Episode-1759- Food Storage for Modern Survivalism
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Biltong – A Fantastically Simple Way to Preserve Meat
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…
- Join the Members Brigade
- The Year 1759
- Join Our Forum
- Walking To Freedom
- GenForward.com
- TSP Gear
- PermaEthos.com
- AgriTrue.com
- tspaz.com – Support TSP When You Shop on Amazon.com
- My Video on Biltong
- My Review of the Vaccucanner
- Podcast about Meals In A Jar with Jennifer Ess
- Harrison Bergeron Full Movie on YouTube
- Timeless Ways – Hilary Stag
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Jack your link in the show notes for tspaz.com is busted, just FYI.
When you asked do they still have beanbags? My thought. Yeah, of course, they put them shotguns now though.
On the history segment about childhood mortality: the Hawaiians still today celebrate the first birthday of a child in a big way (kinda like sweet sixteen in a way) for the very reason that back in the day if a baby survived the first year, it probably wouldn’t die of anything but severe disease and injury. It’s just a cultural tradition now, but that’s the origin of it
Jack, if by bean bag you mean what I know as a “hackey sack”, they’re not as popular as they were twenty years ago but there still around.
Yes butternut squash is the longest storing squash. If I remember correctly 60°F dark provides longest storage.
Jack you are about 5 years older then I am so I understand your references to how things changed from your childhood. I have also pondered the change away from “putting up” your own food and have a theory based on my possibly faulty memory.
I believe that preserved food (canned, frozen…) of good quality became available from the store at a price point that made it cost effective for average families to buy it rather than preserve it themselves. At that point in basically one generation this no longer became part of their lives.
Fast forward 30-40 years and now the preserved “food” has the cheapest possible ingredients rather than being good quality. For me the main reason for preserving my own food is to get quality that I either cannot afford or cannot get at any price from the store.
I think you may be on to something.
Miss-typed – I’m 5 years older than you
Jack, Just at thought about farmers market and “stocking up”. Whenever we go to the farmers market we ask for “canning tomatoes”. Most vendors are happy to sell them to you, at a greatly reduced cost. These are the tomatoes that are split, bruised, overripe or under-ripe and can’t be sold normally. The vendors in our area will box up the tomatoes and have them sitting out of the way until someone asks for them. We generally get a 20lb box for between $5-$8. My wife and I will get the tomatoes early in the morning, then process throughout the day and will make tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. And you’d be surprised how many good tomatoes are in those boxes.
This is ideal for those that want to make their own tomato sauce/paste/diced but don’t have the room for a garden full of tomato plants.
Keep up the good work!
Yes, this! Our farmers market does this with apples as well – calls them “seconds” or “canning apples.” You can also get a good haul if you go toward the end of the day.
I had been looking for an app that takes care of grocery lists and inventory. This app works fantastic!
http://prepandpantry.com/features
Ryan,
Thanks for that link, I will try it out.
Jim
Norther Virginia
MSB member
Beekeeper
Jack,
Was cooking eggs (from my neighbors chickens) for breakfast with spinach, oregano, sage, thyme and onion from the garden. My sister in law said to my wife, I didn’t know you married a gourmet chef. When I heard this episode, I realized the door creaked open to a prepper discussion.
She and her husband just moved near Ft worth. Next time we visit, I’d love to make them breakfast; maybe with duck eggs from 9 mile farm and some of my preserved herbs and really get the discussion going.
Great episode and great advice.
P.S. I don’t do facebook, but can access pages in it. Please let two chicks know I could not figure out how to contact them from the info on the directory, including their website link on Facebook.