I love those DAK canned hams, but apparently so did everyone else because I was never able to get as many as I wanted when they came on sale.
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned— metal cans for storage. Rodents can’t chew through them. Cheapest type is the 4-5 gallon popcorn cans you can often find at yard sales. You can also buy new empty gallon paint cans but they don’t hold much.
Misinformation in the article:
“A really basic way to store the rice, beans, cornmeal, sugar and pastas is to buy several 5-gallon seal-able paint buckets or food-grade buckets from your local hardware store. Put a cup or so of salt into a sandwich baggie (opened) at the bottom of the buckets. Then fill it with food stuffs and add a couple of ounces of dried ice (found at large grocery stores) which will remove the oxygen from the bucket after it’s sealed.”
Dry ice will NOT remove oxygen, except by displacing the air in the container, but to do that you need to leave the lid unsealed. You put the dry ice in the BOTTOM of the container, fill it with food, place the lid on and leave it for a few hours. Then you seal the lid. If the lids bulge on any of the sealed containers, you can ‘burp’ the excess pressure and then reseal it. The best thing dry ice will do is kill any insects and insect eggs which may be in the food, by depriving them of sufficient oxygen to survive.
Good tips Max, thanks !
Good point.
In a serious SHTF scenario where there is death there will be an explosion of rodents and varmints. A rat can chew through a 5 gallon plastic bucket with ease.
The book "Earth Abides" is a classic post apocalyptic novel by George R. Stewart. In the story almost everyone dies from a mysterious disease. The central figure is a survivor who is faced by a plague of rats that attack his food stores. His solution is to store non-canned food in steel filing cabinets.
I thought that was a great idea.
In my area used filing cabinets are fairly plentiful at places that resell used office furniture. Filing cabinets with scratches and dents are usually pretty cheap but as long as they still close tightly are perfectly good for rat proof storage.
PS - If you haven't read the book I recommend it as a good read.
It's an oldie but well written and the theme of survival in a post apocalyptic world is timeless.
Used paperbacks are commonly available for $1 or so.