What have you done to prep today?

[68Camaro]

There are certain solid fats that have very extended shelf lives; I've read this, but can't recall what was what. I think lard is another that is good for a long time. May have to look this up. But if someone else can, even better.

[shinnosuke]

There are certain solid fats that have very extended shelf lives; I've read this, but can't recall what was what. I think lard is another that is good for a long time. May have to look this up. But if someone else can, even better.

Some dehydrated/freeze-dried food companies sell powdered lard. It has a long shelf life while in the unopened can. I just ordered some from a local distributor here in TX.

[anarchir]

I'm moving to a new totally awesome apartment this weekend that will be awesome for storage of my preps. I even get a mancave of my very own in the basement.

[Nickelless]

I'm moving to a new totally awesome apartment this weekend that will be awesome for storage of my preps. I even get a mancave of my very own in the basement.

You might even be able to conceal the entrance to the basement, depending on where it is and how it's designed. If it's just a regular frame door that opens to steps leading downstairs, you could put a false floor in the "closet" that can be removed as needed. If there is carpet in the adjoining hall or room, get matching carpet in the "closet" to conceal the false floor. The door to my basement is a trap-door type that pulls up from the floor. I hope by the end of summer to build a faux storage closet around it with wall pieces and sliding doors that can be removed when I have repair people come over so that they won't suspect I'm trying to hide anything. I'm not "hiding" anything, I'm just not telling people who don't need to know why I have tarps over all of my basement shelves to conceal that part of my preps.

It would be good to put portions of your preps in multiple areas. I'm in the process of moving all of my mason jars of dehydrated items to an area where I'm setting up steel-frame shelves with some kind of padding around them (I haven't figured out what type of padding yet) so that if there's any seismic activity--I live in the New Madrid Fault Zone--the mason jars and their contents won't get broken and covered with glass. I'll post more construction details here as they develop.

[anarchir]

I'm moving to a new totally awesome apartment this weekend that will be awesome for storage of my preps. I even get a mancave of my very own in the basement.

You might even be able to conceal the entrance to the basement, depending on where it is and how it's designed. If it's just a regular frame door that opens to steps leading downstairs, you could put a false floor in the "closet" that can be removed as needed. If there is carpet in the adjoining hall or room, get matching carpet in the "closet" to conceal the false floor. The door to my basement is a trap-door type that pulls up from the floor. I hope by the end of summer to build a faux storage closet around it with wall pieces and sliding doors that can be removed when I have repair people come over so that they won't suspect I'm trying to hide anything. I'm not "hiding" anything, I'm just not telling people who don't need to know why I have tarps over all of my basement shelves to conceal that part of my preps.

It would be good to put portions of your preps in multiple areas. I'm in the process of moving all of my mason jars of dehydrated items to an area where I'm setting up steel-frame shelves with some kind of padding around them (I haven't figured out what type of padding yet) so that if there's any seismic activity--I live in the New Madrid Fault Zone--the mason jars and their contents won't get broken and covered with glass. I'll post more construction details here as they develop.

When I was moving I put socks over all the breakable jars. Also, at bars and restaurants they have boxes with cardboard dividers in them for bottles and jars. You can probably get them for free. I suppose the mats they use in gyms or schools that are blue would stop anything falling from breaking as long as they didnt collide with each other on the way down.

[Mossy]

I'm in the process of moving all of my mason jars of dehydrated items to an area where I'm setting up steel-frame shelves with some kind of padding around them (I haven't figured out what type of padding yet) so that if there's any seismic activity--I live in the New Madrid Fault Zone--the mason jars and their contents won't get broken and covered with glass. I'll post more construction details here as they develop.

I had some cheap shelving and ended up bolting some plywood to the back to keep stuff from falling out. It did a good job of stiffening the shelving, as well. Bolt the shelving to the wall and put a bar across the front of the shelving so it does not fall out that way (look up what sailors do with their shelving on board ship).

I also mounted some of the shelving up-side-down so the shelves had lips all around. A sheet of plywood dropped inside stiffens the shelving very nicely.

The cheap shelving makes a nice frame for a better shelf.

A tarp does not simply conceal, it keeps dust off stuff as well. Put dust covers over some other stuff laying around as well so the curtains over the food don't look out of place.

You could use that moon shiner trick: Paint the jars so they look like they have something else in them.

[Nickelless]

There are certain solid fats that have very extended shelf lives; I've read this, but can't recall what was what. I think lard is another that is good for a long time. May have to look this up. But if someone else can, even better.

Some dehydrated/freeze-dried food companies sell powdered lard. It has a long shelf life while in the unopened can. I just ordered some from a local distributor here in TX.

Shinnosuke, I just noticed your blurb about powdered lard--that could solve a major problem with oils and fats going rancid. Do you have a link or a phone number for the distributor you ordered the lard from? I'm intrigued by the idea.

[68Camaro]

There are certain solid fats that have very extended shelf lives; I've read this, but can't recall what was what. I think lard is another that is good for a long time. May have to look this up. But if someone else can, even better.

Some dehydrated/freeze-dried food companies sell powdered lard. It has a long shelf life while in the unopened can. I just ordered some from a local distributor here in TX.

Shinnosuke, I just noticed your blurb about powdered lard--that could solve a major problem with oils and fats going rancid. Do you have a link or a phone number for the distributor you ordered the lard from? I'm intrigued by the idea.

As wild luck would have it, another post earlier today solved this for all of us. (I'm about to order some containers of each of the major fatty food groups.) See this post

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=6990&p=66736#p66736

And specifically this link

http://www.augasonfarms.com/Products/Eggs---Dairy

[68Camaro]

Well, as I thought about this - I realized it wasn't literally lard that was offered. They have powdered butter, powdered margarine, powdered vegetable shortening. Not powdered lard.

A description of powdered butter...

https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/info ... powder.htm

There appears to be a powdered lard used in commercial food products, but I don't see a ready source of retail supply.

[Copper Catcher]

Does anyone have any specific brand of alcohol they think you should have, even if you don’t drink so you can use to it to trade? Everclear?

[68Camaro]

Does anyone have any specific brand of alcohol they think you should have, even if you don’t drink so you can use to it to trade? Everclear?

Good question. I've just been buying a few of the bulk inexpensive vodkas and rums. I've not done a cost comparision with the higher alchol content stuff. Have you?

[Copper Catcher]

Not a drinker so, no...don't have a clue. Everclear is 190 proof and is grain alcohol. I guess it never goes bad?

[68Camaro]

Not a drinker so, no...don't have a clue. Everclear is 190 proof and is grain alcohol. I guess it never goes bad?

Nope. Neither does vodka, which is basically just diluted everclear. Actually I don't think any of the high alcohol regular distilled spirits have a shelf life. The sugary ones may settle out, and the ones that are basically cocktails (Bailey's, and the pre-mixed drinks) should be avoided for long-term storage. Other than the obvious just noted I haven't done any research on it. I'm not a big drinker myself - mixed drinks are rare for me, though I'll have a gin and tonic, or rum and coke, once in a blue moon. More into beers and wines when I do drink.

[franklin]

I have stocked up on alcohols that are on sale every other week or so for the past 6 months. Gin, tequila, bourbon, whiskey. Even tried some Makers Mark, the first hard liquor I have consumed in 30 years. Very smooth. Figure if they don't need .22 ammo to take in trade, they might be drinkers.

[Nickelless]

Thanks for the links, 68Camaro. I plan to peruse them later today after I've had a little sleep.

With regard to alcohol, I don't drink and haven't started stocking up on any yet for barter, but from the research I've done I think whiskey would be the most multipurpose spirit--it's a great topical antiseptic, apparently, and I'm guessing it'd make a good barter item for drinkers.

[Treetop]

a high proof "spirit" is also good for herbal tinctures. Just soak herbs in a liquor water mix for potent tinctures....alcohol pulls out some compounds and the water others. raw vinegar can also be used but doesnt do as well as alcohol. Not sure herbs will make a comeback, but lots of backyard herbalists use these method now. generally it seems people use vodka for this, as it blends better with a wider range of herbs. but anything of a decent proof will do it.... along with anything of a decent proof being useful as a topical antiseptic.

So a few bottles of something is certainly not a bad idea to have around.

[walt2727]

"So a few bottles of something is certainly not a bad idea to have around."

Good comment.
There is a winery here in central fl that every now and then has a buy one case get one free sale.
we usually get a couple of cases of their red wine and that lasts us about a year.
not a bad wine (i like a sweet taste) and can always be used as barter.

[Nickelless]

The receipts are currently buried in a pile of shopping bags I'm not going to unpack until sometime Monday so I don't have exact figures in front of me at the moment, but using two different Kroger discount cards (neither of which have my name attached to them) at all three local Kroger stores, I just bought about $250 worth of canned tomato products for about $90. All of the items were half-price or cheaper when 10 or more were purchased. Time to whip up some major spaghetti from my preps!

[68Camaro]

No, the vacuum-sealer doesn't require special bags per se, but the sealer is only about 11 inches wide. The bags I typically use are I think 10 inches wide by 14 inches long. I haven't used store-bought bags because I don't know of any regular store that sells mylar bags in bulk quantities.

I went ahead and ordered that sealer along with 50 of the 10x16 mylar bags yesterday. Looking forward to getting it. Wish I hadn't bought the foodsaver one.

A couple tips on the Snorkel-Vac: I always hold down the sealer bar for 30 seconds even though the timer starts beeping after about 8 seconds. I find that it takes about 30 seconds to make sure the heat-seal sticks. Also, I don't use the actual vacuum itself on powdery items (flour, spices, etc.) or on other small particles such as oats that could get sucked through the vacuum tube. I just squeeze as much air out as possible and seal it up. Any residual oxygen left in the bag shouldn't be a big deal for items that aren't oily and prone to rancidity. Incidentally, after sealing about 25 bags of oats a couple days ago, my shoulders were hurting because I was pressing down on the sealer bar so many times, but I needed the room in my pantry for other things and needed to rotate the oats into my bunker storage area, so the workout was worth it!

Wow, it's been 5 months since this came in. Prior to today I had only briefly tested it, but the plan has been coming together. Yesterday arrived a 50 pound bag of hard red winter wheat berries from augason farms in Utah (found source via another post, which also led to realizing they are a source of dried fats, yet another post). They can ship this across country for $5? amazing! - had been trying to find a place like this. Arrived in the midst of a thunderstorm and UPS just dumped and ran. Fortunately my wife found it before it filled with water. The box fell apart and the exterior of the bag was partially wet, but it was a plastic lined poly fiber woven bag and nothing got inside. Opened it this morning, and repacked into 6.5 pounds each in the foiled line mylar bags, using the Snorkel-Vac. Couldn't be happier with it! Had to experiment with fill level a bit. And had to re-do one of them that I didn't get quit sealed well, but was very happy with the operation and result. Thanks again for the reference Nickelless!

I then packed them 4 to a plastic bucket, about 25 pounds each. A bit overkill, but can't be too careful in Florida

[franklin]

Canned 28 jars of pickled okra. I don't know if that is prepping or not. Also, learned how to make English Muffins, just in case those Brits quit selling them.

[Devil Soundwave]

What, pray tell, is an English Muffin exactly?

[68Camaro]

What, pray tell, is an English Muffin exactly?

You're a Scotsman, why should you know?!

It's a savory baked good, like a heavy coarse-textured bun, round in shape but flat on top and bottom like a hockey puck. Most often split in two, toasted and served with butter and a fruit preserve. Sometimes served as a base for an open-faced sandwich, ala Eggs Benedict.

[68Camaro]

What, pray tell, is an English Muffin exactly?

You're a Scotsman, why should you know?!

It's a savory baked good, like a heavy coarse-textured bun, round in shape but flat on top and bottom like a hockey puck. Most often split in two, toasted and served with butter and a fruit preserve. Sometimes served as a base for an open-faced sandwich, ala Eggs Benedict.

Oh - and near as I can tell, most Brits don't know what they are...!

[shinnosuke]

There are certain solid fats that have very extended shelf lives; I've read this, but can't recall what was what. I think lard is another that is good for a long time. May have to look this up. But if someone else can, even better.

Some dehydrated/freeze-dried food companies sell powdered lard. It has a long shelf life while in the unopened can. I just ordered some from a local distributor here in TX.

Shinnosuke, I just noticed your blurb about powdered lard--that could solve a major problem with oils and fats going rancid. Do you have a link or a phone number for the distributor you ordered the lard from? I'm intrigued by the idea.

Sorry for not checking back on this thread sooner. (In the future, everyone should not hesitate to PM me if I don't respond right away to a post.)
Here's what I found on the website of the company selling the dehydrated and freeze-dried products:

J01 2202 Butter Powder 44 oz $ 36.50
J13 4279 Margarine Powder 44 oz $ 17.50
J19 4594 Shortening Powder 44oz $ 16.50

What I was calling powdered lard is really shortening powder.

You can find these items on page 8 of 15 in the "Dairy & Eggs" section in the lower right area of the page at the following link:
http://bbthw.weebly.com/uploads/3/8/2/8/3828071/2011_july_bbthw_retail_catalog_new.pdf

Let me know if I can be of further assistance. Their store is near our home.

[68Camaro]

This is the site that another here put me onto, which I mentioned above about getting wheat from them. Their shortening powder is 48 oz, and its $11.49, and their shipping is incredibly low. $4.99 for <$50. $11.99 for unlimited shipping.

http://www.augasonfarms.com/Products/Ba ... -Can-48-oz