Food storage list must haves

[Rosalind]

Oh my goodness, I obsess over this. We get lots of ice storms and snowstorms, and I am kinda neurotic about a bare pantry on top of that.

Must have at all times:

Giant tin olive oil
canned tomatoes
pasta
flour (several types if possible, in small bags)
cornmeal
yeast
baking powder
baking soda
some sort of sweetener: maple syrup, honey, sugar
oatmeal
tuna
beans
rice or quinoa
dry onions
garlic
dry herbs
couple cans of soup
frozen veggies
dried mushrooms
powdered or evaporated milk
dog food, can cat food, turtle pellets, chicken food (basically, keep two and replace every time you're down to one)
frozen venison or fish
some sort of alcoholic beverage. Don't judge me. When there's ice all over, I can't leave the house, and DH and I are on our fifth board game by the fire, a glass of wine helps us both relax and enjoy ourselves instead of fretting about when the power will be back on.

non food: soap, first aid kit, shampoo, candles, matches, firewood, kindling, sand or kitty litter, water purification stuff (we have a well, it's just ooky)

 

[Woodland Woman]

I like to dehydrate fruit. To us it is candy because we don't eat regular candy. I've tried dehydrating zucchini and broccoli but wasn't as pleased with the results. I dry herbs from my herb garden. I have dried sage, basil, parsley, thyme, oregano, peppermint, spearmint, and lemon balm. This year I also will try drying stevia and St. John's wort.

 

[ticks]

fruit snaks
jerky
oatmeal packs.

 

[hensdeliverthegoods]

Don't forget drinking water.

And plenty of water to flush toilets if you're on a well!

 

[the simple life]

punkin wrote:
Don't forget drinking

There is a whole thread on storing drinking water, we discussed the merits of boiling and canning water as well as store bought. Its got alot of information.

 

[Hiedi]

For those who want to "stock up", but not fill their house entirely with food (i.e I have no room for 100's of lbs of wheat ;-) ), do you know of any good links or lists for "real people" stock up ideas?

Some off the top of my head would be:
Flour
Rice
Sugar
Salt
Canned tuna

None food products:
Toilet paper
Feminine Hygeine products
Diapers/babywipes if you have children (babywipes I think would be great either way)

Others? Also, what do you feel is the right amount? Again, I saw 100's of lbs of wheat and that was just for two people. We have six. I'd have a basement full of food if I did that. heh Which isn't neccesarily a bad thing if it could be kept dry and animal free (not to mention in date), but not quite realistic economically.

I like your list. I do not have very much room either in my house, only 850 square feet; but I do store wheat. I have buckets of wheat in my closet and sitting on my bedroom floor. In my opinion, wheat is one of the most important food items to store because it has so many different uses and has a long shelf life.

 

[Better Half]

We keep cans of soup that don't require water to prepare, tuna and nuts.

It's recommended that everyone keeps three days worth of water, one gallon per person. I have a hard time keeping this much water on hand. It keeps getting drunk.

Also keep a weeks worth of pet food on hand.

 

[Homesteadmamma]

Y'all are thorough! I keep canned tuna on hand, but my favorite is SPAM!!!! It has a long shelf life. I bought some last week that has an exp date of 2012.

 

[keljonma]

Don't forget a non-electric can opener so you can open all those cans!

 

[unclejoe]

I dehydrate a lot - workes well with fruit and a lot of vegetables but not as inclusive as canning.
If you plan on tomatos, it's best to get the kind that are used for making paste as the less moisture to start the less energy to dry. Regular tomatoes dry to almost nothing. Cherry tomatoes were always very useful- in the end I only grew two kinds of tomato- sweet cherry and a paste kind called Principe Borghese (sp?) They turned out to be useful for all sorts of things.
Another great thing to dehyrate is mushrooms- yum yum.
Herbs are of course great dried.
And dried pears are candy...........

When I make tomato sauce to can, I take what ever won't fit in the jars out of that batch and turn it into leather. Over the winter I can turn it into paste or more sauce. It's also tasty right off the drying tray.