Prepping - cycling of food storage.

[oldkim]

So lots of long term food storage available.

The problems I have found is that once you have “long term” stores of food. One simply forgets what they have and eventually it cycles out and “expires”. Beyond the point most times of being any use since you can’t even eat it (just bad expired).

I’ve tried MRE’s and dry packaged foods rated for 10+ years.

The problems most times is that the dry foods don’t taste edible. I know in an emergency one will eat it but I like eating and having tasty food.

So in combination to dry dehaydrated foods ready I also like canned and other foods mixed in. These are typically 2-4 years on the shelf.

These I have my targeted quantity now. My idea is to cycle them every other year.

So this year I will be donating and using my stored goods and replenishing with “fresh” supplies.

The cycling of foods does a few things.

1) it keeps clear by having a good stock of usable goods
2) every 6 months I know what I have.
3) my “loss” is someone else’s gain (donation)

Most people and I included fall into the mindset of get it and be done. The fallacy is that then it sets up for a few failures - past expiration and usability and then wasting semi goods especially when one may need it.

Also if you have any food item in the “car kit” remember it goes bad faster due to extreme heat/cold fluctuations in the car. So plan on changing those every few months or at least semi annual.

[NWGunner]

Great points.

Plus, the rotation allows you to check seals, see if you like what you're storing, etc.

Great reminders.

I'm trying to learn how to can & dehydrate some new things....

[L_O_G]

I keep my canned food sorted on shelves by year of expiration and try to use as much off that shelf as possible before going to another.

I put my dehydrator through its paces last year. Its amazing to see how much fruit makes so little, and after doing it for a couple years I now know why its so damn expensive to buy it in the store. Down side is it doesn't last long at my place, we are always grubbing on it.

[golddigger14s]

I have, and use thrive. Most of it is good for 25 years. I use the stuff all the time to be part of my regular meals. Don't buy stuff just because it will keep you alive. Buy stuff you eat on a regular basis. Stuff that will make you want to stay alive. Some of that "survival" stuff will make you not care if you survive. I don't eat much rice, so why would I buy a few 25lb bags to seal in a 5 gallon bucket?

[NWGunner]

I have, and use thrive. Most of it is good for 25 years. I use the stuff all the time to be part of my regular meals. Don't buy stuff just because it will keep you alive. Buy stuff you eat on a regular basis. Stuff that will make you want to stay alive. Some of that "survival" stuff will make you not care if you survive. I don't eat much rice, so why would I buy a few 25lb bags to seal in a 5 gallon bucket?

For when you meet that Asian chick after the Zombie Apocalypse

[velillen]

After losing quite a bit of stuff to expiring I made notifications in google calenders. I used to buy the 4 for $5 BBQ sauce but didn't use it all up before it would expire.

But I just set a reminder in the calendar....Canned Soup X (or whatever) expires in 1 year (I generally set a reminder for half the shelf life). Then I just move it to the pantry to be eaten and pick up a replacement. I do the same for the two water jugs of water every 6 months.

Its also a nice way to remember to change/check things besides food. Like the water filters on the sink that tend to be forgotten about or the furnace filters

[DblTapp]

I have, and use thrive. Most of it is good for 25 years. I use the stuff all the time to be part of my regular meals. Don't buy stuff just because it will keep you alive. Buy stuff you eat on a regular basis. Stuff that will make you want to stay alive. Some of that "survival" stuff will make you not care if you survive. I don't eat much rice, so why would I buy a few 25lb bags to seal in a 5 gallon bucket?

Cause 6 Months after Cascadia hits, all the Bridges are sleeping with the Fishes and your "Tasty food" has run out, People are gonna be fighting over a recently discovered Sun Dried dog turd. and they already ate the Dog......... You'll need the rice to stretch out the aforementioned turd. Anybody that believes that Safeway is gonna be open for business in anything short of a Year after a "Major Event" is fooling themselves. Look up the FEMA Cascadia Rising Report. You will be enlightened......

[lionhrt]

We have room set up with the gun safe and right now one wire rack setup but we will be expanding to 2 racks soon the racks are 6 foot tall and 5 shelves. We eat what we can so they are rotated. We adjust how much we put up by how fast we use it and how long it lasts. We can a lot of Crackers because they have an extremely long life canned (over 10 years) but things like pickled cauliflower does not last near as long so we only keep a 6 or 8 jars of that. We also incorporate our canned goods into meals, one of our favorites is fajita meat that we get pre-sliced meat from Cash and Carry and I season and add peppers so we have a meal in a minute. We do the same with taco meat I can make 20 pints for 36 bucks. With the chili I can my wife says with all the Mexican food and Chili we will never be short on gas.

[golddigger14s]

I can't stress it enough. Don't buy "survival" food. Buy food that your willing to eat on a regular basis. My Thrive FD food is used on a regular basis. Today is also veggies day, so I'm going to have some FD veggies with my smoked London Broil!