How much food storage do you have? - Page 4 - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

Spaz · 05-23-2008, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Food: I don't know how big your family is, but you could get decent food storage going for $700. I spent something like $500 for a years supply (but prices have gone up).

Water: you don't need a year's supply of water.

I have 4 55gal plastic drums that were previously used to hold vinegar. That's enough for a little while. In the meantime, I also have a water purifier. I also know how to boil water. Water is the least of your concerns. Focus on the food.

Fair enough. I also know how to boil water. I've got myself, my wife, and my 9-month-old.

The church website suggests 1gal water per person per day...one 55gal drum would last two weeks for us. My brother has those large blue plastic barrels, but I'm not sure where he got them.

I take it you'd suggest getting most of the food from the church cannery (there's one not far from my office).

My other main concern is actually being able to use the grain in storage when needed. Rice is easy enough, but I'm assuming you have to have something to mill the wheat with. Any pointers would be appreciated

Spaz · 05-23-2008, 04:23 PM

I've also heard that having foods you don't normally eat can cause problems if/when you start eating food storage. Anything I should be concerned with there?

MikeWaters · 05-23-2008, 04:27 PM

About wheat: in America we mostly eat our wheat in the form of flour.

I have a wheat grinder that runs on electricity. I asked my dad about getting a hand-powered grinder (they are VERY pricy) in case there was no electicity for a long time.

He said, "If you are the point that you are eating wheat from your food storage, and there is no power on the horizon, you won't need to worry about making flour. You can eat the wheat whole-grain."

Soak the wheat in water. Cook it.

MikeWaters · 05-23-2008, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spaz

I've also heard that having foods you don't normally eat can cause problems if/when you start eating food storage. Anything I should be concerned with there?

I think if you're starving, you'll find a way.

But the best situation is when you are actually using your food storage. Use some, buy some more. use some, buy some more.

My wife makes homemade bread with our wheat storage.

Spaz · 05-23-2008, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

About wheat: in America we mostly eat our wheat in the form of flour.

I have a wheat grinder that runs on electricity. I asked my dad about getting a hand-powered grinder (they are VERY pricy) in case there was no electicity for a long time.

He said, "If you are the point that you are eating wheat from your food storage, and there is no power on the horizon, you won't need to worry about making flour. You can eat the wheat whole-grain."

Soak the wheat in water. Cook it.

Maybe my parent's poorly-planned food storage when I was little has skewed my perceptions a bit, but they had about 30 plastic buckets filled with whole wheat.

Are there issues with storing flour instead of wheat? I'd imagine a whole-grain or wheat flour would be better for food storage than white flour simply because of the difference in nutrition...

Sorry if I'm being annoying with all the questions - I just don't want to screw up & spend a bunch of money on something that will only go to waste.

MikeWaters · 05-23-2008, 04:41 PM

you do not want to store flour. It goes bad quickly. Wheat can be good for 20 years.

Grind your wheat as you go.

Spaz · 05-23-2008, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

you do not want to store flour. It goes bad quickly. Wheat can be good for 20 years.

Grind your wheat as you go.

Any suggestions on where to pick up a grinder and/or what grinder to buy?

MikeWaters · 05-23-2008, 05:00 PM

I got this one off ebay:
http://www.blendtec.com/productDetails.aspx?id=49

It uses these metal things to crush the wheat, i.e. make the wheat explode. It's what pharma uses to make powder of its medicines.

This one is pretty loud . If you want a quieter one, you can go with a Whisper Mill.

Also, you can use a Vita-mix blender. That's why my parents do.

cougjunkie · 05-23-2008, 05:03 PM

We just had a mock disaster in our ward. We had block captains assigned and they wanted everyone to live off of their 72 hour kits for the weekend. After the alleged disaster the block captains called around, we have 768 members of our ward but we only had 235, 72 hour kits. That next tuesday for relief society they made 72 hour kits and showed the woman how to properly use them.

We now have 580 out of the 768 members have 72 hour kits in the ward. I think thats pretty good.

MikeWaters · 05-23-2008, 05:10 PM

Whoa, amazing to have that many members in a ward. We avg. attendance of 170. I bet we have 400 people on the rolls though.

View Poll Results: How much food storage do you have?
None. That's for paranoid folks.	7	17.07%
None. My Mormon freinds/neighbors will feed me.	2	4.88%
Less than 3 months worth	21	51.22%
3-6 months worth.	7	17.07%
1 year of food	4	9.76%
Voters: 41. You may not vote on this poll

05-23-2008, 04:23 PM	#32
Spaz Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 1,371	I've also heard that having foods you don't normally eat can cause problems if/when you start eating food storage. Anything I should be concerned with there? __________________ "My days of not respecting you are certainly coming to a middle." -Malcolm Reynolds "It doesn't mean that if we lose a game or when we lose a game people won't then jump on and say the quest is over. Because they will. But they've missed the point." -Bronco Mendenhall on "The Quest"

05-23-2008, 05:03 PM	#39
cougjunkie Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Utah Posts: 5,741	We just had a mock disaster in our ward. We had block captains assigned and they wanted everyone to live off of their 72 hour kits for the weekend. After the alleged disaster the block captains called around, we have 768 members of our ward but we only had 235, 72 hour kits. That next tuesday for relief society they made 72 hour kits and showed the woman how to properly use them. We now have 580 out of the 768 members have 72 hour kits in the ward. I think thats pretty good. __________________ LINCECUM!

05-23-2008, 04:27 PM	#33
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,365	About wheat: in America we mostly eat our wheat in the form of flour. I have a wheat grinder that runs on electricity. I asked my dad about getting a hand-powered grinder (they are VERY pricy) in case there was no electicity for a long time. He said, "If you are the point that you are eating wheat from your food storage, and there is no power on the horizon, you won't need to worry about making flour. You can eat the wheat whole-grain." Soak the wheat in water. Cook it.

05-23-2008, 04:41 PM	#36
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,365	you do not want to store flour. It goes bad quickly. Wheat can be good for 20 years. Grind your wheat as you go.

05-23-2008, 05:00 PM	#38
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,365	I got this one off ebay: http://www.blendtec.com/productDetails.aspx?id=49 It uses these metal things to crush the wheat, i.e. make the wheat explode. It's what pharma uses to make powder of its medicines. This one is pretty loud . If you want a quieter one, you can go with a Whisper Mill. Also, you can use a Vita-mix blender. That's why my parents do.

05-23-2008, 05:10 PM	#40
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,365	Whoa, amazing to have that many members in a ward. We avg. attendance of 170. I bet we have 400 people on the rolls though.