Building up your preps $25 at a time

[Nickelless]

This was originally posted on the old Realcent:

http://realcent.forumco.com/topic~TOPIC_ID~18014.asp

I just posted this on my blog...

http://survivalprep.net/2010/08/19/buil ... at-a-time/

I think that especially when you’re just starting out prepping, it can seem like small amounts of money don’t matter. But those small amounts can add up over weeks and months and you can build your preps little by little. $25 might seem like a relatively insignificant amount of money, but here’s what you can get for $25 or less each:

25 lbs. of frozen carrots at Walmart (which I dehydrate and store in mason jars)

or…

17 lbs. of frozen spinach at Walmart

or…

50 lbs. of rice at Sam’s Club (with about $9 leftover)

or…

18 cans of canned mackerel at Walmart

or…

6 packages of 30-count half-liter bottles of water from Sam’s Club for storage

or…

7 cans of Cafe Bustelo coffee at Walmart (my only addiction – gotta have my coffee)

or…

100 Winchester 9mm FMJ rounds at Walmart

or…

an extra magazine for my Kel-Tec PF9 (with about $7 leftover)

or…

a 400-count bottle of naproxen at Sam’s Club (with about $8 leftover)

or…

10 paperback Bibles (because man doesn’t live by bread alone)

And you can fill in the list with other items you want or need in your preps as well. But the next time you’re tempted to drop $25 for a week’s worth of fast-food meals, stop and think about how far $25 can go in helping you build up your preps. It can probably go a lot farther than you think.

[justoneguy]

great idea,
i keep looking at $500 - $5000 food packs and,
wondering when i'll come up with the extra cash for it.
looks like the first $25 should go for a dehydrator.

[Nickelless]

Justoneguy, you'd be surprised how quickly you can build up your preps if you decide to buy bulk ingredients and dehydrate and package things yourself. I typically budget $50-75 per payday (every two weeks) for preps. And you can see from the above list how quickly your preps inventory can pile up!

[MO-SILVER!]

How do you "dry can" the dehydrated food? Do you dehydrate them and then drop
them in sterile jars and throw in the air/moisture absorbing packets? Are there any links to Sites that have that info?

[Nickelless]

How do you "dry can" the dehydrated food? Do you dehydrate them and then drop
them in sterile jars and throw in the air/moisture absorbing packets? Are there any links to Sites that have that info?

I dehydrate the various food items--fruits and veggies mostly so far, but starting to learn jerky--and then when they're completely dry (most fruits and veggies take anywhere from 12 to 18 hours), I put them in a clean mason jar, drop an oxygen absorber in, put the lid on and then put a label on the lid telling what it is and the date it was canned. If you don't have oxygen absorbers, it's not a big deal with fruits and veggies because by dehydrating them and removing the water, then sealing them up airtight in a mason jar, the only oxygen you have to worry about is in the residual air in the jar. But if you keep the lid on and keep it airtight, no more oxygen can get in. It should stay fresh for a long, long time. I'm about to run a taste test in the next few weeks on dehydrated items that I've had sealed up in mason jars for almost a year.

FYI, here's a series of articles on my blog about food dehydration and storage:

http://survivalprep.net/tag/nine-meals- ... m-anarchy/

I've also got several dozen quart-sized jars of various spices, but spices and anything else in granular or powder form don't need oxygen absorbers, because they really can't "go bad"--they just might lose their flavor if exposed to air for an extended period.



Here's another thread I posted about spices:

http://survivalprep.net/2010/08/21/stoc ... ps-lively/

And as far as meats go, it's not really necessary to jerk or dehydrate them if you have them in cans and they aren't close to their stamped expiration date (which is a subjective date anyway--most canned goods will be OK far past their stamped expiration dates as long as the seal on the can isn't compromised). I've got a few (hundred) cans of mackerel in my pantry:

[MO-SILVER!]

Be sure to keep an eye on that dented can, thanks for the info.

[Nickelless]

That can in the picture that's dented (the can's dented, not the picture ) actually had fallen as I was stacking the cases up and I ate that particular can of mackerel some time ago. Thanks for the heads-up, though.

[justoneguy]

is the chicken in the picture of spices chicken or chicken bullion?
if it is chicken, how long can that store?

[misteroman]

How long can you keep dehydrated carrots around for?

[MO-SILVER!]

Has anyone tried Canned Bacon? I saw it online and can imagine it tastes like bacon but the texture and what not is what would concern me. haha Plus its 16 dollars for one can!

[Nickelless]

is the chicken in the picture of spices chicken or chicken bullion?
if it is chicken, how long can that store?

That's chicken. It was cooked, then diced and marinated, and the dehydration took close to 24 hours per batch. It could probably store for years if it's dried thoroughly. I'm about to do a taste test in a few weeks on the one-year anniversary of my first batch of dehydrated chicken.

How long can you keep dehydrated carrots around for?

They should be OK in storage for several years. They're completely dried and kept in a sealed mason jar in a dark pantry, so they can't spoil and won't degrade as long as they're kept in a cool, dry, dark place.

Has anyone tried Canned Bacon? I saw it online and can imagine it tastes like bacon but the texture and what not is what would concern me. haha Plus its 16 dollars for one can!

The thing you're NOT getting from canned bacon is the grease, and bacon drippings are absolutely one of the best flavoring agents in the world, IMO. I don't like the fact that pint and half-pint mason jars cost nearly as much per case of 12 as the quart-size jars, but I've bought a few cases of each so I can store bacon drippings and other similar items that will be very useful to help flavor food.

Just my two cents, I wouldn't worry about storing bacon itself, but bacon drippings could be a huge (and IMO valuable) flavor enhancer for your food preps. Here's a link I found a little while ago, and a site I want to check out at length when I have time:

http://cooklikeyourgrandmother.com/2008 ... bacon-fat/

[Hawkeye]

Great topic. I'm pretty much new to this and, at first, the cost was a little overwhelming. But you really can build a decent store a few bucks at a time. That's what I've been doing. I try to buy 1 thing every time I go to the store (Even if it's only a $.38 thing of salt or a couple of cans of something) and every now and then spend $20-$40 on some bulk stuff. The way I look at it, just about anything is better than nothing. Thanks for the info!

[justoneguy]

I can't wait to hear how your chicken is.
please let us know when you've tried it
love the idea of storing bacon grease for flavoring.
i'm going to start doing that right away.
mmmmmm think i'll have some bacon sandwiches now

[Treetop]

One good thing to do imo. Go to a store that sells dry bulk goods. Various ways to store such things cheaply.

but get things like dry beans, and WHOLE peas, (yes you can find them), wheat berries, (which are wheat that isnt ground) rye, amaranth, whole barley... etc.

The reason? Well these things are as cheap as any other bulk dry good. They can store for very long periods if you do it right.

but the bigger reason is these serve dual purposes. All of these things are readily planted. They are all seeds!!! amaranth the leaves are also edible by the way. So you can have a leaf crop and grain from the same plant.

this can be good for you, if TSHTF but also trading. There likely will not be enough seeds to go around if TSHTF, so this could be amazingly valuable, and if not its still cheap food, that can store a long time if you do it right. So its not unlike hoarding copper pennies in that.....

[involuntary tentacle]

spam at walmart around here is selling for $2.28 a can. i cant recall when that price was any different, so it hasnt been affected by inflation yet.

a bit more than $25, but you can stack up 12 cans at a time. and they actually stack.
going through my cupboard to sort everything out i realized quickly that not too many cans stack neatly.

[MontanaPM]

Building up your preps $25 at a time

Great ideas.
I've recently adopted the policy of buying 2 of everything (nonperishable) that I eat, 1 is for storage.
I'm also preparing for the bulk food storage, and I have a dehydrator that needs more work.

[Nickelless]

One good thing to do imo. Go to a store that sells dry bulk goods. Various ways to store such things cheaply.

but get things like dry beans, and WHOLE peas, (yes you can find them), wheat berries, (which are wheat that isnt ground) rye, amaranth, whole barley... etc.

The reason? Well these things are as cheap as any other bulk dry good. They can store for very long periods if you do it right.

but the bigger reason is these serve dual purposes. All of these things are readily planted. They are all seeds!!! amaranth the leaves are also edible by the way. So you can have a leaf crop and grain from the same plant.

this can be good for you, if TSHTF but also trading. There likely will not be enough seeds to go around if TSHTF, so this could be amazingly valuable, and if not its still cheap food, that can store a long time if you do it right. So its not unlike hoarding copper pennies in that.....

Great idea, Treetop, and ironically I just posted something about planting beans yesterday on my new blog:

http://hungrythirstystranger.blogspot.c ... e-you.html

Building up your preps $25 at a time

Great ideas.
I've recently adopted the policy of buying 2 of everything (nonperishable) that I eat, 1 is for storage.
I'm also preparing for the bulk food storage, and I have a dehydrator that needs more work.

Another way to look at things is if you don't have $25, set aside 5 percent of your paycheck for food storage. Here's another post I made recently:

http://hungrythirstystranger.blogspot.c ... -rule.html

[Treetop]

nice blog.... Im not really a blog guy, but its an important topic. The more of us who help others prep, the better off we all are.

[MontanaPM]

http://hungrythirstystranger.blogspot.com

Bookmarked, Thanks!

[Nickelless]

http://hungrythirstystranger.blogspot.com

Bookmarked, Thanks!

Bookmark StockingUp.net to go to the front page.

[Engineer]

Its a bit over $25 when you fill it, but bottles of propane should be high on the list.

[Nickelless]

Its a bit over $25 when you fill it, but bottles of propane should be high on the list.

I'd think the key is finding propane bottles themselves, since without the bottles it's hard to store propane. Anyone know of a place to buy propane bottles cheap?

[silverhedgehog]

You can refill 1 pound propane cylinders from a 20 pound grill tank.
Harbor Freight sells a Made in USA Mac Coupler for $19.99 or $16.00 with the common 20% off coupon.
It takes about a minute to refill one. I agree you can never have enough propane.
I live near an Indian reservation that fills 20 pounders for $9.00 and they even fill expired old style
that I find in the garbage for free.
$25 spent gets you 40 pounds of propane and 7 bucks change for other preps.

[nero12345]

is the chicken in the picture of spices chicken or chicken bullion?
if it is chicken, how long can that store?

That's chicken. It was cooked, then diced and marinated, and the dehydration took close to 24 hours per batch. It could probably store for years if it's dried thoroughly. I'm about to do a taste test in a few weeks on the one-year anniversary of my first batch of dehydrated chicken.

How long can you keep dehydrated carrots around for?

They should be OK in storage for several years. They're completely dried and kept in a sealed mason jar in a dark pantry, so they can't spoil and won't degrade as long as they're kept in a cool, dry, dark place.

Has anyone tried Canned Bacon? I saw it online and can imagine it tastes like bacon but the texture and what not is what would concern me. haha Plus its 16 dollars for one can!

The thing you're NOT getting from canned bacon is the grease, and bacon drippings are absolutely one of the best flavoring agents in the world, IMO. I don't like the fact that pint and half-pint mason jars cost nearly as much per case of 12 as the quart-size jars, but I've bought a few cases of each so I can store bacon drippings and other similar items that will be very useful to help flavor food.

Just my two cents, I wouldn't worry about storing bacon itself, but bacon drippings could be a huge (and IMO valuable) flavor enhancer for your food preps. Here's a link I found a little while ago, and a site I want to check out at length when I have time:

http://cooklikeyourgrandmother.com/2008 ... bacon-fat/

Hey nickelless, I know this is old but I was just wondering how any of this stuff tasted after being away for awhile? I just rotated some stuff around the other day as I do every 3 months and it got me on this thread again. I still enjoy the pantry as much now as when I build it 5 years ago, best money ever spent.

[Recyclersteve]

http://hungrythirstystranger.blogspot.com

Bookmarked, Thanks!

Bookmark StockingUp.net to go to the front page.

I was unable to find this site. Also tried .com and .org to no avail...