You never know when the world will be overrun with zombies forcing all of us into survival mode. The most important item to have in the event of a zombie apocalypse is water filtration, while the most important thing to have is reliable and safe shelter. Thirdly, of course, long-term food storage and general availability of food will ensure a chance for you and your loved ones of surviving any and all apocalyptic scenarios. We all know that common household foods typically have very short shelf lives. Fresh produce and dairy last less than a few weeks. Meats and some other foods can be frozen, however, this only extends the shelf life to six months or a year. Plus, continued access to electricity is needed to ensure the freezing process. Most canned goods, while easy to prepare and labeled nonperishable, only have an average shelf life of under three years. A disaster could strike within that time frame, or it could happen many years, potentially decades from now. The best way to prepare for disasters concerning food is ensuring your long term food storage.
Freeze dried foods are an excellent answer to this requirement. Though they can be expensive, a long term freeze-dried food solution will surely put you and your family’s mind at ease. For people who want to start preparing but don’t know how much money they’re willing to sink into it, the best option for attaining a decent supply of long term food storage is to order yours now, and in addition, you can even make your own with Mylar bags, food grade buckets, and oxygen absorbers. Ordering ready made food storage is the best solution. Preparing your own should be done in addition to your professionally made food cache.
How to store food for emergencies.
There are three factors that rapidly accelerate food deterioration: water, light, and oxygen. For making your own long term food storage, you can only use foods that have very little to no water in them, such as rice, wheat, or dehydrated fruit. This takes out the factor of water. The next factor, light, is where Mylar bags come in. Mylar is a 100% reflective material that once sealed, does not any light in to damage your food. (Food grade buckets also don’t let in light, however once you open them if the food is all there, not in Mylar bags, you will have to use the whole bucket of food as quickly as possible. In addition to this, if you want to put different foods in the same bucket, separating them into individual Mylar bags will allow you to do this). The third factor is oxygen, which can be dealt with by the use of oxygen absorbers and food grade buckets. Once you have put all your food in a food grade bucket (food grade so the plastic doesn’t leach in and thereby contaminate all your food), you can put in oxygen absorbers. They absorb all the oxygen in a container and seal it tight so as not to allow any air in to degrade your food. So to make your own supply of long term food storage, all you need are dehydrated foods, Mylar bags to protect from light, and food grade buckets and oxygen absorbers to protect from oxygen degradation. Of course having this all professionally done for you is the best solution.
Here is a list of some common foods used for do it yourself food storage along with their shelf lives:
Flour: 5-10 years
Cornmeal: 5-10 years
Wheat (not ground or cracked): 30 years
Oats: 10 years
Potato Flakes (for mashed potatoes): 10-20 years
White Rice: 25-30 years
Beans: 20-30 years
Pasta:10-20 years
Dehydrated Fruits: 20-25 years
Dehydrated Vegetables: 20-25 years
Dehydrated Meats: 10-20 years
Sugar: indefinitely
Salt: indefinitely
Honey: indefinitely
Tea: 10-20 years
Butter Powder: 10 years
Instant Milk: 3-5 years
Use the FIFO method with all Long Term Food Storage
When storing foods in Mylar bags and buckets, make sure you use the FIFO method, First In First Out. This means that if you put one gallon of rice in a Mylar bag in a bucket in one year, and then you open the bucket and put another gallon bag of rice in another year, make sure to use the previous year first. This is common sense, as much of prepping is.
One solution for all preppers is to use the food you have stored up. Long term food storage is of no use if you can’t use it when you need to. Some preppers have fallen on hard times and were happy to find that they could eat their long term food storage. When they were able to get back on their feet, they simply replaced the long term food storage. This is similar to food rotation.
Food rotation is when you use your long term food storage periodically. For example, if you had twenty lbs. of rice in a Mylar bag, you could use it every three years and replace it. This is a great way of caution so you know you will constantly have a longer shelf life on your food. As the old saying goes, if you have two, you have one, and if you have one, you have none.
Overall, making your own long term food storage is very cost effective and smart, in addition to buying professionally produced freeze dried food. It gives you a safe and secure way of knowing that you have food stored in the event of a zombie apocalypse, or any regular old emergency. Food is the second most important element in any survival situation, coming only behind water. You can only live for three weeks without food. Don’t let a zombie apocalypse catch you off guard, and be prepared with long term food storage.
Temperature also affects food shelf lives, but not nearly as much as the other three factors. The ideal temperature for long term food storage is 55-65°F.
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