Budget Survival, Part 2

Some useful foods that can be stored (fairly) long-term without refrigeration:
Velveeta Cheese
Canned soups for Gravies/sauces
Boullion (cubes or granular) for gravies, sauces, comfort drinks
Gravy mixes

There are certain bulk staples that will, of course, be included - such as:

Dried beans

Rice (uncooked - "Instant" or "Minute" rice won't store as well. Also, polished white rice stores better than unpolished, rough, or brown rice.)

Flour (Refined white flour stores much better and much longer than whole wheat flour; but if you can grind your own flour, wheat stores better than flour)

Sugar and Honey (refined white sugar apparently has unlimited shelf life)

Oatmeal ("old fashioned," uncooked. Instant packages may be okay, if rotation time isn't very long.)

Baking Powder

Dried Milk

Powdered eggs (Godsend to some; a Curse to others)

Dried Potato Flakes

Yeast Packets

Dry Pasta/Mac&Cheese packages/Ramin Noodles
(If your family is like mine, there are lots of Ramin Flavor Packs and "Mac&Cheese" cheese packs left over. These should have a shelf life of yearsss because of the way they're packaged, and could go a long way towards spiffing up an otherwise bland emergency-ration meal.)

Bottled Hot Sauce/Dried Peppers (Okay, I'm from Texas)

Salt & Pepper

Other basic spices (Dried Garlic Powder, Grated Parmesan, paprika, dried onion flakes - you know how you cook & eat)

Of course, there are many more possibilities.

And don't forget the cooking oils. (This is more important than most people realize. I read an article a few months ago about a Third World village [don't recall which country] where the people had to walk over a mile to obtain cooking oil - and could only afford it in 1 or 2 ounce quantities, and it was the most expensive single commodity most of them ever bought.) Do a search on "Rabbit Starvation" if you don't understand why fats/oils are vital to sustenance. For one example, without dietary fats, the body cannot assimilate and utilize the fat-soluble vitamins (Vitamin Deficiency).

If you decide to use the buckets (as described in a previous article) for food storage , or whatever other containers you may use, consider combining commodities in the buckets. That is, instead of having a bucket of rice, a bucket of beans, and a bucket of flour (three buckets total), put beans, rice, and flour all in one bucket together (in separate bags, of course) - three times (three buckets total).

If each bucket is full of one commodity, and then you lose a bucket or it gets compromised (rats/leak/lost), you will no longer have that commodity - which could really impact your survival rations (and diet) severely. On the other hand, if each bucket had a complete collection of your chosen food stores, then loss of one bucket wouldn't be so damaging. In fact, you would even be able to give a bucket to someone else, trade it for something you may need more, or - in dire evacuation conditions - grab what you can and not really be missing anything except quantity even if you only get one or two.
Take one on road trips "just in case."
Take one camping just to see what's needed and missing, or if you really can utilize the contents; or to adjust the proportions of the contents to better reflect your personal tastes/needs. Then you can adjust the contents of all the other containers to reflect what you learn.

Another advantage is that all the contents of each bucket can be more easily rotated and replaced. If you use up one bucket, re-stock it, and put it in the back of the line, you will not have to buy 50lbs of anything at a one time; rather, if you run out of one thing and have everything else left you will know to add more of that one item next time you re-stock the container. Likewise, if there is too much of one commodity left when the others have been consumed, you again know to make adjustments.

There are a couple things that I think would be prudent to have in each container. If you're just rotating your supplies at home, you may never even touch these things, but in an emergency they will suddenly be important assets:

>Toilet paper (one roll in each bucket won't use THAT much space, and not many people like the improvised alternatives)

>Can Opener (If you need one, nothing else is as effective. If you have extras, you can gift/sell/trade them to others that forgot/lost theirs.)

>"Church Key" Can Opener (cuts triangle-shaped holes) Useful for opening canned liquids, but also to make improvised camp stoves from cans.

>Matches/Disposable Lighters (Not many can start a fire with two sticks - especially in the cold and rain!)

>Hand Sanitizer (It may be the ONLY sanitation option available at times.)

>Small Kitchen Knife/Serving Spoon

>A medium-sized aluminum cooking pot with a lid is cheap and wouldn't really add any weight or take up any room since it would be packed in and around, but would be priceless if you need one. If there is one in each container, you have the option of cooking more than one thing at a time or helping others less prepared.

>Small, Cheap Pliers - the ultimate hand tool. Good for cutting light wire, smoothing the inside/cut edges of cans, handling hot pots/pans/cans (or making wire bail handles for cooking cans, hmmm....) Small "Lineman's Pliers" are my favorites, followed by sturdy "Needle-Nosed" pliers, but always with the wire-cutter function.

There are other items that could be just as useful, small, light, and cheap. For example, a coffee can with lid will fit in much like the cook-pot, but could serve many useful purposes (store food, keep the toilet paper dry, used as a second cookpot, made into a campstove, - your imagination/needs are the only limitations).

Speaking of cans: If you have canned goods, hesitate to throw away the empty cans. They can be used to cook in (or on - as an improvised camp stove for you or someone else); to drink and eat from; for measuring/dipping dry OR wet commodities; or even as distractions (toys) for small kids (smooth the inside, cut edges!)

I believe in helping others if I can. I also believe in property rights. I might be that eccentric old geezer that would shoot someone for stealing a biscuit from my camp, then turn around and give away a stocked bucket. I firmly believe that if something's mine, no-one else has a right to it unless I give them that right. I'm not selfish, I just believe in property rights. I won't steal, and I won't be stolen from. Period. Having said that, I fully intend to be able to share (although not indiscriminately, of course - I'm neither rich nor foolish enough to do that).