The Survivalist Pledge:

To help all that can be helped,
To defend all that can be defended,
To save all that can be saved,
To free all that seek freedom,
To stay alive as long as I can and stay free as long as I live.

The US has enough food stored away to feed its people for some time. But these stores of food are quickly becoming depleted as the government buys less surplus food from farmers and gives greater amounts of food to the poor. Coupled with the poor yields of the last few years of various crops worldwide, things are getting a little shaky when it comes to food worldwide. Even if our country continues to have plenty of food, distribution of food reserves during a time of extensive emergency would take a great deal of time and might be next to impossible in areas where roads and railroad lines were torn up. Thus, a major earthquake, strike, or acts of terrorism could bring on a food shortage in just a few days. This is because, most urban grocery stores have only enough food on their shelves to supply their customers for four days or less. And that's a couple of days IF there's no a panic run. This likely wouldn't be the case if the public panicked following a major emergency and stripped the shelves of the stores in their area. Adding to the problems, people in areas of widespread disaster might panic and actually fight over food that was air-lifted in. How can you avoid being trapped in such a situation?

The best way is to have some food reserves in your own home to tide your family through the few weeks of scarcity following a major emergency. It's best to have too much rather than not enough. Having too much would enable you to share food with your neighbors if necessary and will keep you from being overly dependant on relief help, especially during the first "panics" that may occur when food finally arrives in your area after an emergency. When developing a food storage plan, remember that purchasing food when it's plentiful and storing it for an emergency is NOT hoarding (even though some government workers and TV commentators might have you believe otherwise). Storing food during a time of plenty is not hoarding. It's stockpiling; and that is just as wise (perhaps more so) as putting money aside for a family emergency.

Now, up front, it is necessary to remember that many of the US Government's "Presidential Executive Orders" passed under Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan empower the government to confiscate any "excess and surplus real and personal property." The broad wording of these executive orders allow them to take effect during a major earthquake, war, or almost anything which the President decides is a national emergency! This means that it is likely your food--as well cash or gold coins, firearms, ammunition, or most anything else--which are not needed at the moment to keep you alive will be confiscated if the government is able to do so. (You might certainly argue that such laws are unconstitutional.

But your arguments will be mote if a national guardsman has his gun barrel at your belly while your house is being ransacked. Therefore, the prudent will take steps to keep food storage and other preparations "low key" and even give thought as to ways of keeping supplies out of sight during fast searches of your home. These executive orders also are rather interesting in light of recent attempts to take firearms out of the hands of individual citizens...)

So a word to the wise: When you're storing away a few extra cans of food and what not, remember that being able to keep the food for yourself is essential for your survival. (Several good ways to create secret hiding places, are given in THE BIG BOOK OF SECRET HIDING PLACES by Jack Luger. It's available from Paladin Press, P. O. Box 1307, Boulder, CO 80306 for $12.)

Another important point to remember is that foods have a finite life. After this life expectancy is exceeded, the food may still be eatable, but its nutritional value slowly drops over time until it becomes almost worthless as far as nutritional content is concerned. One way around this problem is to "rotate" stored food, implementing it for everyday meals before it becomes out dated and replacing the stores with new food as the old is used. Of all types of stored food, canned foodstuffs have the shortest shelf lives. After just half a year, most start to taper off in their nutritional content. The only exceptions to this are canned meats and non-citrus fruits; these can be stored for up to a year before their contents start to lose food value. So, while canned food is the easiest to store, the cheapest, and most readily available, it's also the quickest to become outdated.

Some readily available foods have storage lives of nearly a year. These include bouillon, instant cream, nuts, and cereal.

Hydrogenated (or antioxidant treated) fats/vegetable oil also generally last about a year in storage with vegetable oils lasting longer than lard or similar products. Olive oil lasts the longest of all the oils and may be used after several years if care is taken to keep it cool and away from exposure to the light. (Olive oil also appears to be healthier to use in cooking as far as cholesterol buildup in your blood is concerned as well.) Most pasta products (dried spaghetti, macaroni, noodles, etc.) have shelf lives of two years. All types of flour will also have shelf lives of two years. The big plus of pasta and flour is that they are VERY inexpensive and they can be used to create a wide variety of food with the addition of a few simple ingredients and spices. Food that can be stored for several years are freeze-dried and dehydrated foods. Both have storage lives of five to six years and taste better than many canned foods.

Of course the catch with these foods is they're much more expensive than other foods. For many, however, this higher price is worthwhile simply because it does away with the need to rotate food every few months. When purchasing dehydrated or freeze-dried foods, be sure to date them. This will enable you to quickly tell when it's time to replace it.

Freeze-dried and dehydrated foods also need water and a few minutes before they can be reconstituted into an edible form. This, coupled with the need to heat them to make them palatable, can create problems in some survival situations. (Just be sure to store extra water for the food and have a way of heating the water.) A good source of freeze-dried and dehydrated foods are Nitro-Pak, 11018 E. Rosecrans Ave., Suite #300, Norwalk, CA 90650. If you'd prefer a local source of such foods, check a sporting store. These foods are becoming popular with campers and hunters in many areas of the country. Many supermarkets also carry a few of these products; the most common are dried fruits and nuts, instant soup, and flavored pasta-style products. (The shortcoming to purchasing foods locally is that you'll attract attention to yourself AND you'll probably spend more money since you won't be able to make bulk purchases.)

Perhaps the handiest foods to use in an emergency are the MREs (Meals, Ready to Eat) developed for the US Military. These come in plastic packets, precooked and, as their name suggests, ready- to-eat. All that's necessary is to open them and eat them. They can even be eaten at room temperature, heated up under your arm pit, or heated in a cup of boiling water over a primitive stove. MREs can be eaten right from their plastic bags which makes clean up minimal following a meal. Recent tests conducted by the US Army indicate that MREs stored at 60 degrees Fahrenheit will last for 130 months; those stored at 70 degrees, 100 months; those at 80 degrees, 76 months; and at 90 degrees, 55 months. (As with other food, you can extend the shelf life of MREs by storing them at cool temperatures--a good thing to remember.)

Nitro-Pak is the best source of MREs though these, too, are available at some camping stores.

Now, if you'd like to just make one big purchase of food and then forget it for the rest of your life, there are a few foods that have nearly infinite shelf lives. Some of these don't have much food value. Among these are coffee, tea, cocoa, candy (that isn't nearly 100 percent sugar), salt, sugar, honey, and spices are in this group. And the taste of some of spices will deteriorate over time. So these aren't going to be the prime part of any sane food storage scheme. There are some other foods that have nearly infinite life that ALSO have good nutritional value. Among these are unprocessed, dried beans, corn, soybeans, wheat, barely, and other grains. (Corn is the exception to the rule; but even it still has a shelf life of several decades.) This shelf life is possible only if you keep your stored grains cool and dry and free of pests. The best way to do this is to purchase the kernels pre-packed in nitrogen-filled containers. Several companies offer these grains packed this way. Among the best sources for grains stored this way is Nitro-Pak. The company also uses tough plastic buckets designed to allow them to be stacked. This allows a large amount of food to be stored in a very small space. (Do take care to secure these containers so they won't topple over and injure or kill someone!)

It's also possible to store grains on a do-it-yourself basis if you live in a farming community. But this is a lot of work. If you live in an area that grows grain, you can purchase grains and beans locally and pack them yourself. To do this, you need an inert gas such as nitrogen or carbon dioxide (dry ice) to displace the oxygen in the containers so insect eggs that may be ridding on the grain won't hatch into larvae that eat it. Perhaps the best source of grains and beans are farmers co-ops. When you get the grain, be sure to specify that the grain or beans are for eating so you'll not receive some that are treated with dangerous chemicals for killing insects after planting. While grains and beans store with little problem, getting them ready to eat is a different story. The easiest preparation is to create a soup or gruel. This is easily done by soaking beans (or grains), pouring off the water after several hours of soaking, and then boiling the beans or grain in new water along with spices and flavorings for several more hours. Gruel has never been noted as a great delicacy. A better route with wheat and other grains is to grind them into flour or meal and create bread, biscuits, pancakes, and so forth with them. If possible, purchase a hand grinder when you buy your grain. This way, you'll be set up to grind your supplies and create food, even without electricity. Stone wheels on grinding mills put a little grit into each lot of grain they process; while the chances of this damaging your teeth during a few months or more of use is pretty small, it's still a consideration. Therefore, you'll do well to avoid purchasing one of the cheaper units using a stone and spend a bit more to get a metal "burr" grinding head. One excellent hand mill with a metal burr head is offered by Preparedness Products (130 S. Redwood Rd.,N. Salt Lake, UT 84054). Their mill costs only $57 and comes with a manual showing exactly how to uses it. (One note: when milling flour, the finer the flour is ground, the less laxative effect it will have when to those eating it.)

Baking palatable meals from scratch is not easy. So if you decide to store grains and beans for food during an emergency, NOW is the time for you or your spouse to learn the recipes and procedures for turning them into food your family will eat. Buy some cook books and experiment beforehand rather than when a crisis hits. This will also make it possible to determine just what seasonings, oils, and other ingredients you'll need for your cooking so you can have them stored, too. Remember that preparing and cooking beans and grains takes quite a bit of time. This is time that won't be available for other work. You'll need to weigh your needs and situation carefully before going with one type of storage program or another. Chances are, you'll want to include "a little bit of everything" in your storage program to enable you to create quick meals when time is short.

When planning your storage program, also be sure to tailor it to your family's needs. If there are any special foods (like baby formula or low-sodium food) needed by members of your family, be sure to include them in your stocks. The storage life of baby foods can be found marked on their containers. You pet's nutritional needs should also be considered. While it isn't essential that a pet survives a disaster, having a dog or cat conk out is traumatic. Such tragedy you can do without during a crisis. So stock extra pet food in your supplies. As mentioned earlier, food should be stored in cool temperature will remain eatable longer than food in hot areas. If you live in a region that has cold winters, allow the food to be exposed to this cold; in areas with hot summers, try to air condition your stocks to prolong shelf lives. If you do this, for every 15 degrees below 70 degrees Fahrenheit you can keep the food, you'll double its shelf life.

How much food do you need to store? Unless you're currently working as a ditch digger, the physical work of defending yourself, preparing food, or cleaning and rebuilding following a major disaster will require that you have a greater caloric intake than you currently enjoy. You'll also require a higher percentage of protein to rebuild muscles that are overworked. So don't skimp on the food you store and be sure a high percentage of protein is provided by your storage program.

Figuring the caloric and protein contents to provide balanced meals is outside the scope of this manual. You'd be wise to obtain several good dieting books at a local library and use them to find caloric contents of various foods and learn how to create healthful, balanced meals. Remember that you'll need extra protein and, whenever possible, minimize the fat content of your "emergency diet" and substitute complex carbohydrates for sugars and fat. For "quick figuring", plan on storing at least 3,000 calories per adult per day; 2,000 calories will get you by if you're sitting in a shelter with nothing to do all day. Otherwise, you'll need more.

 

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