Food Storage

The survival minded individual should have at least one year of dried food stored to support all members of their family, preferably three years but at least one. Grain based products are very easy and relatively inexpensive to store using five gallon buckets outfitted with air tight lids. These items include dried beans, brown rice, flour, pancake mix, instant potatoes and other dehydrated food stocks which are readily available at your local grocer or super store.

A very general rule of thumb for storage amounts is 15 five gallon buckets per person per year. One five gallon bucket holds 80 cups of dry stock. For some detailed information on how many pounds of each product is needed to fill a five gallon bucket check out this article over at the Bear Ridge Project.

Your food store should be able to support your family until crops can be harvested and the chickens start producing eggs. At that point you can trade your surplus at the farmers market or with your neighbors.

There are several important items often overlooked when stockpiling food. These include dried fruits, powdered eggs and powdered cheese. Dried fruits are necessary for proper vitamin balance and a great way to relieve the monotony. Powdered eggs are a great protein source. Powdered cheese fits into the spice category, it adds a little zest to your food preparation.

The survivalist can of course get by without these additional items for their food stores but from experience I can assure you that the nutritional value and added diversity really counter the expense.

Most of these items can be picked up below or over at Nitro-Pak where they offer free shipping on orders over $100. I listed these supplies below because of the food shortages being experienced over at Mountain House with their #10 cans.

Dried Fruits

Eggs


Cheese