Prepping on a cup o' joe - week 4 PRODUCE

This weeks cup is Produce. Fruits and veggies. You should plan on at least 2 cups per person per day. The USRDA (for what it's worth) is 2.5 cups of veggies and 1.5 cups of fruit.
There are a number of ways you can achieve produce preps, be sure to include a wide variety as eating dried apples and rasins will get old quickly.

If you have a backyard garden or even a few potted veggies on a balcony you're ahead of most people. I posted last week about garden seeds here Seeds of survival. Though I stick with those recommendations, even cheap hybrid seeds are better than nothing. However I strongly recommend that you read that post and educate yourself before storing cheap seeds.

My first recommendation for new preppers is canned goods. They're simple to store, fairly inexpensive on a per can basis, and easy to inventory. One can provides 3-4 half cup servings so you should plan on one can of fruit and two cans of veggies per person per day. They are pest proof and will last a very long time as long as they are properly stored. If you are concerned about moisture, consider waxing cans before storing them. A can of cheap veggies runs 40-50 cents around here.

In addition you can store dried fruits and veggies which store longer, weigh less, and take up less space. Real fruit leathers, applesauce and raisins are good choices. If you decide to go with some fruit leathers don't buy the 'candy' ones that are made by the snack companies like Betty Crocker - these are mostly sugar and have little nutritional value. Instead check the health food section of your grocery store. My family enjoys Fruit A Boo brand leathers.

You can also store canned soups as part of your produce.

For this weeks 'cup' you should purchase some combination of the following (make sure you get some fruits AND some veggies)

• 5 packages of quality, non-hybrid garden seeds
• 10-20 cans of veggies
• 5-10 cans of fruit
• 5-10 REAL fruit leathers
  
• 1 or 2 jars of applesauce
• a couple pounds of rasins or other dried fruit
• 10 cans of soup

Now you have a reasonable variety of food stored. You will need muchmore but next week we will look at medications & first aid.

Prepping on a cup o' joe - week 3 Protein

So we're going to spend one more week on foods just to get started then we're going to skip to another area. Let me say again that you need a well balanced diet to survive but since you can't buy everything at once this seems like the next logical choice.
This category would include things like meats, peanut butter, eggs, nuts, legumes, and hearty soups. A one month supply for one person might include:
10-15 # of meat &/or legumes
1 jar of peanut butter
3 dozen eggs
1 pound of nuts

Some easy, obvious choices for this week 'cup' are a combination of the following:

• 1-2 jars of peanut butter
• 1/2 lb nuts or seeds
  
• a dozen eggs - or for longer shelf life try frozen egg substitute or dried egg powder
• 6-10 cans of tuna fish, spam, vienna sausages, etc
• 6-10# of dried beans

In review you should now have enough water, grains, and protein items to last ONE person 15-30 days or a family of 4 about a week.

Storing bulk dry goods in PETE bottles w/oxygen absorbers

Storing Bulk Dry Foods in PETE Bottles using Oxygen Absorbers - More DIY How To Projects

Seeds of survival

Most preppers are familiar with the link I'm about to add but for anyone new to the concept of prepping these will be useful links.
survival seed vault -
Overview - Heirloom Organics/Survival Seed Vault. This company sells buckets of garden seeds for long term storage. Also included are planting instruction and 'seed resources'.
Cost comparison: I pay roughly $2.75 on average for a packet of non-hybrid, high quality garden seeds. The basic package sold by SSV is $99, has 22 varieties of vegetable seeds and a nice storage bucket. Some quick math says 22x2.75= 60.50 + $5 for the bucket= $65.50. This is operating on the assumption that you are only getting one packets worth of each sort of seed and that all the seeds cost roughly the same price per package. Additionally, SSV has done all the research for you and has collected the very best seeds (which could reasonable be valued at more than the going price for regular non-hybrid seed packets). They've also taken the time to properly package them for storage, and everyone deserves to be paid for their time. Overall I consider this to be a very reasonable price for what you are getting. because A. you are getting the best quality seeds B. someone else has done all the work for you and C. They are processed for long term storage whereas storebought seeds are not. The quote below is directly from their site:

LONG-TERM STORAGE PROCESSING (USDA-method)
Heirloom Organics Non-Hybrid Seed Packs are processed for long-term storage, increasing the shelf-life of our seeds by many years. We use the methods developed and approved by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) for processing and packaging seeds for long-term storage. Heirloom Organics is the only supplier of seeds that has studied and implemented these methods developed by the USDA. No other seeds available today incorporate these advanced methods for seed packaging and storage. Heirloom Organics Seed Packs are truly the food source of tomorrow, packaged with advanced storage methods today.

If you just can't afford $99 all at once you can create a similar survival seed collection yourself with a small food safe bucket and packets of seeds, after a little research. Your storage methods will probably not produce as good results as SSV's but it's better than not having any seeds stored.

1. The most important point is that you want to ensure that you are storing foods that will grow in your area. This is of particular importance the farther North you go. Nearly everything that grows in New England will grow elsewhere in the country but many things that grow in Florida and other warmer climates will not grow here.
2. Second in importance is that they be NON-Hybrid (or open pollinated) seeds. Most seeds sold in the US today are hybrids. This is a crucial point of importance because in tough times you will want to be able to save seeds from one season to use in the next. Hybrid seeds are notoriously unreliable because they are... well hybrids. Most hybrids will not produce viable seeds and, if the do, the plant you get from a saved hybrid seed will most likely be very different from the plant it came from. These are fine and acceptable for a single season of gardening (higher quality ones might be good for even two or three seasons) but for long term security you want to stick with something you can count on.
3. The final attribute to consider is that you want high quality seeds. Most non-hybrids ARE high quality which is why I put this at the bottom of the list. Higher quality seeds have better germination rates so you need to use fewer seeds to get a good crop. Thus, a single packet of seeds will last much longer. They also store longer (because they have better germination rates). In my limited experience I've been able to get equally good germination the second year I used a package as I had the first year. I've never saved seed packets for three years.
   

Because I live in Vermont I have chosen High Mowing Seeds for most of my seed storage. They are local, sell mostly open pollinated seed, and are excellent quality so I have a high degree of confidence in them. I also have a couple years experience with their seeds and can attest that any I didn't use last year sprouted this year, which will be an important quality in any seed purchased for storage. They do sell organic hybrid seeds that don't use GMO technology.

Drawbacks: The $99 special from SSV is almost all vegetable seeds (though I know it includes oats, wheat, and melons) and I know there are several varieties that my family doesn't eat. They also suggest that this is adequate for 2 people for one year. In theory this would mean that we would need to purchase three of these vaults for our family of 6 or buy the next higher size - the family pack which has more than twice as much seed but only costs 50% more at $149. I feel that the quantity of seeds in the basic vault would be a great starter pack even for a family as large as mine. They also offer fruit, legume, herb and grain seed packs if you want to add variety to your collection. These packets are reasonably affordable and range in price from $34-59. Concerning varieties you don't use - you can either trade the seeds or the veggies for things you DO need.
Though I have not had the opportunity to test the SSV myself I feel quite comfortable recommending it.

Prepping on a cup o' joe - week 2 RICE/PASTA

This was a real toss up choice for me. After water supplies are established you need to move on to food stores. The problem here is that you need to establish a good balance and you can't buy everything at once. The whole concept to 'prepping on a cup o' joe' is to take a small amount of money and make the most impact.
Ultimately I decided on rice and pasta because just about everyone eats some sort of rice or pasta. Produce and nuts can be gleaned in the wild if needed but you're not going to find macaroni growing on a bush. Nutrition-wise I probably should have gone with dried beans but opted not to for two reasons:
1. The price per pound is much higher (rice and pasta run about 50-75 cents per pound - beans are running $1-1.50/lb)
2. Beans by themselves are not particularly versatile.
The reasons I did chose rice and pasta were - they're quick and easy to prepare, fills you up, and (as I said before) costs about half what beans do so you're getting more bang for your buck.
For a years supply you should estimate 60 pounds of pasta and 40 pounds of rice. Brown rice does not store as long as white but it's better for you. If you don't use it at all now consider buying a pound or two and experimenting with it. Otherwise you should stick with the white rice even though it's not as nutrient dense as brown. Don't be afraid of whole rice if you're used to 'quick' or 'minute' rice. The only difference is patience and a little practice. Bulk rice takes alot longer to cook and requires more water, it also won't store as long once it's been cooked. We've only been using it for less than a year and I've been able to perfect my method in the microwave but still haven't mastered stove-top cooking yet.

So here's this weeks 'cup' (remember I'm aiming for about $15-20/week; you may have slightly more or less depending on the habit you're taming)

• 5 -10 pounds of bulk pasta - if you buy it in one pound packages it's going to cost you $1/lb unless you hit a really good sale. If you buy it in 3-5 lb packages you'll save 25-40%. Right now our local Hannaford's has 5# bags of macaroni, spaghetti, and tri-color rotini for $2.99 each.
  
• 10-20# of bulk rice - again, smaller packages will cost more. If memory serves me correctly this is also running 50-75 cents per pound but check your local stores to be sure. Don't forget to check the international foods section as they generally have very large bags of rice at pretty reasonable prices.

So there's your weekly cup. I'm considering a daily cup if anyone's interested. Seems many people do their shopping day by day, particularly those who have no children at home. Feel free to let me know what you think of the series.

Testing your preps

We decided to cut our grocery budget by 75% for a couple weeks. It was quite an eye opener. My pantry is starting to look a bit depleted and I'm realizing that I didn't have so much down there as I thought.

It's a good idea to do a trial run once in a while to make sure your preps are adequate. All the calculations in the world won't help you once the store shelves are empty. What you 'normally eat' and what you eat in stressful situations are two different things. You're under stress which makes you crave comfort foods. At the same time you also know you have to make adjustments so you're consuming more storage items (i.e. dry milk VS regular)

One thing I've noticed is that stress gives my family the munchies. I thought we had more than adequate 'comfort food' preps but I'm finding that they go through them pretty quickly when they're stressed. We had stacks of candy and chips and have gone through a good deal of them in the past month. I had actually STOPPED buying snacks because I thought we had too many. I had also rationalized that I would make more from scratch. What I'm finding is this: I am making more from scratch but it's basics like bread and meals. I don't have as much leisure time for baking cookies or brownies. I could, if we were desperately craving something, but I'd have to make the time. If I can prepare now by having a few of these items on hand it will make life easier then.

Additionally, many of these items were purchased 6 or more months ago - you should regularly sample stored foods to make sure the taste and consistency haven't changed. We had a box of fig newtons that had been in the pantry since before Christmas. I was worried that they'd be hard or stale - they weren't. So now I know we can store these for at least 6 months if purchased fresh. I left one unopened package in the pantry and we'll test that again at the end of the summer to see if they're still holding up. I've found that Goetz Caramel creams hold up well for 6 months but skittles, starbursts, and twizzlers don't - they start to get hard after about 3 months. A bag of fall themed Reese cups was as good last week as it would be a couple weeks after purchase. Oddly enough, either spaghettios change rapidly or my tastes have changed. They're not inedible but the pasta just seems 'different'.

Another item I'm going through quickly is powdered milk. Now that we're using it for everything but drinking we're going through a 28 qt box every couple weeks. It's quite an eye opener. Imagine that you can't buy the bare necessity perishables (dairy, eggs, fresh produce) and realize how quickly your stores would be depleted. I've found that I can substitute honey for sugar in baked goods with very little appreciable difference. My family won't eat it raw but they love it cooked. It also has a nearly indefinite shelf life - even though it crystalizes quickly.

You know the mantra "store what you eat, eat what you store' but this is taking it a step further - we stopped buying most food for a couple of weeks. As I looked at my pantry yesterday I saw GAPING holes where we had consumed nearly all of certain foods over the course of 2-3 weeks. These were items I thought we had a 3 month supply of. Granted - the family will tire of them and move on to something else - but it's a shock to the system to see a well calcualted, thought out plan vaporize before your eyes. Don't take your stores for granted or they may not be there for you when you need them

Beginning canning

So I've NEVER canned before. This will be an adventure for me. Not one single jar of anything. No jam, no pickles, no relish. Nothing that even WOULD be canned. We froze quite a bit of stuff last fall, and I dried a few things also.

I lucked upon a copy of "Putting Food By" by Ruth Hertzberg at our library book sale last summer for $1. I went to a one hour workshop that covered the bare basics of preserving from all angles (canning, drying, freezing)

I have to admit, I find canning intimidating. If it's done incorrectly you can get all sorts of nasty illnesses. If you operate the pressure canner wrong it can blow up. Hot jars can explode. It's unbelievable intimidating.

The start up costs are scary - $50-80 for a pressure canner, $50 for water bath canners and kettles, $7-10 for a case of jars. That's not counting, lids, rings, salt, jar lifters, scales, thermometers, canning racks or basket-thingys that sit in the kettles, sieves, and any other manner of accoutrements.

I'm fortunate to have family, friends and neighbors who know a bit about canning. You can never overemphasize the value of experience. Better than any book.

The rewards of learning will be worth all the effort though. There's nothing that compares to home canned goods. I've had enough of them to know that much. Like every naieve beginner I envision dozens of shelf feet of beautifully canned goods of all kinds. LOL - I'll be lucky to get up a handful of each, but any will be a step above where I'm at now.

Yes, I'm excited... like the idiots that wander into the creepy houses in horror movies. Adrenaline *sigh*.