Posted: 5/21/2012 1:48:04 PM EDT
So I have added slowly over time to my long term food storage, did my own mylar bags with beans, rice, pasta. Have the canned food that is stored/rotated through. For me and mine we have about 2 months worth. I want to step it up and get a longer term pantry going. I have seen the Costco buckets but I was wanting something more with meat in it, of course if I am hungry I wont be picky .
I have $1500 to spend what would be some options you have looked at or have? Thanks for the input. I |
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Buy canned stews, hams, roast beef, chicken etc. These are good for years, as in a decade or more if stored reasonably. You can have a mega shit load of canned meats and vegies for $1500 and rotate them. Use that freeze dried stuff for long term or some for emergencies, back packing and car kits. Flour and corn meal can easily keep 5 years.
I have 2 or more years of canned meats and vegies and just rotate them. If I see some stuff going 2 or more years we start eating that. YMMV ETA learn to can your own meat. It is easy and you get a custom fresh product to your taste budswithout added chemicals 
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Quoted:
I might have to look into learning to can my own stuff. Really the better idea. I will help you any way I can as others did for me! Feel free to PM me. We canned a couple hundred pounds of sausage (many flavors), stew, hamburger in multiple flavors such as taco and BBQ pork shoulders/loins. If I can do this it is easy  Follow simple but non negotiable rules every time and you are golden.
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It depends on your definition of 'long term'.
If long term means three, four years, then its hard to beat regular canned goods available at the grocery store. But it on sale and stock it deep. Or when ingredients are cheap make homemade foods and pressure can it.. This is a great option for lots of food on a limited budget. If long term means 10,15,20 years or more, then your options are much more limited and its more expensive. For really basics (wheat, rice, oatmeal, beans) it is very hard to beat prices for prepacked #10 cans from the LDS church. Shipping is included, its canned, with O2 absorbers and it about as good a deal as you can find. 'If you want more variety, you can find various suppliers. I've been shopping Honeyville, using specials codes, and buying freze dried veggies, fruits, etc. I do not buy premade meals. Its more expensive. I opt for basics and figure I can cook it. I'm not looking for easy or convenient. I'm opting for the most food for a given amount of cash. if its canned meats (tuna, ham, etc) I don't pay a ton of attention to expiry dates. i store them cool and dry, and the useable life is longer than the date. the idea that a particular can is good until midnight on a certain date, and then magically 'poof!' its expired and unsafe is pure bunk. |
| for $350 you can buy a new top end pressure canner that your kids can inherit, a dehydrator and a vacuum sealer.. use the vacuum food processor and adapter (standard and wide mouth) to vacuum pack Bell/Mason jars(there are hand operated vacuum pumps that can be adapted to work without power)...probably 3 to 5 year for pressure canned meats, vacuum packed dehydrated foods..... and as commented the #10 cans from LDS are hard to beat... having the home equipment allows you to be flexible with storing the meat available to you |
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frozenny brings excellent points.
From reading the boards here over the years, Long Term really does mean different things to different people. I do not know how many people you are storing for or your storage goal. For example, at my house, it is just me and the wife unit. -kids are grown, married and out of the house. Our storage centers around the two of us, but with the possibility that some kids/grandkids may show up. Our goal is 1yr of storage. My approach to food storage was to look at what and how we eat now and thinking about how we can store items to continue this. We already eat a lot of beans and rice, easy to store. We eat bread, grinding our own wheat into flour makes bread baking even better. Wheat berries are easy to store. We eat oatmeal, oats are also an easy store. Then I thought about storage size. I originally wanted to go the 5gal bucket route. However, I soon figured out that 5gal buckets are just too big for us. It would take us a very long time to go through a 5gal bucket of oats. We decided on 1gal Mylar and #10 can sizes. Cases of #10 cans are easy to stack and you can stack a bunch is a small area. 
Once we had those basics taken care of we moved to other areas. My wife has gotten into canning. - Once you try homemade jam, you are never going to want to buy any at the store ever again. 
Meat was something lacking. SPAM stores for a long time, luckily we both also like it. Once we got a pressure canner, we started canning meats and we have also bought some cans of freeze dried ground beef, chicken and pork sausage. Freeze dried fruits are also something we recently added. Freeze dried lasts 20+ yrs, but it is pretty expensive. Most of the stuff we have stored is 20+ yrs, however, we also do not just pack it and forget it. We eat from our stored items now and replace it as we go. Our plans really don't include eating 20yr old rice. 
Another advantage of eating what we store is that it helps me determine how much we actually use in a year. About the only thing we don't use on a regular basis is the freeze dried fruits and meats - and the canned bacon. We try them out and if we like them, we pack them away. As mentioned, the LDS is a GREAT resource. If you have access to a local cannery, that should be your first stop. Our first wheat order was from the website, before I realized there was a local cannery in San Antonio. Local canneries have a few advantages: 1) Prices are are cheaper 2) You don't have to worry about UPS/FedEx tossing your order around and denting the cans. 3) They have a bigger selection of items. Find your local cannery |
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awesome, thanks!
what pressure cookers are you guys using and which dehydrators have you had luck with? I don't want to put in $500 into cheap things that will just break in a year. I really do believe in buy once cry once philosophy. off to google for canning directions, I really appreciate the direction and offers of help- really- thank you! |
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Quoted:
awesome, thanks! what pressure cookers are you guys using and which dehydrators have you had luck with? I don't want to put in $500 into cheap things that will just break in a year. I really do believe in buy once cry once philosophy. off to google for canning directions, I really appreciate the direction and offers of help- really- thank you! http://www.allamericancanner.com/allamericanpressurecanner.htm You may cry but when you take it out of the box they will be tears of pure joy:) |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
awesome, thanks! what pressure cookers are you guys using and which dehydrators have you had luck with? I don't want to put in $500 into cheap things that will just break in a year. I really do believe in buy once cry once philosophy. off to google for canning directions, I really appreciate the direction and offers of help- really- thank you! http://www.allamericancanner.com/allamericanpressurecanner.htm You may cry but when you take it out of the box they will be tears of pure joy:) lol, thanks! |
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Quoted: So I have added slowly over time to my long term food storage, did my own mylar bags with beans, rice, pasta. Have the canned food that is stored/rotated through. For me and mine we have about 2 months worth. I want to step it up and get a longer term pantry going. I have seen the Costco buckets but I was wanting something more with meat in it, of course if I am hungry I wont be picky . I have $1500 to spend what would be some options you have looked at or have? Thanks for the input. I If your looking to progress way into LTS. Expand what you have in the dried goods area. There are many items that you can mylar up.MANY. I second the self canning. We do it. I have a basic presto model pressure canner and a enamel water bath canner. They work just as well as the american, but like said, you want the canner to last 100+yrs . Balls blue book will help you on what to can and how. 1500$ puts you way ahead of the game.More so if you self pack vs buy it new. Look into the LDS online store for cheap #10's and other online vendors for sales. |
One thing you may want to think about is how much work you want to put into preparing your food when you need it. Are you looking for something that is going to need different ingredients that have to be measured, mixed and cooked? Or are you looking for something easier? If you know this it makes it much easier to know what type of food stores will be best for you. Hope this helps. 
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