Food Perp

[Redbeard]

Hello all im beginning to put away food for long term storage. I have finally got my wife into preparedness and she now dosn't think im loosing my mind just wanting safeguard our family. She has jumped on the band wagon and said how do we store our garden grown foods. where is a good resources to learn how to do this like books. I like the idea of having paper copies for future reference. I didn't realize how big of a win it would be to get her on board with my goals! We grow mostly oakra, peas, & sweat potatos, and are always trying new veggies. any input on easily store able foods would be great! thank you all!

[Infidel]

ball book of canning? dont know if i should be helping a food perp but......

[Sacajawea]

I'll second the Ball Canning book - it's the bible. For dried foods, you'll want a dehydrator, oxygen absorbers and mylar bags. I use a combination of foodsaver packaging and mylar. What you're looking for, in long-term storage is food that doesn't need be refrigerated/frozen. Still needs to be stored in areas with low humidity, and pretty narrow range of temps. If you want to go top of the line - a freeze-drier is the way to go. I haven't heard yet the impact of these on the power bill.

You need to look at canning meats, so you have a source of protein. And the starches - rice, noodles/pasta, etc. Rice & beans is a pretty economical way to store a decent amount of calories, quickly.

[Infidel]

I got rice and beans stored and I dont eat carbs LOL. but my family is good to go., not a fan of the ziplock foodsavers though so i may be switching to mylar.

[Sacajawea]

Anything ziplock can fail. The foodsaver I use is vacumn/heat seal.

[W.Lynn]

Even the sweet potato crop can be cut into cubes and processed in jars. Peas and okra are easier.

[Infidel]

Anything ziplock can fail. The foodsaver I use is vacumn/heat seal.

yeah i ended up buying the black mealsaver one cause i saw a youtube homesteader swearing by them. (got the mason jar sealers and tuperwares too):/ I think out of 25 bags ive thrown out 3 already cause they wouldnt stay sealed. what got me was i had them in 5 gallon buckets and reopened the bucket to notice air got back in.

[Sacajawea]

You're the second person, I've heard mention the bags coming unsealed now, Infidel.

What I've done, which I thought was overkill, but did it anyway... was vacumnseal, then package THOSE with an O2 absorber, into mylar... and then store in buckets.

Maybe for all those extra steps, a freeze dryer is worth it in the long run. There's just that power requirement to deal with. Or canning.

[Infidel]

i think im gonna pop a tub today to recheck. I noticed one of the 5gallon tubs seems to have caved in like the air got sucked out of the bucket LOL. i didnt use oxy absorbers, just did 3 1gal bags of rice and placed them in the bucket, so i should check it out.

[Infidel]

ohh for those who might be interested aldis had the water bath canners and ball mason jars on sale. Im gonna go pick some up today for fruit.

[W.Lynn]

Get an extra case of jars, and extra lids, any time you can figure out where to put them all.

[BamaRebel]

I like using a hybrid approach, O2 absorbers in mason jars. Uh, I'm kind of a "jar hoarder" so might as well store them full as empty. Living out in the boonies now, mice are a big concern at certain times of the year. They can play havoc on mylar bags, and don't count on them not being able to chew through plastic buckets. It's glass or metal for us.

[BamaRebel]

Aldis had the canning accessory kit for $2.99 and its RED! I love red and its a nice change from all the Ball green I have

[Redbeard]

awsome!! info thanks guys im ordering the canning guide now. We do us food savers for our deer we freeze but lets face it i dosnt last long lol in our family we love venison. But what has helped me with other stuff i double seal all my bags and no issues now. Be advised this is only short term though.

[Infidel]

Aldis had the canning accessory kit for $2.99 and its RED! I love red and its a nice change from all the Ball green I have

i grabbed 2 cases of jars and a water bath canner from there. Time to do some chutneys. I didnt see the canning accessory kit though. must of sold out at my aldis I already had one anyways