Dry Pack Storage in Plastic Buckets

DRY-PACK OF BULK STORAGE FOOD ITEMS IN PLASTIC BUCKETS

For plastic buckets to be used as dry food storage containers, they should be made of food grade plastic and have a gasketed lid.  Carbon dioxide is an effective treatment method for preventing weevil infestation in dry pack items stored in plastic buckets.

The presence of carbon dioxide in concentrations above 3% is adequate to kill weevils.  Treatment methods which depend on the absence of oxygen to kill weevils, such as oxygen absorbers and nitrogen gas flushing are not always effective in plastic buckets due to the potential for oxygen leakage.

The two common methods of CO₂ treatment of buckets are dry ice and gas flushing.

                    INSTRUCTIONS FOR DRY ICE TREATMENT OF DRY PACK BUCKETS

1.         Use approximately 1 oz. Of dry ice/gallon container size.

2.         Wipe frost crystals from the dry ice using a clean towel.

3.         Place the dry ice in the center of the container bottom.

4.         Pour the food on top of the ice and fill the container to within 1/2" to 1" of the top.

5.         Place the lid on top of the container and snap it down only about 1/2 way around the container.

6.         Allow  CO₂ gas to escape from the partially sealed lid as the dry ice evaporates.

7.         Allow the dry ice to evaporate completely before sealing.  To see if the ice is all gone, feel the bottom of the container.  If it is still very cold, it has not all evaporated.

8.         Monitor the container for a few minutes after sealing the lid.  If bulging occurs, slightly lift the edge of the lid to relieve pressure.

9.         It is normal for the lid of the bucket to eventually pull down slightly as a result of the partial vacuum caused when the CO₂ is absorbed into the product.

             INSTRUCTIONS FOR CO₂ GAS FLUSHING OF DRY PACK BUCKETS

1.         Set up the gas flushing equipment using a cylinder, pressure regulator, and a probe equipped with a pipe extension to reach the bottom of the bucket.

2.         With the probe valve open, adjust the regulator to the setting specified:

Granular product (Wheat, Beans, Etc.) 20 lbs.

Powdered products (Milk, Flour, Etc.) Approximately 3 lbs.

3.         Fill the buckets to within 1/2" to 1" of top.

4.         Gas flush product with carbon dioxide.  Insert the probe to the bottom of the bucket.  With the hand valve open, move the probe up and down in a circular motion for the time specified:

Granular products - gas flush for 5 seconds.

Powdered products - gas flush for 20 seconds.

5.         Seal lid immediately on bucket.

6.         Wipe off probe with a dry towel when changing from one product to another to avoid cross contamination of products.

                                                                   CAUTIONS

Use CO₂ in well ventilated areas only.

Wear gloves when handling dry-ice.

Dry-pack only products that are on the approved products list.

Avoid exposing products to humid, damp conditions when dry-packing.

Water Storage

WATER  STORAGE

Why Store Water

Natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes may pollute or disrupt water supplies.  Water is more essential in sustaining life than food so it is wise to store at least a two-week supply.  The recommended quantity for this time period is 14 gallons per person.  To protect the quality of the water it must be pure to start with, and stored in containers that will protect both flavor and purity.

Pre-Storage Treatment

Water for storage should be treated to prevent build up of bacteria and/or algae.  This can be accomplished by adding:

·         Household bleach (5% sodium hypochlorite)

8 drops per gallon or 2 teaspoon per 5 gallons.

Let stand for 30 minutes before use.

·         Storage Containers

Good water storage containers will be airtight, resistant to breakage, heavy enough to hold the water, and have a lining that won't rust or affect the flavor of the water.  The following containers meet these criteria:

·         Clear Plastic Pop or Juice Bottles These containers are made of food grade plastic.  Clean and sanitize the bottles prior to use.

·         Water Beds  A double water bed holds about 200 gallons of water.  Do not use for drinking or cooking.  This water contains an algicide, but can be used for washing or sanitation.

·         Water Heater  It is important to close the inlet valve immediately after the water supply is disrupted.

·         Heavy Plastic or Fiberglass Drums  Heavy plastic or fiberglass drums.  These containers must be food grade, and be cleaned and sanitized prior to use.

·         Mylar Bags in a Box  These normally hold 4-5 gallons and have the advantage of stacking well.

·         Bleach Bottles  Bleach bottles are not good for storing water for drinking or cooking, but are good for storing water for other uses.

Notes

Store water containers away from light.  It is best to store water in areas where leakage, should it occur, will not cause damage.  Stored water will taste better if it is aerated prior to drinking.  To aerate water, pour it back and forth between two containers for several minutes.  This will help to add air back into the water and dissipate chlorine.

Emergency Documents Binder

So all last year I promised myself that we would get our 72-hour kits together. Come November and NOTHING had been done about it! So I gave myself permission to just get started instead of trying to finish in the last two months of the year. As I started making my lists and doing my research it all felt very overwhelming, so I decided to just focus on one thing that I could get done during the holidays (and then decided to make it NEXT year's goal instead!). 

In every emergency situation one of the most important things is your information. You need some way to prove that your kids are actually yours, your car is yours, your home is yours, you are who you say you are, and also access to any money (this is assuming banks, etc., are working). I don't have all that memorized and it seemed a good idea to have it all together so I could grab it and go. So this is my Emergency Documents Binder. It doubles as a place where I can find information I may need when asked for SS cards, birth certificates, immunization records, etc. 

A quick note--I know that it can be very dangerous to have all this together. Please be smart and do what is right for YOUR family. We have decided that this is better for us than the multiple files it was all spread across previously, but if you don't like it I completely understand! The important thing is to do what's right for you. That being said, if you do make something like this make sure it is hidden or safe somewhere. Some people even keep it off-site and just have copies at their home. A fireproof safe is a good idea so that if something happened and you couldn't come back home to grab stuff it would be okay. (I don't have one yet, so if anyone has a kind they like let me know!) Okay, this is what is in my binder. Like I said, I only made it up last year so if you have stuff to add please share it in the comments!

Our Binder is a typical 1" three-ring binder with covers that let you slip things in and has pockets in the front and back. Don't worry too much about the binder at first. My advice is to gather together the items that you want in your binder, and then buy a binder to fit your needs. Other people have bought the kind you can zip up for better protection. I also use a TON of sheet protectors and those little baseball card holders. Also, I used most of my printables from this website: http://www.yourownhomestore.com/survival-kit-series-week-23-important-documents/. She has some fantastic ideas too, so be sure to read the series when you have time.

Cover: In the cover we have our evacuation list. This is what we would grab if given a few minutes to get stuff into the car before we have to evacuate (for example, if the summer fires forced evacuation).

In the front pocket are some extra sheet protectors (this makes it easy to add things as I think of them). In the back pocket I have emergency cash. You decide how much you will need, but put it in small bills and coins.

The first page is our page of Important Phone Numbers. I just used the printable on the webpage listed above and modified it to fit our needs. There is also a copy of this for babysitters on our pantry door, which is nice :)

The next page has two family pictures from this year. Somewhere I read that you don't just want separate pictures of your people, you want to see them together to prove you are a family if something happens (like while the kids are at school or something).

The next page is a baseball card sheet protector (sorry, I don't know what these are really called!) with our SS cards, and copies of all our CC cards. (Again, make sure this is in a REALLY safe place!). It also has copies of our drivers' licenses and each of our health insurance cards. This takes up a couple of pages. Don't forget to copy the backs if there is anything important on them (like ins. cards have phone numbers, etc.)

Then I have each of our ID kits. There was a Child ID kit post on here a couple of posts back and ours are like that one. I used the printables again from the link above and just filled them out. Each of these are in sheet protectors as well, and in the same sheet protector I have anything that is specific to that person (birth certificates, passports, immunization records, my husband's work license and proof that he is in the army, etc.) On the back side of that sheet protector (so when you flip the page you see it) I have our individual church records page. 

So to recap:

page 1--Important phone numbers

page 2--family pictures

page 3--copies of cards (SS, DL, CC, etc.)

page 4--Jim's ID kit and information

page 5--My ID kit and information

page 6--My oldest daughter's ID kit and information

okay, pause!

After each child's ID page is another sheet protector with things that are usually on the computer but that I would be sad to lose. This includes their New Year's goals (we do this every year), their blessing transcript, and letters that I write to them on their birthday to remind myself of things they learned, did, accomplished, etc. throughout the year. It's not EMERGENCY stuff per say, but it's important to me.

okay...so I have all of that for each of my kids. It sounds like a ton, but the sheet protectors make it pretty easy to manage and contain.

After that we have a printed ward directory and a very old, not updated ward map :)

Then we have our Passwords page. This is a huge job, but so worth it (I use it at least once a week). My husband and I had to sit down and go through every account and website and anything that we possible had an account with or a password too. We have important ones like banking, but also less-important ones like Target and Walmart and Costco. We have ones we use every day like his school login, and ones that we never look at like our auto loan account. It takes forever and you will probably have to keep thinking about it for a while (unless you are already on top of it!). We have ended up with 76 so far. Part of what makes this hard is you really have to think outside the box--do you have your voicemail codes written down somewhere? How about your house alarm? It's not just for you--if something were to happen to you, you need to have all this for whoever takes over for your kids. You can't give them the code to login to your computer if you are not there, but you can leave it behind for them. So this takes a while, but you can do it really easily. Put an excel spreadsheet on the fridge and whenever you think of another thing you need a password or code for, write it down there. We have put down the website or title of the place/what it is/ any account or policy numbers/the login/and the password. So an entry looks like this:

website.com  description  account #  login  password

After our passwords I have other assorted pages. For example, I have a list of my sheet music in case it all burned up, someday I'd like to list my books so they can be replaced, and I have a home inventory (a list of our possessions for the insurance company). Our insurance company (Liberty Mutual) has an app that lets us keep a simple inventory. We really like it and it makes it easy to update the inventory. You can find it on their website. Our insurance also replaces the item itself, not the cost which is why it's important for us to do things like list the books. You should do what works with your insurance company.

After that is our house paperwork, our insurance paperwork (life, health, car, and renter's policies, cards, etc.) our car paperwork, and our student loan paperwork.  Basically I just tried to get any paperwork I would need if we couldn't return to our filing cabinet or home.

Then we have our will. 

Last of all we have some printed off instructions for an emergency. These include paperwork on basic first aid (how to treat burns, etc.) from www.stjohn.org.au, and paperwork on purifying water during an emergency. I'd like to add more to this soon. Remember, in an emergency you will probably not have internet or a printer nearby, and you won't want to waste cell power looking things up.

Okay! That's it! This binder isn't a two-hour project; it's kind of a big job. But it has given us a lot of peace of mind, and it makes it much easier to grab the things I need (like immunization cards for doctor's appointments) or look up the information I need (like car insurance policy numbers) quickly. Hopefully this helps!

Food Storage Preparedness Fireside

A few years I was asked to give a Fireside on food storage and I recently found the presentation and thought I would share it. If there are any questions feel free to ask.

Food Storage Fireside

Coo Coo for Coconut Milk: Food Storage for Babies/Toddlers

One of the hardest parts of food storage prep for me has been making plans for my 1 year old. The doctor recommends tons of dairy intake and dairy is just hard for food storage. If you get the food storage milk that has fat it is put through a hydrogenation process which converts it to a trans fat and if any of you know me you know I'm a weirdo about trans fat! Stuff just freaks me out! But then if you buy the nonfat kind I feel like that isn't helping my baby get the fat that is so key for his brain at this stage. The other day an idea for me that was just ground-breaking hit me so I figured I would share...

My husband and I went crazy a couple months ago and did a "whole 30". If you aren't sure what that is you can Google it but for a foodie like me it was basically a 30 day torture. A couple good things came out of it though and this is one of them! We bought up tons of full-fat, unsweetened coconut milk for that challenge and still had a couple of cans left over. I was organizing them in our pantry and it hit me--Food storage!!! Coconut milk is so good for you and has tons of fat which is great for babies and toddlers! Here is a little snip it on the health benefits...

"Coconuts milk contains significant amounts of fat, but unlike other nuts, it provides fat that is mostly in the form of medium chain saturated fatty acids (MCFAs) in particular, one called lauric acid. Lauric acid is converted in the body into a highly beneficial compound called monolaurin, an antiviral and antibacterial that destroys a wide variety of disease causing organisms. It is therefore now thought that consumption of coconut milk may help protect the body from infections and viruses. Coconuts are highly nutritious and rich in fiber, vitamins C, E, B1, B3, B5 and B6 and minerals including iron, selenium, sodium, calcium, magnesium and phosphorous. Unlike cow's milk, coconut milk is lactose free so can be used as a milk substitute by those with lactose intolerance".

The canned form can be stored at room temperature for a long time. Yay!!!! Once it is open though, you need to consume quickly or put it in a container, refrigerate, and eat within a couple days. In the case of an emergency I would just have the family split a can and eat it all in one meal. Right now I am rotating through my supply by making oatmeal for Nixon and it has been a hit! I use my quick oats so that I can also rotate through those. I make the quick oats as the directions state but instead of using water I use whole milk (Just to get in extra fat and protein) and I use a little less liquid than the directions say so that it comes out really thick. Once it is cooked I add a little bit of sweetener (usually fruit but you could add brown sugar or maple syrup or whatever you use to sweeten around your house) and then I add a bunch of coconut milk to make it kind of seem like cereal. The coconut thickens up pretty well so don't be alarmed when the consistency seems a little "pudding-like". Nixon loves it and Kyle and I end up sneaking tons of bites- it really is delicious. 

One caution with the coconut milk in the can- when you open it all the fat is at the top since it naturally separates. I throw it into a blender bottle and shake it around and use that to store it in the fridge, but you can stir it or use any other mixing techniques. I usually have enough to make 3-5 batches of oatmeal for Nixon, depending on the size, which we can easily use in a few days before it goes bad.

I know it's kind of strange but for me it was huge to be able to find something that I know could easily help increase Nixon's fat intake in an emergency and be something that I would be comfortable feeding him frequently to rotate. You can find it at any health food store or even Walmart. I always just make sure that it is unsweetened and full fat.

Thanks again Emily for getting us all thinking about this and thanks for letting me share!  

-Shanell Beecher :)

Powdered Milk Conversion for Fluid Milk

How many times have you been working in the kitchen preparing a meal for your family or something for a pot luck and found that you don't have enough milk? Some of us have powdered milk in small quantities that we use for just a few recipes and some of us have lots in storage that we never use. Below is some ways to use that powdered milk. I took this from www.everydayfoodstorage.net
and it can be found at a lot of different web sites if you want to spend the time looking. I have used this and it works very well. The sweetened condensed milk is really thick so blend quickly.

Use this conversion chart to use powdered milk in any recipe calling for milk! Simply look down the "milk" column for the amount needed in your recipe then add the dry powdered milk to the dry ingredients and the water to your wet ingredients.

Milk	Water	Dry Powdered Milk
1 Cup	1 Cup	3 Tablespoons
3/4 Cup	3/4 Cup	2-1/4 Tablespoons
2/3 Cup	2/3 Cup	2 Tablespoons
1/2 Cup	1/2 Cup	1-1/2 Tablespoons
1/3 Cup	1/3 Cup	1 Tablespoon
1/4 Cup	1/4 Cup	3/4 Tablespoon

Using more of your Powdered Milk in everyday ways . . .

Sweetened Condensed Milk

(14 oz. can)

1/2 C. Hot Water

1 C. Dry Powdered Milk

1 C. Sugar

1 T. Butter

Blend Very Well in blender.

Evaporated Milk

(12 oz. can)

1-1/2 C. Water

1/2 C. + 1 T. Dry Powdered Milk

Blend Very Well in blender.

Buttermilk

Add a Tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to a cup of milk and let it stand for 5 to 10 minutes.

Adventures with Non-Fat Dry Milk

One of the first things I always run out of, and pretty much the driving force that gets me to the store each week, is milk.  What if I didn't have to rely on the store?  What if I had some backup milk that could be stored at room temperature for many, many years?

I bought some milk at the church cannery this week to test it out.   Brother Williams said the church put a lot of effort into making this some high-quality milk, but it is so cheap I didn't think it could possibly be good.  

This is a 28 oz. pouch.  My children were very excited because there are cookies on the label.  (They are easily swayed by advertising.)

Each pouch makes 29 cups of milk, or 1.81 gallons.  The pouch costs $5.40, so this is going to be about $3 per gallon.  It lasts for 20 years.  

So last night I decided to make some and put it in a rinsed-out milk jug to see if I could fool anyone.  I pulled out a pitcher and measured two quarts of cold water.  Then I whisked in 1 1/2 cups of powdered milk.  My husband walked in while I was doing this.  I was hoping he wouldn't see, as I wanted a fair and honest test.  

He groaned.  He said his mom used to do the same thing and they all hated it.  The smell was very powdered milk-like.  I didn't want to be "that mom" making my children drink something they will later complain about when they are adults.  

It took a bit of whisking to get it to the perfect consistency.   I didn't want a single lump to give away the plot.  I poured it in the milk jug.  

The ladies at the cannery promised me it was good milk, but one of them cautioned me to be sure it was refrigerated overnight for an optimal experience.  I asked Brian if he wanted to try some right then.  He said he'd rather wait for the optimal experience.  I poured some in a cup.  I hesitated before the milk touched my lips.  (I am really weird about milk.)  I took a tiny taste.... and even at less-than-optimal temperature.... it tasted just like milk.

Brian was encouraged by my example, and also took a sip.  He too, was surprised by this milk's delicate flavor.  I placed the milk jug in the fridge to reach optimal temperature before the true test.

I was going to take a picture of the milk in its jug while the children enjoyed their breakfast, completely oblivious to my sneaky ways, but.... it's all gone.  Nobody said a word.  

I don't know if I'll ever have the ability to store 60 pounds of dry milk per person as recommended... but I do know that this is the milk I'll be storing.  It is $3 per pound in the pouch, or $2.39 per pound in bulk (25 pound bags), but then must be packaged correctly to last the full 20 years.  If you package it yourself it costs $12.10 per 4.1 lb can, which works out to $2.95 per pound.  I will probably just buy the pouches rather than canning it myself at the cannery because the price is so close and the pouches are very space efficient.  And also, because my kids think they are cookies.  

If you are feeling especially lazy and do not want to drive to the cannery, you can also order straight from the church and pay only $3.50 in shipping.  I love our church.  Website here.