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Episode-1494- The Practical and Holistic Approach to Food Storage

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Confit - An Amazing Food that also Extends Storage Life.

Confit – An Amazing Food that also Extends Storage Life.

Today is a show about one of the fundamentals of modern survival philosophy, food storage.   Food storage is actually something that at one time was simply something everyone did.  Every home in America at one time seemed to have a root cellar full of canned goods.

Today though food storage and the concept of survivalism or prepping is sensationalized and largely misunderstood.  Many tend to hear survivalist and at once envision a guy sitting on a ten year supply of military rations in a basement or bunker somewhere.  This image is hyped by media who simply wish to sell a story and worse is made up of journalists that live in a bubble of  “the government will fix our problems”.  The reality is that the bunker approach of military rations is both inaccurate and impractical.

To worsen matters as preparedness has become more of a hot industry long term food has become a product marketed largely on fear vs. on the practical benefits it offers.  The reality is food storage doesn’t even require specially packaged 25 year stable products, though they can be useful in your food storage program.  The simple truth is that a simple 60-90 day supply of food in your home can help the average family deal with every day occurrences and most disasters they might ever expect to encounter.

Join me today as we discuss…

  • Why storing food is practical even if society never collapses
  • Rule One – Eat what you store, store what you eat
    • Keep a food journal
    • Use “copy caning”
    • Think with a “meal mentality”
    • Store what “the kids” eat
    • Store pet food as well
  • Rule Two – Take advantage of opportunity buys
    • Watch for sales
    • Use coupons
    • Pattern seasonal trends
    • Understand
  • Rule Three – Find local sources of food and partake of them
    • Buy from local producers
    • Learn about local seasonal opportunities
    • Yes hunting and fishing (leveraged with rule five)
    • Learn local wild edibles (there is always something)
  • Rule Four – Use commercially prepared long term storables as extenders
    • Find “meal ingredients” and store those
    • Buy a can of this, a can of that, try stuff, stock what you like
    • Learn about making “meals in a jar”
    • Don’t go overboard on this stuff
  • Rule Five – Become a producer of food and/or storables
    • Gardens are great, perennials are even better
    • Small livestock is a great option
    • Consider aquaponics, hydroponics and things like microgreens
    • Learn multiple storage techniques
      • Flash freezing
      • Dehydrating
      • Jerky/Biltong
      • Canning
      • Smoking
      • Confit
      • Dry canning (I do it with jars and the vaccucanner)
    • Producing storables from other foods is your silver bullet
    • Become a great cook, stretch what others consider waste
    • Where “rice and beans” fits in this mix
  • Rule Six –  Seek a Holistic Solution
    • None of these rules stand alone
    • A formula is always more than the sum of its parts
    • Take your time, ease into this as a “way of living”
  • How storing food empowers you to live a better life

Resources for today’s show…

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Comments

Episode-1494- The Practical and Holistic Approach to Food Storage — 17 Comments

  1. I haven’t listened yet, but it looks like you talk some about microgreens today. I recently started growing microgreens myself – it was a way for me to keep gardening through the winter so I wouldn’t go insane 😉 Growing microgreens is so easy, and although there aren’t a lot of studies on it yet, everything I’ve read says microgreens are at least as nutritious as the full grown crop, and in some cases much more nutritious, depending on what you’re growing (broccoli, beets, etc etc)
    It occurred to me that the people who save seeds in a can in hopes of planting a garden when the SHTF would be a lot better served by storing up a good quantity of microgreens seeds. Microgreens are simple to grow….a garden, not so much.

  2. At the one hour mark you mention adding a link to someone as a resource for “meals in a jar.” Was that the dehydrate2store channel on YouTube? Or were you reffering to show 1044 with Jennifer Ess of Rainy Day Food Storage?

    Thanks for another great show!

    PS-I may call this in as a topic to discuss on Friday, but I would really enjoy some more ideas along the lines of high quality, energy dense food that I can put up myself as a long term storable. I shudder at the thought of shoving a piece of beautiful, marbled grass fed beyond organic beef in to a jar and pressure canning it, but that is the sort of thing I have in mind. I can only eat so much tuna in a can…

    • @Paul, Dang it, I was done today and was like I know damn well there is a link I am supposed to include that I can’t remember. Anyway link added, the site is run by Jennifer Ess and she was actually on the podcast. That episode is linked to and it has links to all her sites/resources.

  3. Jack, you are knocking it out of the park this year with the episodes! I think the time off did you well, you seem so energetic and I am loving these topics. Thanks for the really good episodes this week!

  5. I have not listened yet, but wanted to say. Last year I ran into some financial difficulties and could not afford to buy food for me and my dog. But since I have several months supply of canned food, including yes Freeze Dried Pork Chops, I ate really well despite not being able to go shopping for a month. I didn’t suffer at all. Well I ran out of pork chop recipes by the end of the month. Haha.

    But my point is, there was no end of the world disaster or any other disaster. It was a personal disaster but my having bought canned foods prior to that, saved me from being hungry or suffering that month. I think having extra food on hand is a great idea, like an insurance policy that you won’t go hungry for a month or more if you run into everyday life problems or there is a storm or other emergency. Years ago I ate dog food and instant mashed potatoes for almost a year to keep from going hungry, protein and carbs. It worked, I wasn’t hungry or malnourished and I ate for less then a dollar a day. But I never want to eat pedigree canned food ever again!! Now I store food for those emergencies. 🙂

  6. Fantastic! If nothing else, the tip that handwarmers are the same as oxygen absorbers is worth the price of admission. Who knew?
    I joined the brigade…. you provide consistently excellent and practical info…
    thanks…

  7. Talking about confit brought back memories of my grandmother. She’s Italian and used to make lardo. She used an old marble six chambered vessel, rubbed spices on pork fatback and soaked it in a brine for up to 2-3 years. After about 5 months she would start slicing pieces off but it got better as it aged. Had the consistency of slightly cooler than room temperature butter. Have to get in contact with my aunt and she if she still has the container.

    You could cut off big slices in between bread and have them as sandwiches or sliced thin over pasta/salads.

  8. Regarding the history segment and Jack’s contention that the colonists and maybe even Columbus himself really don’t believe they are in the Indies yet. That is a reasonably supportable idea. You can guess this because of their actions just as Jack points out. Very good.

    Certainly the King of Portugal was making this very point and shouting it loudly. The King of Portugal thought that Columbus has just found another island like the Azores.

    I am grateful that Jack picks up on these subtle issues and highlights them for the audience.

    Alex Shrugged

  9. Great show Jack! I had no idea that comfit was a meat preserving method. I tried to track down some videos but there doesn’t seem to be much out there, except some french chefs making duck comfit for dinner.

    Does anyone have a link to a good video, or even a website, showing the process from start to finish?

  10. Possibly my favorite show ever. The way you rolled classic cooking into long term storage was awesome.

  11. Great topic Jack, I really love it when you talk about food and food storage options. You’ve talked about lacto fermentation before, that is also a great way to store food at the end of the season. I know you’ve done a show or two on curing meats (bacon, salami, etc.) before, but I would love to hear more on that topic as well.

    http://www.growforagecookferment.com

  13. I’m a little late to the party here, but I just wanted to thank you for another great episode!

    I had a tip on opportunity buys I wanted to share, too.
    If you are in a market where there’s a Publix, you know they frequently have BOGO sales on non-perishables.

    They allow you to stack coupons on top of the BOGO or 2-for-$x.xx specials.
    If you have two manufacturer’s coupons, you can use one on each item. You can also stack a store coupon on top of a manufacturer’s coupon for the same item.

    I’ve gotten 16 oz bottles of olive oil for as little as $4, and canned tomatoes and broths come out super cheap, too!

    It’s really a great deal for stocking up!

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