Best food for daily consumption over long term

If this has been posted before forgive me. I can't imagine it not being here somewhere but I can't find it by searching so here goes:

What are your opinions on the best food given the following criteria:

• Must be easily purchased in the local market (insert favorite supermarket/grocery store/big box store here)
• Must provide fairly complete nutrition such that it could provide much of a persons needed nutrition if it needed to be consumed daily for an extended period
• Must store well with a good shelf life
• Requires a minimum of preparation to eat (eaten as is or just boiled for example).

The best I can come up with is canned soup. With a variety you must be able to get your basic nutritional needs covered.

Any ideas you long term preparedness pros?

How about Slim Fast Shakes?

I have bought a couple of 25 Kg bags of rice from the Asian supermarket for this purpose. Aparently you can get by quite well on only rice. Of course in a situation where I am eating it every day.................... I may freak out and eat the cat just to get a bit of meat in there.

It is somewhat amazing to me that this topic comes up; as it was truly the #1 question that I had in mind when joining this forum today. It would seem that if some kind of agreement could be reached as to what one could buy/put away at the local store in terms of both nutrition and shelf life...how much further would literally everybody out there be in terms of being even the least bit prepared?

Soups were my first purchases recently (seems like some of the Chunky Selects were at least 2 years); tuna was about the same; packaged almonds were about a year and my California garlic stuffed olives w/chardonnay (bought on sale @ Meijers) were the best at 3 years.

Believe it or not; that is all we actually have stored beyond the normal last resort Mountain House Products and a few MREs...so I am obviously very interested as to the definitive answer(s) here and what items we need to keep an eye out for on sale at our local grocer (even if some of this went on sale regionally; it'd be nice to give each other a heads up on the opportunity).

Thank you very much!

Edit: Just checked the expiration date on our only other item always in stock at larger than average quantities in our house...large bars of Hershey dark chocolate (1 year). Like the olives and a couple bottles of good hooch; excellent for you and pretty darn comforting as well.

By the way, those slimfasts seem like an excellent choice and I'd like to hear more about the proper storage of rice and for how long it is safe to consume afterwards.

Check out: http://www.standeyo.com and http://daretoprepare.com for a great deal of preparation information concerning food storage and for checklists as well.

Wow. That's site's too hardcore for me.

I'm just looking for a solution that doesn't require me to freeze dry/vacuum seal/nitrogen pack/ etc etc etc or mail order special food.

Just a box of food tucked away on the shelf to keep us going for as long as is practical should that be necessary.

IMHO - Dinty Moore Beef Stew

[*]Readily available

[*]Total nutrition - period.

[*]VERY LONG - Because of the neutral ph due to the potatoes, the can is not eaten from the inside out like tomatoe or other acidic products.

[*]It is cooked. It can be eaten without preparation.

Lentils
Dry red beans
Oatmeal
Rice
Peanut butter
Sugar (or honey)
Salt
Lots of spices

This will give you assorted nutrients, calories and a mixture of flavors. Supplement it with pine needle tea ( for vit. C) or other things gleaned from Mothr Nature.

The rice/beans/lentils can be soaked over night to pre-soften them or you can mix them with boiling water in a thermos and let them cook without using lots of fuel.

-Blast

Welcome Newguy!!!

My cut to the bones choice: Peanut butter and saltine crackers. And of course a knife to spread the pb...

Dinty Moore?

Never heard of it. Looks like Chunky soup to me...also a pretty good option.

Great stuff.



I might add:

Black Beans
Whole nuts (almonds, walnuts, etc.)
Brown rice
Dried Seaweed
Powdered Milk
Breakfast Cereal (not captain crunch)

I was gonna say somthing like this a while back but was afraid that Blast might want some revenge, and I would hate getting him in trouble with his DW. Cats (don't know for sure about the house sized ones)taste great.

You hear of people stocking up on the cases of canned fruit and vegetables; yet isn't a good portion of the nutritional value sucked away in the processing...effectively causing some of these choices to not be as beneficial to the body as they may seem?

Again, it seems very strange to me that books aren't being written about the average homeowner (possibly) overpaying at the 'survival stores' to achieve the same nutritional end with a good rotation program based around readily available grocery store sale items. With food, and by extension, survival food product pricing going through the roof lately (not to mention a slowing economy); why wouldn't folks be interested in knowing this information for a number of reasons even beyond common sense survival in an emergency?

I've been doing a lot of research on canned food tonight since writing the post (usually I do things the other way around but I wrote the original post at work so what can you do?) and I'm really amazed at how effective a technique that hasn't really changed much since the times of Napoleon is (the man ultimately responsible for the process even if he didn't think of it).

I've been reading about 100 year old canned fruit being dug out of ship wrecks and being completely safe to eat.

The general consensus seems to be that any food which is canned properly won't spoil...it can only lose it's taste color, and maybe Vitamins...and even that takes 2 years (more if stored at a nice cool temperature).

I think the real question when it comes to canned food is which foods to choose and how to rotate them so they stay relatively eatable.

I like the idea of beans and I LOVE to eat them...but when I think of situations where I'd need to dig into those dried supplies I think of how much water it takes to prepare them (soaking, boiling, etc). You wouldn't want to waste the water but it might not keep long to be saved for drinking.

Rice will also keeps years and it needs very little water to prepare...definitely something to look into.

This goes back about 20 years, but I spent a couple of days with a professional wrestler who shared about when his was on his way up in the business, and money was very tight. He was getting by on a nasty mix of canned tuna and concentrated orange juice. High in protein, high in vitamins - is was a low cost, high impact meal.

I don't know that I could stomach such a meal, but it does make good sense if you are needing those kind of calories. Of course you would need refrigeration for the OJ concentrate and this might not be realistic depending upon the situation.

canned tuna and grape nut breakfast cereal..
real oatmeal..the Scots survived on it untill processed
oatmeal came their way..
real rice...
i read about a guy who canoe triped around the Barrens
of Canada in the 1930's on nothing but tea and dry
caribou meat..

You can find that type of info @ http://www.daretoprepare.com

Could you use the bean soak water to boil the rice? Or make bean stew with the soak water?

I think the Dinty Moore sounds pretty good. Very easy to get lasts a long time and fairly nutritious. Also canned or packaged tuna would always make a good meal and if you used the packaged stuff it's pretty lightweight and easy to transport if need be.

canned meats work well:
Roast Beef Chicken Breast Tuna Dried Beef (salted)
SPAM (comes in different flavors) Ham Vienna Sausages
Potted Meat Deviled Ham Chili (with or without beans)

There are "C-ration" types such as the before mentioned Dinty Moore Beef Stew but also Sweet Sue has Chicken and Noodles and Chicken and Dumplings and some others. There are also Ravioli, Spaghetti and Meatballs, and other Chef canned products.

I don't doubt that you could...but how long would that starchy water sit before starting to grow on it's own? One might be able to get 2 uses out of one batch of water if you soaked and cooked right after each other (BTW this is not recommended by most standard cook books) but you'd have to either toss or drink (ew?) the water pretty soon after.

I was on the Campbell's site looking at soup. 70-90 calories for a serving of condensed soup? No wonder I never come close to feeling full unless I eat it all...or 2 alls

That's something I've considered. Seems that it's hard to get away from salt in many preserved foods. I have the same issue with freeze dried meals for hiking...some of them have insane levels of salt.

I guess that's score one for dried beans and staples.

Hacksaw.
I don’t know why I didn’t mention this earlier but besides my giant bags of rice I have for long term storage I also store hard tack(hard bread) Being born and raised in NFLD I ate the stuff quite often as it is part of a lot of traditional fish recipes. I will bet my last dollar that you could store it for 20 years or more with no problem (as long as it is kept dry)
I cannot attest to the nutritional value as such but my great grandfather, and many like him who worked on the sealing vessels ate nothing but hard tack and tea for months on end while doing a days work that would break most of us today. Can’t really argue with history I guess.

As for the rice, you can get the HUGE bags of it here in Edmonton at any superstore location in the Asian food isle for as little as 13 bucks. It’s hard to beat that kind of deal. I also store Mr. Noodles by the case and of course, good old KD. (I think pasta stores forever) I don’t know officially how long rice will last but after reading your post last night I boiled up some from my long terms stores today for lunch and it tasted fine. (It been in my storage for over 8 years)

If water supply is not an issue, rice and beans both store well and pprovide together a complete protein. I know white rice can pretty much be stored indefinitely, so long as it remains dry and free of impurities and critters. Dried beans also can be stored a long time. If you used these as your main substance and stored some preserved meats, herbs, onions, etc., you could have a wide variety of meals. Beans are cooked all sorts of different ways by all sorts of cultures.

If you store beans and rice, dried, the key is water supply. But the thing also is is that the weight of the beans and rice will be much elss than any food that diid not need liquid added. And water is not the only liquid you could add. But, anyother liquid could be sued in a pinch, provided it was drinkable. Any other food you might have that is not dried is also going to have lots of water weight, and be heavier to transport.

It appears as if the only store bought canned or 'jarred' foods worth considering for long term nutitionally balanced storage are:

SlimFasts
Tuna
Soup
Dinty Moore Stew
Olives
Honey (jarred)
Peanut Butter (jarred)
OJ (if you can keep it cool, as mentioned)

My only guess here is that there may be just to much money in providing practical food storage enthusiasts with the 'specialized' stuff...instead of having us all simply clip coupons or buy in bulk at the local Sams or Costcos.

I'd certainly buy a book relating to the simpler (and less expensive) means of roating a locally sale sensitive; readily available and commonly consumed food items; yet it appears that there is little interest in this subject matter (as I think the OP alluded to; it sure would make things easier to plan and budget around if there were such a list or even a nutritional review of some commonly produced more 'everyday' products).

I'd love to give Hardtack a try! I've never seen any for sale around here though.

Talking about Hardtack makes me want to try and make my own Pemican.

I keep at least a box or three of watercrackers around because their 'best before' is always at least 6 months out. Put Moose Goo on them...makes a great high energy snack.

I actually drink a can of SlimFast for breakfast and lunch Monday-Friday. One can only supplies 190 calories, which isn't much, especially if you are doing any sort of labor. On the other hand one can supplies about 1/3 of your daily vitamins and minerals. They have about a one-year storage life. From the back of the can:
serving - 1 can/325 mL
calories - 190
fat calories - 50
total fat - 6g (9% rda)
saturated fat - 2.5g (13% RDA)
trans fat - Og
polyunsaturated fat - 0.5g
monunsaturated fat - 3g
cholesterol - 5mg (2% rda)
sodium - 200mg (8% rda)
potassium - 600mg (17% rda)
total carbohydrates - 24g (8%)
dietary fiber - 5g (20%)
sugars - 18g
protein - 10g (20%)
Vit. A - 32%
calcium - 50%
Vit. D - 35%
Riboflavin - 35%
vit. B6 - 35%
Vit. B12 - 35%
pantothenic acid - 35%
iodine - 35%
zinc - 15%
manganese - 35%
molybdenum - 30%
vit. C - 100%
iron - 15%
vit. E - 100%
thiamin - 35%
niacin - 35%
folate - 30%
biotin - 35%
phosphorus - 50%
magnesium - 35%
selenium - 25%
chromium - 35%
rda's based on 2000 calorie diet.
experiation date Nov 2008 (purchased January 2008)

Overall, you are probably better off storing "Ensure" rather than SlimFast so that you get the calories you'll need. I think both are available in powdered form which could store easier but does require water. Another option is SlimFast plus sugar.

A case in the closet for short term emergencies might be okay but overall though I think they are low on the list of long-term survival foods.

-Blast

p.s. Oh hey, welcome to the fire newguy RzrSxS!

BigDaddyTX- you can order traditional hard bread here http://www.tidespoint.com

Hacksaw- there is a store called Waysave on Castledowns road that sells it. As well the Sobey's in the Namao center sells it.(maybe the others do as well) In fact, Any store that sells Newfie products in Edmonton will have it in store. Trust me, you will be dead and gone before this stuff goes bad on you.

If you want nutrition, go with Ensure. If you have a source of water, you can get the dry mix. Seven servings pers cannister (about $1.25 per serving). 250 calories. It is low-cholesterol and low-sodium, has 24 essential vitamins. Gluten- and lactose-free.

You can also use it as part of recipes http://ensure.com/recipes/index.aspx

It's not high-calorie, and it's low in fat and fiber, not necessarily great in a survival situation, but that's not why it was created. Ensure and granola bars, a complete diet?

Sue

I'm so dumb. I think I had the answer (or at least part of it) all along.

I dusted off my copy of 'Camp Cookery' (originally published in 1910). It's virtually a how to manual for a base camp or chuck wagon. There were no refrigerators or supermarkets or anything fancy so food needed to store well and be nutritious enough to feed hardy working men. I believe if I remember correctly the book even goes so far as to shun spices because only 'city food' needs spice...real food tastes good on it's own.

I think that with a bit of creative shopping many of the ideals in this book could be utilized to put together an emergency pantry of sorts.

I'm going to read it tonight (It's not a big book) and if I have any 'why didn't I think of that?!' moments I'll post about it.

Taurus: Thanks for the tip bro. My inlaws live close to that SaveOn by Namao...I'm totally going to get me some hardtack this week!

"...the book even goes so far as to shun spices because only 'city food' needs spice...real food tastes good on it's own."

Unseasoned beans... BLECH!

Sue

The only seasonings and condiments the book speaks of are the following:

Salt (a lot of salt!)
Pepper (white is preferred)
MAYBE cayenne
Worcestershire Sauce
Ketchup (only if genuine)
Sage for stuffings
Celery seeds for soups
Whole nutmeg
Whole cloves

Maybe cinnamon, ginger or curry powder

And a half pint of Brandy!

Susan:

The beans in the book aren't completely unseasoned. Salt Pork, salt and pepper...that's all.

I found it...I quote:

To season fresh camp dishes as a French chef would is a blunder of the first magnitude.

No one item. Not even soup- lots of salt, lots of msg, lots of fat. Or they are just water with overcooked vegetables.

Stock staples, learn to use them. Learn your local edibles. Learn how to sprout seeds in a jar (bean sprouts, alfalfa sprouts)- those will give you a lot of your various vitamins.

I pretty much lived on Top Ramen noodles, Easy Mac, and Uncle Bens rice for my first two years of college. Not sure how healthy it was, but it was better than eating the food they had there.

It is not rocket science. Just make some. If it spoils, your are out an afternoon of "work" and some flour.

I'd add freeze dried blueberries, tomatoes (not just the sauce), apples, banana chips, pineapple, mandarin oranges.

Should provide additional nutrients and vitamins that other foods might not have. Someone recently described blueberries as some type of 'superfood' that nature intended for us.

Another vote here for rice. If possible, go for the "jasmine" variety, as it has a little bit of flavor already (Costco carries a good brand called "Super Lucky Elephant"). Strangely, the instructions on some rice packages say not to rinse it before cooking -- actually, you DO want to rinse it.

Best way to cook it:
1) Put rice into pan.
2) Rinse under cold water, moving the rice around and watching the starchy, white water build up. Drain off this water.
3) Repeat another 2 or 3 times.
4) Put in enough water so that when you put your middle finger straight down onto the top layer of the rice, the water level is to your first knuckle (roughly 1/2 inch).
5) Add a tiny, tiny bit of oil so the rice doesn't stick.
6) Cover and bring rice to a boil.
7) Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and keep covered. Check to see if a little more water is needed and try fluffing rice.

A great breakfast food is a couple of over-easy eggs and some fried rice. To cook the rice just take a frying pan, add some oil, crumble the rice into the pan and cook over medium heat uncovered. Add some garlic salt and freshly ground pepper and you are good to go! Cheap and easy.

Hacksaw the 'Camp Cookery' book you have wouldn't happen to have an ISBN number would it ?

1-894572-71-8

I got mine at Lee Valley Tools. They have a quite a few reprint books. I pick one up once in a while and marvel at how right people had certain things 100+ years ago...and wonder what the hell went wrong.

thanks for the isbn hacksaw ordered the book via amazon

By happenstance...Campbells Select soups (18 0z. or so) went on sale locally @ $1.25 ea. (reg. $2.69). They seem to taste alright; have pull off tabs and the best expiration dates are normally Jan./Feb. of '10 in my area.

While still agreeing with the assertion made here that stores should be varied along the lines of those less 'commercial' items mentioned...are there any other long term grocery style items occasionally on sale like this that the practical citizen should look out for? (it would seem that many items would be easier to rotate...if you actually enjoyed eating them in the first place).

Thanks also for the previous suggestions.

Since this thread got revived I figured I'd add something that put a twist into this question for me just lately.

My wife was recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Now any long term storage food not only needs to store well, it needs to be properly nutritious as if it's not, it be the cause of serious health risks for her.

Makes a tough question even tougher.

Sorry to hear about your wife. Plan accordingly...

Here are some things I buy that I think last reasonably well , ie 2-3 years at least.

Gatorade powder.
Soups, both boxed and canned
Fruit, canned and freeze dried.
Pasta.
Rice
Tuna and chicken, Canned and Foil packet

Anything I should be looking at?

Beans, beans, beans.

If you would like to review a guide for storing food, take a look at: http://survivalprimer.com/Homestead/Food_Storage_FAQ_3_5.pdf

how about Heinz Maple beans: http://www.heinzbeans.ca/english/nutri_maple.htm

and jasmine rice?

I looked through the thread but I may have missed it but I'm shocked that no one mentioned:

SPAM!!!

I don't think I could get hungry enough to eat spam.

Fry it, it is better that way...

I fail to see how frying spam beyond all recognition then throwing up will help me survive.

Wait 'til you are real hungry before trying it

I've never been that hungry. I wouldn't rule out using it for bait though.

"...I wouldn't rule out using it for bait though..."

Might work for catfish, they like stinky stuff.

If you do ever have to eat it, I recommend lots of catchup, or Tabasco if you like that stuff...

Lots and lots of other flavoring... It is edible... barely... I know, I was in a situation where I was very hungry and all that was available was Spam.

Oh come on gang!

Spam ain't that bad...

You can even carve that little block into the shape of what ever you wanted to eat.

I know. I actually used to eat a lot of Span sandwiches. Mustard, mayo, and sweet pickles spruce it up pretty well. If I had time to fry it, that was even better...

I never liked SPAM and I think it was the smell more than the taste that turned me off at an early age. My father on the other hand, absolutely loved it.

And so, one Thanksgiving at my father's house, he asked me to come help him in the kitchen. He told me that the turkey needed to come out of the oven and that it was so glorious a bird, enormous and weighted down with stuffing and all the accoutrements, that he had to have help just to get it to the table.

I was excited to help.

He opened up the oven door, and the smell of SPAM hit me full on like a freight train. There in the oven was a perfectly sculpted turkey made entirely of SPAM.

It was both hilarious, and completely sickening.

There are very few things that I wont even consider especially in a survival situation. Spam, chicken livers,sardines and kippers being at the top of the list. You should know your limits. Some things are just bait for better things.

Wow, a spam turkey? did anyone end up eating it?

my local supermarket has an excellent scotch broth, mutton/pearl barley/split peas/turnip/carrots, while i admit there is not much mutton 4% it has alot of veg and i like the taste. i have several hundred tins of the stuff stacked away (312) and always add more to my weekly shop 10-12 tins extra just for backup.

I'm not fan of Spam, but after a long time without food, it would be delicious.

I'd have to just use it for bait to catch something better, either that or go vegeterian.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!

"...sardines..."

Yuk. Give me Spam over that any day! Never had kippers, but they don't sound good either. Corned beef hash is good, 'specially with lots of ketchup...

With enough Ketchup, even cockroaches are easily edible!!!!!

Yeah right!!!!!!!!!

Hi OldBaldGuy




Looks like another item for the shopping list along with the couscous. Freshly prepared Kippers (cold-smoked Herring, forget about the ones in a tin though) are delicious but better still is the Arbroath Smokie (hot smoked Haddock). But the best is some deep fried Cod, which I find is even better than Salmon (especially the farmed variety)

http://www.arbroathsmokies.net/faq.php

Or how about some Deep Fried Calamari (squid) to go along with the Couscous, Dolmades (stuffed vine leaves) and greek salad with some Griddled Halloumi as a starter.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/deepfriedcalamariwit_68061.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/dolmades_74538.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/greeksalad_13055.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/griddledhalloumi_79154.shtml

and for pudding some Tiramisu, accompained with a couple of glasses of Commandaria (a very old fashioned greek cypriot dessert wine)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/tiramisu_72026.shtml

Roaches ya gotta fry first. Same with grasshoppers. Just remember, don't eat fuzzy bugs...

"...deep fried Cod...Deep Fried Calamari..."

Now you're talking my kind of food!!!

Maybe I`m weird but I don't mind spam or sardines. I bring sardines when I want to carry a good snack hiking with little to no mess, the can also can be used to boil water. Cous Cous is also a good long-term storage item like other pastas keep it dry. Also dehydrated potatoes ~1/each at WINCO last a long time and pack carbs. Also flower to make bread.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't eat a roach either. I don't eat bugs on purpose. I've spent lots of time in the wilderness and never have had to resort to eating bugs or worms.