Survival Technology Food

Long-term storage of food

Everyone should have at least 1 year's worth of food and other essentials stored. If you are not prepared for what is about to happen, then you will not be a survivor.

Here are some articles I've written on the subject. There are many valuable resources all over the net, all you have to do is make the effort. Start out with the basics of life.

Beans and Rice

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beans-and-rice.pdf

2016-09-07

I found a great deal on 14 gamma seal lids (14-pack, random colors) at Freckleface. I had the buckets already and when the lids came today I simply could not wait to attach them. I washed the buckets with dish washing detergent and then attached the seals.

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I will be using these new buckets with gamma seals to store 30lbs of medium-grained rice soon. I am currently eating rice that I stored in 2007. It tastes fresh and perfect after it comes out of the steamer. I used oxygen absorbers with the rice sealed inside mylar bags.

2016-10-10

I had a few more buckets left so I ordered more lids from Freckleface and installed the gamma seal lids. You just need a short piece of wood (i.e. 2x4) and a rubber (or wood) mallet.

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I prefer to protect the ring portion of the lid when I install new lids so I never strike the plastic directly. Instead, I use a piece of wood sitting on top of the ring. This prevents the hammer from marring the plastic ring.

You remove the inner lid and then slowly "seat" the outside ring around the bucket making sure that all of the ring fits inside the bucket. You must make sure it is pushed down as far as it will go by hand first before you place the wood board over it and strike it. If not it will most likely pop off the bucket when you strike the opposite side.

Once you have made sure the ring is well seated then place the piece of wood over the ring and strike it on one end with a forceful blow. Next strike the opposite end. Then move the board 90-degrees and repeat until the outside ring is fully-seated. The object here is to make sure the rubber seal inside the outside ring seals well with the plastic bucket. You don't want to be too brutish about this as the seal doesn't need a lot of pressure to seat well.

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You can make sure the ring is well seated by comparing the distance around the bottom of the ring and the outside of the bucket. There is a plastic rib running along out the bucket that should have uniform spacing the bottom of the ring.

I have had these buckets sitting around for a long time in a huge box in storage so before I use them I will get a large bucket filled with hot soapy water and clean the inside and outside as well as possible since I will be storing more food in them shortly. The food will be inside mylar bags but I prefer it to be as sanitary as possible before placing anything inside for long-term storage.