Prudent Prepping: The Pantry Post

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Now we concentrate on what to do in, and how to plan for, the long term via Prudent Prepping.

 Food Storage and Safety 

Why what you can and can't see

could ruin your Preps

Keeping your regular pantry items safe, along with the supplies you have stored, is my topic for the week.

Not actual size, folks!
"Indianmeal moth 2009" by Kaldari 

Once, in a house I no longer occupy, the pantry had some small moths flying around it. Nobody thought much about it until the pancake mix waaay in the back was pulled out and little webs and junk were found inside.

The moth turned out to be an Indian Meal Moth. They are 1/4" long, lay hundreds of eggs and are difficult to get rid of, so the best course of action is not have them in the first place. As it turns out, the bulk food store where we used to buy grains and nuts had a problem that we brought home. These things are able to get into sealed packages, especially paper or cardboard containers like flour, cereal, cracker and cookie boxes use.


This is why I am putting my normally packaged grocery items into 5 gallon food grade pails, like these, from Disasterstuff.com. I can pick and choose the size and type I want, and since the company is close to me, I can drive there to save shipping costs and time. (Editor's Note: Individual buckets are available only for pick-up in Sacramento. If you wish to have them shipped, you must purchase the 3 Bucket Pack for $32.40.)

Going forward, my plan is to start purchasing some items from suppliers who already have food in storage containers or airtight foil packaging and then place them into my pails. My planned-for disaster is an earthquake, so all my containers will be duplicates of each other, with every one containing a portion of every item. That way, if one pail is crushed or not retrievable, all the pasta or spices will not be lost.

Since I am not buying loose grains, I don't need to have Mylar liners at this time, but they are on my list... just not at the top.

After looking at the pails and asking some questions in person, I will be buying 4 buckets to start. Please check for local suppliers; you may be able to do better than this and if so, good for you!

Other Items

A friend from work just gave me two items I just never got around to ordering: A P38 and P51 can opener! He buys them 6 at a time and gives a pair to people he knows would like and use them. Here is my pair!

They are stamped 'US Shelby Co', which is a long time manufacturer of openers and I would like to compare them to a vintage set to see if the metal is the same. These are going in my Get Home Bag and I'm ordering 2 more sets for the big bag and the in the car kit.

The only other item going into the box this week is a 4lb 8oz can of Tang, good for 22 qt. of Vitamin C containing drink. $6.98, from Sam's Club.

As always, if you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased be me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.