Best foodstuff to stockpile?

Yeah, our problem is we're too close to the river; the water table is too high I think, for a root cellar, unless we made one above ground and earth bermed it. I'd still like to come up with some sort of cache though.

Britesea said:

Yeah, our problem is we're too close to the river; the water table is too high I think, for a root cellar, unless we made one above ground and earth bermed it. I'd still like to come up with some sort of cache though.

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Let me know what you come up with. I'm going to try out the PVC pipe this week under my garden. I have 2 acres, but some scary neighbors behind me. So any kind of cache is helpful.

SIL was talking this weekend about PVC pipe for caches. he wants to fill some, tie a rope to them and sink them in the pond. i understand they are sealed and suppose to be water proof but i would be concerned about moisture anyway. made me go hummm. i would be ok with burying them but sinking them???? i got a 55 gallon barrel with a latch tight lid that I'm going to fill with things i might need if there is a disaster here, can you say tornado... i am to high on a hill to worry about floods but sever storms are all to common.

I saw a video online where a guy showed how he sealed his gun (I don't remember everything, but there was grease, and mylar, and PVC involved); he sank it into a pond and then pulled it out a year later for the video, and the gun came through with flying colors.

goatgurl said:

SIL was talking this weekend about PVC pipe for caches. he wants to fill some, tie a rope to them and sink them in the pond. i understand they are sealed and suppose to be water proof but i would be concerned about moisture anyway. made me go hummm. i would be ok with burying them but sinking them???? i got a 55 gallon barrel with a latch tight lid that I'm going to fill with things i might need if there is a disaster here, can you say tornado... i am to high on a hill to worry about floods but sever storms are all to common.

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What would you put in the barrel?

Eggs. Not all of us have the ability to have enough chickens to supply us with plenty of eggs. I'm only allowed three in town and have a dozen whole eggs in my freezer. Once I can get my hands on an honest to Goddess dehydrator (been using a new wave oven) I can scramble up some eggs and dehydrate them for long term. Plus keepin so e ground eggs shells on hand for making a good calcium supplement for the girls and my furbabies. Idk if I'd use it for people but I'm sure if I absolutely had to is find a way.

All my good intentions flew out the window over the last few weeks and we managed to run out of a few essentials. Don't get sick I'm working on restocking the pile at the moment. Especially things that can be stored a bit like coffee, sugar, tinned everything… Freezer space is very limited here, I find that frustrating. Time to learn to can a bigger variety of food stuff, I think.

Well, probably good you used it up. Things need to be updated on occasion. Now you have begun that.

The hilarious thing we discovered in the midst of storm prep before we got 30" of snow (a record for our area) was that we were actually almost out of TP! I wasn't worried because I knew we'd be able to get dug out in a day, we had extra rolls in the barn, and I knew that someone in a house nearby would have more if I needed it. But, yeah, we almost did. That made me laugh. We had everything else we needed... except that!
My next really big goal is to get a freeze dryer. Freeze dried food lasts up to 20 years with almost no nutritional degradation AND you can process almost any food. Eggs, cheese, any meat, pumpkin, potatoes, veggies, prepared foods (lasagna anyone?), cream soups, desserts, MILK, and all sorts of other things that have much bulkier preservation methods, or no way at all to preserve. The thought that I could preserve raw greens by dehydrating would mean I could have smoothies or salads fresh in the middle of winter. THAT is worth the cost! I don't really have the space to put one in my house currently, but if I can save up enough money I'll be finding a way!

So glad you had a backup plan for the TP! )