<The Finance Round-Up: December 19th 2007The Oil DrumTWIP (This Week in Petroleum) 12-19>
<DrumBeat: December 18, 2007DrumBeatDrumBeat: December 20, 2007>

240 comments on DrumBeat: December 19, 2007

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

jokuhl on December 19, 2007 - 12:54pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I would make sure there's a bunch of

-Grains (Rice, Oats (rolled or cut), Wheat, Millet, Spelt
Wheat, etc)

-Pasta

-Root Vegetables (Beets, Potatoes, Carrots)

-Canned Goods, but watch the dates and rotate stock
-Jars of Sauce, Pickles
-Yeast, Baking Soda

-Jugs of WATER.. very important, very easy to do. ..Very easy to put off for tomorrow. Water supply rarely gives you a day's notice before it shuts down. Always seems to happen 'just a few minutes ago.. do the neighbors have water?'

Basically long-term storage items.. but make sure you create a system for 'Maintenance'.. where you cycle out older foods and eat them up, replacing with new stock.. Otherwise, you'll be wasting a lot of money.
(Put DATES on EVERYTHING. Date Placed in storage, and DATE to REMOVE by..)

We also have a freezer full of beef from a local, grass-fed cow. I have a few ways to keep a freezer cold if we go dark, but it's still one of the more dicey sides of our "IceStorm Preparations"

We keep a couple Camping Stoves handy, too, with a stock of White-Gas for them.

Finally, for electricity, I have about 300watts of Solar and a small about (2kwh) worth of battery storage. We also have a cheap, second-hand 1500w Gas Generator, with a few gallons of fuel onsite. (Can't live on Bread alone..)

Best,
Bob Fiske

0
Comments can no longer be added to this story.
WNC Observer on December 19, 2007 - 1:18pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

One more thing I would add to this:

You're going to have grow at least some of your own food sooner or later, most likely. Might as well make the transition sooner.

Thus, when it comes to canned goods, I'd suggest trying to raise a garden and can as much of your own produce as possible, rather than buying store-bought cans. Once you've made the investment in a canner and mason jars, you will be able to reuse them over and over again (only needing new lids, which would be a good item to stock up on); store-bought cans should be recycled too, but it isn't in a way that benefits you so directly.

While you are ramping up production, and even once you've maxed out if you don't have enough space to grow all your produce, you might consider buying in bulk in season at the farmer's markets, and then canning a big batch. In the past, I've considered it to not be particularly worthwhile to do this, but these are not ordinary times.

You'll also want to garden with open polenated seeds, and get into seed storage (most packets will remain viable for several years if stored properly) if not seed saving. What you want to do is to bring the entire cycle home: seed to garden to produce to preservation to consumption to compost & seed.

0
Comments can no longer be added to this story.
alexgouk on December 19, 2007 - 3:27pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Don't use F1 hybrid seeds if you are saving them, They won't grow true to type

0
Comments can no longer be added to this story.
woodychuck on December 19, 2007 - 1:33pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I would suggest adding some Textured Vegetable Protein, aka meat extender, and buying it in bulk from a reputable health food store. Whole Foods Market price in Dallas is cheaper than web prices, for instance. If you have spare room in the freezer, store it there, and it will keep virtually forever, as it is made from defatted soy. Try some before you have to use it. It could make you a little gassy, but with meats and with most carbohydrates makes for a reasonably complete protein. It does not have to be stored frozen, but it does make for a long term alternative.

I should add, my own opinion is that after the initial hoarding, we will see some semblance of order return and then we will have a slow decline in availability of necessities. But, just in case....

And, you might add a solar cooking alternative, which can be fun anyway and it takes the heat of cooking outdoors.

0
Comments can no longer be added to this story.
jokuhl on December 19, 2007 - 4:18pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Good points.

I'm not a fan of TVP per se (we're only using fermented soy products, like tempeh now), but some form of stored dry protiens, absolutely. Beans, Lentils, Garbonzos etc.. and of course, if you're just trying to survive.. I'm not absolutely fanatical about TVP or tofu or soymilk..

Solar Cooking, definitely!

One of my stockpile items that I rarely pass up when dumpster-diving is any sizable Glass, or Mirror materials.. Another Glass Item that can be invaluable as well is large storage Jars, like the 1 gallon pickle jars from delis. These can store almost any food, not be affected by moisture, acidity, mice, etc..

Bob

0
Comments can no longer be added to this story.
SolarDude on December 19, 2007 - 2:17pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

'just a few minutes ago.. do the neighbors have water?'

You might want to encourage your immediate neighbors to make preparations too. This is the hard part. But if they aren't prepared and you are, you can bet they'll come knocking on your door when trouble hits.

0
Comments can no longer be added to this story.