Okay - I'm finally starting to get it. Freeze-dried food makes sense if you want to throw it on a shelf and never think about it again. Anything less and you have to get into the rotating thing. Here's a post from Prepared LDS Family about shelf life for #10 cans that was an eye opener for me.

Okay - I'm finally starting to get it. Freeze-dried food makes sense if you want to throw it on a shelf and never think about it again. Anything less and you have to get into the rotating thing. Here's a post from Prepared LDS Family about shelf life for #10 cans that was an eye opener for me.

Can You Bake with Old Food Storage Flour?

Today I tried to use some outdated white flour stored in #10 cans. In the past I have been able to use outdated grains such as oats with no problem. But this flour had a tinny smell, and even a tinny taste. But I thought I would try it in my muffins just to be sure and sifted it to remove some lumps. The muffins were NOT good. They were not light and fluffy and the taste was definitely off. I had personally canned this flour in October 2002 so it is 7 1/2 years old. But it hasn't always been stored below 75 degrees Fahenheit so I did lose some of the shelf life. The shelf life on this #10 can said 5 years (if stored below 75 degrees) which is a shorter-shelf life than other whole grains. And I believe it. So, as you store your flour, understand that it may not last as long if you store it above the recommended temperature. If anyone else has experienced this, please share

Freeze dried or dehydrated?

Great info from The Ready Store Blog on food shelf life, particularly the pros and cons of storing freeze dried or dehydrated food:

Food in your pantry

This is the starting point for your food storage. Depending on your family size, having enough food to last you at least two weeks in your pantry is one of the most cost effective ways to have food stored. I came from a large family, so we had a large room where we stored many weeks worth of food. It worked great for the family because my mom rarely had to run to the grocery store in a hurry. She would use our storage room as her grocery store and then restock that when she went shopping. I strongly recommend having a well stocked pantry with food that you are eating and will eat.

Here are a couple things to keep in mind:

• Make sure you buy food that you’ll eat – I see people make the mistake of buying canned food at a case lot sale, but it is food they never want to eat. So even though the food was a great price, the food just sat in their pantry.
• Shelf life – This brings me to my next point of the shelf life of wet packed canned from you local grocery. The best rule of thumb is that your canned food will last at least 2 years. A lot of canned food will last much longer than that, maybe even up to 5 years. Foods that are high in acid content such as tomatoes and fruits will be closer to the 2 year range. If the canned food is past the expiration date, you should carefully inspect the food (the sniff test) and then make your best determination whether it is still safe to eat.

Once your pantry is stocked and you feel comfortable there, you need to consider more long term food storage products. These fall into three main categories:

1. Dry bulk food items

2. Dehydrated foods

3. Freeze-dried foods

Dry bulk food items

The items in this category include wheat, beans, rice, rolled oats, sugar and other staples. They are typically bulk packed in either cans or buckets. These items can be good to have around, but here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Preparation - It is difficult to turn these dry bulk food items items into something edible. If you are going to store food in this way, then you have to go all the way. You will need wheat grinders, lots of fuel (to cook these items into something edible) and additional ingredients to make the food usable. Just the fuel alone will be difficult to store and in the quantities you will need. So just remember, you have to go all in with this approach or you won’t be able to use it when you need it.

• Shelf life – Most of these items will store for a very long time. If stored properly, the wheat, beans, rice and oats will store for many, many years and probably many decades.

• Taste and Nutrition – These dry bulk storage foods typically will give you excellent nutrition. As for taste, that depends on what you can make out them. A pot of beans, doesn’t taste that great without some other ingredients added to it.

Dehydrated Food

This type of shelf stable food is processed using high heat. The high temperatures remove the moisture from the food which gives allows for the extended shelf life. The two things that really affect shelf life are moisture and oxygen. Here are few things to consider with dehydrated food:

• Shelf life – because of how the food is processed, the shelf life for most dehydrated items is 5-10 years. A few items might be a couple years longer and a few items might be a couple years shorter (such as dairy). So all that being said, dehydrated food is on the shorter end of the spectrum for long term shelf life.

• Taste and nutrition – again, because of how the food is processed using high heat, it actually damages the food and removes nutritional value as well as flavor. You will find with dehydrated food that it just won’t taste quite as good (sometimes it will taste awful!) and the food will look a little off.

• Preparation – most dehydrated food requires that you add and cook it. This requires fuel and a stove to be able to do so. It is easy to prepare, but it does take time. For example, dehydrated soup mixes will require cooking for up to 30 minutes. Over time that will use a lot of fuel.

Freeze-dried food

Freeze-dried food uses a unique process to make the food shelf stable. Rather than using high heat, it uses low heat in a vacuum chamber to slowly remove the moisture from the food. Because of how it is processed, the food retains nearly 100% of the natural nutrients, enzymes and taste. Freeze-dried food is my choice for long term food storage because it is the best in all three categories. Here are a few things to consider with freeze-dried food:

• Shelf life – freeze-dried food will give you the longest shelf life. You will get at least 25 years and more than likely much longer. I have heard of 40 year old freeze-dried food being tested and it has lost very little taste or nutritional value.

• Taste and Nutrition – This is another outstanding quality of freeze-dried food. It tastes like fresh food. The entrees, fruits and vegetables taste fresh and not processed. The flavor isn’t muted or dull. It will also retain the same texture, color and look of the fresh food. Because it is processed in low heat, the food retains 99% of all the fresh vitamins, nutrients and enzymes of the fresh food. This food tastes so good that I eat it regularly for my lunches and I know many other people that do the same.

• Preparation – again, another exceptional quality of freeze-dried food is how easy the preparation is. This food is designed for just add water simplicity. All you have to do is add hot water, stir and wait about 5 minutes and you have a meal. Because of that, your fuel costs are very low and you don’t have to spend valuable time in the preparation.

Remember with food storage that the most important thing is to start. But, I want to make sure you are spending your hard earned money on a product that you will use and will last.

Instant Milk vs. powdered milk

Here's a post from "Pinching Your Pennies" clarifying the differences between instant and powdered milk that you might find helpful:

Hey everyone! This is Sara Hanks from Shelf Reliance, www.shelfreliance.com

As someone who loves milk and drinks it with every meal, I really appreciate the dairy products that Shelf Reliance offers with THRIVE Foods. You can find two varieties of milk – Instant Milk and Powdered Milk – that are healthy and simple to reconstitute, as well as cheese and a great chocolate drink mix that’s perfect for hot cocoa.

Since I’ve been at Shelf Reliance, I’ve encountered a lot of people who wonder about the difference between Instant Milk and Powdered Milk. It’s a valid question to ask, and there are many possible answers I could give, but the most basic difference between the two is what they’re meant to be used for. In a nutshell, THRIVE Powdered Milk is great for cooking, while THRIVE Instant Milk is more of a drinking milk. If you’d like a more lengthy explanation, keep reading …

Instant Milk is made completely from dairy, so it’s more well-suited as a drinking milk rather than a cooking milk (though it works just fine with recipes, too). THRIVE Instant Milk also dissolves quickly (instantly, as a matter of fact) in water at any temperature; this makes the instant milk convenient to reconstitute. Instant Milk has a good amount of both calcium and protein.

Powdered Milk is made from part dairy and part soy, and it will taste similar to any skim milk you might use. It’s best used for cooking, although, of course, it’s completely safe and fine to drink. THRIVE Powdered Milk also costs a bit less than Instant Milk, and as a good source of calcium and vitamin A, it’s a great choice for your food storage.

There you have it! Including milk and other dairy products in your food storage will mean greater health and greater variety for meals and recipes, and now that you know how to best use both Instant and Powdered Milk, you’re ready to use them for all your future dairy needs.

So...after spending a really long time in Fred Meyers, I shopped my way into a 72-hour office/car kit. I'm happy to report it's all packaged and in the car -hopefully never, ever to be used. Great experience, but all-in-all, I'm thinking that buying the prepackaged kits like those offered at Emergency Essentials is the way to go. Jodi and Julie at Food Storage Made Easy.net have done some research that makes the selections easier. Below is their results:

Bottled Emergency Kits {more info}
Bottled kits are economical and contain basic emergency supplies neatly packed into a 32 oz. water bottle for easy transport. They contains items such as hand & body warmers, ponchos, emergency blankets, matches, flashlights, whistles, basic first aid kits, and more.

Starter Emergency Kit {more info}
This can act as a basic kit or an add-on to any other emergency kit for additional people. It includes food, water, light, warmth, communication, and more.

3-Day Lite Emergency Kit {more info}
This economical kit gives you the basics you will need in an emergency. It includes food, water, warmth, light, communication, and first aid all packed in a medium backpack for easy transporting.

Roadwise™ Emergency Kit {more info}
This kit includes items specially selected for storage in your automobile.

3-Day Emergency Kit {more info}
Calorie food bars and aqua blox allow this kit to be stored in varied temperatures so it can also be used as an auto emergency kit. It contains basic food, water, warmth, first aid, light and communication items all packaged in a medium sized backpack. Recommended for one person for up to three days.

Trekker™ Kits
These kits are designed for either one (Trekker I™),
two (Trekker II™), and four people (Trekker IV™). The Trekker II™ Kit was rated ‘Best Value’ by the Wall Street Journal. These kits contain calorie food bars, aqua blox, and over 120 (Trekker I™), 150 (Trekker II™), and 275 (Trekker IV™) additional preparedness items. Some additional items found in our Trekker™ Kits that are not found in our 3-Day Emergency Kit are fire starters, purification tablets, more extensive first aid kits, additional hygiene items, and larger backpacks for storing the additional items.

ReadyWise™ Kits
Our ReadyWise™ line combines portability with convenience and ease. In addition to calorie food bars, these kits include MRE’s and MRE Heaters providing additional variety and nutrition. They offer a more comprehensive first aid kit when compared to our Trekker options as well as some additional items including a wool blend blanket, flashlight with the ability to charge a cell phone, and some emergency tools. ReadyWise kits are available in either 1 person or 2 person kits.

Comp™ Kits
Comp™ is short for ‘comprehensive’ which is the word that best describes this line. We have combined the convenience and ease of MRE’s and MRE Heaters with over
280 (Comp I™) and 390 (Comp II™) emergency supplies. These kits offer improved warmth, cooking, light and communication, first aid and sanitation, storage and tools supplies when compared to other kits. Some additional items that are unique to this line include an emergency toilet and water storage kit, our finest first aid kit in any of our 3 day kits, survival book, sewing kit, tri-fold shovel, and Deluxe Hiking Pack.

We hope you find this information helpful when selecting your Disaster Kits!

This week's grocery shopping deals

Here's some of my personal favorites for stocking up this week. I confess I'm just not a Super 1 shopper - but I've included a few things this week.

Super 1
Hot house tomatoes 98 cents a pound
asparagus $1.28 a pound (Albertsons is running theirs for $1.88)

Albertsons
Bumble Bee Chunk tuna 2/$1
Breyers Ice Cream 2/$5.00
Albertson Fruit Snacks $1.00 (great for 72 hour kits!)

Fred Meyers
In store coupons:
Fred Meyer butter 3/$5
General Mills Cereal 5/$10.00
Fred Meyer XLarge Eggs dz 2/$3
2 lb. peeled mini carrots 99 cents eacg
Fred Meyer Yogurt 10/$3

Safeway
Braeburn apples 58 cents a lb. (Sat. through Tues. only)
Betty Crocker cake or brownie 69 cents
Foster Farms Split Chx breasts 99 cent a lb.
Safeway Variety Bread 99 cents
Airborned Health Formula BOGO
Johnsonville breakfast sausage BOGO

Disaster Kit Scavenger Hunt

Yes...I'm shamelessly using ideas from Food Storage Made Easy, but they're good ideas that bear repeating. Here's their latest - a fun way to gather up your family's Disaster Kit with a scavenger hunt.




Click below for a list of things to scavenge for at home (or at the store) that can be divided up amongst family members. Have a container ready to store them all in and find an easy-to-access place to keep it in your home. Then come what may - you're ready! http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2010/02/04/disaster-kit-scavenger-hunt/

Emergency Essentials 72-hour kit

Okay - here's another option on pre-bought 72 hour kits. Julie and Jodie - the "Food Storage Made Easy" ladies posted this YouTube video on how to prepare for a disaster using a kit purchased from Emergency Essentials, and added a few of their own goodies to go with it. The first 3 minutes are pretty slow- I'd skip ahead and watch the last 4 1/2 minutes.

I'm not sure which option is the better deal:
The Ready Project http://www.thereadyproject.com/p-79-new-grab-n-go-72-hour-kit.aspx
or Emergency Essentials http://beprepared.com/category.asp_Q_c_E_120_A_c2c_E_tn_A_name_E_EmergencyKits
but the Ready Project offers free shipping.