Once you have established a short-term food supply, you are ready to branch out to long-term food storage. A long-term food supply will feed your family for three months or longer. As with a short-term food supply, long-term food storage will most likely be used for a personal emergency. Extended illness, job loss, or pay reduction can easily last longer than a couple of months. If you have inadequate income for a long period of time, you can still feed your family if you have food stored.
A long-term food supply would also be necessary in the event of a large-scale disaster. These events are rare, but could happen. Anything that could shut down the production, packaging, or shipping of foods for an extended period of time would be an event for which you would want long-term food storage.
Purchasing and storing quantities of food also allows you to shop for particular products when prices are lower, for example during sales or when a product is in season. You can then pull from your storage instead of purchasing those items later when the prices are high. Beating inflation, you can eat food a year from now that was purchased at today’s prices.
Long-term food storage can be divided into two time frames, mid-range foods and long-term foods. Mid-range foods are the foods that will feed you within the first year and, for the most part, can be an extension of your short-term food supply. Because many commercially or home-canned foods have a shelf-life of three years or more, they can be included in a mid-range food storage plan of up to one year.
To determine what foods you need to have in your mid-range storage, you can continue with the Menu Method or Inventory Method outlined in chapter two. Substitute longer shelf-life options for any products with short shelf lives. Potatoes, for example, can store for around three months fresh, but in order to include potatoes in your mid-range storage, you will need to substitute canned or dry potatoes for the fresh ones. Multiply the ingredients out to the number of months you are planning on storing food. If you needed 12 cans of peaches for one month, you’ll want to have 144 cans for a year’s supply. Because of their shorter shelf lives, these foods should regularly be rotated into your normal eating routine to keep the supply fresh.
It is said that variety is the spice of life. Well, spices are the variety of food storage. An assortment of seasonings and sauces can go a long way toward making your food storage more palatable over the course of time you will be eating it. Beans and rice can become Cajun beans and rice, or Mexican refried beans and Spanish rice, or Polynesian rice with beans, all with just a few different seasonings and sauces.
For long-term storage, it is best to use foods with a shelf life of ten years or more. If stored properly, many foods will keep for twenty years or longer without their nutritional value deteriorating. These foods can be rotated into your normal meals or purchased and stored as insurance to be stashed in the dark corners of your basement until their shelf life is reached.
Dry foods with a moisture content of 10 percent or less are ideal for long-term storage. This includes many whole grains, dehydrated or freeze-dried foods, and powdered eggs and milk. Foods that are processed less tend to store longer. Whole wheat stores for thirty years or more, but grind that wheat into flour and the shelf life is only five years. Avoid foods with high moisture or oil content.
These shelf lives apply to foods properly packaged and stored unopened in a cool, dark, dry environment.
If you get down to the very basics of long-term food storage, you have what is sometimes referred to as the “Mormon Four”—wheat, beans, honey, and powdered milk. These four main food items were traditionally stored by some members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in their long-term food storage. The basis of many meals, together these four foods contain all the nutrition a body needs for survival.
Wheat has been called the staff of life, and for good reason! The primary ingredient in most breads and cereals, wheat provides the body with carbohydrates, protein, fiber, and a whole host of vitamins and minerals including magnesium, niacin, and zinc. Incredibly versatile, wheat can be used in a variety of ways.
Here are two methods for separating gluten from starch to make wheat meat.
You can purchase gluten flour and the process gets easier.
Raw gluten can be shaped as desired, then steamed or boiled. Boil in a flavored broth to add flavor the gluten. Once cooked, the gluten can be ground or sliced and eaten like meat.
Grind it: Grinding wheat will produce whole wheat flour, which you can use to make bread, flatbread, cookies, crackers, cakes, piecrusts, and more.
Separate out the gluten: Gluten is a protein-rich meat substitute. It’s often called “wheat meat.” After you grind wheat, you can separate the gluten from the starch using one of the methods described in the Gluten Wheat Meat sidebar.
Eat it whole: Yes, there are uses for wheat even if you don’t have a grinder! You can boil the grains until soft and use them as a meat extender, make hot cereal, or eat as a side dish similar to rice. You can even chew the dry grains, although it’s a little hard on the teeth.
Sprout it: Sprouting wheat boosts the vitamin content and changes the flavor. Wheat that has just started sprouting can be eaten alone or added to other foods such as salads, baked into bread, or re-dried and ground into flour. If you let the wheat sprout longer, it will grow into wheatgrass, which can be juiced or chewed straight. Wheatgrass provides protein, vitamin E, phosphorus, and potassium.
Dry beans come in many different varieties: white, black, pink, pinto, kidney, and lima are just a few. The “poor man’s meat,” beans pack a nutritional punch with fiber and protein as well as vitamin B6, iron, vitamin C, riboflavin, copper, and manganese. Beans can be used in a variety of ways.
Cook them: Soaked and boiled, beans make flavorful and filling soups. Cooked beans can also be mashed into a paste and substituted for butter in baking recipes. Mashed beans also make great refried beans.
Sprout them: You can grow them long for bean sprouts or eat them when the sprout tail is just beginning to show. At either stage they are excellent both cooked in a meal or eaten raw.
Grind them for bean flour: Grind dry beans through a grain grinder and you have bean flour. This is a great use for the older beans that don’t want to soften when they are cooked. Bean flour can be used to thicken soups and stews, make instant refried beans, and can be substituted for up to one-fourth of the amount of wheat flour called for in any baking recipe’s wheat flour. Beans in your cookies? You bet.
Dry beans need to be soaked before cooking, and there are a couple of easy ways to get the soaking done.
One of the oldest known sweeteners, honey also has an indefinite shelf life and provides carbohydrates and calories. For the best quality honey, purchase raw honey from a local beekeeper. Commercial honey may be ultra filtered or heat-processed prior to packaging, reducing the natural enzymes that provide the health benefits.
Honey can be used in a variety of ways.
Sweeten: Substitute honey for sugar in your recipes and drinks.
Heal: With honey’s antibacterial properties, it can be used as a topical antibiotic for wounds and burns. Since heat kills some of the natural enzymes in honey, you will need raw honey that has not been heat-processed for best results.
Soothe: Honey works wonders to soothe sore throats as well as chapped or rough skin.
Onion
Raw honey
Garlic, minced (optional)
Ginger root, grated (optional)
After several hours, the honey and onion juice will have mixed to form a syrup. Stir it around a little bit to even out the consistency of the syrup. Then strain out the onions or just scoop the syrup you want out of the side of the pot.
Children take 1–2 teaspoons, adults 2–4 teaspoons as needed. Store in the refrigerator for up to one month.
Milk provides protein, carbohydrates, calcium, and potassium. Powdered milk is available in instant and non-instant (also called regular) powders. The non-instant powders are more difficult to mix into a liquid, but are also less expensive, and most mix at a lower powder-to-water ratio than their instant counterparts.
There is a lot of variation in flavor between the various brands, so do a taste test across the brands before you select one to buy for storage. Any brand you don’t enjoy drinking can be used for cooking instead.
Also be aware that some powdered milks are not 100 percent milk, but rather a “milk alternative.” These generally taste better for drinking, but have many other ingredients in them besides dried milk. They also will not react in the same way regular milk does when making yogurt or cheeses. If you are shopping for powdered milk, be sure to check the label—real milk will have only milk and possibly added vitamins A and D as its ingredients.
Powdered milk can be used in a variety of ways.
Drink it: Powdered milk reconstitutes into liquid milk that is ready to drink.
Make milk-based products: Powdered milk can be made into almost any dairy product that regular milk can, including yogurt, cheeses, and even canned milk products like sweetened condensed milk or evaporated milk.
Nutrient supplement: Add dry powdered milk to recipes for some extra nutrition. It can be mixed with the dry ingredients in a baking recipe or into other foods like meat loaf or soups.
These substitutions can be used in any recipe calling for either of these canned milk products.
1 cup water
2⁄3 cup powdered milk
Blend together. Makes the equivalent of one 12-oz. can of evaporated milk.
1⁄2 cup hot water
1 cup sugar
1 cup powdered milk
3 tbsp. melted butter
Blend together until the sugar has dissolved. Makes the equivalent of one 10-oz. can of sweetened condensed milk.
Long-term food storage needs can be calculated by continuing the Menu Method or Inventory Method from chapter two; however, everything that is canned, bottled, frozen, or fresh will need replaced by a long-term storage option. This can get a little tricky but, for the most part, is possible. For example, your favorite canned enchilada sauce may now need to be stored as three different dry ingredients that you will mix into sauce when you need to use it.
You may find it easier to be a little less specific and just store quantities of foods that can be used in a variety of ways. You can use a chart like the One Year of Food Chart in this chapter (find a blank chart in the appendix) to calculate food amounts for your long-term storage. Online food storage calculators such as lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm can provide a good list as well.
When using a list like this to plan your family’s food storage, keep in mind that these lists are frequently calculated to supply an individual with enough nutrition and calories to sustain life, not necessarily make it pleasant, so the meals may not be as filling or as flavorful as you would like. Add to it some foods your family enjoys as well as a variety of seasonings, and definitely take full advantage of the flavor and texture variations within each food group. With the wide array of options currently available for long-term food storage, there is no reason to store all 300 pounds (136kg) of grains as wheat or all 75 pounds (34kg) of dairy as powdered milk.
The quantities listed also may not be accurate for your family. You may want to add more yeast, vinegar, sugar, salt, or other items to your personal storage. Increasing the quantities in each category will also help ensure that you have enough food stored. These lists also do not take into consideration any dietary restrictions you may have. A list like this is a good place to start on a long-term food storage plan; you’ll just want to do a little customizing to suit the eating habits of your family.
The following is the suggested food storage amount for one person for one year.
Baking powder: 1 pound (454g)
Baking soda: 1 pound (454g)
Vinegar: 1⁄2 gallon (2L)
Yeast: 1⁄2 pound (227g)
Salt: 5 pounds (2kg)
Adapted from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Essentials of Home Production and Storage book.
Many food storage calculators have different calculated storage amounts for small children and adults. Children do not require as many calories as adults, but remember, this is long-term food storage, and children don’t stay small forever. Some teenage children eat more than adults! To ensure you have enough food stored, I recommend calculating every member of the family as an adult.
I always advocate storing a variety of foods in your food storage, whether it be for short- or long-term. Nobody wants to eat the same foods over and over, and with the many options that are available, long-term storage can be so much more than wheat, beans, powdered milk, and honey. Dehydrated and freeze-dried fruits, vegetables, and even meats can have a shelf life of twenty-five years, which means you can still have asparagus, bell peppers, blueberries, and turkey in your long-term food storage. We’ll cover more on storage options and techniques in the coming chapters. Your long-term food storage is for your family and can and should be customized to fit the needs and tastes of the individuals it will feed.