CH06-Food

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CH06 - Food For contingency planning in the event one believes that links in the food chain may be disrupted for in excess of a month - i.e. 6 months, a year, or 10...the following Web sites and discussion groups dealing with food self-sufficiency may be helpful: http://garynorth.entrewave. com/forums/index.cfm?CFApp=15 Secondly, would be Geri Guidetti of Ark Institute found easily at Walton Feed - hhtp://www.lis.ab.ca/ walton The book Square Foot Gardening has been a big seller since early 80's - I purchased the book thru excellent catalogue -- "Non-Electric Catalogue at www.Lehmans.com

-- Steve Alley (alley@uninets.net), December 28, 1997

Answers

One thing to note on this subject is that Walton is already reporting a 1-4 month shipping backlog/delay as of 12/97. People who wait until 1999 to lay in a food stock may be in for a rude surprise, I suspect.

-- Mike Gunderloy (MikeG1@mcwtech.com), December 29, 1997.

Mike,

I can confirm this, having ordered some food supplies from Walton yesterday for some family members. They said that Dec97 was the busiest season they've ever had, and most of the orders were Y2K-related. My orders will take 6 weeks to fulfill.

-- Ed Yourdon (yourdon@sprintmail.com), December 31, 1997.


I have found Stan and Holly Deyo's site to be extremely helpful in bringing together the information needed to live through "unusual times" whether it be Y2K or the weather. Holly has compiled a number of lists on what to stock up on that would take quite some time to do on your own.

http://www.iinet.net.au/~standeyo/

-- Rebecca Kutcher (kutcher@pionet.net), January 02, 1998.


Walton Foods is a great way to get some long term storage foods but don't wait for your first delivery,start now at your local Wholesale Club. Most canned foods have a shelf life of two years before a slow rate of nutritional loss begins. Some foods like canned tuna,macaroni,Stagg chili etc will last 5 years before loss begins.(I researched this through calls to many manufacturers.)Most items on the shelf are less than three months old when you buy them,so you can be safe in stockpiling them now.The expiration codes on the cans are difficult to read and vary grealty fron product to product but this info can be obtained by calling the manufacturer.

-- Steve P. (kitp@pacbell.net), January 02, 1998.

My wife and I recently bought a 2 year supply of freeze dried food that has a 10-12 year shelf life. It costs about $1400 a year. Any one interested can email me. It took about two weeks to fill the order.

-- Greg Wiatt (gwiatt@northlink.com), January 03, 1998.


For those of you having trouble getting to Stan and Holly Deyo's site at:

http://www.iinet.net.au/~standeyo/

This is their mirror site here in the states:

http://www.phantoms.com/standeyo/

I have gotten several e-mails and I thought I would let everyone know that there are two sites to get the short and long term emergency preparations information from.

-- Rebecca Kutcher (kutcher@pionet.net), January 14, 1998.


I'm starting a Wacky Gardeners List to encourage each other. One member plans to plant enough for a year, now, and discover next winter if she did it well enough. Then there will be time in the 99 planting season to get it right.

-- Candace (cturner@npwt.net), January 30, 1998.

I'm looking for a source of freeze-dried foods in south- Western Ontario. If you know of some please mail to me at the above address.

-- Ted Burgis (tburgis@vaxxine.com), February 13, 1998.

I've been storing food and studying food storage for a number of years now. I'd like to share a few observations: I don't feel it is especially important to puchase specially packaged foods- y2k isn't that far off! Most canned goods purchased from the grocer will keep several years at least! From my own storage experience I can relate the following- My storage area has a temperature range of 70-85 degrees. This is a bit high and not suitable for ultra long (20 yrs. plus) but it's all I have. Milkman powdewred milk(regular, not non fat which will store longer) stored for 2 years fine. After 3 years some off flavors were noticed but it was fine for baking, definitely rancid after 4 years. Laura Scudder's peanut butter (no preservatives) was still tasty after 3 1/2 tears. Crisco shortening was fine after 5 years. Tomato sauce still good after 4 years. At 9 years pitting on some cans contributed a metallic taste but it was still edible! (To test for rancidity put a small amt. on your toungue and breathe in. You should be able to smell any off flavors, and many people will experience a bit of constriction in their breathing if the food is rancid.) My recommendation is to get started now! Perhaps you can order grains and beans by the sack from a local health food store. Buy used 5 gal. plastic pails from local donut or bakery shops to store these foods in. Stock up on canned fruits, vegetables and meats. Develope a water storage plan. Purchase a sierra or zip stove. These neat little stoves are powered by a single AA battery and will burn anything combustible. You can always find sticks and twigs to burn. Drop me an E-mail and I'll send your chapt. 2 of my book outlining how to create a storage plan.

-- skipper clark (skipper@ cncnet.com), March 23, 1998.

To one and all: You can always come to Winnipeg, Manitoba ,Canada. The houses are cheap ($20,000 - 150,000 Canadian). The water is very clean and comes straight from Shoal Lake with minimal filtration required. The murder rate is one-fifth of the U.S.A.. The cost of living is one of the lowest in Canada. There are only one million people in this entire province ( check your maps). We have a cold winter and a hot summer. Hey , there are worse options.

-- joshua (aaa@bbb.com), May 26, 1998.


Anyone out there know of published info on shelf life of various foods etc.?

-- Dick Taylor (angusdude@my.yahoo.com), June 23, 1998.

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