HELLLLP PLEASE!!! Need to find cheapest long-term food FAST!!!!!

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I Need to find the cheapest (quality is important too of course) long-term food...FAST (1 month left). Also, I need a good water filter...where can I find that cheap too? thanks....I'm nearly in a panic!

-Orson

-- Orson Wells (wells@whitebulb.com), November 29, 1999

Answers

1. rice and beans

2. paper coffee filters, then boil the water.

-- SOL (Toolittle@to.late), November 29, 1999.


Try the REGULAR line of Lumen Foods' soy products, turnaround time is less than a week right now. soybean.com

Water filters: realgoods.com, pump-style for 500 galls, approx. $25, covers giardia and crypto. Also ask at prep forum:

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a.tcl?topic=TimeBomb%202000%20%2 8Y2000%29%20Preparation%20Forum

-- soy (is@all.you.need), November 29, 1999.


You're kidding right?. I mean you have been on this forum for a while.

Go back to the main list of these threads and look for Stan's 14 days or just go to the bottom and look for the category for foods.



-- hamster (hamster@mycage.com), November 29, 1999.


Water Filter:

www.pwgazette.com/gravity.htm

BEST price I've found on DOULTON cartridges (these are what make the Big Berkey the Big Kahuna of water filters)

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), November 29, 1999.


I am done with my preps, but I was in Sam's Club Friday and saw something I had overlooked - super cheap. Cases of 24 Ramen Noodles for $2.50. Think of it - eight days food for one person for $2.50.

If I were in a pinch and in a hurry Four cases - $10.00 - would feed a person for 32 days. Family of five - $50.00 - for a month.

Yeh, - you would get really tired of them - but - get several flavors and take a break from them with some other things and you could stretch your food dollars a loonnnggg way.

I went ahead and got a few to have on hand to share. If it gets bad, nobody is going to be picky about what they eat for very long.

Now that I am done, I keep running across things that are great buys and I never thought of them.

When people say it is too late to prepare, I don't agree. In an afternoon of carefull, thoughtful shopping, you could still get a family of five ready for several months and still have some variety and some nice eating in those provisions.

-- homestead2 (homestead@monroecty.net), November 29, 1999.



its very simple nothing complicated, Rice,beans(lentils..least cooking time)water barrels 55gal..you can fill with home..water add bleach 8drops per gal.all of that can be done in 1 day and you would be ahead of 95% of the population.Nothing extravagant.Very simple.

-- friend (all@you.need), November 29, 1999.

Orson is not a newbie.

Been looking for a LONG time for a post....can someone help please??

-- (issuing@an.advisory), November 29, 1999.


Hey, don't think that you need to go out and buy a "long term storage system". If you are diligent and really look for the individual components, protein, carbs , vitamins , minerals, etc. it is much cheaper. IE. try out cheaperthandirt.com (sportsmansguide.com as well) for long term bread and ham slices, Sam's Club/ Costco for par boiled rice, Walmart for whatever is on sale in the canned goods, etc. I would steer clear of Lumen foods, I order the trial packs and they were terrible!! attracted ants and were certainly less than top shelf if flavor and packaging. Good luck and better late than never. ty

-- Ty Campbell (tcampbel@otfs.state.ga.us), November 29, 1999.

The cheapest foods that store well over the long-term: rice (white rice stores longer, but lacks nutrients found in brown rice), dried beans (pinto beans, lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas, etc.), wheat berries (can be ground into flour using a hand mill, or soaked and boiled), popcorn, oats. When purchased in bulk, these foods are *incredibly* inexpensive and provide a foundation of both protein and calories. Bulk stores, such as Sam's Club or Costco are good sources, as are feed-and-grain stores.

To supplement the basic grains and legumes, buy vegetable oil (for example: olive oil, or canola oil), canned goods (for example: vegetables, fruit, and soups), condiments (for example: hot sauce, mustard, ketchup), and vitamins. These are especially necessary to avoid appetite fatigue -- people who eat a monotonous, bland diet for a long time often stop eating enough to keep their strength up. They waste away, even with food available.

You should drop in on the Prep Forum for far more info than I can give here. Look at the top of this screen for the LUSENET link. Follow it. The screen that comes up will list a link to the TBY2000 Prep Forum.

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), November 29, 1999.


Orson Wells,

Rice at Sam's: 50-lb. bags @ approximately $10-$11 per bag.

-- eve (123@4567.com), November 29, 1999.



Ty, sorry you didn't like Lumen's soy products. I'm a vegetarian and have been using them for over eight years. If properly prepared in appropriate recipes, the soy meat look-alikes are highly palatable and flavorful and produce less flatulence than TVP sold by others. I've had some of the regular stuff for over a year; it has never attracted ants or any other insect life (although some unnoticed spilled sugar did!), is still good, and the non-Y2K packaging is a vacuum-sealed heavy plastic bag--which I put into a food-grade plastic bucket.

Now is a good time to remind everyone that it is important to experiment with preparing and cooking unfamiliar foods NOW. There are soy-product recipes in the archives of both forums. Incidentally, Lumen's fake jerky can be eaten straight from the bag and children love it.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), November 29, 1999.


---

Orson,

Pasta: Spaghetti Noodles

Spaghetti Sauce: Hunts & Del Monte in cans or bottles (cans are cheapest)

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinners (in a box)

Sterno & Sterno Stove (frame)

Multi-Vitamins: generic daily

Cheap, simple & quick. Most available at your grocery store.

For Water: 55 gal Blue Water Barrel, Syphon Pump & British Berkfeld Filter (Mostly available locally, many available)

---

If you cannot find the barrels, pumps & Berkfeld Filter locally, you can order them from many sources. I would drive to nearest store or supplier to get it quick.

Where do you live?

Maybe someone here has a local supplier near you.

---

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), November 29, 1999.


P.S. - The local prep store here in the Houston area is:

Harvest Time Products, 11351 Jones Road West, Cypress, TX 77429, 281-970-8848

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), November 29, 1999.


Bulk dry soybeans provide about the best dollar/nutrition ratios.

However, and this is important, they require one of the longest cooking times. If you consider this route, make sure you have a good pressure cooker - it significantly reduces the time/energy required for cooking.

Soybeans have a very mild taste and go well with just about anything.

For true long term storage (multi-year), you'll want beans dried down to roughly 10%. For shorter term, don't worry too much about moisture content.

Also, before investing in soybeans, obtain a small quantity and cook in a pressure cooker for 45-55 minutes. Make sure you like them before putting away food you'll never eat.

Mrs. Rimmer and I found them to be very good and highly adaptable - since they don't have a strong taste, they tend to take on the flavor of whatever enhancers you choose to use.

-- Arnie Rimmer (Arnie_Rimmer@usa.net), November 29, 1999.


interesting. people lurk on this board for months--even post--and look how the folks who have worked hard for a year or more (to analyze, shop, prepare, etc.) scramble to help out someone who has waited until the last minute??? wonder if the pollies would be so nice.

-- tt (cuddluppy@nowhere.com), November 29, 1999.


Silly at this point to be spending money on "long term" storage food (and taking the chance that it won't be delivered in time)... unless you already have 2+ years of regular food stored and are now fitting out the bomb shelter ala "Blast From The Past".

Store what you eat.. eat what you store.

And about water - see http://solarcooking.org/... and do a search for "pasteurization".

Or are you just funnin' us?

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), November 29, 1999.


Buy cases/cans of beans, corns, and peas at the grocery. Add cans of tuna. All on sale now. Mix and match. I bought MREs at Chepaer Than Dirt at about $2 per entre. You can query availability now.

Be sure to include protein in your preps, if only beans. Be sure to have variety.

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), November 29, 1999.


cheapest 55 gallon water barrels is around $36.50. 15% off longterm food . Since you are in a hurry. I think this discount mail order takes only 1-2 weeks delivery, the last time I checked? Try http://geocities.com/hotsprings/falls/9793



-- Ready (ready@already.com), November 29, 1999.

While you're at Sam's Club, pick up some 25 lbs bags of sugar, flour and rice, and some yeast. Also, 25 lbs popcorn in buckets (cornmeal).

Get yourself a hand-crank grinder.

Call up your local food co-op and order some 25 lbs bags of hard red winter wheat.

Get some salt. I figure a fellow can't have too much of this.

Get some big boxes of low fat powdered milk.

This stuff, together with the beans, recommended above, will see you through.

To keep it interesting, and avoid fatigue, lay in some condiments: spices, Worcestershire, soy sauce, vinegar.

Also, for the same reason, get a good supply of conventional canned goods, including oil-packed tuna.

When you're on the phone with the food co-op, get prices on sprouting seeds. You can have fresh greens that you raise yourself indoors, 12 months/year. For bulk quotes on sprouting seeds, check out http://www.johnnyseeds.com.

Have plenty of cooking fats such as Crisco, corn oil, olive oil.

I like freeze dried food systems, expensive as they are, but you can get along fine without them.

Water filters. Ark Institute having a sale on Big Berkey ceramic filter drip units. http://www.arkinstitute.com

Don't procrastinate; do it now! Good luck & God be with you.

-- Not Whistlin' Dixie (not_whistlin_dixie@yahoo.com), November 29, 1999.


In all my research, I found the best and cheapest water filter at Sportsman's Guide! Their catalog, which just happens to be with me at work today, says: This AquaRain Gravity Water Filter uses the same technology ss the ceramic water filters used by the Red Cross, Peace Corps and other relief agencies during disaster relief," which means the Big Berkefield used by these agencies. It also looks exactly like the Big Berkey, as well as having the same qualities of purifying.

The big difference? BB costs $279 and is made in England. AquaRain costs $229 and is made in America.

You can go to www.sportsmansguide.com or call 1-800-888-3006 to order. If you join their club, you can charge your order and pay it over four monthly deductions from your charge card. (I do not work for or know anyone at this firm.)

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), November 30, 1999.


Start with canned soup, canned veggies, powdered or dried whatever (potato flakes, rice, noodles, ...), the Campbells chunky soups (bigger cans are a meal for two ready-to-eat themselves - at less than 2.00 each), anything that doesn't require refrigeration is available immediately - at least until the rest of the population wakes up....

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), November 30, 1999.

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