Thread: BASIC LIST / SUGGESTED ITEMS FOR LONG TERM SURVIVAL

10 Places Anyone Can Store Food

October 15, 2012 by Thomas Miller

If you have a suitcase, then you have food storage.

One of the cornerstones of preparedness is storing food. No one argues the point of whether food is important. Maybe an argument can be found in where food is placed in the hierarchy of prepping needs, but no one will say that it does not have a place. What I have found, though, is that not too many discussions occur about where these rations will be stored.

It seems as though it is always assumed that every prepper has an extra room in the house to fill with shelves that can be neatly stacked with cans and boxes and labeled by category or a basement to do the same. I know that I, for one, have not always had these options available to me. Whether you live in a large house, a small house, an apartment or a dorm room, the need for stored food doesn’t change, resulting in the need for places to store foods wherever you may live.

Some of the places that storage food may be stored regardless of the type of dwelling you live in include:

Under the bed: There is a fair amount of space under a bed which can be used for storing food instead of lost TV remotes or slippers. What makes the space under the bed even easier to use for storage is some of the specially manufactured containers that specifically fit the dimensions of the underside of the bed. These containers slide in and out easily from under the bed and make it easy to organize your food storage. The flexibility of these containers would also allow for storage foods to easily be loaded up and taken with you in the event that an evacuation were necessary. A good substitute for these containers would be shallow cardboard boxes.

Under the coffee table: The shelf under a coffee table provides additional space for storing food. This can be a great option for someone who lives in a smaller living space like a loft. Obviously, this could be an eyesore in a main living area but can easily be disguised by covering the table with a tablecloth.

Under an end table: Storing food under an end table is essentially the same as a coffee table but on a smaller scale. This can be a useful tactic in the most size-restrictive spaces like dorm rooms or military barracks.

Make your own table: This is perhaps the perfect option for those who buy storage foods in bulk. It also happens to be the one non-standard food-storage option that I have heard of the most. Foods that are in boxes are especially well-suited for this storage idea. Make a table out of food storage by stacking two boxes of food on top of each other, centering a 2-by-2 piece of plywood on top of the boxes and cover with a tablecloth.

On the closet floor: You know that space on the floor of your closet? Yep. That space below your clothes that doesn’t really seem to be good for anything except for losing an occasional shoe. It can also be an ideal storage area. This area may be particularly ideal for storing long-term foods in No. 10 cans that you may get from companies like Mountain House.

On a closet shelf: The shelf in the top part of a bedroom closet is not always used. If there is open space or junk sitting on your closet shelf, it is space that most likely is being wasted. If shelf space is chosen to store food, always make sure that the shelf can support the weight of the items that are being stored on it. This is especially important to keep in mind when storing canned goods on shelving. Because of weight concerns, the top shelf of your closet might best serve as a storage area for foods such as pasta, instant potatoes, ramen noodles and other lightweight boxed foods.

In the linen closet: A linen closet can be another great storage area in the home, whether it is for linens or something else. When I lived in an apartment, there was a linen closet; but I did not have enough linen to make complete use of this area. In a situation such as this, excess space in a linen closet could be used to store food. Remember to always evaluate the amount of weight that you are thinking about placing on a shelf before you put it there to ensure that it will not cause the shelf to break or pose a safety risk.

Behind the couch: If the couch is up against the wall in your house, it is likely that you have at least 4 to 6 inches of space that most people would consider “dead” space. What can be done with this space depends on the individual piece of furniture; but it could allow for at least one row of soup cans, boxes of macaroni and cheese, jars of pasta sauce, etc. Essentially, the limit is the creativity of the person placing the food storage items behind the couch. If someone is really inclined toward engineering and is concerned about gaining quick access to these items, it could be possible to tie or tape these items together, which would allow them to be pulled out together without having to move the furniture.

Inside your luggage: Do you have luggage that sits empty in the closet for the greater part of the year? Most people do. This makes your empty luggage an ideal place to store items such as canned and/or dry goods while you are waiting for your next chance to relive the Spring Break trip you took with your friends in 1992.

Out in the open: OK, so I don’t mean literally just sitting out in the open. But if there is an open space in a room, there is an opportunity to use a set of cabinets or piece of furniture as a second pantry. This can look like just an ordinary piece of furniture in the home while disguising your emergency food stores.

While places to store food for a difficult time are limited only to your imagination and the space that you live in, there are without question places in every home where foods can be stored. Once a decision has been made as to where you plan on storing your food, make sure that it is in appropriate containers. Plastic totes are a great way to keep critters out and protect food from the elements that cause it to go bad at an accelerated pace. Don’t forget to annotate expiration dates and rotate storage foods so that you don’t end up with a cache of useless foods. Perhaps most importantly, don’t forget where you stored your food.

–Thomas Miller

10 Places Anyone Can Store Food : Personal Liberty Digest™

Viggies Veggies

adventures in urban homesteading

Viggies Veggies

Dehydrating Intro

Posted March 7, 2012
by viggie in Dehydrating
53 Comments

Several people have asked me about dehydrating in the last week or two, so thought I’d do a little write up about it. Dehydrating is my favorite method of preserving what I grow, so think it’s kind of funny that I haven’t really talked about it here!



Dehydrating is a bit easier to do than canning because you prep the veggies or fruits and can let it sit in the dehydrator unattended. Because it’s less of a time investment, I did it a lot more when I was working and going to school and time was at a premium. You are also able to do any sized batches, which is great for those of us with smaller gardens who don’t always have enough for canning.



It is recommended that you blanch most vegetables before dehydrating to” stop enzyme action and enhance destruction of microorganisms”. This chart published by the Colorado Extension gives their recommendations on how long to boil vegetables to blanch. Another option that may be cheaper and easier depending on the time of year, is to start with frozen vegetables which are already blanched.

Vegetable	Preparation	Blanching Time* (mins.)	Drying Time (hrs.)
Asparagus	Wash thoroughly. Halve large tips.	4-5	6-10
Beans, green	Wash. Cut in pieces or strips.	4	8-14
Beets	Cook as usual. Cool, peel. Cut into shoestring strips 1/8″ thick.	None	10-12
Broccoli	Wash. Trim, cut as for serving. Quarter stalks lengthwise.	4	12-15
Brussels sprouts	Wash. Cut in half lengthwise through stem.	5-6	12-18
Cabbage	Wash. Remove outer leaves, quarter and core. Cut into strips 1/8″ thick.	4	10-12
Carrots, parsnips	Use only crisp, tender vegetables. Wash. Cut off roots and tops; peel. Cut in slices or strips 1/8″ thick.	4	6-10
Cauliflower	Wash. Trim, cut into small pieces.	4-5	12-15
Celery	Trim stalks. Wash stalks and leaves thoroughly. Slice stalks.	4	10-16
Chili peppers, green	Wash. To loosen skins, cut slit in skin, then rotate over flame 6-8 minutes or scald in boiling water. Peel and split pods. Remove seeds and stem. (Wear gloves if necessary.)	None	12-24
Chili peppers, red	Wash thoroughly. Slice or leave whole if small.	4	12-24
Corn, cut	Husk, trim. Wash well. Blanch until milk in corn is set. Cut the kernels from the cob.	4-6	6-10
Eggplant	Wash, trim, cut into 1/4″ slices.	4	12-14
Horseradish	Wash, remove small rootlets and stubs. Peel or scrape roots. Grate.	None	6-10
Mushrooms**	Scrub. Discard tough, woody stalks. Slice tender stalks 1/4″ thick. Peel large mushrooms, slice. Leave small mushrooms whole. Dip in solution of 1 tsp. citric acid/quart water for 10 minutes. Drain.	None	8-12
Okra	Wash thoroughly. Cut into 1/2” pieces or split lengthwise.	4	8-10
Onions	Wash, remove outer paper skin. Remove tops and root ends, slice 1/8 to 1/4″ thick.	4	6-10
Parsley, other herbs	Wash thoroughly. Separate clusters. Discard long or tough stems.	4	4-6
Peas	Shell and wash.	4	8-10
Peppers, pimentos	Wash, stem. Remove core and seeds. Cut into 1/4 to 1/2″ strips or rings.	4	8-12
Potatoes	Wash, peel. Cut into 1/4″ shoestring strips or 1/8″ thick slices.	7	6-10
Spinach, greens like Kale, Chard, mustard	Trim and wash very thoroughly. Shake or pat dry to remove excess moisture.	4	6-10
Squash, summer or banana	Wash, trim, cut into 1/4″ slices.	4	10-16
Squash, winter	Wash rind. Cut nto pieces. Remove seeds and cavity pulp. Cut into 1″ wide strips. Peel rind. Cut strips crosswise into pieces about 1/8″ thick.	4	10-16
Tomatoes	Steam or dip in boiling water to loosen skins. Chill in cold water. Peel. Slice 1/2″ thick or cut in 3/4″ sections. Dip in solution of 1 tsp. citric acid/quart water for 10 minutes.	None	6-24

But honestly, I haven’t really noticed a difference between blanching and not blanching. Fruits that brown should also be treated. I simply put spray bottle top right on my bottle of lemon juice and spritz them.



Most fruits and vegetables can be dehydrated at about 125 degrees. There are specific instructions and temperatures you can find if you pick up a book about dehydrating (I recommend The Dehydrator Bible) or google “how to dehydrate _____”. But not all dehydrators have a temperature adjustment and they still manage.



I dehydrate everything until crisp to maximize storage. The food should be hard and plink when you drop it on the counter. It takes me much longer than estimates the extension gives, so don’t worry too much about that. You aren’t going to over-dry anything if you don’t take it out immediately either. When I had a busy schedule I checked my dehydrator once in the morning and once in the evening.



Once done let your dehydrated vegges cool and store in air tight containers. Old food jars work great for this. You can easily store them a year or so this way. Many of mine have been in jars longer though.



Many of the recipes I’ve posted, I’ve tried with fresh veggies in the summer and dehydrated veggies in the winter. Vegetables rehydrate well just by soaking them an hour of so before cooking with them. You can speed up that process (or help along veggies that are tougher like my carrots tend to be) by simmering them on the stove for a bit. When making soup, I just throw them in dry and add extra cooking time.



On average, vegetables will rehydrate to twice their dehydrated size. So if a recipe calls for a cup of fresh carrots, you can substitute about a half cup dehydrated carrots.



Dehydrating Intro « Viggies Veggies

New Evidence on Expiration Dates

October 12, 2012
27 Comments



Over the years, I have expressed my opinions on the bogus nature of the expiration dates stamped on medications in pill or capsule form. I have cited the findings of the Shelf Life Extension Program, a program meant to investigate the possible usefulness of the millions of doses of various expired medications stockpiled by FEMA for use in peacetime disasters.

In my original article, “The Truth About Expiration Dates” 2 years ago, I indicated these findings were no longer available to the public. Now, a breakthrough scientific article has been published in the respected journal “The Archives of Internal Medicine”. Below is the article in its entirety, with important sections in bold type:

October 8, 2012 — An analysis of 8 medications indicates that most of the active ingredients they contain were present in adequate amounts decades after the drugs’ expiration dates, according to results from a study published online October 8 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Lee Cantrell, PharmD, from the California Poison Control System, San Diego Division, University of California San Francisco School of Pharmacy, and colleagues used liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry to measure the amounts of the active ingredients in the medications. The medicines, which had expired 28 to 40 years ago, were found in a retail pharmacy in their original, unopened packaging.

To meet US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards, an active ingredient must be present in 90% to 110% of the amount indicated on the label. Drug expiration dates are set for 12 to 60 months after production, even though many compounds can persist far longer.

In the new analysis, 12 of the 14 active ingredients persisted in concentrations that were 90% or greater of the amount indicated on the label. These 12 compounds retained their full potency for 336 months (Dr. Bones 28 years) or longer. Eight of them retained potency for at least 480 months (dr. bones: 40 years). Dr. Cantrell’s team was unable to find a standard for homatropine, 1 of the 15 ingredients.

Only aspirin and amphetamine fell below the 90% cutoff. Phenacetin was present at greater than the cutoff in Fiorinal (butalbital, aspirin, caffeine, and codeine phosphate, but was considerably less in Codempiral No. 3. The authors attribute the deficit in Codempiral to conditions that led to preferential degradation of phenacetin because of its amide group, compared with codeine, which is also in Codempiral but is more chemically stable.

Three compounds persisted in greater than 110% of the labeled contents: methaqualone (in Somnafac), meprobamate (in Bamadex), and pentobarbital (in Nebralin). These relatively high amounts may reflect degradation of other components of the compounded drug, the fact that the samples were produced before FDA-instituted quality control measures in 1963, or inconsistencies of the analytical techniques between when the drugs were compounded and now. The new findings are consistent with the efforts of the Shelf-Life Extension Program, which has extended the expiration dates on 88% of 122 drugs tested so far. Extensions range from 66 to 278 months.

“Our results support the effectiveness of broadly extending expiration dates for many drugs,” the researchers conclude. They also point out that extending shelf life can significantly lower costs to consumers.
Limitations of the analysis, the investigators write, include an inability to confirm the storage conditions of the drug samples, as well as imprecise dating of the samples. The authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

JAMA Network | Archives of Internal Medicine | Stability of Active Ingredients in Long-Expired Prescription Medications

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For the preparedness community, this information is very important, as it lends credence to what I have been telling you all along: Get your medical supplies together, and don’t throw out drugs in pill or capsule form just because they have passed their expiration dates. We are anxiously awaiting lists of the 122 drugs that the Shelf Life Extension Program has tested, but you can expect them to be medications that will be useful in the aftermath of a catastrophe.

Dr. Bones

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New Evidence on Expiration Dates | Doom and Bloom (TM)

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