Food glorious food

[Vanzance]

I thought I would put this out there as curious to know your thoughts, long term food storage, seen alot of preppers, storing up on rice.
A great resource or russian roulette, alot of rice, depending on where it has been farmed contains arsenic, and studies shown in countries that eat rice every day for, I persume every meal, has serious health implications. www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2015/01/how-much-arsenic-is-in-your-rice/index.htm

sorry had to type out link - I like rice alot and eat probably too much as new to this prepping thing, you may have already discussed this, but revision is always good too in laymans terms, arsenic comes from pesticides etc, it gets into the water and rice unforunately like a sponge soaks it all up.
Mind you has there ever been such a thing as a healthy curry

 

[Brent S]

I thought I would put this out there as curious to know your thoughts, long term food storage, seen alot of preppers, storing up on rice.
A great resource or russian roulette, alot of rice, depending on where it has been farmed contains arsenic, and studies shown in countries that eat rice every day for, I persume every meal, has serious health implications. www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2015/01/how-much-arsenic-is-in-your-rice/index.htm

sorry had to type out link - I like rice alot and eat probably too much as new to this prepping thing, you may have already discussed this, but revision is always good too in laymans terms, arsenic comes from pesticides etc, it gets into the water and rice unforunately like a sponge soaks it all up.
Mind you has there ever been such a thing as a healthy curry

Like all things in life, moderation is key. I love rice, and eat a good amount of it. I've heard about the arsenic, but realize it's naturally in lots of things, from apples to nuts. Thanks for the reminder though, I need to stash some more rice in the root cellar. I use quart mason jars and oxy absorbers. The problem with 5 gal buckets is you have so much opened at once. The quart jars are a more manageable amount.

 

[psalm 7]

Food storage is important to adjust to post SHTF . Having a plan to replinish your supply with what grows well in your area is the key to long term survival .

 

[Vanzance]

I live right on the beach with the mountains at the back, thanks for that will look for those jars, easier for storage

 

[Gazrok]

My favorites to stockpile.

Rice, dry beans, dry corn, mashed potato flakes, dry pasta, cereals (all with O2 absorbers of course)

I see the point about the downside to a big bucket for storage, but as long as you're using something good like a gamma seal lid, and are diligent about closing it up after accessing, not too bad. While there's 5 of us here now, come SHTF, that could swell to around a dozen people here. So, we'll need a lot of stored foods in addition to anything we grow, catch, hunt, etc.

Even now though, when I get a big bag of rice, it seems to last us forever though, even with 5 of us.

 

[Danil54grl]

I have about 150 lbs of rice (just guessing). . . hunny and I have a joke going about it cause I can pick it up so cheap at times and there was a time I could have sworn I had some and hunny said no. Lets just say I will never run out of rice again and that has been years ago. I do use rice in dishes a few times a week but not as a main diet. It will not be a main staple, but the rice I buy is locally owned and we know the family even buy their by products for the pigs. My main staple will be what we produce here on the farm for the most part

 

[Kenprep1979]

I thought I would put this out there as curious to know your thoughts, long term food storage, seen alot of preppers, storing up on rice.
A great resource or russian roulette, alot of rice, depending on where it has been farmed contains arsenic, and studies shown in countries that eat rice every day for, I persume every meal, has serious health implications. www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2015/01/how-much-arsenic-is-in-your-rice/index.htm

sorry had to type out link - I like rice alot and eat probably too much as new to this prepping thing, you may have already discussed this, but revision is always good too in laymans terms, arsenic comes from pesticides etc, it gets into the water and rice unforunately like a sponge soaks it all up.
Mind you has there ever been such a thing as a healthy curry

I also have alot of rice stuck back along with beans, beans, beans lol my wife hates beans but i imagine if were starving she will come to love them! also have lots of dehydrated veggies and fruits and i also store mine in mason jars .. guess you could always get organic rice if you wanna pay out the ###!

 

[Brent S]

I did about 36 quart jars of powdered milk too. Personally, I don't like it now, but if that's all there is, we will see. I also stored jars of pasta, oats, flour, beans. I'd like to see a chart of food storage, with longevity, etc. I know that storage can vary greatly with conditions, but I'm sure the govt has some statistics somewhere. I've heard that raw wheat stores a lot longer than flour. I've never even ground any, but could figure it out.

 

[Danil54grl]

I did about 36 quart jars of powdered milk too. Personally, I don't like it now, but if that's all there is, we will see. I also stored jars of pasta, oats, flour, beans. I'd like to see a chart of food storage, with longevity, etc. I know that storage can vary greatly with conditions, but I'm sure the govt has some statistics somewhere. I've heard that raw wheat stores a lot longer than flour. I've never even ground any, but could figure it out.

They do and I will have to search for it. . . I got it on this darn computer somewhere

 

[Danil54grl]

Ok not sure how to put it up but this is where I got it on the net

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/store/texas_storage.pdf

this is according to the government world of coarse and not the real one, but still a guideline. I disagree with most of it though

 

[Brent S]

This weekend I made a big batch of salsa. I filled 11 half pint jars, and 9 pint jars and canned them in the pressure cooker. I also got the oxy absorbers I ordered from Amazon and put up some quart jars of white rice and some beans. The oxy absorbers are 300cc and came in three bags of 20 each, sealed up. So I did 15 quart jars of rice and five of beans. I just ran a load of quart jars in the dishwasher on sanitize and hope to can some apples tomorrow. I didn't get a huge crop this year but hope to store twenty quarts or so, along with some fresh apples as well. I'm not looking fowards to peeling them, but it's really nice to make an apple pie or desert in the middle of winter.
I also picked another gallon of Concorde grapes, and three gallons of white grapes. I spent a couple hours de stemming , sorting and washing them before bagging them for the freezer. Those will all go for wine. Luckily all the grape vines ripen at different times or I'd be in the kitchen for a week.
The big project for the weekend was tilling, re bedding and planting the garden for the fall crop. I got carrots, spinach, broccoli and some radishes planted. I'm hoping the spinache won't cook in the summer sun, but have more seeds from last year that should get planted anyways.
This was a three day weekend for me, and I'm down to one day left.m other than the apples, I may just relax tomorrow. At 51 I have to really push myself to stay motivated these days.

 

[Brent S]

Ok not sure how to put it up but this is where I got it on the net

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/store/texas_storage.pdf

this is according to the government world of coarse and not the real one, but still a guideline. I disagree with most of it though

Thanks for the link. I agree, the times listed are being overly safe, but are probably good if stored poorly. I'm pretty good about keeping the storage areas cool and dark.

 

[Brent S]

I did 6 more quarts of apples last night. I'm allready tired of peeling! My canner only fits 7 quarts at a time so I'm doing a few at a time.

 

[DrHenley]

A great resource or russian roulette, alot of rice, depending on where it has been farmed contains arsenic, and studies shown in countries that eat rice every day for, I persume every meal, has serious health implications. www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2015/01/how-much-arsenic-is-in-your-rice/index.htm

From the article:

You may be able to cut your exposure to inorganic arsenic in any type of rice by rinsing raw rice thoroughly before cooking, using a ratio of 6 cups water to 1 cup rice, and draining the excess water afterward. That is a traditional method of cooking rice in Asia.

My wife is Chinese and she introduced me to the habit of washing your rice before you cook it. I actually take it farther than she does, and wash and rinse it repeatedly until the water is almost clear. When you first wash it, the water will be milky white. I rinse it several times. When thoroughly washed, the rice is not as sticky, and tastes a lot better to me.

 

[Brent S]

From the article:


My wife is Chinese and she introduced me to the habit of washing your rice before you cook it. I actually take it farther than she does, and wash and rinse it repeatedly until the water is almost clear. When you first wash it, the water will be milky white. I rinse it several times. When thoroughly washed, the rice is not as sticky, and tastes a lot better to me.

I just googled a Popeyes red beans and rice receipe, which happens to be one of my favorite things on the planet. I've got to get a ham hock tomorrow. I don't even care about the rice, the flavor of the stuff is amazing!

 

[bigpaul]

the problem with storage-whether it is food or anything else- there is a finite limit to what can be stored-quantity wise, especially in Britain where modern houses are so small. so generally speaking-unless you have a farm or a ranch- we cannot store enough to last the rest of our lives, so at some point our stores will be exhausted. in the respect of food, our food stores are to "supplement" any fresh food we can get either by foraging, growing our own plants or by keeping meat animals, or to be used whilst we are "hunkering down" when its not safe to go outside. the general thinking in Britain is we will have a maximum of 12-18months of food stored.

 

[Brent S]

the problem with storage-whether it is food or anything else- there is a finite limit to what can be stored-quantity wise, especially in Britain where modern houses are so small. so generally speaking-unless you have a farm or a ranch- we cannot store enough to last the rest of our lives, so at some point our stores will be exhausted. in the respect of food, our food stores are to "supplement" any fresh food we can get either by foraging, growing our own plants or by keeping meat animals, or to be used whilst we are "hunkering down" when its not safe to go outside. the general thinking in Britain is we will have a maximum of 12-18months of food stored.

Considering most home canned goods start to turn to mush in about three years, 18 months is a pretty realistic goal. Most of the stuff I've canned is good for two years, and although it may be edible, it is going downhill after that. I think if you had a castle, packed with years of supplies, all it would do is attract attention and become a target to be conquered and looted. I've always looked at my prepping to just help me transition thru hard times. If it's a short term emergency then it's easy to have enough supplies to help you thru it. If it's long term, then your supplies will help you while you learn to adapt to the new situation.

 

[bigpaul]

yes my thoughts exactly, adapt and thrive in the new situation.