at 18:45

    Water, food is important but Clean Safe water is Critical.

    One gallon a day was an idea invented in the 1950’s Civil Defense era. It’s been recycled forever as THE TRUTH but One Gallon a Day is near dehydration level hiding inside a sweaty fall out shelter, with NO water for basic cleaning, cooking foods and so on.

    5 Gallons a day is MY bare minimum as I learned from the military for daily helmet baths and cooking needs. Go ahead DON’T wash the largest organ of the Human Body, in a few days you will learn what foot issues, crotch rot and such does to your ability to function.

    You NEED several ways to find-collect and filter water to stay functional and BTW your Family might have some input about that also. You NEED to KNOW how to ID bad water that filtering *might* not be as useful. Like ah petroleum contaminated water?

    You need to PROTECT those water supplies. If I was going after your homestead I’d cripple your water. Dumping a liter+ of gasoline into your well and so on would make you sick and dead in less than a week.

    Rule of threes. If trouble burns your house down WHAT Happened to your Preps? How after you drive off the troubles how will you create a quick shelter for the Family? Have a Chaos Kit buried somewhere?

    The more you sweat today the less your family suffers tomorrow.

    Killhouse Rules are in full effect. Look them up.

  3. Luke November 9, 2021 at 19:14

    Michael you sound very knowledgeable on this subject. Indeed I know the importance of unlimited water during a SHTF scenario but I have some real issues with people I will be joined up with (brother). I have the Jack Lawson Civil Defense Manuel but would like to pick your brain. My brother and other family have wells operated by an electric pump. Not going to work so well in a bad time. Can you cut off the electric pump and use something like that device Lawson shows in his book? I have never looked at the size of a well pipe to be honest. I am on city sewer and water. This device was essentially a bucket made of PVC and you would lower it down into the well and then manually pull it up. Is that a futile effort? Guess that probably depends on the depth of the well? In Central Florida if you know anything about the layout?

    Again, trying to reassure myself that we have unlimited clean water. Thanks in advance!!

  4. James November 9, 2021 at 22:45

    Luke,short term a genny will power your pump/longer term consider say a bison hand pump(other good models also)can lift well over 500′ depending on model you buy.Setting it up so no need to continuously prime each time a good idea.I would also add rain barrels/perhaps a large water containment system to property.I am talking for deep well pumps/for a shallow well pump(25-30′)a basic add on to system hand pump is a easy add on and easy to use,just get extra leathers for it now,hope this helps.

    There are also 12 volt pumps for solar folks that also can be run off a car/truck if you can drive to well head.

    As a side note,most shallow well pumps either in a celler or pump pit about 8′ or less in ground,hope this helps and any?’s ask,have dealt with both pumps.

    • Timothy Williams November 11, 2021 at 21:18

      Luke, great info from everyone. One other option you may want to consider is a bailer (well) bucket. It’s a metal or PVC tube or pipe, that has a foot valve in the bottom. You lower it into the well casing, the downward pressure of the bucket into the water causes the water to press on the valve ( a one way valve) allowing water to fill the bucket. As soon as you start pulling the bucket out of the well, the weight of the water pressure on the valve on the interior of the bucket forces the valve closed, and you simply pour the water out once you have the bucket back out of the casing. It’s a bit of work for the 1-2 gallons of water you get with each drop of the bucket into the well, but if you don’t have power to use your pump, or if the pump malfunctions, you still have an assured way to get water from your well.
      Making one is pretty simple. There’s lots of plans out on the internet. However, you can buy a commercially made one from http://www.lehmans.com.
      Lehman’s sells all sorts of products for farmers, ranchers, and homesteaders. They are based in Ohio’s amish country, and sell to the amish on a pretty regular basis due to the fact that their goods are pretty much non-electrical in nature.
      Definitely a good tool to have around if you have a well.

  5. Michael November 9, 2021 at 22:59

    Luke you need to do some research with your country water folks or the well driller that drilled that well.

    You need to know the size of the well casing. Most wells I know are 4 inches but that may not be your size. You need to know the static water level and total depth of that well. You also should have the water tested. Yes it’s great tasting water, yada, yada. Testing is cheap. Do it. Might be surprised what’s in your water. Also If someone installed a septic system in the wrong place and contaminates your water you have NO Legal Leg to stand on IF you don’t have previous water tests showing it was clean BEFORE the event.

    Asking what the casing size and what’s installed gives you ideas of your options. Water is heavy, 8 pounds per gallon so a 2 gallon well bucket weighs 16 pounds lifted from WHAT Depth? AND your going to need HOW MANY Gallons daily?

    Also when you Uncap a well you need to figure out how to PROTECT that well from contamination. Used to be a bolted down steel cap now what? I like a larger capped PVC pipe as a removable lid myself.

    Knowing the voltage and wattage needed to run that pump is nice. There are work arounds like starting capacitors to help with the starting surge of that pump. Maybe if the static water level is shallow enough you CAN run it off solar panels and an properly sized inverter. Please don’t go cheap on inverters buy a Sine Wave Inverter with plenty of capacity as start up wattage surge will shut down or destroy the inverter OR not run the pump at all and Modified Sine Wave slowly erodes your pumps life span.

    I’d rather have plenty of pumped safe water when the sun is shining than hauling it up 2 gallons at a time. :-)

    Depending on the static level they make good reasonably priced solar DC well pumps that replace the now defunct AC standard well pump. Generally they cannot be installed in the same 4 inch casing as the “normal one”.

    You can also, scratch that SHOULD install a Rainwater collection system. As the Preppers say One is NONE, two is One. Water is a critical system. Basic sand filtering would remove enough shingle debris and bird poop so you can use it for non potable uses (Gardens and toilet) and boil-filter it for drinking bathing. I have two IBC totes linked together with hose bibs uphill from my gardens. I use the rainwater for the critters, garden and fruit trees. Could use it for toilet.

    Plenty of good webpages about collecting rainwater. Even clean tarps can be used. Would give cleaner water than a typical asphalt shingled roof.

    Surface water is the LAST Option as it’s best always thought of as contaminated. Plenty of contamination that camping filters will NOT Remove OR the contamination destroys the filters. Petrol is areal problem, a rotting large animal carcass is also a real problem.

  6. Luke November 9, 2021 at 23:09

    Thanks for the info James. I understand generator we are just swapping the power source. I have no clue how you would prime a system like that but understand the mechanics of water displacement pump. I have had to do it with my pool. But that’s pretty easy to get to. My fear is after a period of time say 2 weeks the noise of the generator will be a beacon for unwanted visitors. But within that time frame it would be great I assume. I will show this to my bro as I have no clue if his well is 20ft deep or 100ft.

    Do you know if it’s possible to convert say a typical well and pump (electricity) to a hand pump should the electricity go out for a long time? Wondering how hard it would be or even possible?

    Again thanks in advance sir.

  7. James November 10, 2021 at 01:36

    First off,Mike has dumped some great info. for you so read his thoughts and take to heart the rain catchment idea,am totally on board with it.

    You can add a picture pump(https://www.amazon.com/Simmons-1160-PM500-No-2-Pitcher/dp/B000DZKVEW/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=pitcher+pump&qid=1636521600&sr=8-2) to a shallow system easy,many times used to prime shallow jet pump on new installs,pipe to said jet and go.To prime,you lift handle,pour water from say a milk jug full of water while pumping and creates vacuum to bring water to ya’s.

    Now,a deep well is pumped from a pump dropped down well casing to under top of aquafier water level,some of these pumps can be hand pumped thru with said deep well hand pump like this dude(https://www.bisonpumps.com/product/standard-deep-well-pump/),a few times not and one has to add a line in casing for said pump for no power issues.My friend replaced his deep well pump and added a line for this hand pump,300″ roughly and draws water fine.

    The genny whether hard wired to breaker box or say pig tailed to pump is a nice thing.I have a very quite little genny that will run a 220 water pump with ease,can have a conversation at normal levels standing right next to it.Keep in mind you are running genny just to fill up water,not day and night in this case.

    Look into solar showers also(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000J2Q0T4?tag=solarpowernerd-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1),never used this one but one like it.I will say,not a home shower but in a pinch a great clean and morale booster in trying time,just hang in sun a few hours and off you go.I have 2 as I have long hair and wanted to stay fairly clean,used every other day for a week and worked out well.I will say,during winter in the hills of New England,eh,need another idea!

    I will say again a quite genny can fill your water tank/then run water heater for say a 5 minute shower,then off.

    A lot to think about/consider,have a lot more water ideas but do not want to over whelm,againread Mikes thoughts and any ?’s while signing off tonight will hit site tomorrow after work

  8. Luke November 11, 2021 at 22:44

    Agreed, thanks for your help guys. James I think J Lawson shows hot to build one in his book but this is much easier. Here is the exact link and what a cool site https://www.lehmans.com/product/lehmans-own-galvanized-well-bucket If that is not what you are referring to please let me know ASAP. Pretty sure it is though. This conversations takes a lot of stress off of me. Just spoke to me dumbass brother. He is the one with a well (I have city) but he doesn’t understand the it. He has guns and ammo aplenty but no plans for lasting a long hard slog without power/water. My friends and fam are individualistic conservative people but they don’t see the big picture should it get grim. I get it, you can’t prepare for everything but water, food, energy, medical, firearms in that order IMHO. But I learned from you guys so I appreciate that. Instead of getting pissed off at them probably should be thankful for what I do have and that is natural instincts to at least try and survive.

    God Bless…..thanks fellers

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