PREPARATION 101 Basic Food Preparation and Storage

The information contained in this handout is in no way an exhaustive list of the foods and materials that a responsible family should secure. It is simply an attempt to give some general guidance to those interested in stocking a reserve of food and other goods. These lists were compiled from a range of Internet sources and publications.

Table of Contents

1. Helpful Hints

2. Basic Foods List

3. Shelf Lives: Time, Temperature, Moisture, Light

4. Shelf Lives of common food items

5. Kitchen Items to remember

(Contra Costa Y2K)

Helpful Hints

Whatever your experience or belief, it is prudent to have a preparedness plan. How much do you store? That is up to your beliefs. Be aware of how much your family eats in a week and factor that into your buying decision. The following items can serve as a guide to preparing your family for unforeseen emergencies: fires, earthquakes, mud slides, strikes, riots or power outages.

First, dont wait! Every time you go to the grocery store, pick up a few extra items of non-perishable foods and set them aside at home. It will not break your food budget to buy a few things each week and you will fee relieved when you are prepared.

Second, store your food in a cool, dry place away from toxins and fumes. Do not store it in the garage, in trash bags or plastic garbage cans that have been treated for pesticides. Do not store it closer than 6 inches from walls or floors where it can pick up moisture. Move the dishes or appliances that you never use out of the cupboards. Store that in he garage of shed and put your food in the kitchen.

Third, store water, a minimum of 1 gallon per person per day in glass or hard plastic containers designed for water storage. Do not use milk cartons. It is hard to clean out the mil residue and after taste. Replace your stored water about every six months.

Fourth, keep the necessary non-electric tools you need on hand. A manual can opener, paper plates and cups, etc.

Fifth, when buying your food, purchase a variety of non-perishable foods so that you will have a balanced diet and not get bored. Empty calorie foods that will leave you hungry should be avoided: fruit punches or drinks, cookies, cake, candy, chips and salty snack items. That takes up space and dont deliver the nutrients you need. (Small exceptions should be made for treats that can have a positive psychological effect for children in the face of adversity)

Also:

 Store foods you eat and eat what you store  Rotate your foods. (Eat the oldest and put the new items in the back)  If the power goes out, eat the foods in your refrigerator first. If the power stays off and your freezer defrosts, eat those food too.  Do not refreeze defrosted food  Label your stored foods with purchase dates to keep track of aging food items.

Being prepared for emergencies is nothing more than taking responsibility for the care and safety of your family. Start today by following these basic steps and rest easier knowing you are prepared.

Kitchen Items To Remember

 Dishtowels  Dishwashing detergent (anti-bacterial)  Dishpan  Hand soap (anti-bacterial)  Sponges  Steel Wool  Rubber Gloves  Trash bags  Baggies  Plastic Wrap  Paper Napkins  Rags  Water filter  Water purifiers  Iodine  Knife sharpener  Matches  Fire extinguisher  Gas Grill  Camping Stove  Kettle  Cast iron cookware  Skillet  Plastic Storage Containers

-- Daren Henderson (TryChange@aol.com), May 06, 1999

Answers

Here is the rest of the handout information:

Basic Food Items

(Except where indicated, the figures presented in pounds are based on per person consumption on a monthly basis)

Variety of Grains: 25 lbs. per person  Wheat  Rice (brown, white, or combination)  Corn (popcorn and field corn)  Oatmeal  Flour (white and other varieties like 6-grain and 9-grain)  Barley  Instant hot cereals (like oatmeal, cream of wheat, etc.)  Cold cereals Variety of Beans: 5 lbs. per person  Pinto  Red beans  Anasazi beans  Kidney beans  Lentils  Navy  Great Northern  Sprouting peas, etc. Pasta  Spaghetti  Macaroni  Shells Dairy Products  Milk: 6 lbs. per person  Powdered butter/margarine is available (like Butter Busters)  Cheese powder Eggs  Powdered eggs: Two #10 cans per person per year. Sweeteners: 5 lbs. per person  Honey, white sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, molasses, corn syrup, etc. Salt: .75 lbs. per person Vegetables: Twelve #10 cans per person per year  Dehydrated vegetables are a top priority. (1/2 should be potatoes)  Instant mashed potatoes  Soup and stew blends, carrots, celery, cabbage, peas, green beans, broccoli, and beets. Canned and bottled vegetables should also be stored. Fruits  Dehydrated fruits are also a top priority.  Raisins  Fruit cocktail, apples, applesauce, flavored apples, bananas, peaches, apricots, raisins, etc. Canned and bottled fruit should also be included. Spices and Flavorings  Bouillon (beef and chicken), onions, garlic, green peppers.  Baking cocoa is nice to have on hand.  Tomato powder, tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, ketchup-Two  #10 cans per year (Tomato products are a regular in most American kids' diets and they will often eat things with ketchup on them they wouldn't otherwise! Ketchup is high in sugar and kids are almost addicted to it!)  Pepper  Ketchup/mustard  Chili powder  Cinnamon  Oregano, basil Cooking Agents  Baking powder, baking soda: 2 1b. cans per person per year.  Yeast: 2 lbs. per person (in a pinch you can use sourdough) per year.  Oils: (vegetable, olive, etc.) 2 gallons per person per year. Seeds for Sprouting 1 lbs. per person  Alfalfa, mung, radish, sprouting peas, lentils, etc. Odds and Ends  Pancake mix  Waffle mix  Pickles  Cereals  Crackers  Cans of nuts (peanuts, cashews, etc.) Beverages  Coffee: Instant and brewed (buy vacuum sealed but already ground if there is a problem with electricity)  Tea  Non-carbonated  Drink mix like Tang, Kool-aid  Gatorade Vitamins  Multi-vitamins  Vitamin C  Mineral supplement

Baby Food and Formula

Quick and Easy to Prepare Foods (For times when you are ill or can't psychologically handle cooking with the basics. All you have to do is add water and wait ten minutes for most of these convenience foods.)  Tuna  Chicken  Corned beef  Spam  Soy Protein - Taco filling, BBQ Beef  MRE's (meals ready to eat)  Freeze or dried or no cook foods, canned chili, canned soups, canned meats, peanut butter, etc.

Psychological Foods or Comfort Foods  Puddings, Jell-O, chocolate chips, Dream Whip, cake mixes, brownie mixes, hard candies, powdered drinks, jelly, crackers, etc. These things are really important. Start storing these things from the beginning of your food storage plan. Then add more as you can afford to and in the quantities that your family needs.

Shelf Lives: Time, Temperature, Moisture and Light

Since the entire idea of a food storage program is that it should be available for you and yours in times of need, it is desirable to gain an understanding of those conditions that can affect the edibles stored in your pantry. Your storage program is only as good as the original quality of the food that goes into it. It cannot get any better than what originally goes in, but it can certainly get worse. In the fullness of time, all stored foods will degrade in nutrient content and palatability until they reach the inevitable end where even the dog won't eat them. It's because of this eventuality that every article, book, and teacher concerned with putting food by gives the same advice: date all food containers and rotate, Rotate, ROTATE. It is important to remember when discussing the usefulness of various foodstuffs that there are really *two* shelf lives to be considered. The first shelf life is the nutrient content of the food. This actually begins to degrade from the moment the food is harvested. Three factors dictate nutritional shelf life: the food's initial nutritional content; the processing steps the food underwent before it was placed into storage, and its storage conditions. Eventually the nutrition will dwindle away to nothing. At some point it will have to be decided the remaining nutrition is not worth the space the food is taking up and it should be rotated out of storage. The second shelf life to consider is a food's useful life or the point at which it undergoes undesirable changes to taste, texture, color and cooking qualities. This is the reason for the "use by" dates on many foods and for shelve lives in general and will usually is more than good nutritive life. We have all heard of people eating many year old preserved foods such as jellies, MRE's and the like. If you do not have anything to replace it with, it is not necessary to throw food out just because it has reached the end of its nutritive shelf life. Do, however, keep in mind that increasing age will only further decrease the useful nutrition and increase the likelihood that something may cause the food to spoil.

Temperature

Within reason, the key to prolonging the storage life of your edibles lies in lowering the temperature of the area in which they are stored. The storage lives of most foods are cut in half by every increase of 18 F (10 degrees Celsius). For example, if you've stored your food in a garage that has a temperature of 90 F then you should expect a shelf life less than half of what could be obtained at room temperature (70 F) which in turn is less than half the storage life that you could get if you kept them in your refrigerator at 40 F. Your storage area should be located where the temperature can be kept above freezing (32 F) and, if possible, below 72 F.

Humidity

Ideally, your storage location should have a humidity level of 15% or less, but unless you live in the desert, it's not terribly likely you'll be able to achieve this so you'll have to do the best that you can. Regardless, moisture is not good for your stored edibles so you want to minimize it as much as possible. This can be done by several methods. The first is to keep your storage location air-conditioned during the warm and humid times of the year. The second is to package the goods in storage containers impervious to moisture and then to deal with the moisture trapped inside. If you can, there's no reason not to use both. All storage containers should be kept off the floor and out of direct contact from exterior walls to reduce the chances of condensation.

Light Once you've gotten temperature and humidity under control, it's necessary to look at light. Light is a form of energy and when it shines on your stored foods long enough it transfers some of that energy to the food. That energy has the effect of degrading its nutritional content and appearance. Fat soluble vitamins, such as A, D and E are particularly sensitive to light degradation. It's a pretty sight to look at rows and rows of jars full of delicious food, particularly if you were the one that put the food in those jars. However, if you want to keep them at their best, you'll admire them only when you turn the light on in the pantry to retrieve a jar. If you don't have a room that can be dedicated to this purpose then store the jars in the cardboard box they came in. This will protect them not only from light, but help to cushion them from shocks which might break a jar or cause it to lose its seal. For those of you in earthquake country, it's a particularly good idea. When "terra" is no longer "firma" your jars just might dance right off onto the floor. Assuming that it was properly processed in the first place, canned, dried and frozen (never thawed) foods do not become unsafe when stored longer than the recommended time, but their nutrient quality fades and their flavor goes downhill. Think of rotating your food storage as paying your food insurance premiums -- slacking off on rotation cuts back on your coverage. Is your food insurance up to date?

-- Daren Henderson (TryChange@aol.com), May 06, 1999.

An item to remember is PET FOOD, for your other house guests.

-- Bruce Baumrucker (bbaumrucker@value.net), May 19, 1999.