[alidavidson]

Hi Lynda, could you please provide a link to the utube video? I'm quite interested.
I've been "stock piling" for about 20 years, but never got into preserving food. It's time I learned!
Great forum you all........even an oldie like me has learned a few new tips.
Love & Peace folks

[Lynda1811]

Link for the Excalibur dehydrator utube videos.

Excalibur

Lynda

[alidavidson]

Thanks again Lynda!!

[puterperfect814]

I make a list during the month so I know what we use and what we need 2 replace. basic stuff toilet paper toothpaste tooth brushes shampooh deod. (hba) doesnt go bad so I buy as it goes on sale or clearance. I stock file for 6 months at a time. Things dont go bad that soon . I freeze lots of stuff too poptarts cheese applesauce . Remember things with vinegar in them stay alot longer (sauces & salad dressings).Hope this helps and happy stock piling!!!!!

[Enfield]

Ok, from my standpoint, some have the right idea when it comes to "putting away things".... Some dont.

If you stockpile for hardships, make sure that what you stockpile you will use.

I mean free is free, but really do you need 100+ bottles of shampoo?

Concentrate on the areas that you need i.e. food, learn how to can if you dont. Buy your grain in bulk, get a grinder for it, and USE it.


Now to be honest, if you do have 100+ bottles of shampoo and are thinking that it is good bartering material, thats cool.

Now one that posts here.... Are we related?
From lburgess:

I store longterm items but these can't be purchased with coupons or gotten for free. I have about 1200 lbs white wheat, and 600 lbs red wheat, 400 lbs rice, 400 lbs rolled oats, 200 lbs black beans, lentils, pinto beans and kidney beans, 100 lbs salt, 200 lbs sugar, 30 lbs honey, 10 cases of potato flakes and 200 lbs of powdered milk and most came from the LDS Cannery except for the honey, salt, potato flakes and lentils. i am constantly adding to longterm storage because most of these item have a 35 year shelf life.
I stockpile grocery items but I don't consider them survival foods. We even have MREs and Mountain House canned foods.

Need to pay attention, she has it right.

[sherbear14]

I shop now based upon my coupons. We eat what I have a coupon for. I get alot of papers so I can stockpile alot of food. I have been unemployed for a while and this has helped tremendously. I have two freezers packed with food and when money gets tight I have a yard sale and sell my stockpile so we can have some cash, but couponing has saved me thousands of dollars this year that I do not have! My pets will never go hungry and neither will my kids, the last time I counted I had 52 boxes of cereal. One for each week!

[couponmom1956]

We are a family who is very concerned about the future of this country. A year ago, we began making every effort to become self-sufficient and stockpile for our future. There are several great books and websites that deal with this subject, but for now I will just tell you a few of the things we have learned.

We are not Mormon, but the Mormon's are required by their church to stockpile one year's worth of food in case of emergency/disaster. There is a calculator that is available to determine how much grain, beans, sugars, oils, etc. are required for your particular family. It can be found here: Food Storage Calculator
You can use this as a starting point for your purchases/stockpiling. Buying 1-2 bags of dried beans each time you go to the store adds up quickly, so don't be discouraged when you see the quantity needed.

The bakery department of your local grocery stores will be happy to give you their icing containers. The large ones will hold 40 pounds of grain. They can also be used to store any items that you want to keep varments, etc. out of.

Other things to stockpile would be salt (for preserving meats), clorox (for sterilizing water in the event you lose your water supply), medicines, first aid items (alcohol, neosporin, bandages, etc.), soap, toothpaste, etc. We purchase grain, oatmeal, rice, beans in bulk quantities (40 pound containers) from a local distributor. I also buy yeast in 1 pound containers. It will store indefinitely if kept dry.

We have a garden every year and have been canning everything we possibly can! This year we cleared 5 acres and are planning on having a huge garden next year. If you do not have space for a garden, you can still grow many things in large containers. This year I tried tomatoes and pole beans to see how they would produce. Obviously, we couldn't grow enough to put up, but one container of pole beans gave us at least one meal per week for several weeks. We had tomatoes almost daily. You can also purchase fresh vegetables at the store and can those. Publix had green beans on sale this week for $.99/pound. I bought a couple of pounds and will be canning those today. It may not yield but 3-4 quarts, but that's more than I had yesterday. I purchased large amounts of pears when Publix had them for $.68/pound. We now have several quarts of canned pears in our pantry. Almost everything can be canned, so keep your eyes open at the stores.

Plan as if you will have no power, no water, etc. What would keep and what would ruin? Do a trial run....try using no power or water for one day and see where your weak areas are. Can you prepare a meal from your pantry without opening the fridge or freezer (that includes butter, milk, condiments, etc)? How long could you survive that way? These are the things you want to stockpile!

Even if our economy were to turn around, it just makes sense to be able to survive an emergency or disaster of any kind. We never know when we might be attacked again or how that attack will effect our means of living.

If you want to chat further, let me know. I'm always happy to share how the Lord has been leading us in this area.

[jlaporte]

I love all the posts. I stockpile for my family for many reasons. It used to be ppl lauphed at me for it. But given some time they turned to me for advice on how to get started. I had a decent stockpile before we moved to Fl we took it with us good thing. We lived off it all for close to 6 months. Scence then Dh got a job and we were lucky enouph to get food stamps. So I make every dollar stretch. I can usually get 100.00 worth of food for 30.00 or less. I make a budget and stick to it and add all the time to our stock.My Dh is a dept manager at a grocery store so we rotate and date things and keep it fresh. I cook from scratch and make lots of home made goodies.It gets hard to keep up with sales sometimes because a sale does come alone and we r broke! It gets me mad but I know we cant get ever deal.I have a full closet for hba and similar stuff.I have a large walk in closet I use for deep freeze and canned stuff with high shelves.
I find for me I like to keep the cardboard boxes the cans come in from the store. Whwere I do buy a case at a time it helps to rotate my stock.
I agree saving little bits does add up and u can make a good meal from it.
Recently I started buying wraps alot. I can buy em at save a lot for a buck or name brand ones real cheep with a Q and a sale. It makles a nice sammie or cheep bread with a meal in a pinch.
Also I think being versital with your cooking also helps out alot!
We also stockpile craft stuff,used to work at a craft store,got alot for free. So when times are hard you wont be bored.
If cost on somethings become an issue go in with a friend and split it.
Just need some imagination and u can make anything go further especially with the hard times.

[4my5kds]

We stockpile everything we use and even things we don't if free and give that to charity. With five kids "enough is NEVER enough" So I have shelves in the basement lined with paper products, an area filled with eevry food item you can think of and three freezers filled. I have not paid full price for anything for as long as I can remember.

I also can and the best thing I have ever made for my family is homemade LOW sugar jam. I made peach, blueberry and strawberry this year. My kids eat a ton of jam/jelly(peanut butter and jelly) one day I looked at the sugar-scary! So I get "Ripes" from a local farmer on the cheap and use ball no/low sugar pectin, I use fruit and 1.5 cups sugar for 5 to 6 pints. Normal jam uses 6-7 CUPS...Not good!! I bought my jars at garage sales and used q's for my pectin/lids. My kids love this jam and it tastes like fruit not sugar. I have 40 pints I am hoping we make it till next season!! I have even put the peach over pork chops then baked them they turned out awesome!

[sugarprincess]

Originally Posted by 6youngs

Just another thought -- I was looking at one of the previews for next weeks sales and I remember -- this may sound strange to some people -- but I also stockpile clothing and shoes for my younger children. The teenagers are a no go on this one but the 5 year old totally ok. I buy clothing at least a size larger than they are now for the next 6 to 12 months. I also do that with shoes --close outs etc. for next year.

My daughter has her school closes already for next year.

I do this also, I buy kids clothes at the end of the season when they are super cheap, I just bought my oldest daughters bathing suit for next year for $1. I also never turn down hand me downs as long as they are in good condition, little kids grow too fast to worry about buying expensive name brands. I also stockpile school supplies when they go on clearance and toys and holiday stuff.