Posted: 5/17/2008 10:02:09 PM EDT
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I'm a single guy who lives in an APT and doesn't have a bug out location. The only food storage I have is a few months of MRE's. It really isn't practical for me to have 50 pounds of rice stored in 5 gallon buckets in my closet. What would yall think of the idea of buying smaller sized Mylar bags and buying Mountain House #10 cans and making individual meal packets. Of course I would add some rice or other non salted grain filler. So in short has anyone done anything like this? Suggestions would be appreciated as well. Prep |
What are you proposing to have in the packets? I sometimes make individual meal packets for the freezer using my vacuum sealer. Is this the sort of thing you're contemplating? |
| I have thought about vac sealing from the #10's but haven't tried it yet as I have been vac sealing other stuff that wont last as long as the MH. Another option would be using mason jars to store beans/rice/whatever (TJ has a thread on using glass jars going now). The advantage would be a)smaller containers easier to rotate and b) if you have the jar boxes just stack 4 or 5 cases of 'em up throw a sheet over and call it a night stand(one advantage to being single my ex-wife did NOT like this idea) but hey i made a dresser out of 4 mre cases in the desert so whatever works is my philosophy |
Personally I wouldn't "unpack" the MH #10 cans. They are factory nitrogen purged w/ O2 absorbers for a 30 year shelf life. A MH#10 can won't really last you all that long in a post SHTF world. Most of the cans have less then 3000 cals per can www.mountainhouse.com/nutr.cfm?cat=cans. Even if you mix w/ rice/beans and add some canned food you will still eat a whole can in 3-4 days. You could also get MH in pouches. They are a little more expensive and only have a 7 year shelf life. I find the 2 serving pouch is about 1 meal for me. I usually add some cooked rice to make more volume and/or decrease the saltiness of some of the meals. You can also add a little flaked potato if it's a little runny. I understand the not whole not wanting to pack food up in 5 gal mylar bags/pails. That is a lot of food to open and use if your on your own. I am going to do #10 can sized mylar for rice/sugar etc. I can easily use up that before it "spoils". Another option I just posted about on another thread is you can get canned #10 sized food from the LDS online.LINK to LDS I only ordered the Pintos just to check them out, but they also have a 30 year listed shelf life on the side of the can. I plan on getting more. They are reasonably priced considering all the work is already done and it's shipped to your door. Or as somebody else already posted you could use canning jars, but that could get expensive as they are about $18/doz for the qt size in my area. FB |
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Thanks for the replies. I've tried the MH packets and I find them extremely salty, so I thought that if I made an individual packet with a serving of some dried MH food and some rice to offset the salt it would be better and not leave me feeling like I need to drink a lake afterwards. It would be like storing food in Mylar bags, just MUCH smaller bags. Also the another reason was because food is supposed to be tasty, but eating the same tasty food at every meal, every day for even 3 days can have negative effects. Thanks for the link to the LDS cannery site I'll definitely look into that. Prep |
Thanks for that link. I was looking around and couldn't find how much they charge for shipping. Can you give me an idea of what you were charged? |
From the west coast to Maine for two cases of Pintos ~ 60lbs, shipping was ZERO  It's included in the price. They charge ~$7 less if you go and pick it up in person for beans/rice and about $4 less for oats. FB |
then you need to network or find one  an Apt. is a shortterm event only BOL. IMHO. like others said leave the mnH stuff as it. to rebag wouldnt make sense. You could mylar and o2 smaller "single"serve units. BUT imho 1-2 5 gallon bukcets with smaller assorted units may work best . this way its bagged and outta the way. oh fwiw 50 lbs of rice is ONE 5 gallon bucket a few months of MRE's is alot of space used up,.1 case is 6 days worth at 2 meals a day. few months is 15+ cases( at 5 cases a month x 3 months). 15 cases stacked 3 high and 5 long is the same as 5-6 5 galoon bcukets packed in a single row. that on avg is 200+ lbs of rice/wheat/beans in the same area. even at 1 lb per day of each you rnear the 200+ day mark VS 90 days worththe same space applied to "buckets" or containers would hold 5 times the length and amount of foods. fwiw- i live in an apt, and have since i really got into all this , i just chose to use my space as best i can. YMMV |
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I have taken a look at it and y'all are right MH is not the way to go. What I think I'm going to end up doing is making day sized portions for myself out of rice. beans, wheat etc and storing them in Mylar bags in the closet. I've been working on a bug out location but it still would be inside city limits. Thanks for the help. Prep |