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"We started a 'Family Food Storage Planning Service' to help people design a food storage plan to fit their family's tastes and budget.  We send out a 'Doing Your Own Food Storage'  pamphlet and a questionnaire and develop a personalized food storage plan for people... If you don't have at least some food storage at present, we strongly urge you to start today in setting one up "

This article is for people who may wish to do some of their own food storage.  Even though we are distributors for freeze dried, nitrogen packed foods, we seldom recommend that people totally stock their food storage with only this kind of food.  Some of these products are however very good additions to any food storage plan and would be difficult for people to produce for themselves.

Did you know?

A: "Freeze-Dried" means that the food was held at just above freezing while in a Vacuum chamber.  In a vacuum, the moisture is removed quickly, to a point where it is much drier than most other dehydrated foods.  Because the food is not allowed to freeze, ice crystals do not form in the cells of the food.  It is these ice crystals that can cause frozen foods to loose their texture and become "Mushy," because the ice crystals rupture the cell walls in the food.  Freeze-dried food, when water is added, returns more closely to original freshness than does other dehydrated foods.

Q: What is Nitrogen packed food?

A: "Nitrogen Packaged" foods have almost all of the Oxygen replaced with Nitrogen.  It is the oxygen that causes most foods to spoil, as most microbes and insects require oxygen to live.  When this method of preserving food is combined with freeze-drying, the result is food that will keep for long periods,  retaining its nutrition and flavor.  We have absolutely nothing bad to say about these methods of food preservation.

Q: Why not buy the "one year" packaged food plans?

A: You can, and they will take the worry and decision making out of having a food storage, but much of the bulk food in many of the "One Year" plans you can purchase yourself, directly from the super market, usually at considerable savings.  Some of these are White Flour, Powdered Milk, Corn Meal, Instant Potatoes, Dry Beans, Wheat, Dried Corn, Dry Pasta, White Rice,  and Soybeans. (These can be stored in their original packages, in 5 gallon sealable buckets, with the moisture and oxygen removed.)  Other items:  Vegetable oils, Baking powder, Instant Coffee, Tea and Cocoa, Salt, Sugar, Honey, Non-carbonated Soft Drinks, Bouillon Products, Red Pepper Sauce, Soy Sauce, Crisco (or the generic brands) Vinegar and even Mayonnaise.  These should be stored unopened, in their original containers, and mayonnaise may loose some flavor over time.

Sugar, salt, white flour, powdered milk, etc. mostly come in card board containers.  Some of these such a salt and sugar, will attract moisture and cake or harden. This does not mean that the salt or sugar is not usable, but it must be pulverized before it will pour. By placing these cardboard containers in plastic bags, or plastic water and air tight containers, their shelf life can be greatly increased.  Grains and other food can be stored in 5 gallon buckets, and if properly done, will have about  5 years of shelf life.  Many of these plans also have large containers that, unless you have a group, cannot be used up quickly.  Once opened, these foods, having lost their nitrogen, are merely dehydrated, and should be repackaged to prevent spoilage.

Q: What does "shelf life" really mean?

A:  "Shelf-life" is the length of time food will retain most of its nutrition and flavor.  Food that may still be safe to eat may have lost much of its nutrition, if stored past its shelf life.  Things that cause food to go bad are moisture, oxygen, insects, and animals getting into the food.  Good storage containers will most often keep insects and animals out.  Already dried foods such as dried beans, white rice, powdered milk, instant potatoes, pasta, white flour, etc. usually don't require additional drying and can be repacked the way they come from the super market.  Bulk grains often have higher moisture content and possibly even some insect eggs to deal with.

Q: How do you prepare your own bulk grain?

A: One simple method is to spread the grain out on cookie sheets and dry in a very low oven (150 degrees) for about 30 minutes.  You don't want to cook the grain, just dry it out and kill any insect eggs that might be present.

After the grain has cooled, place 1/4 of a sheet of dry ice (1/4 pound) in the bottom of a food grade, sealable plastic 5 gallon container and fill 3/4 full with grain.  Set a packet of Silica-Gel desiccant (to absorb moisture) on top of the grain and set the lid in place, but do not seal it.  Some people like to place a couple of dried Bay Leaves in the container at this time also.  In about 2 hours you can usually seal the container.

The dry ice will turn into CO 2 gas and displace the oxygen in the container.  This process should be done in some place out of the wind, so that the CO 2 gas, which is heavier than air, stays in the container.  If you seal the lid too soon, the lid could blow off or the container might rupture.  This is the "Home Canning" version of "nitrogen packing."

Wal-Mart is one place to find inexpensive silica-Gel.  Look in the flower section, because people use it to dry flowers.  Silica-gel is not edible, so don't let it mix with the food.  I have found that coffee filters work well to make containers for the Silica-gel.  One coffee filter with as much silica-gel as it will hold and still tie off, is about right for a 5 gallon container of food.  The container for the silica-gel must not be plastic, because it needs to be able to absorb moisture to work.  If the Silica Gel has already absorbed moisture, it can be dried in a low oven, as mentioned above and will then be reusable.  Your 5 gallon food container would now have had most of the Oxygen removed, and should stay dry.  Also, any insect eggs should have been (hopefully) killed.  Once the container is sealed, the food should keep safely for up to 5 years.

If possible, use new food grade, plastic containers.  But those thrown away by restaurants and fast food places can usually be cleaned and used.  Never store food or water in a plastic container unless you know what was preciously stored in it.  Toxic chemicals can be absorbed by the plastic and cleaning won't remove them.  Use soap and hot water, followed by a bleach solution to clean used food containers.  Of course the containers must be dry before storage.  Some people like to place their food in a plastic or paper bag, inside of the food container.  It may not be a good idea to use trash bags for this, because some of them may contain insecticides.

A good place to buy bulk grains cheaply may be at your local livestock feed store.  We recently bought 100 lbs. of corn meal for $8.50 at our local feed store. Other grains are also usually available, including Soy, Wheat, Wheat Bran, Oats, Whole Corn, etc.  Unless your storage plan includes a hand powered grain grinder, it may make little sense to store a lot of whole grains.  Soy beans and Chick Peas, can be roasted in the oven, until dark brown, like coffee beans, and then ground, for a pretty good coffee substitute.  We like to mix this with 1/3 real coffee, but it is really not too bad all by itself.

Drying your own food is another way to save on your food storage costs.

Notes about home canning.

Cans of food from the super market make good storage foods, but you should use the oldest ones first and replace them.  This is called "rotating" your food.  The easiest way to do this is to put the date that you bought the food on the top of the can with a magic marker.  This makes it easy to use the oldest first.  Canned foods will keep for at least one year, if kept in a cool, dry place and not allowed to freeze.  Food should be stored in a dark, cool, dry place, off the ground and not close to containers of gasoline.

Some common mistakes that people make when storing food:

2. It is not a good idea to buy one part of your storage food at one time, planning to later buy the rest.  Example:  This month you buy a year's supply of rice.  A few months later, you plan on buying a year's supply of dried beans and then, when you can, a year's supply of powdered milk, and so on.  What is wrong with this? None of us really know when a  real emergency is going to strike.  Can you imagine trying to survive on a diet of dried beans and rice?  It is better survival thinking to buy a complete diet of storage food at one time.  OK.  So maybe you can't afford a complete year's supply of food today, but maybe you can afford one month's, or a two week's supply, of all the basic food groups.  As you can, increase your storage.

3. Another mistake is to fill the food storage with things that you and your family would rather not eat, thinking that in an emergency, you will eat it and be glad to have it.  Having foods that you and your family would enjoy eating doesn't really cost much  more.  This is FOOD we are talking about!  If you and your family never eat it, you will have more or less wasted your money, in buying it.  Don't forget to include the items that make food taste better, such as salt, sauces and spices. Americans fear salt and fat in their diets, but you need both of these things to survive, so be sure to include enough of these in your storage.  Having some paper plates and paper towels on hand can make dealing with an emergency easier also, so think about this while planning your food storage.  Don't forget a non-electric can opener.

We've started a "Family Food Storage Planning Service" to help people design a food storage plan to fit their family's tastes and budget.  We send out a "Doing Your Own Food Storage" pamphlet--much of it you are now reading.  We also send out and a questionnaire to develop customized food storage plans.  You can do this for yourself, simply by making a lists of the things your family likes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, then making sure that your food storage has these things in it.  By doing much of your own storage and augmenting this with certain of the freeze dried, nitrogen packed foods, you will have a affordable, tasty food storage.

Some of the freeze dried-nitrogen packed foods include things that would be very difficult for us to do for ourselves and often at prices that are comparable to those in the supermarket.

Certain items such as MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) are excellent for emergency situations, because they come out of the package ready to eat, with no cooking needed.  However the expense and the somewhat limited selection, do not make MRE's the best choice for stocking as a total food storage.

Under certain conditions, the freeze dried-nitrogen packed foods might be the best choice for some food storage plans.  If, for instance, you wanted foods that you could put away and forget, the Freeze-dried/Nitrogen packaged, are probably the best.  They are also much lighter, because the water has been removed (optimal if you need to move your food storage). How much you will want to store will depend on your situation and for how long you expect to need to feed yourself and your family.

We recommend making careful selection of what you store and making your storage fit your situation and your needs.  If you don't have at least some food storage at present, we strongly urge you to start today in setting one up.  We will send a free price list of freeze dried foods on request and even offer our planning service at our cost, which is only $10.00, for anyone who might want some help with setting up their food storage.

Knowing that your family will have food to eat can bring real peace of mind in these troubled times.

Ken & Laurie Davison

Dragon's Lair Farm
P.O.Box 6143
Marianna, FL. 32447
1-850-762-4124

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