Am now a believer in getting prepared and am trying to find a reputable company to get food from. Any thoughts? How to get food quickly without getting ripped??

TIA,

Chuck

-- Chuck Traywick (ctrawick@interpath.com), January 25, 1999

Answers

Gather up the appropriate information on what you should store (easily & cheerfully found on the 'net) and put your food storage together YOURSELF. Your money will go farther this way and you won't get ripped off (unless you buy poor quality items to begin with...).

j

-- j (sandpine@juno.com), January 25, 1999.

Chuck, one thing to remember: triple coupons, if any grocery stores near you participate in this. You can get a lot of items for next to free - particularly the post-Y2K luxury stuff. There's excellent coverage on Gary North's food storage site including a great no- frills shopping list.

It gets more fun as you go along.

-- Lisa (lisab@shallc.com), January 25, 1999.

Supermarkets are your best bet. You do *not* need to pay thousands of dollars for specially-prepared 'survival' food, much of which is packaged to last ten or more years in storage, and much of which is of questionable quality and delivery due to the growing concern. You are going to need the food much sooner than that, so the extra cost is hardly worth it.

Buy what you normally eat, unless what you normally eat is frozen dinners and fresh produce exclusively :) Here's a starting list, figured for one person for a year:

Rice: 100 lbs. Buy in 20 lb. bags - converted is better than white, but twice the cost. Minute rice is pricey, but takes almost no energy to prepare. Cost: $40.00

Beans: 100 lbs. Most groceries have the small, 1 lb. bags... a little more expensive than one big bag, but use it to your advantage: get *many varieties* of beans and peas. $70.00

Flour: 60 lbs. OK if you have a means to bake it as bread (need yeast too, then), or bake as flat (unleavened) bread. Flour will easily keep two years if you get the 5 lb. bags and place them in heavy zip-loc freezer bags. Get a sifter and yeast. Cost: $40.00

Fats/oils: Get two 5 lb. cans of Crisco solid shortening, as well as a couple gallons of all-purpose cooking oil. Any fat can perk up an otherwise semi-palatable meal. Cost: $20.00

Sugar: One 25 lb bag should last you all year, unless you've got a fierce sweet tooth. Cost: $10.00

Canned Goods: Tuna and salmon in oil (keeps better), corned beef hash, and Spam or similar luncheon loaf will provide protein, not necessary to have a serving daily... every other or third day is OK. Don't buy big cans - won't be able to refrigerate the remainder. Figure 40 cans of fish, another 40 of hash or stew, 40 of Spam (Spam and similar meats are at their best sliced *very thin* and fried quickly) and another 40 of a variety, such as beef ravioli, chili, etc. Canned fruits and vegetables - similar quantities to the meats above. Cost: around $200.00, depending on your choices. Seasonings: Boullion cubes, pepper - several pounds. That rice and beans is going to seem pretty bland after a while. Cost: $15.00

Salt: 10 lbs, iodized. Cost: $5.00

Dried Milk: 20 lbs. Not a necessity, although its value as morale food is high. Serve *cold* for best taste... add some chocolate drink mix, if you enjoy it. Cost: $25.00

Cookbook: 1. Self-explanatory :) Cost: $20.00

All the above can be obtained in any supermarkets. No need to draw attention to yourself by buying huge quantities all at one time, and probably best if you split your shopping up around several places.

A word about storage: You can repackage the dry goods if you'd like, but no real reason to do so except in the case of the flour, which can be left in its original bag and placed in a heavy-duty freezer type plastic zip-loc bag. As you get the dry goods, place the bags in your freezer for 4 days, this will kill any insects within. Store your food in either 20 or 30 gallon steel trash cans, with lids, from the hardware store. Steel is better than plastic pails... rats/mice will gnaw through even thick plastic if they smell the food inside. Important: be sure to scrub out the cans with *hot soapy water* (they'll fit in your bathtub, lay towels down inside to protect the enamel), since they have a slight residual film left on them from the manufacturing process which will contaminate the food if left in place. Scrub well, rinse and dry thoroughly, lids too. When ready to place them, place them on wood slats, such as 2X4 studs... you just need to keep the cans off the floor, especially if it's concrete. Cost of 3- 30 gallon cans: $60.00

WATER: More important than food. One-half gallon per day, per person *minimum*. 4- 55 gallon plastic, FDA-approved drums will cost you about $200 delivered, from U.S. Plastics Corp. at

http://www.usplastic.com/

Tops can be cut off and used as rain barrels if situation demands it.

Look at the Y2K info on their site. Get a hand pump along with the barrels, $20.00

For about $700.00, you can eat all year. You won't get fat on fancy food, but you'll live and do well.

Best of luck with your preparations, hope this helps.

-- Why2K? (who@knows.com), January 25, 1999.

What everyone said is great. Pack what you can yourself. If you cannot find everything that you need, especially the dairy products, call me or visit my web site to see pricing. Shipping time is now around 4 weeks. We are a very reputable company. If you don't need any of our products then visit the site anyway for the links and tips. Thanks, Diane

http://www.highlandtraders.com

-- Diane Milliken (prepare@highlandtraders.com), January 25, 1999.

Hi, I emailed you all of this info, but in case anyone else is interested, I'm copying it here.

We're sort of in the middle on our y2k preparations, but I think I may be able to help you with some ideas.

First, a GREAT book to have that lists it all, including shelf life, of just about everything, and how much you'll need per person, including sources for purchasing is "Making the Best of Basics, a Family Preparedness Handbook," by James Talmage Stevens, and you can get it at amazon.com.

Second, here are a bunch of web sites that may help. I haven't gone through them all just yet, I've just been bookmarking them as I see them:

http://www.these-times.com/dobasic.html http://www.waltonfeed.com/self/water.html http://members.tripod.com/z2z/index.html http://waltonfeed.com/self/seven.html http://www.glitchproof.com/glitchproof/bulstorofdry.html http://www.survival-center.com/foodfaq/ff1-toc.htm http://home.earthlink.net/~drduggee/solar.htm http://waltonfeed.com/self/upack/default.htm

We're going to take each web site by category, print out the useful info and arrange it all in notebook, as I'm sure we'll be referring to it all time and again.

If you decide to store whole grains, like wheatberries,corn, and soy, and buy a grain mill (wheatberries store almost indefinitely), check out Gary Hanson's web site (the Pleasant Hill Grain site above). His prices are by far the best on whole grains, but you have to order in quantity.

Good luck!

Jeannie

-- jhollander (hollander@ij.net), January 25, 1999.

Once again I will plug Future Foods (612) 504-2930. I am storing mostly regular canned goods from the super market, but I've supplemented it with fortified rice/soy casseroles from Future Foods. They come in beef or chicken flavor and at their most expensive (smallest quantity available is 36 6-meal packages) are only 58 cents per meal. If you get tired of them, they would be great to give to begging relatives. They are tasty and easy to prepare. I got my order in less than two weeks.

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), January 25, 1999.

Pearlie, do you have a URL for Future Foods?

-- Elbow Grease (Elbow_Grease@AutoShop.com), January 25, 1999.

I'd recommend table grade sea salt instread of the ordinary iodized salt. Sea salt has trace minerals that are needed in small quantities, but aren't found in regular grocery store salt.

The Millennium Mill from Stortite in Grant's Pass, Oregon, is a well made hand powered grain mill and worth checking out. When I ordered late last November it was here in 2 weeks. Very well put together. Flywheel is grooved to use with a v-belt. The crank has 3 positions allowing different leverages. Fineness of grind is adjustable.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), January 25, 1999.

Try you local health food store. Many of them buy in bulk and you can order in bulk from them. They usually give you a 10% discount. The great thing about buying this way is there is very little wait.

-- thinkIcan (thinkIcan@make.it), January 25, 1999.