What happens if we lose power indefinitely foods that require freezing or refrigeration for long term storage are going to go bad. Emergencyfood storagein advance will be the only way to feed yourself and your family, other than hunting, fishing, and scavenging.
If youre paying attention and considering whats being said here, its this: If individuals and families fail at the task of emergency food storage and disaster hits and its a major disaster, one that knocks down the nations fragile and aging power grid for a number of months or more within days the food that you have in your pantry is going to be gone. With no stores selling food after the disaster and store shelves cleaned out by terrified locals, your pantry will stay empty and suddenly you and your family will go hungry.In this article were going to look atemergency food storagethat you are advised to tackle today, as well asprimitive methods for food storage(that youll rely on after a widespread disaster).
Think of some of the powerful storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and even sub-zero temperatures that have struck in many states in recent years. One of the first things to go is the electricity. Within hours food in the refrigerator can be unsafe to eat and foods in the freezer thaw and have to be eaten immediately, or thrown out.
Modern Methods Of Food Storage
What a fragile world we live in for food storage, in the modern age. Of course theres non-perishable food like canned food, boxed and packaged foods, but most of these have a shelf-life of just a few months.Plus, youre likely to go through them quicker than you realize.
You may have plans for long-term food storage, but hopefully youre not simply depending on a grocery store to fulfill that need.
Any plan for emergency food storage calls forspecially packaged non-perishable foodsthat have a shelf live of several years, rather than simply weeks or months.
For example, if 6 months ago you went out and bought several weeks worth of non-perishable food, well in the coming weeks and months you better start checking expiration dates as some of it or most of it is likely to start going bad.
Youre back to zero.
Meal, Ready To Eat (MRE) And Freeze Dried Meals Long Shelf Life
Some choices for todays MREs are an improvement compared to the MREs of the past. Today there are more choices. MREs are cheaper and come in larger quantities than the tastier and more expensive freeze-dried foods sold in backpacking stores typically bought by hikers going on overnight hikes and more and more today, preppers preparing their homes for a major disaster and then surviving several months or years off their supplies.Freeze-dried foodsimply call for adding water hot water typically (if you want a warm meal) but cold water will work also. MREs are typically ready to eat right out of the pouch, though the beverages (drinks) MREs call for water. MREs taste better warm the entire unopened pouch can be placed into a pot of hot or boiling water and quickly heated up that way. But theyre also just fine cold.
Regarding shelf life, MREs are sensitive to temperature at a 120 degrees Fahrenheit theyre reported to only have a shelf life of 60 days. Compare that to a shelf life of 5 years or more when stored at 50 degrees or colder.
Temperature is something to consider for people who live in hot climates. Our world is changing, storms are getting worse, more disasters are striking. You can expect heat waves to be stronger, to last longer (even if winter temperatures are sometimes colder in places.)
MREs And Heat Waves
Remember there could easily be increases in regional temperatures were talking serious heat waves that last for weeks at a time that could quickly shorten the shelf life of MREs (and emergency food in general) if you live in a state subject to heat waves.Any solid plan for emergency food storage has to consider the region that a person lives in and whether or not it may face a severe heat wave. It would be smart to have a back-up means for supplying food should your 1 year supply of emergency food (such as MREs) suddenly go bad in 60 days because of the 120 degree temperatures that last several weeks or more.
No matter what, it would be smart to have a back-up plan as your emergency foods are going to run out at some point.
The Lost Ways 2 program is to reveal all the ancient techniques and secrets used by our forefathers to deal with harsh conditions such as diseases, wars, drought, and other life-threatening conditions.
In this program the author explains how to grow and store these foods for a long time in pit holes. Other than this, you will find a lot other valuable information explained in this guide on topics such as finances, health, and life crisis among others.
Hunting, Fishing, And Trapping And Food Storage
Hunting, fishing, and trapping are likely to become a way of staying alive for many, should widespread disaster take place, and the modern world be knocked back to the dark ages. Dont depend on just your emergency food stores. If our government collapses, if something catastrophic takes place, how are you going to stay alive in the long term once your food runs out? How are you going to provide for your family?Dont Wait For Help From The Government Or United Nations It May Never Come
In the early weeks of a catastrophic disaster where government collapses and infrastructure fails, this would be a great time for you to consider re-locating to another region, one that has plenty of land for hunting, fishing, and trapping. If you can do so now, you might want to do so.A lot of people are going to hold on to the hope that somehow our government will rise from the ashes, or that perhaps the United Nations will come to our aid but what if that help never comes? Youll run out of food, people will be robbing, looting, and even murdering each other and the cities (and even smaller towns) will become a dangerous place.
Some small towns will manage to police themselves and probably do just fine for a while. Others arent likely to fair so well especially those with large groups of outlaw bikers Hells Angels, Banditos, you name it they have too many weapons, too much disrespect for civilized life and those towns and cities are likely to become dangerous for anyone who gets in their way.
Making Your MREs And Freeze Dried Food Last Longer
Once youve turned to hunting, fishing, and trapping, the MREs and other pre-packaged food youve bought in advance can be rationed out, to last longer. So if you buy a 1 year supply of emergency food, and within 90 days are able to start catching fish and shooting / trapping wildlife, youre going to be able to make your MREs last longer. Perhaps that 1 year supply will last 2-3 years.When you do start catching your own food from the wild or trading with neighbors who are raising livestock or growing crops (thats another great way to provide for yourself and your family) food storage will still be part of your daily life but its going to take on a new scope.
Primitive Methods For Food Storage
Smoking Food
Smoking meat is an effective method of food storage dating back thousands of years. Its a primitive yet highly reliable method for preserving meat to last several months. Primitive man had time to develop the skill, but really its not that difficult. Its going to call for fire, wood, and either a cave, or hole in the ground, metal container, or small shack (smokehouse). A barrel (or even an old fridge that doesnt contain toxic parts, be sure to read up on this before using just any refrigerator) can be used as a smoker.All you need is a means to fill the barrel or refrigerator or whatever you use or build with a constant supply of smoke from a small fire or even simply smoldering coals. Youll first hang meat up inside whatever you use as a smoker, and you can do that using string, or on a metal rack such as from an oven or BBQ, or other creative means to hang the meat (such as a metal clothes hanger).
Over a period of hours the meat will dry out, at the same time picking up a smoky taste (which is why many foods today are smoked because it in fact makes many foods taste even better than if eaten plain).
Smoking is most effective when meat is coated in salt or a salty brine. That means that salt in an essential item to include in your emergency food storage plan.
Why should I can my own meat?
If youve ever tried to buy food in bulk but realized you dont have nearly enough freezer space, youll find that canning your own meat can be great for storage. Theres no need for freezing or refrigeration. Canning can also be great for when you want to give away food as gifts during the holidays.
When you are canningmeat products remember these things.
Salt As A Food Preserver / Salting Food
In the medieval ages, and the centuries before and even after, foods lasted longest when packed with dry salt. Some of these foods could be stored for years. A salty brine would also work, but didnt last quite as long as foods properly salted and then stored in sealed containers. Not just meat either, but fruits and vegetables as well. Pickled foods are an example of a type of salty brine being used to effectively store foods for later consumption.Drying Food
Most foods, especially raw meat, when left exposed begin to decay and attract bugs, simply because these foods contain moisture. That is why foods can quickly go bad, meat spoil, and food poisoning become a danger. In cold climates, where the temperature is 32 degrees or below, food can be left out and simply allowed to freeze. Problem solved.Sun Dried Food
But in many places the temperature is warmer than freezing and food has to be either eaten or preserved if its going to have any use. In places with plenty of sunlight, it suddenly becomes possible to dry food simply by laying it out to receive the suns rays. This drying process is said to take about two days. So remember, in places with plenty of sunshine meats, fruits and vegetables can be sun dried for consumption at a later date.Food Preservation Is An Essential Survival Skill
I have to point out that preserving food, drying food, smoking food, salting food are essential survival skills.These are not skills that can be learned simply by reading about them. You wont be able to count on simply reading a few how-to books or articles on food preservation in a time of emergency; best thing you can do is get books with detailed instructions, and specific tips for specific situations. That way youll have that book with you as a reference at a later date.
Finally, dont just buy a book. Practice using primitive methods to preserve food; today, build yourself a smoker using parts you scavenge from a junk yard; learn how to salt food, and to do so with the most effectiveness; learn how to dry food in the sun.
Buy a book that you can hold onto and reference at a later time so that youre aware of the details that go along with smoking, salting, and sun-drying food (a lot of the articles youll read on the web are not written by experts, just hobbyists like me, Im not an expert in the game of preserving food, Ive just done my research). Ive only dried food one time in the past (and that was using a dehydrator, which runs off electricity). A book written by an expert is going to be more trustworthy than a ../survivalist who publishes online, unless he or she is an actual expert at food preservation.
Did you know thatfood poisoning can occur in meat that is smoked, but then removed too soon, and instead cooked?In other words, lets say you and your camp take down an elk, or simply shoot and butcher a cow, and then begin to dry the meat. You realize that some of that meat would make a great dinner that day, so you remove it from your smoker, and cook it, before it had been thoroughly smoked. Youre now at risk of food poisoning.Food poisoning can also occur in cooked meat that is then smoked.
Survival Wake Up Call
My recommendation for anyone whos really serious about survival is to buy yourself a good book on primitive methods for preserving foods, practice these methods for many months, and put them to the test many times; and then be sure to save your book for later reference.Primitive man who lived a few thousand years ago and early Native Americans all had a huge advantage over the modern age. Children back then grew up learning how to preserve food simply by watching and having it taught to them. By the time theyre adults theyre experts.
Its a lot like children that grow up in warrior cultures they play fight from an early age, then train as teens for battle, and then finally in their later teens and twenties get a few battles under their belts and now theyre proven warriors with a long life of experience behind them.
So many people are going to find FULL TIME survival to be harder than most realize. Most are just not adequately preparing themselves by taking the time to practice and learn and become experts at actual survival skills.
We can wing it give it our best try but theres likely to be a steep learning curve, such as that experienced by anyone who wants to try bow-hunting for the first time. Before you can bow-hunt you have to be able to shoot and that can take many weeks (of daily practice) or many months (of periodic practice) to finally become a good shot. With bow hunting its essential to be a GREAT shot or youll easily miss your target, or injure your target and it will simply get away, and then have to suffer many days or even weeks with an arrow sticking out of its side.
Become An Expert At Food Storage
Early Native Americans (and even people who lived in the middle ages and other tribal cultures) were experts at preserving food because this is all they knew. They can survive by living off the land and its not a big deal. Its like us going to the grocery store. Were experts at buying groceries.Survival for many is not going to be as easy as it was for early Native Americans. For many its going to be incredibly hard work, and for quite a few impossible.
Now, we can learn survival methods, we can go out and practice them, but the whole game changes when suddenly we have to live 100% on our own and off the land, providing food for ourselves and for our families putting these survival skills weve been reading about into practice in actual real life and death situations.
Ive got a feeling a lot of people dont realize just how tough its going to be.
We are going to need each other. We wont be able to do this alone.
Books can be your best pre-collapse investment.
Carnivores Bible(is a wellknown meat processor providing custom meat processing services locally andacross the state of Montana and more. Whether your needs are for domestic meator wild game meat processing)
The Lost Book of Remedies PDF( contains a series of medicinal andherbal recipes to make home made remedies from medicinal plants and herbs.Chromic diseases and maladies can be overcome by taking the remediesoutlined in this book. The writer claims that his grandfather was taughtherbalism andhealingwhilst in active service during world war twoand that he has treated many soldiers with hishome made cures. )
Easy Cellar(Info about building and managing your root cellar, plus printable plans. Thebookon building and using root cellars The CompleteRoot Cellar Book.)
The Lost Ways(Learn the long forgotten secrets that helped our forefathers survive famines,wars,economic crisis and anything else life threw at them)
LOST WAYS 2(Wordof the day:Prepare! And do itthe old fashion way, like our fore-fathers did it and succeed longbefore us,because what lies ahead of us will require all the help we can get.Watch this video and learn the 3 skillsthat ensured our ancestors survival in hard times offamine and war.)
Survival MD(Best Post Collapse First Aid Survival Guide Ever)
Conquering the coming collapse(Financial advice and preparedness )
Liberty Generator(Build and make your own energy source)
Backyard Liberty(Easy and cheap DIY Aquaponic system to grow your organic and living food bank)
Bullet Proof Home(A Preppers Guide in Safeguarding a Home )
Family Self Defense(Best Self Defense Strategies For You And Your Family)
Survive Any Crisis(Best Items To Hoard For A Long Term Crisis)
Survive The End Days(Biggest Cover Up Of Our President)
Drought USA(Discover The Amazing Device That Turns Air Into Water)
SOURCE :secretsofsurvival.com
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