Off the shelf food items to stock up on?

[kalford]

I have just recently begun getting ready for any disaster situation by stocking up on water ( one gallon bottles from Wal Mart). I have also but together basic medical kits in vehicles and house. My next purchase will be a water filter.

After that I plan on stocking up on food. My goal would be cheap long lasting food that can hold up against the elements well ( I may put smaller portions in each vehicle). So far my mind is set on Ramen noodles and caned tuna. Any ideas, suggestions?

[lookout123]

With a little googling you'll find very comprehensive lists but for just starting off, remember to only buy things you'd normally eat anyway so you can rotate.

canned veggies usually have @ 3 year shelf life printed on them (you'd survive if you had to eat them a ways past that date.

canned fruits are usually 18-24 months

canned chicken, tuna, salmon are all 3-6 years

sugar and salt

pasta

cereal and the like will spoil unless you seal them so focus on the others first while you do some reading.

Oh, and for your water, you'll get more bang for your buck if you skip the 1 gal bottles and go straight to the 2.5 gal or larger and they don't take up much more space. Also do your reading for what time of filtration system you want to purchase for the day your pre set stores run out.

[phil evans]

please remember that gallon and 2.5 gallon jugs have a fairly short shelf life of ~3 years - that is the plastic container will deteriorate and split.

[Gigantor]

Originally Posted by kalford

So far my mind is set on Ramen noodles and caned tuna. Any ideas, suggestions?

Instead of canned tuna, go for the foil packets of tuna (StarKist Albacore, StarKist Tuna Salad)
and foil packets of chicken (Tyson). Chicken of the Sea has foil packets of salmon.

No refrigeration needed for any of the foil packets, no can opener needed, and they're easier to pack/weigh less than canned goods.

The expiration / best by dates for most of the foil packets are 2-3 years out, so you can easily rotate them into/out of your supply.

[Gigantor]

Oh yeah, I was at Costco over the weekend and they had a 10-pack box of Mountain House for only $39.99.
$3.99 for a Mountain House entree is pretty cheap considering they usually go for $5.95 to $6.95 each.

The entrees included 4 flavors: Beef Stew, Beef Stroganoff, Chicken Teriyaki w/rice, and Lasagna w/meat.
Two of the flavors had 2 packs each and the other two had 3 packs each. I don't recall which entrees had 3 packs and which had 2 packs.

[Ragnar]

I don't like telling other people what to stock up on because everyone is different but I'd stay clear of Ramen. Other than it's shelf life it has no redeeming qualities.

Here are some things that I store and hopefully you can pick out a few that will work for you.

I don't really have a dedicated bulk storage, pretty much everything stored gets used and I try to replace every used item with two like items so that it will continue grow.

Canned Vegetables. I can my own carrots, green beans, tomatoes, and corn mostly because that's what we eat the most of. I make jams and an assortment of pickled vegetables and peppers.

Dehydrated vegetables. I dehydrate these and store them in vacuum-sealed half gallon canning jars. Celery, onions, elephant garlic, jalapenos, shredded potatoes(Hash Browns), carrots, sweet potatoes, random fruits, and an assortment of herbs.

Meats. Canned chicken is the big one for me because my wife is allergic to fish. I do have some canned tuna because I'm not and I like it. I've occasionally home canned chicken breasts if I find them for dirt cheap.

Rice, beans, pasta, grits, oatmeal, flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and powdered milk I buy in the biggest package I can afford that day and then repackage them in half gallon canning jars that I vacuum seal.

So far I have one blue 55 gallon water drum. I'd like to get a few more but they aren't cheap. I also keep a 2.5 gallon water jug in the trunk of each car.

Fuel. I know that it isn't food but I have three 5 gallon cans with stabil in them. That's one full tank of gas for my car which would be very handy for something like a hurricane evacuation.

Oh yeah, in my 3 day bag I have some energy bars that I picked up from the sports nutrition section at walmart. I think they are called big10, idk, they are in a red box. They are over 400 calories per bar and have about a one year shelf life. I also have some single serving gatorade packets, store bought banana chips (one year shelf life) and some pouches of heat and serve Mexican food, I can't remember the brand name on those but they were also rated for a year.

Hope some of that helped. My advice is to buy whatever you normally buy but get the next size up on things that can be stored long term and then store half of it.

Also if you haven't tried home canning you may want to look into it, I enjoy it and once you get your equipment it's very inexpensive. You can get a pressure canner and a dozen pint jars for under $100, then head down to the local farmer's market. after that first week you'll have canned vegetables without a single preservative and taste better than store bought.

[Ragnar]

By the way, if anyone wants to troubleshoot my list I'm always open for suggestions and constructive criticism so feel free.

[lookout123]

Originally Posted by phil evans

please remember that gallon and 2.5 gallon jugs have a fairly short shelf life of ~3 years - that is the plastic container will deteriorate and split.

Point taken but again, my philosophy is to only stock items I use currently (with a few exceptions) I currently have 25 of those 2.5 gallon jugs on hand and none are more than a year old because we take them to Mexico, Flagstaff... just about any trip really.

Same with the canned tuna. I eat tuna sandwiches, tuna casserole, and tuna quesadillas regularly.

Canned chicken, ranch, jalepeno peppers, and cheese between 2 tortillas a great easy meal. I love 'em.

We only buy white meat stored in water as well.

[ubergeek]

@Ragnar where did you pick up your 55gal water drum at I am looking for a few

[Ragnar]

Was either ebay or amazon, I've had it for a couple years. I do remember that it was $75+shipping. I think about that every time I see one being used as a trashcan.

When I buy another I'm going to try to find one local, perhaps even used, then clean sterilize it.