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Considerations of Logistics- by Robert Henry
Logistics. Supplies. Getting them where you need them. Storage of, scratch that, PROPER storage of. Rotation of supplies. All of these things need to be considered for the true long term survivor.
Anyone contemplating a disaster lasting only a few weeks need not look at anything in depth. A few cases of MRE's, perhaps a cheap gas generator from Lowe's, a shotgun and your probably set.
For those of us considering a total breakdown of society as we know, much more has to be considered.
In my opinion, many survivalists overlook the true considerations of having "a year's worth" of supplies. Many have hundreds of pounds of whole grains, but have never cooked with them nor eat them regularly. A digestive system used to McNuggets and Coca Colas is going to have problems with a cold turkey switch to rice and beans and whole wheat bread.
What about your true caloric and nutrition needs? Yes, your probably "could" get by for a year with 300 lbs. of wheat, 10 lbs. Salt, 20 lbs. Dry milk and a few gallons of honey, but your going to lose some serious weight (I mean past the "good" weight loss stage) and your nutrition will be in jeopardy. Especially if you've never practiced with these foods and know some of the tricks to fill in your nutritional needs like sprouting the wheat, etc. Could you get by? Yes, but a little more will get you by and not jeopardize your health.
Do you have children? Think all you'll need is an extra case of #10 cans of dry milk? Think again. Milk will probably be a big part of the protein puzzle in your storage unless you have the money to invest heavily in freeze dried meats. TVP can only do so much. Most of the protein powder mixes are only palatable when mixed with milk. I've tried mixing them with water, once.
Our family's storage food consists to a large portion of whole grains. Principally wheat, rice, pintos, lentils, whole corn, rolled oats and grits. A lot of people factor grains at 1 pound per person per day. We have done that and supplemented with fruits (both MRE and dehydrated), veggies (dehydrated), soup mixes (dehydrated), dairy (dehydrated), meats (MRE and freeze dried) and dessert items (MRE and dehydrated).
We've had excellent luck with storage of whole grains. Flour, pancake mix and dry milk, all hydroscopic items, we've had problems with unless they were professionally packed. Going over and rotating some things from the early 90's we had to throw out quite a bit of these products we attempted to pack ourselves. Most of our whole grains from the early 90's were simply packed by pouring them into a dry 5 gallon bucket. No oxygen absorbers, no mylar liners. A few had Bay leaves, which are reported to help fend off bugs.
The infamous Bay leaves failed in some of the buckets of flour and pancake mix. Both of those products were both oxidized and ridden with weevils.
Now, any of the "powder" type items- pancake mix, dry milk, cheese powder, tomato powder, etc. we will only purchase professionally packed. I've thrown too much of that sort of item out to attempt putting them up myself anymore. Flour should never be attempted to be stored, unless you are buying it professionally packed in #10 cans. Freezing may work for smaller quantities. Why buy flour when wheat is cheaper and stores better?
Buckets should never be stacked any higher than 4. Furthermore, it is worthwhile to only stack 2 high, then place a piece of 1/2 to 3/4" plywood over top of them if you intend to stack any higher. I've seen much product destroyed that was stacked higher than 5 buckets for a long period of time. The bucket top gets broken in, bugs and moisture follows. If your lucky, the mylar will protect you.
A note about buckets. I've noticed that the lids for 5 gallons buckets that are now being sold at retailers like Lowes and Walmart are of the absolute lowest quality and thickness. They are so cheap you can damn near see through them!
At home, we have switched to open top 55 gallon drums for "bulk" packaging of grains, legumes, animal feeds, salt and sugar. We still pack the items in mylar bags first, usually no more than 40 lbs. per bag. We line a 6 gallon bucket with a mylar liner, pour the food in shaking the bucket a little as it goes so as to fill out the bag. Oxygen absorbers are placed in the bottom, middle and near the top as the product is poured in. The bucket is shaken a few more times. Then I gather the edges of the mylar together and using a clamshell heat sealer, I seal all of the edges except the last 2-3 inches. I then fold all of the sealed edges over on each other, purging any remaining air out as it goes. Then I seal the last 2-3 inches.
We've found we can fit 300-350 lbs. of product in a 55 gallon open top drum. If you look around you can usually find these locally for under $10.00 each. The local feed stores may know where you can find them. Just make sure they were used for storing FOOD, not chemicals, paint, etc.
The economics of doing it this way is simple- 1 drum $7.00 7 mylar liners @ $1.50 total packaging costs (less absorbers) = $10.50
If we use buckets it breaks down as follows- 7 buckets at $4.25= $29.75 7 lids at $1.50 (and crappy lids to boot!)= $10.50 7 mylar liners @ $1.50= $10.50 Total costs (less absorbers) = $50.75
That's $40.25 you are saving every 300 or so lbs. of food you put up. With Long Grain white rice running about $10.50 at Sams down South here, that's almost 200 lbs. of Rice you can put up with the difference in packaging costs!
The disadvantage is you are going to have one helluva time moving those drums. This idea will only work if you do NOT plan on buggin out. I can't imagine trying to load and move those drums in a short period of time. Best for a static location.
If you buy quality mylar liners, you'll find you can carry 50 lbs. of rice in a mylar liner over your shoulder. They are not that delicate, which is a good thing.
I'm a firm believer that most people (myself chief of all) do not rotate their food items as timely as they should. For this reason I will not waste another dollar on wet packed (typical grocery store) canned foods, except for short term use in the house. They just will not do for long term storage. Here again, I've thrown out literally hundreds of cans of the stuff. It's money down the drain. You find a few dozen cans tucked away in a corner of a closet, check the stuff and it's all bad and you have to toss it.
I won't kid myself and say that I will always rotate food in a timely fashion. Having done this in the past and throwing out the results, I refuse to do it in the future. Instead we focus on long term storage items that only need rotation every 7-10 years. Thereby taking the human factor (read: forgetting) out of the equation.
Is dehydrated food more expensive than wet packed grocery store food? Of course. But once you have went through tossing out a bunch of the wet packed stuff, you will realize that they are really not much more costly. Besides, with the wet packed grocery store type food, you are paying a lot for WATER. When you buy dehydrated you are paying just for the food.
Here's a trick that may be handy for those of you using wet packed food- bacteria grows on the top of the liquid in the can, where the airspace is. If you flip the can over it will retard the growth of the bacteria a bit. Do this every six months if possible. I'm not sure if this has ever actually been proven to increase shelf life or not.
Continued in Part 2
Logistics. Supplies. Getting them where you need them. Storage of, scratch that, PROPER storage of. Rotation of supplies. All of these things need to be considered for the true long term survivor.
Anyone contemplating a disaster lasting only a few weeks need not look at anything in depth. A few cases of MRE's, perhaps a cheap gas generator from Lowe's, a shotgun and your probably set.
For those of us considering a total breakdown of society as we know, much more has to be considered.
In my opinion, many survivalists overlook the true considerations of having "a year's worth" of supplies. Many have hundreds of pounds of whole grains, but have never cooked with them nor eat them regularly. A digestive system used to McNuggets and Coca Colas is going to have problems with a cold turkey switch to rice and beans and whole wheat bread.
What about your true caloric and nutrition needs? Yes, your probably "could" get by for a year with 300 lbs. of wheat, 10 lbs. Salt, 20 lbs. Dry milk and a few gallons of honey, but your going to lose some serious weight (I mean past the "good" weight loss stage) and your nutrition will be in jeopardy. Especially if you've never practiced with these foods and know some of the tricks to fill in your nutritional needs like sprouting the wheat, etc. Could you get by? Yes, but a little more will get you by and not jeopardize your health.
Do you have children? Think all you'll need is an extra case of #10 cans of dry milk? Think again. Milk will probably be a big part of the protein puzzle in your storage unless you have the money to invest heavily in freeze dried meats. TVP can only do so much. Most of the protein powder mixes are only palatable when mixed with milk. I've tried mixing them with water, once.
Our family's storage food consists to a large portion of whole grains. Principally wheat, rice, pintos, lentils, whole corn, rolled oats and grits. A lot of people factor grains at 1 pound per person per day. We have done that and supplemented with fruits (both MRE and dehydrated), veggies (dehydrated), soup mixes (dehydrated), dairy (dehydrated), meats (MRE and freeze dried) and dessert items (MRE and dehydrated).
We've had excellent luck with storage of whole grains. Flour, pancake mix and dry milk, all hydroscopic items, we've had problems with unless they were professionally packed. Going over and rotating some things from the early 90's we had to throw out quite a bit of these products we attempted to pack ourselves. Most of our whole grains from the early 90's were simply packed by pouring them into a dry 5 gallon bucket. No oxygen absorbers, no mylar liners. A few had Bay leaves, which are reported to help fend off bugs.
The infamous Bay leaves failed in some of the buckets of flour and pancake mix. Both of those products were both oxidized and ridden with weevils.
Now, any of the "powder" type items- pancake mix, dry milk, cheese powder, tomato powder, etc. we will only purchase professionally packed. I've thrown too much of that sort of item out to attempt putting them up myself anymore. Flour should never be attempted to be stored, unless you are buying it professionally packed in #10 cans. Freezing may work for smaller quantities. Why buy flour when wheat is cheaper and stores better?
Buckets should never be stacked any higher than 4. Furthermore, it is worthwhile to only stack 2 high, then place a piece of 1/2 to 3/4" plywood over top of them if you intend to stack any higher. I've seen much product destroyed that was stacked higher than 5 buckets for a long period of time. The bucket top gets broken in, bugs and moisture follows. If your lucky, the mylar will protect you.
A note about buckets. I've noticed that the lids for 5 gallons buckets that are now being sold at retailers like Lowes and Walmart are of the absolute lowest quality and thickness. They are so cheap you can damn near see through them!
At home, we have switched to open top 55 gallon drums for "bulk" packaging of grains, legumes, animal feeds, salt and sugar. We still pack the items in mylar bags first, usually no more than 40 lbs. per bag. We line a 6 gallon bucket with a mylar liner, pour the food in shaking the bucket a little as it goes so as to fill out the bag. Oxygen absorbers are placed in the bottom, middle and near the top as the product is poured in. The bucket is shaken a few more times. Then I gather the edges of the mylar together and using a clamshell heat sealer, I seal all of the edges except the last 2-3 inches. I then fold all of the sealed edges over on each other, purging any remaining air out as it goes. Then I seal the last 2-3 inches.
We've found we can fit 300-350 lbs. of product in a 55 gallon open top drum. If you look around you can usually find these locally for under $10.00 each. The local feed stores may know where you can find them. Just make sure they were used for storing FOOD, not chemicals, paint, etc.
The economics of doing it this way is simple- 1 drum $7.00 7 mylar liners @ $1.50 total packaging costs (less absorbers) = $10.50
If we use buckets it breaks down as follows- 7 buckets at $4.25= $29.75 7 lids at $1.50 (and crappy lids to boot!)= $10.50 7 mylar liners @ $1.50= $10.50 Total costs (less absorbers) = $50.75
That's $40.25 you are saving every 300 or so lbs. of food you put up. With Long Grain white rice running about $10.50 at Sams down South here, that's almost 200 lbs. of Rice you can put up with the difference in packaging costs!
The disadvantage is you are going to have one helluva time moving those drums. This idea will only work if you do NOT plan on buggin out. I can't imagine trying to load and move those drums in a short period of time. Best for a static location.
If you buy quality mylar liners, you'll find you can carry 50 lbs. of rice in a mylar liner over your shoulder. They are not that delicate, which is a good thing.
I'm a firm believer that most people (myself chief of all) do not rotate their food items as timely as they should. For this reason I will not waste another dollar on wet packed (typical grocery store) canned foods, except for short term use in the house. They just will not do for long term storage. Here again, I've thrown out literally hundreds of cans of the stuff. It's money down the drain. You find a few dozen cans tucked away in a corner of a closet, check the stuff and it's all bad and you have to toss it.
I won't kid myself and say that I will always rotate food in a timely fashion. Having done this in the past and throwing out the results, I refuse to do it in the future. Instead we focus on long term storage items that only need rotation every 7-10 years. Thereby taking the human factor (read: forgetting) out of the equation.
Is dehydrated food more expensive than wet packed grocery store food? Of course. But once you have went through tossing out a bunch of the wet packed stuff, you will realize that they are really not much more costly. Besides, with the wet packed grocery store type food, you are paying a lot for WATER. When you buy dehydrated you are paying just for the food.
Here's a trick that may be handy for those of you using wet packed food- bacteria grows on the top of the liquid in the can, where the airspace is. If you flip the can over it will retard the growth of the bacteria a bit. Do this every six months if possible. I'm not sure if this has ever actually been proven to increase shelf life or not.
Continued in Part 2
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