WHAT IS A STOCKPILE?
“A large accumulated stock of goods or materials, especially one held in reserve for use at a time of shortage or other emergency.
WHAT IS THE BENEFITS OF STOCKPILING?
• Saves money to buy items on sale that you regularly use.
• Makes it easier to prepare meals with ingredients.
• Can help in difficult months that you have other unexpected expenses.
• Some items are handy to stockpile incase of looting, pandemics, strikes where shops are unaibale to maintain their daily demand.
• Saves trips to the supermarket.
• Can be a safety net in case off loss of employment.
• Helps when you unexpectedly needs to support family or friends.
• You have food on hand when you are unable to get to the shops for a few days.
RISKS AND DISADVATAGES OF STOCKPILING
• You may need an extra freezer or space to store your stockpile.
• You need a space that is dry and protected from excessive heat/humidity.
• Bags can break, food can spill and be wasted.
• Weefils could infest food like maize, rice or cereals and result in a big loss.
• If you have a frozen stockpile, and have a power outage for a long time you may lose a large amount of food, resulting in a big loss.
• You need to keep track of what you have before it detoriorates
• Extra items to transport if you have to move.
• You might be temped to eat more because you have more.
STOCKPILING TIPS
• Do not stock up on items you do not regularly use.
• Be organized and label all ontainers clearly. Also rotate items so the items that expire first is used first.
• It is important to store all your products and ingredients correct to minimise loss and deterioration.
• Adding white candles in your containers and corners of your cupboards can keep weevils away.
• Sugar, flour and other dry ingredients can be stored in 2l coldrink bottles with a few bay leaves on top to keep weavils away.
• Pasta, flour, rice and beans should be kept in the freezer for 3 – 7 days. This will kill all adult and weevil eggs. After that it can safely be stored in containers in the cupboard. (Adding bay leaves or white candles also helps)
• Pasta, rice and flour and other dry ingredients can also be stored in the freezer instead – If you have space.
• Transfer dry food such as cereal, flour, cornstarch, rice, oatmeal, and all kinds of beans immediately into air-tight hard-cased containers to prevent any growth or infestation.
• Aside from freezing the dry goods for a few days, you can use the heating process. Pop the dry food in the Microwave for five minutes in a high-temperature setting.
• Some insect eggs will remain dormant by freezing the first time. Wait a week for eggs to hatch and freeze the dry goods again for another 30 days.
• Cloves and bay leaves act as natural repellents to weevils. Place a few bay leaves in your dried food containers to ward off these pests, and position several cloves of garlic around your pantry and kitchen to deter these bugs from making a home in your pantry.
• White vinegar is also known to kill pesky pantry weevils. After rinsing your shelves with soapy water, wipe them down with white vinegar to prevent a future infestation from occurring.
• Glas and plastic containers are best. Unfortunately, grain weevils (Sitophilus granarius, also called granary weevils or wheat weevils) can chew through paper and plastic packaging
• Inspect all grains upon purchase.
HOW TO STORE SPICES
• Because oxygen causes spices to go bad quickly, you must store spices in airtight containers. There are only two good options for this:
- Mylar bags
- Mason jars with two-part metal lids
• Vacuum sealer bags aren’t airtight. Over time, they will allow air and moisture to leak in. So, they aren’t a good solution for long-term spice storage.
• Use oxygen absorbers. When you put spices in an airtight container, there will still be oxygen already inside. This oxygen will cause the spices to go bad gradually.
• Even if kept in an oxygen-free environment, spices will degrade from heat and light. You must keep them somewhere cool and dark. Mylar bags don’t allow light through, but mason jars will. You can put them in a box or wrap them in bags to protect against light.
• For most people, it doesn’t make sense to stockpile individual spices. I sometimes use more than 12 or more spices in a single recipe. If I wanted to cook a few types of meals during an emergency, I would have to open up 100’s of little bags of spices. I would only need to open a few bags by packaging spice mixes instead. The rest would remain sealed and safe until needed.
• Label spices: Use a permanent marker, then cover it with clear tape so the writing does not rub off.
PRACTICAL ITEMS FOR STOCKPILING
• White vinegar: Can be used for cooking, baking, cleaning and weed control and may aid weight loss and lower blood sugar and cholesterol. Vinegar is a fermented product and has an “almost indefinite” shelf life according to the Vinegar Institute. “Because of its acid nature, vinegar is self-preserving and does not need refrigeration. White distilled vinegar will remain virtually unchanged over an extended period of time.
• Canned meats, fruits and vegetables
• Protien and fruit bars
• Peanutbutter
• Canned juice
• Non-perishable pasteurized milk or powdered milk.
• Rice: Can have a shelve life of 10 years when stored properly.
• Salt, sugar and raw honey: Salt is a very useful multipurpose survival food that lasts forever. It can be used for flavor as well as in storing foods and curing meat. Sugar can last up to 10 years or more and you can use it to add flavor and calories to your foods. Raw honey will last indefinitely and can be used to sweeten foods. It also has antiseptic properties.
• Beans: An alternative aource of protien. Also has a shelve life of 10 years If stored properly.
• Cooking Oil: Because most cooking oils will go bad within 1-2 years, don’t stockpile more than you can rotate through in this amount of time. If your storage space is warm, then you’ll need to rotate through them even faster than this (aim to rotate through everything within 6 months).
• Water
• First aid kit and basic medicines
• Personal higiene items
• Pasta sauces
• Toilet paper
• Rice, flour, cereals, yeast, Lentils
• Soup Packets, Gavy granules,
• Herbs and spices in jars
• Washing powder and other cleaning products.
• Batteries, flashlights, lighbulbs
SHARE YOUR STOCKPILE TIPS IN THE COMMENTS!
Flawsome Boneschans 