Preparedness Pantry when you eat mostly fresh foods

[Arduinna]

I'm trying to expand my emergency pantry. Problem is that we eat mostly fresh foods. I don't use many canned goods. I already have a long term habit of buying extra staples for the pantry so I'm covered on rice, beans, condiments, spices, flour, sugar ect. But I can't survive on those items alone.

All the stuff I've read suggests stocking your emergency pantry with foods you actually eat already. The idea being you will just rotate out of your pantry for your regular meals but have backups in case of emergency. All well and good except that I cook almost exclusively with fresh produce and meats. I don't want to change my daily eating habits just to be better prepared.

So I'm stumped. Anyone have an idea?

[Alyantavid]

You can freeze almost all produce. I garden in the summer and freeze almost everything so we can eat it all winter long.

We also freeze meat, but we raise our own and there isn't many other options when you have hundreds of pounds of meat

[deditus]

This is very difficult for me, too. We are grain, dairy, corn, soy, and egg free and eat mainly local meat purchased in bulk and fresh fruits and vegetables.

[Arduinna]

Originally Posted by Alyantavid

You can freeze almost all produce. I garden in the summer and freeze almost everything so we can eat it all winter long.

We also freeze meat, but we raise our own and there isn't many other options when you have hundreds of pounds of meat

Of course I freeze stuff, but this is a preparedness pantry, so it's important to have shelf stable items, if the power goes out frozen stuff goes bad in a matter of days.

[velochic]

I home can a lot of my food from my home garden. I dehydrate fresh fruits and veggies. These are all shelf-stable. What I don't get from my garden, I can get from CSAs, pick-your-own farms, orchards and farmer's markets.

We do eat almost everything fresh when it's in season, and my preference is to eat my home-grown self-canned food in the middle of winter than to purchase it from Peru or Argentina or other far off place. I do use commercially canned foods (only all natural, but not necessarily organic) as an ingredient when cooking sometimes, but not really to eat out of the can, except for canned pineapple. We don't eat canned soups, for example. I also buy dehydrated fruit to eat in a granola mix. If something commercially canned needs to be rotated out of the pantry and I know I won't use it, it goes to the local food pantry. I buy for the food pantry regularly, anyway, so I just add to whatever I'm taking already.

I don't think it has to be either/or... it can be a healthy mix.

ETA: I have a lot of frozen stuff, too. But I also have a generator to run the freezers and stabilized gasoline in reserve. If I had to, I could can the whole freezer in a week and the generator would keep them running in the meantime. Planning is also a key ingredient to having a large pantry.

[425lisamarie]

I totally get this. It's hard for me to come up with things too. The only thing recently I've been keeping is smoked/canned fishes. I really like kipper (smoked herring) and canned salmon, like good stuff bone/skin included. I keep saying i need to make beef jerky, because everyone loves it and I vaccum seal it so it keeps forever almost. I am not crazy about canned vegetables. EW. I think if the power went out that kind of emergency thing I mainly worry about having soemthing to keep the kids happy (like yummy compote, or some good canned fruit, chunky homemade applesauce and that kinda thing) and protein, hence the canned fish.

[tinuviel_k]

I have the exact same problem that you do. With the exception of legumes and rice almost nothing that we eat can be stored long term. I despise canned veggies and fruit (gak), and we really limit the amounts of boxed, processed foods we eat.

So i knew I should go out and buy a bunch of these foods that would store well, but I knew I could never put them on the "menu rotation" as I want to eat these foods only in an emergency, not in my day-to-day life.

Then last year I had a GREAT idea. I decided that rather than rotate through my emergency food stash and eat it that I would donate it to the food bank. Just because I personally don't care for canned and boxed foods doesn't mean that someone else wouldn't love to have them. My daughter and I pick out canned food to put in the bin at our food-co-opall the time when we shop. Why not do the same thing with our emergency food stash?

I went to Costco and found great deals on bulk canned and dried foods. (I figured my usual organic food was not a top priority for an emergency.) I went through my options and chose healthy foods that had the longest "sell by" date possible, usually 2-3 years from when I bought it. I bought a variety of canned fruit, vegetables, beans, soups, and meats, and also vacuum packaged rice (it lasts longer). I didn't spend a huge amount: maybe $100-$150 total for a good emergency food stash that would last 2-3 years easy.

When I got home I organized it by "sell by" date and made a list on a piece of paper that I taped to the inside of the cupboard and storage box. The list has the item name and the date it is set to expire. so it reads something like this:
12/11- Canned pinto beans
5/12- Muir Glen bean soup
7/12- Lotus Jasmine Rice
etc...

Four times a year I take a look at the list. If something is set to expire the next quarter I pull it and donate it to the food bank, and replace it with a similar item with an expiration date a couple years in the future.

This way i have my emergency stash of non-perishable foods that I don't normally eat. I don't have to change our diet, and I like that the food is going somewhere that it can be put to really good use. After the initial expense I haven't spent a lot of money: in a year or so every few months I'll need to spend $10 to replace items from the emergency stash.

[Princess ConsuelaB]

I am glad you asked this because I am having exactly the same dilemma

We rent an apt. so I don't have space for a second freezer to store frz produce which I would use, I only have the tiny freezer in our kitchen...it stores enough for the week ahead and nothing more. I tried stocking up with canned goods with good intentions of adding them to the rotation....but we never used them(excepting a few canned fruits) and they go out of date....I tried feeding canned veggies to my kids a couple of weeks ago -just to use some stuff up, they are STILL complaining about it(otoh they practically begged for fresh veggies next time we went shopping )

[Arduinna]

Originally Posted by 425lisamarie

I totally get this. It's hard for me to come up with things too. The only thing recently I've been keeping is smoked/canned fishes. I really like kipper (smoked herring) and canned salmon, like good stuff bone/skin included. I keep saying i need to make beef jerky, because everyone loves it and I vaccum seal it so it keeps forever almost. I am not crazy about canned vegetables. EW. I think if the power went out that kind of emergency thing I mainly worry about having soemthing to keep the kids happy (like yummy compote, or some good canned fruit, chunky homemade applesauce and that kinda thing) and protein, hence the canned fish.

Great idea on the canned fish, my hubby loves sardines and smoked oysters ect. I will have to add some more of those to my pantry, I generally just keep a couple cans at a time.

Originally Posted by tinuviel_k

I have the exact same problem that you do. With the exception of legumes and rice almost nothing that we eat can be stored long term. I despise canned veggies and fruit (gak), and we really limit the amounts of boxed, processed foods we eat.

So i knew I should go out and buy a bunch of these foods that would store well, but I knew I could never put them on the "menu rotation" as I want to eat these foods only in an emergency, not in my day-to-day life.

Then last year I had a GREAT idea. I decided that rather than rotate through my emergency food stash and eat it that I would donate it to the food bank. Just because I personally don't care for canned and boxed foods doesn't mean that someone else wouldn't love to have them. My daughter and I pick out canned food to put in the bin at our food-co-opall the time when we shop. Why not do the same thing with our emergency food stash?

I might have to just plan on buying and donating canned vegies and fruit when they are nearing their dates.

[bandgeek]

I go ahead and buy canned stuff and I just rotate it out a bit at a time so we only eat a canned item like once or twice a week. It's not a huge deal to me.

[artemis33]

I also keep canned tuna, salmon, etc around.

Another thing I keep stocked is several jars of nut butter. We usually have home canned jam and applesauce, too

We keep dried fruit and sometimes dehydrated fruit, too. Might add some veggies, though the dehydrated stuff doesn't have a long shelf life IME (the JT stuff anyway).

I also like to have crackers since I haven't started making those myself and they can be used to eat the fish or nut butter - or even with cheese from the refrigerator.

This has been a concern of mine as well since I have gone to more cooking from scratch and relying less on canned goods. When we lost power earlier in the winter I realized that while dried beans are great for our budget and health, they aren't easy to whip up on the wood stove when the power is out! So a few cans of beans are probably a good idea and I don't mind using them now and then to rotate through.

We do have a grill and usually have some meat that would be fast to thaw/prepare (sausages, burgers, chops). Most of the year we have some fresh veggies in the garden (at least salad) or weeds we could harvest (nettle tops are coming out now and dandelion greens) but those wouldn't be helpful if we had an emergency due to bad weather.

Watching for more ideas.....

[ollyoxenfree]

Originally Posted by tinuviel_k

Then last year I had a GREAT idea. I decided that rather than rotate through my emergency food stash and eat it that I would donate it to the food bank.

Thank you!! That IS a GREAT idea.

I don't mind cans of tuna and salmon, and I keep a few tetra pack boxes of soup. The only canned veggies I typically use are tomatoes. It would have to be a dire emergency for me to use canned vegetables, but I think it's wise to have a few on the shelf. Thanks for this suggestion to donate them. It's one I'm going to use.

[UrbanMamma]

tinuviel, that is a great idea. It may make me rethink my emergency box. The nut butter is also a good idea.

I tend to also only cook fresh or from my freezer. What I have done for a 72 hour kit is think through things that I would only need a little bit of heat and also add a camping stove + fuel. For instance:

Couscous with seasonings (garlic powder, salt, tummeric, cumin) in a plastic bag in the right portions that I could take a small individual servings of broth, boil, and have it done. I produce a similar side dish at home about once a month (with veggies), only with home made broth made in a big batch and individualized in my freezer.

Oatmeal for breakfast. (also pack a little dry milk in there which I do bake with from time to time plus I have a few packages of raisins for treats).

I also have some of those dry lentil soups in a cup that you get at the natural food store. We will use those on occasion (hubby takes them to work) and they would come in handy. Ditto on some energy bars that we might take on a long hike on occasion.


Now for more long term storage, I mostly keep my pantry items (beans, wheat, barely, oats, some sugar, etc) stocked for at least 3 months out. I also try to can fruit when I see great sales or can get it for free. For instance, I have this friend with a plum tree that I usually end up making into a plum sauce/jelly that we then heat up and put on pancakes instead of syrup. Sure, I'd prefer fresh fruit, but in the winter when there isn't much it does the trick.

[hippiemommaof4]

canning and drying fresh food yourself is a great idea, if you dont grow it go to the farmers market and buy in bulk or to a local farm and buy bulk and store them. my philosophy is this, if there is indeed an emergency and you need food, even if you dont like canned/dried food you're going to eat what you can get and appreciate it anyway. There is nothing inferior about preserving fresh foods yourself and storing them in your house. I guarentee a person wouldnt turn their nose up at them if they were truely hungry in a disaster.

[noobmom]

Originally Posted by tinuviel_k

Then last year I had a GREAT idea. I decided that rather than rotate through my emergency food stash and eat it that I would donate it to the food bank. Just because I personally don't care for canned and boxed foods doesn't mean that someone else wouldn't love to have them. My daughter and I pick out canned food to put in the bin at our food-co-opall the time when we shop. Why not do the same thing with our emergency food stash?

I do the same thing--well, not quite as organized--but I just buy canned food with the expectation that I'll donate it eventually. Since it's just "emergency" food, I admit I'm really boring. I just try to cover the basics. So I buy canned baked beans, mandarin oranges, and peas. I do like the mandarin oranges so I usually end up eating those and I might use a few cans of peas, but the beans pretty much get donated. I guess if I was smart I'd buy plain beans instead of canned and then I might actually get around to using them, but I figure as a meal, the baked beans would be tastier.

I do usually also have various types of canned fish, but we go through those regularly so they're not in my emergency bin.

[BetsyS]

We do eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, but I tend to eat in season (cause I'm cheap, and they are cheap then, and that's what we do). Sometimes, in the middle of summer, I just want mandarin oranges. And, in that case, I prefer to eat canned ones over the horrid ones in the store. Or tomatoes in winter. Same thing.

Our canned foods include:
-tomatoes (home canned)
-applesauce (home canned)
-mandarin oranges
-peaches (home canned)
-artichoke hearts (not really a disaster foods, but I do buy them)
-beets (I *adore* beets, and shoot me, but I can't tell the difference between canned and fresh)--some home canned, some store bought
-canned salmon and occasionally tuna (where I live, canned is *so* much cheaper than fresh, and we like it, so there you go)
-home canned soup (usually minestrone or vegetable)
-green beans (home canned). I don't love these, but when you have a bumper crop, I like canned better than frozen, so we always have a few jars.

I find that, in a years time, we'll rotate through these. In the summer, we don't use any canned tomatoes, preferring fresh. But, the rest of the year, we eat them. That's why I try to look at the 12 month picture.