14 SHTF Food Storage Myths | NO MREs Don’t last Forever !

[@michellechapman6961]

Thank you for the information Ana. I have probably gone a bit over the top the last month investing my money in tinned foods, pasta rice flour Oates etc. Everything we would eat and nothing that we wouldn’t. Although I have ways been a bit of a prepper and over the years grateful that I have stored food and supplies but for some reason I have a real desire to be more prepared than ever. My husband has just made raised vegetable beds ready for us to start growing our own to supplement our stores.

[@AnasFoodLifestyle]

I think the current affairs make more people aware and wanting to prep more

[@sammiecichockyj7326]

I’ve really stepped up my game with my prepping the last few months I look and think do I need that pretty bag etc or should I stock up my food prep instead The food wins out Been experimenting with what keeps well for a while And been making homemade wine since 2022 We should swap tips 🙏🏻

[@bobgonzo2531]

I’ve heard that paper plates are a good idea for if the water goes down and you can’t do anything about washing up

[@deborahwheatley1970]

Yep got mine lol 😂

[@BlueGardenCottage]

Grate video. Thanks. as to being a target, that's exactly why it's important to encourage your neighbours and community to do the same. Your own safety lies int he safety of your whole community. Pity some folks would be too lazy or inclined to criminality whatever. You're right, they would come anyway even if they didn't know you had stuff. But there are other things we could do to protect ourselves. Personally, I'm focusing on doing all I can do and my garden. BTW, my front garden doesn't look like a food garden but there's loads edible and useful.

[@Leelee...]

Very good suggestions.. My general rule is cool, dry and dark for storage😊

[@kathy7253]

Thank you Ana, you have cleared up some things that I was uncertain about - especially the use of oxygen absorbers.

[@Lee_Proffit]

Also, if you use a vacuum sealing on either a mason jar or a vacuum bag, then you don't need the oxygen absorber, can be quire a saving as they are not cheap 🙂

[@BlueGardenCottage]

Exactly! You aren't preparing for anything in particular.You are just ensuring some resilience in any situation where you might need it and losing a job could be just that kind of SHTF for an individual. With food storage, what money you DO get in can pay the bills. I expect that those in Florida recently who were preppers still had nothing left after the event. Those who had cash, were able to provide for themselves and others because all digital and internet were down so online and card purchases were useless. So prepare anyway but keep a bug out bag for each person too with cash.

[@kynamatthewson7702]

The jars are a good investment, reusable. Initial outlay is usually more expensive than the contents. Great protection against bug pests and vermin, moisture, oxygen. Repackaging is a duty, the shop packaging is insufficient in most cases. (plastic, cardboard, paper) Weevils are not deterred.

[@SaintsofAvalon]

My 1950's house came with the stone slab in the pantry to lay meat and milk on to keep it cool and fresh for longer at a time when most didn't have a fridge . Sons 1800's cottage has a massive 5ft long slab in the cellar , looks like a morgue table up on the brick pillars for sacks of potatoes and the veg to go under it .

[@user-bi8ko7kc6h]

I use garden storage boxes inside the house. I bought heavy duty ones so I can sit and put stuff on them. They are weatherproof, sun proof etc. The down side is they are expensive but majority of us don’t have a basement here in the UK.

[@Lee_Proffit]

Another one for the 2nd video - pack Mylar filled bags inside a strong plastic or metal container to keep mouse's and their bigger brothers out of them as they are quite capable of eating through Mylar. And another one, Not all water filters are equal, avoid ones from places like TEMU as they have no history - go for a known brand and even then there is the diffrence between a filter and a purifier. A purifier will remove more of the nasties. And yet another one 🙂, store water in cleaned soft drink bottle, not plastic milk containers as the seams will leak. It is such a pity that freeze dried foods are so expensive in the UK, they are a prepper dream 🙂

[@Craft_Bazaar_UK]

Thank you Ana, any chance you have info about where to get heirloom seeds

[@AnasFoodLifestyle]

There are loads of companies online that sell heritage seeds , places like Thompson and Morgan etc

[@Craft_Bazaar_UK]

​@@AnasFoodLifestyleThank you

[@alisonforrester4612]

Premier seeds and kings seeds are two of my favourites

[@sorciere...]

I have a question...totally off topic. If I take my almonds(totally plain and not salt either) and ground it to fine powered then dehydrate the powder will tjat make them last longer? Nice and very informative video, thank you

[@AnasFoodLifestyle]

Hi and thank you 😊 you will need to put a kitchen towel under them when drying them to catch oils. It will prolong the storage but not forever x

[@sorciere...]

@AnasFoodLifestyle thank you! I knew not forever lol. Just a year longer at least

[@Mrs.S-UK]

Ana, very helpful video. Couple of questions, can you store canned food in an outside brick shed? Also, can you recommend a camping stove you can use indoors? ❤

[@AnasFoodLifestyle]

Thank you 😊 all depends if shed is insulated , huge temperature fluctuations are not good for food storage neither. Any small butane stove will work , the ones that take small canisters x

[@Mrs.S-UK]

@@AnasFoodLifestyle thank you x

[@jazzjacks8831]

One of the best places is the little hall coat closet if you have one. Get everyone to put their coats & shoes in their own bedrooms.... or outside in that shed (!) and shelf the closet out to make a little pantry. If you haven't got a coat closet, go to a 2nd hand furniture place and buy a huge old wardrobe. They're strong and sturdy, and keep it in the bedroom if you have the room. Paint it up, it'll look great. Shelf it out and make that into a pantry. Keeping the radiator turned off in the bedroom will keep the food cool. We don't spend much time in our bedrooms anyway, mostly. Anywhere else in the house you can stick a freestanding wardrobe-style unit, do it. We want our houses to look nice, sure, but honestly, what's more important, some units full of food, or the house looking all pretty. Outside in your shed, you could store loo rolls, paper towels, bottles of water (sitting on cardboard or shelves, not the cement floor), toiletries, various stuff like that, freeing up more room indoors for food stuff.

[@Mrs.S-UK]

@@jazzjacks8831 thank you…

[@TheWaldHaven.]

Hi there would you mind sharing where you purchase your mylar and absorbers from please as I'm having trouble sourcing. Thanks x

[@lsmith992]

Somewhere I heard of drying sliced cooked meat in the fridge. It does dry on its own but is it safe?

[@alisonforrester4612]

It’s crazy that more people don’t subscribe to your channel! SUBSCRIBE PEOPLE! Do you have a complete video of where and how you store your supplies? I’m doing it in a flat. I wish I had a pantry but doing my best. Under sofa, etc….. thank you for your channel….

[@marierobinson3935]

I brought MREs after lockdown, stored in a cool dark north facing room, I opened a pkt of divestive biscuits to try and they were disgusting they tasted and smelt of oil/petrol🤮 when i told the supplier they basically said it was my fault, i spent hundreds and now have to taste one of each to see if theyre ok..dreading it😢waste of money….

[@AnasFoodLifestyle]

Oh no, so sorry to hear that. It is unethical for those shops to advertise them and saying they last forever. I have seen one prep shop selling them out of date already and claiming they will last 20years! Out of order !! People trust people without doing research , many will be very unhappy.

[@marierobinson3935]

@@AnasFoodLifestyleits not fair that we waste our money!!! id rather have spent all the money on tins and dried goods, keep up with great videos❤

[@Denise-r5p]

Hi Ana, love your channel, would love you to do a video on food shortages and how long if it happens how long you think it will go on for, and do you think we will be struggling to get food in the uk, such a worry with a large family in cramped house, my children moved out had one or two children, then moved back so my house is really quite manic, such a worry on the food front.

[@Lee_Proffit]

You should look for bulk buys, might be an initial expense but they normally work out cheaper per portion. Maybe someone with a card for a wholesales company ?

[@user-bi8ko7kc6h]

We import lots of food and the mum of farmers are decreasing because they’re losing money.

[@jazzjacks8831]

Honestly, I wouldn't worry. In a real SHTF apocolypse type scenario, we'd run out of water long before we ran out of food,. Lolz. Only worry about things you CAN control, like stocking up your pantry. Don't worry about things out of your control, because there's sod all you can do about that.

[@Lee_Proffit]

@@jazzjacks8831 Why are we going to run out of water ? Water can be collected from rivers, lakes, wells, rain harvesting from your roof (in some states) plus melting snow and ice in the winter. As long as you have the means to filter or purify the stuff, you should never run out

[@jazzjacks8831]

@@Lee_Proffit Depends on the SHTF scenario tho if we can make water drinkable. Can we filter out radiation? And how long will our stocks of stuff to clean the water last. What if it's middle of summer and droughts. I wouldn't want to live through a proper full on SHTF scenario anyway. That would be pretty gruesome. Lockdowns, piece of p*ss. Apocolypse, no thanks!

[@anniegreen4205]

Ana. Write a book about stocking up on shtf foods and what can be done and what can't. I like the way you explain things on your videos, a book by you would be fantastic.

[@AnasFoodLifestyle]

Thank you 😊😊 I have started a book but no idea where to go and publish it so kind of gave it up , well the idea . I need someone to help publish

[@innocentbystander4650]

I think cans are the best long term food as there is no repackaging involved and it is highly unlikely it would go off. I just wish there was a better quality tinned meat available - the best I have tried is Costco tinned chicken, but still the texture is not good. I don't can meat as I have concerns around botulism. Marks & Spencer tinned curries are not bad - I still wouldn't choose to eat them, so rotation is an issue.

[@jazzjacks8831]

I quite like Tesco chicken korma. It's not as banging as my home-made, but it certainly hits the spot when I can't be arrissed to cook one from scratch. I also would love to be able to get some really good tinned meats, but there's a lack. The best I've found for chicken is Asda Essentials Chicken in white sauce, surprisingly tasty, proper chunks of real chicken, and nicer than other brands. Then Asda stewed steak & gravy in a tin. It's pretty decent to be fair. The jars with one large chunk of ham, Meat au Jus, which Ana recommended some time ago are great, there is also a marinated pork option, also very tasty. Lovely to have meat in a jar rather than a tin. Other decent tinned pork I've found is only online from Grants website, marinated pulled pork, big chunky pieces of proper pork, very nice. I would love to find more proper chicken though. Tins of chilli con carne are okay at a pinch, better than nothing, but not great. Corned beef, always a winner, for me anyway. Not particularly impressed with the various small tins of "chicken breast" that I've tried. Okay for a sandwich, and better than nothing, but nothing to bang on about. Ditto the small tins of "ham." Better than nothing, and ok on a sarnie.

[@innocentbystander4650]

@@jazzjacks8831 Thanks for all those suggestions - I will definitely try some of those. I have a chest freezer full of good quality meat, but if there are extended power cuts... also even when vacuum sealed, it doesn't last that long.

[@jazzjacks8831]

@@innocentbystander4650 For extended power cuts, that would be gut-wrenching to lose all that meat. You'd be wanting to get all that meat into jars rather than it go to waste. I know water bathing meat in jars is supposedly not the done thing, but loads of people do it that way in Europe and the Amish, 3 hours for meat, 4 hours for fish. As long as you have the jars & lids, that is. Or..... a generator to keep your freezer going.