How to Build 1 Year of Food Storage - Ultimate Guide

**Links from video**

**Recipe books**

**How to cook after a disaster**

**Water storage**

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[dag]

If I can please make a suggestion. I have been prepping for years and thought I was all set. Problem was a got cancer and really couldn't eat many things I stocked up on. It is good to also stock up on some foods you might need if your sick. Think some bland stuff, cream of rice, applesauce, potato flakes, and Gatorade. Just a thought.

[shooshoo]

Ive been prepping for a few years now. All my kids are gone with kids of their own. Me and my husband are 67 now and we never intended all this food for us. My kids are so not preppers so I prep for my 4 kids their spouses and my 13 grandchildren. It brings me great comfort knowing I will never see anyone in my family go hungry in my life time so yes …. It’s worth it!

[KeyClavis]

Putting dry goods in a deep freeze for a week or two will kill insect larvae. I always put pasta, beans, rice, flour, etc in the chest freezer for 10-14 days before putting it in the pantry. Since I started doing that, I have had zero infestations. Hope this helps.

[carolynsteele]

After stocking the basics: grains, beans, honey, sugar, etc. my food storage is now geared around meals. Breakfast foods like oatmeal, dried eggs, pancake mixes/syrup. Lunch foods: bread making supplies, canned meats, mayonnaise. Dinner foods: lots of bullion and soup base, canned and dried vegetables, chili, instant potatoes, pastas. For fun I store buckets of hard candies, popcorn and cocoa mixes. Then there’s chickens, rabbits and a huge garden.

[E-ROCK]

I bought one jar of peanut butter, am ready for any shtf scenario.

[Clarinda]

I have totally eliminated all sugar, all GMO, and most carbs from my diet. I pay zero attention to calories. Now I am able to live on only meat and veggies which I can grow myself. This type of eating has had tons of benefits. First, I discovered that my energy level went sky high. Next, I discovered that I'm rarely hungry and only eat once a day, sometimes skipping a day or two. My body healed itself of 2 autoimmune diseases, inflammation is gone, and I feel 20 years younger. It's so much cheaper and easier to keep food storage when the meat is stored "on the hoof" and the veggies are stored in a root cellar. No more buckets, mylar bags, and costly survival trips to the grocery stores. My money has gone to stocking up with a berkey water filter, alternate power and water sources, and I'm saving for a freeze dryer (almost there!) My food storage is now mostly seeds along with a book called "seed to seed" that teaches me how to harvest seeds for the following years supply of food. Best to everyone.

[teresafarley]

Thank you!
I do have a suggestion for people who don't have a lot of money. Buy rice, beans etc. at places like Walmart for $1/ea. and then either use mylar or vacuum sealer. That way you're not dropping $20 every time you go shopping out of your budget. You can allocate $1 or $5 and get a few things. You can buy an extra container of salt here and there. Prepping doesn't have to be expensive. I'm sure most people can find a way to get something you really want by shifting your budget, so why not skip that item and put some money towards mylar bags or oxygen absorbers, etc.? That's how I did it for years when I was on a shoestring budget. Just a thought.

[tennesseedanielauthor]

Freeze drying expert here since 2016- I had tons of mylar and O2As so I did an experiment with my free boxes of cereals I got with coupons. This was approximately 8 years ago. I removed the cereal and placed directly into thick mylar bags and popped oxygen absorbers before sealing. A long term test showed that this extended the shelf life to between 4-7 years depending on the type of grains. Cheerios did the best, Greek yogurt did well but not longer than 4 years. If a grid down it’s good for chickens. I’d eat if things were dire but freshness taste degraded a lot after 5 years. I did this with baby ritz peanut butter and cheese crackers and still good 7+ years later. White flour is good 7-8+ years later as well and this test is still ongoing. I prefer using smaller quart sizes that fit about 6 cups each of dry goods. One 6C bag of flour will make 2 artisan loaves of bread. Storing in 5 gallon mylar is awesome for larger families but once opened it may not be as fresh depending on environmental factors. Grid down there will not be AC and heat/humidity levels will be harder to keep large amounts of grains as fresh after opening those large bags.

[alexketteman]

Biggest thing I've found to help is finding things that stave off food fatigue. Sure, eating the same mix of calorie content will keep you alive, but after a month of eating it, you'd sure kill for a jar of salsa or some taco seasoning. Have variety among the preps! 👍👍 Great vid CityPrepping.

[josephrizk]

You have really been on it lately. Thank you for all these useful videos

[cottagerose]

I’m 60 and have problems lifting the buckets so I use Vittle Vaults 60 pound containers because they stack on each other and I can access them without moving them.

[floydjohnson]

For those who live in small homes without a lot of closet or pantry space, you can turn some furniture into extra space. I see free furniture on craigslist like tall dressers, armories and file cabinets. These can be turned into useful storage for emergency supplies. Free is a great price to start your organization.

[carrowxhex]

Square buckets stack better/higher. Smaller buckets 2lb-4lb are easier to rotate if you’re older or want to save your back.

[T.J.Williamson]

A simple way to prep if you are low income is to get food at a local food bank weekly. Many of the cans that the food bank gives are purchased and are good for at least two years. This is a great way to have a pantry full of food without spending money you don't have.

[abc]

One of the biggest things I do for prepping is a LOT of canning. I have two pressure cookers and when I use them at the same time I can pressure can 21 quarts. I do 95% of my grocery shopping at discount/salvage grocery stores. At our local store when the man slices ham, roast beef, or other meats like that he takes all of the end pieces and anything that isn't a perfect slice and he packages them and they sell for .99 a pound for boneless meat. If I get enough of it I just can it as is in half-pint jars since I am only one person. Usually, though I make what I call "survival soup". It has mushrooms, garlic, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, celery, beans, and whatever type of meat I have. I LOVE soup and I have no plans on spending my days eating beans and rice. If I were in a survival situation and felt the need to ration my soup supplies I would add rice, quinoa, or pasta to the soup to make it go further. I have hundreds of jars of soup, meat, chili, vegetables, fruits, pickled eggs, and cheese. I have also dehydrated a LOT of vegetables and mushrooms. I do have beans, rice, and pasta vacuum sealed in half-gallon jars. I also have store-bought canned items too, as well as a freezer full of food. I don't have what would be considered long-term storage. I am not spending what little money I have on foods with a 30-year shelf life that I am probably never going to eat. I think most people aren't eating those types of preps on a daily basis and I think it would be hard if something happens to have to start eating things that you aren't used to. I store what I eat and eat what I store. I eat my preps on a daily basis so if something happens I'll go right on eating what I am already eating. I also vacuum seal dry dog food and cat food so it is always fresh and ready for my pets. I try to keep a lot of it on hand since salvage grocery stores don't always have what you want. I really think I have enough food for a year though I've never tested it. I love the movie "Blast From the Past." That guy was a real prepper.

[marshalepage]

My great grandma had a cellar the same size as her house. She lived through the great depression raising 9 kids with a husband that came back from WWII paralyzed. I remember working until my arms would no longer move as a child, but man I still have never tasted canned pickles that are as good as her spicy canned pickles. I wish I learned how she did that.

[AnneGoggansQHHT]

If you get beans, legumes, grains that can be sprouted, the nutrition is amplified. Grains are then fermented to further build nutrition. My grandmother always put a few bay leaves in with any grains or flour to prevent weevils.

[paulabrunner]

For oils we almost exclusively use ghee. It lasts forever and super easy to make. I wait umtil i catch butter on sale and then take a day and make a big batch of it.

[oneperson]

On shelves, I've found that shelving units which have feet on the bottom, or posts which all the weight rests on will damage your flooring. It's better to get shelving units which have a flat bottom shelf to distribute the weight evenly and not on small points. This may not matter if you are putting your storage on a concrete floor, but if you have wood floors or live in a house with a wood subfloor, the heavy points of weight can damage even the subfloor. Pay attention to the rated weight load of shelving and don't exceed it.

[Utah_Mike]

I have switched to the one gallon Mylar bags as there is only two in the house now. Smaller storage Helps with rotating. Slow and steady wins the race every time.