One of my goals this year was to get a year supply of food storage and water. My church has a canning program but a lot of the stuff basic like wheat and flour. I can barely make a bowl of cereal so that sort of stuff is useless to me. I thought about buying cases of Top Ramen, canned tuna or something similar - cheap, light, easy, to store. Any info on this would be greatly appreciated. I am sure many others could benefit from the info. I am looking for a good link to water containers also

Dinty Moore stew and Hormel chili stay good for a long time....call companys and ask what the shelf life is.(What did ya do for Y2K ?-lol)

go here: [url]http://www.frugalsquirrels.com[/url] and check out the forums. Start looking around for books on cooking with home storage. I've been working on a similar thing. I don't have any problems cooking the stuff. My big problem is that I hate beans. So I try to work them in by cooking rice/beans with some meat. With the meat added I can tolerate the meal more. I figure that if I ever have to rely on the stockpile alone without supermarket meat available I can suck it up and live with beans and rice solo. Anyway, learning to cook from basic foods is a really good idea. Once you get into it you'll be eating cheaper and healthier than the prepackaged and canned stuff. (Not so many quick meals available though) It's also a good idea to stock up a lot of flavor adding things like cans of chicken stock, gravy, stew, bullion cubes, soup mixes etc. A can of stew or grave can add a lot of flavor to a big ol pot of beans and rice. Cooking oil and lard are good. Also stock up on your favorite spices. The more flavorings you can add, the longer you can go on the beans/rice/wheat/cornmeal thing without it getting boring. I think the best advice is to get started learning to cook with the basics. Rotate through your storage all the time so you are used to eating it. You'll eventually figure out what tastes good to you. That is what you want to store. If you don't eat it, don't store it. For water containers I've got an uncle who works at the coke plant in bismarck nd who can get me the 55 gal plastic drums anytime for free. I seem to remember him saying that they sell them to the public pretty cheap. They also have smaller blue ones that hold around 7 gallons or so. If you don't mind a bit of pop taste in you're water these would probably be a good bargain.

[img]http://www.stampede-entertainment.com/wrmkllr/gun-l.jpg[/img] "What you need, son, are MRE's. Meals-Ready to Eat"

Hahaha - Is that from Tremors? Anyway where does one get MRE's

Where are you located? I know someone in WA who sells water storage tanks. These are enormous plastic ones, supported by a metal cage, with spigots.

You're LDS then? If not, then ask a Mormon for advice.

I am in Arizona. Yeah I'm LDS but I really don't like some of the things they offer. They have some canned spaghetti and such but they still are into wheat and flour beans etc... With todays modern preserve methods I would think I could get some food that will keep. If I bought that Dinty Moore Id have it eaten in a week - that stuff is good. I dont know too much about MRE's either

I went to several pre-y2k canning sessions with a mormon I know. It depends on when you go as to what items they have for canning, at least at the place I went to. They did have the easy to prepare foods (just add water) like dehydrated potato flakes, dehydrated vegetables, powdered milk and other drink mixes. I would suggest buying those items from the LDS since the prices are about 50% of what you would pay at the big commercial food storage places.

Yeah, I guess since I give 10% of what I make to the church I really should take advantage of the discounts.

Lack of water will hurt you first, so take care of it first. I'll tell you how you can store relatively large ammounts of water right now at *no cost*. Head to your local Wally World or similar - buy those big 3 liter drinks for $.70 or so - drink 'em - rinse and fill with water - add a couple of drops of plain, not scented, bleach. You can store a buttload of water this way - and it's portable. Tate

another alternative to supplement your supply: [url]www.mountainhouse.com[/url] click on "emergency food" It is on the expensive side, but it is lightweight and easy to prepare.

Anybody know of a cheap source for the 55 gallon food grade plastic drums in Idaho?

More specifically, Tremors 2. While MRE's are good in a pinch, I'd go with House, or other types of camping de hydrated food. The only downfall of course is you'll need the water to make the meals. MREs can be eaten as is, or you can boil them to heat them up.

this guy _is_my_idol_...

You buy them from Cheaper Than Dirt, Ft. Worth, TX [url]www.cheaperthandirt[/url] Major Surplus, Gardena, Calif. [url]www.majorsurplusnsurvival.com[/url] I would be careful eating that MRE stuff though if you don't have too, I looked at the fat and sodium content, and they are loaded. I would seriously think about getting the canned stuff at the local supermarket, because the food is a heck of a lot cheaper. I think the MREs are like canned food, but instead of a metal can, they used a aluminum/plastic package. I called the Nesle Food Co., and I asked them what is the reaon for expiration on their canned foods; and the lady said that it has to do with strictly with taste. She said that it is no problem eating food that has reached/exceeded the expiration just that it won't taste as good. I called Mountainhouse on their 800 number to inquire on how long does their freezed dried food last, and again they said their food in their foil-type packaging lasts indefinite if the package is not opened or compromised, but they recommend that you eat their food within 5-7 years, but again the only thing that deteriorates according to them, is the flavor. MountainHouse also has food in steel #5 cans, that hold approximately 1 gallon. From their advertising, they claim 20 year shelf life. Here is what I personally would do, have a few MREs, and some freezed-dried MountainHouse food, and a lot of shelf stable food from the super market.

I got a bunch of those GI type can openers from Cheaper than Dirt, I think it was something like 5 for $1, and you can just tape etc to the side of the canned food. Beside you should have one of those multiple tools such as Leatherman that has a can opener on it.