Common Stuff for the Pantry - FOOD! Not the freeze dried crap.

Started by Hoofer, December 17, 2016, 08:40:47 AM

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Hoofer

I'd like to start a list of everyday food, by brand name - that's NOT freeze dried 25yr crap you'd only eat if near starvation.
Commonly found stuff from grocery stores, canned, frozen, dried - whatever - that doesn't carry the "survivalist moniker", but really is the good stuff worth stocking.

Minimum requirement is 3 year shelf life.  Why...?  In a SHTF scenario, if you're staying PUT, do you -really- have 3 whole years of dehydrated food saved?  Have you EVER eaten that dehydrated stuff for 2 weeks?  Chicken-ala-barf & Beef-gimme-stroke?  Eggs-what-the-hell-is-that-Benedict?  Tastes like CHALK the the texture of Cardboard.  Seriously, our dogs turned down some of that MRE stuff - and you're gonna ... ?

The idea is to rotate - everything eventually goes BAD, but when stored in a cool, dry place, some of these common, grocery store, wholesale club stuff, both lasts a good length of time, and tastes pretty good - good enough you're already eating it with regularity!

Give a link where to find it, and if it has an "alternate" use... list that too!
-----------------------------------------------

True Potatoes
http://www.simplotfoods.com/Product/10071179401520
Comes in a #10 can, just add hot water.   
Not flakes, but powder, fluffs up like REAL mashed potatoes, and beats EVERYTHING in taste.
Like your fresh baked bread to stay soft and a nice flavor, this fine powder mixes in like flour, and adds a nice flavor too!
Cans have a date of production, no expire date listed - we've had 4yr old, and it's in perfect condition.

Aldi's Brookdale Corned Beef Hash
(can't find a good link, it's their store brand)
15oz can, 2 serving per can size.
We just empty the can into a fry pan, turn it one time, add a couple of eggs.  Or, just add a little BBQ or Ketchup, it's also great by itself - and far less GREASY than anything else we've ever tried.
Cans are stamped on top, 3 year shelf life.

Aldi's Brookdale Beef Stew
(can't find a good link, it's their store brand)
20oz, 2.5 serving can (? my kid will eat the whole thing)
Heat and serve.   I like it over a piece of toasted bread, my kids call it "real MAN food style".
Cans are stamped on the bottom, 3yr shelf life

Aldi's Happy Harvest Sliced Beets
15oz can, 3.5 servings
Small slices, the best kind of canned beets, not the big pithy ones.
I like a half-dozen slices with butter.
Cans are stamped on the bottom, 3.5yr shelf life.

Home canned Tenderette or Slenderette Green Beans (you grow them)
Once canned, we've had them at +3yrs old, and they are still wonderful.  It was ... we had a bumper crop, and just kept eating them, years later.
Tenderette are slim green beans, with small seeds.  Unlike other beans, they have a mild taste, good fresh, fresh steamed or boiled, and once canned, they take on a stronger green bean flavor - without a waxy bean or chalky taste.
Canned... well, I can only speak from experience, we just finished the last quart from 2011... that's 5 years.

---------------------------------------
Add your favorite non-freeze dried, not necessarily associated with survivalist, commonly found food you'd definitely stock in your pantry.
All animals are created equal; Some just take longer to cook.   Survival is keeping an eye on those around you...

zewazir

Quote from: Hoofer on December 17, 2016, 08:40:47 AM
I'd like to start a list of everyday food, by brand name - that's NOT freeze dried 25yr crap you'd only eat if near starvation.
Commonly found stuff from grocery stores, canned, frozen, dried - whatever - that doesn't carry the "survivalist moniker", but really is the good stuff worth stocking.
Pretty much any canned foods will last long enough to cover a long term emergency. The expiration dates have more to do with "best flavor" estimates than actual "not wise to eat" age.  As a firm believer in "Always Buy Bulk" I habitually purchase multiple cases of canned tomatoes, vegetables, soups, beans, etc. when they are offered on a good sale.  Many times after buying a large quantity during a good sale, the last one or two cases have been past expiration when I got around to using them, sometimes by one or two years. They were still fine.  Oldest I've ever gone was 5 years past expiration for a case of stewed tomatoes (stock rotation mistake) and could not detect any significant change in flavor, though they were a bit mushy.

The purpose of super-long shelf life items is for stocking a bug out location, where the stocks will just sit in storage for who knows how long until they are needed (if ever). For "bug-in" situations, my approach has always been to simply stock those canned and dry items we eat on a daily basis, and rotate through them.

walkstall

Quote from: zewazir on December 17, 2016, 09:48:44 AM
Pretty much any canned foods will last long enough to cover a long term emergency. The expiration dates have more to do with "best flavor" estimates than actual "not wise to eat" age.  As a firm believer in "Always Buy Bulk" I habitually purchase multiple cases of canned tomatoes, vegetables, soups, beans, etc. when they are offered on a good sale.  Many times after buying a large quantity during a good sale, the last one or two cases have been past expiration when I got around to using them, sometimes by one or two years. They were still fine.  Oldest I've ever gone was 5 years past expiration for a case of stewed tomatoes (stock rotation mistake) and could not detect any significant change in flavor, though they were a bit mushy.

The purpose of super-long shelf life items is for stocking a bug out location, where the stocks will just sit in storage for who knows how long until they are needed (if ever). For "bug-in" situations, my approach has always been to simply stock those canned and dry items we eat on a daily basis, and rotate through them.

I went form this.


To this, when Solar posting it some time back.  I now have two of them, my loves them and so do I. 
A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.- James Freeman Clarke

Always remember "Feelings Aren't Facts."

zewazir

Quote from: walkstall on December 17, 2016, 10:15:18 AM
I went form this.


To this, when Solar posting it some time back.  I now have two of them, my loves them and so do I. 

When I was a toddler my dad built a pantry using the same principle. It sure made putting groceries away easy when buying a couple months worth at a time. Got my own plans drawn up for after we get the basement finished.

Possum

Quote from: Hoofer on December 17, 2016, 08:40:47 AM
I'd like to start a list of everyday food, by brand name - that's NOT freeze dried 25yr crap you'd only eat if near starvation.
Commonly found stuff from grocery stores, canned, frozen, dried - whatever - that doesn't carry the "survivalist moniker", but really is the good stuff worth stocking.

Minimum requirement is 3 year shelf life.  Why...?  In a SHTF scenario, if you're staying PUT, do you -really- have 3 whole years of dehydrated food saved?  Have you EVER eaten that dehydrated stuff for 2 weeks?  Chicken-ala-barf & Beef-gimme-stroke?  Eggs-what-the-hell-is-that-Benedict?  Tastes like CHALK the the texture of Cardboard.  Seriously, our dogs turned down some of that MRE stuff - and you're gonna ... ?

The idea is to rotate - everything eventually goes BAD, but when stored in a cool, dry place, some of these common, grocery store, wholesale club stuff, both lasts a good length of time, and tastes pretty good - good enough you're already eating it with regularity!

Give a link where to find it, and if it has an "alternate" use... list that too!
-----------------------------------------------

True Potatoes
http://www.simplotfoods.com/Product/10071179401520
Comes in a #10 can, just add hot water.   
Not flakes, but powder, fluffs up like REAL mashed potatoes, and beats EVERYTHING in taste.
Like your fresh baked bread to stay soft and a nice flavor, this fine powder mixes in like flour, and adds a nice flavor too!
Cans have a date of production, no expire date listed - we've had 4yr old, and it's in perfect condition.

Aldi's Brookdale Corned Beef Hash
(can't find a good link, it's their store brand)
15oz can, 2 serving per can size.
We just empty the can into a fry pan, turn it one time, add a couple of eggs.  Or, just add a little BBQ or Ketchup, it's also great by itself - and far less GREASY than anything else we've ever tried.
Cans are stamped on top, 3 year shelf life.

Aldi's Brookdale Beef Stew
(can't find a good link, it's their store brand)
20oz, 2.5 serving can (? my kid will eat the whole thing)
Heat and serve.   I like it over a piece of toasted bread, my kids call it "real MAN food style".
Cans are stamped on the bottom, 3yr shelf life

Aldi's Happy Harvest Sliced Beets
15oz can, 3.5 servings
Small slices, the best kind of canned beets, not the big pithy ones.
I like a half-dozen slices with butter.
Cans are stamped on the bottom, 3.5yr shelf life.

Home canned Tenderette or Slenderette Green Beans (you grow them)
Once canned, we've had them at +3yrs old, and they are still wonderful.  It was ... we had a bumper crop, and just kept eating them, years later.
Tenderette are slim green beans, with small seeds.  Unlike other beans, they have a mild taste, good fresh, fresh steamed or boiled, and once canned, they take on a stronger green bean flavor - without a waxy bean or chalky taste.
Canned... well, I can only speak from experience, we just finished the last quart from 2011... that's 5 years.

---------------------------------------
Add your favorite non-freeze dried, not necessarily associated with survivalist, commonly found food you'd definitely stock in your pantry.
Where possible, and I know it is not for everybody, but have your own chickens, goats or sheep, and pigs. They are very resourceful and survive without extra feedings. Pretty good on the pit too. Best of all as long as they are walking, no expiration date.

Hoofer

Quote from: s3779m on December 17, 2016, 04:01:17 PM
Where possible, and I know it is not for everybody, but have your own chickens, goats or sheep, and pigs. They are very resourceful and survive without extra feedings. Pretty good on the pit too. Best of all as long as they are walking, no expiration date.

Yup!  Got 3 varieties of pigs, plenty of ducks, chickens, turkey and just sold the feeder steers today (price of feeder cattle is about 1/2 of what it was a year ago).  As long as the grass is growing, or the fields have something to eat, THEY are fine.
All animals are created equal; Some just take longer to cook.   Survival is keeping an eye on those around you...

Hoofer

Quote from: walkstall on December 17, 2016, 10:15:18 AM
I went form this.

To this, when Solar posting it some time back.  I now have two of them, my loves them and so do I. 

neat idea!  We're using old static safe, electronic card storage cabinates. 
http://staticsafeproducts.com/5322_specs.htm
Lots of heavy duty shelves, lined with plastic slotted material, and absolutely mouse proof.   

Yes, our Maine Coon Cat doesn't get all of them...

Even the dogs don't mess with her..
All animals are created equal; Some just take longer to cook.   Survival is keeping an eye on those around you...

walkstall

Quote from: Hoofer on December 17, 2016, 04:24:47 PM
neat idea!  We're using old static safe, electronic card storage cabinates. 
http://staticsafeproducts.com/5322_specs.htm
Lots of heavy duty shelves, lined with plastic slotted material, and absolutely mouse proof.   

Yes, our Maine Coon Cat doesn't get all of them...

Even the dogs don't mess with her..


LOL She looks just like my cat The Dude.   The Rottweiler from next door even walks around her.  She a 16 lbs Tasmanian devil, when thing don't go her way.   :lol: 
A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.- James Freeman Clarke

Always remember "Feelings Aren't Facts."

Hoofer

Quote from: walkstall on December 17, 2016, 04:54:54 PM

LOL She looks just like my cat The Dude.   The Rottweiler from next door even walks around her.  She a 16 lbs Tasmanian devil, when thing don't go her way.   :lol:

They always show pictures of Maine Coon Cat KITTENS... they are fuzzy little kitties.
https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.Mbd26a2c5946c50f4fb90a145068a7ef3o0&pid=15.1&P=0&w=273&h=161

Here's what the "Cat" really looks like.
http://www.stealingfaith.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/coonbig.jpg
not our cat...

The LOVE the outdoors, have a big thick fluffy, double coat, absolutely cold weather proof.
...and avid hunters, mice, rats, bunnies, full grown rabbits, squirrels .... and birds of any size.

https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.Ma4d631f9015f808ffe94825396d36a0cH0&pid=15.1&P=0&w=243&h=152

Really are great cats for the survivalist, they "deliver" every morning, to your front door, headless, fresh ....
All animals are created equal; Some just take longer to cook.   Survival is keeping an eye on those around you...