Using the 55 gallon metal drum for the 7 years of long term food storage seems to make sense

Another new project for me in 2013 on getting at least 7 years of grains, rice and beans on hand. I know it sounds a bit daunting but using a friend’s idea of 55 gallon metal drums and the fitting 4 of these drums on a pallet I think it is doable. If not perfect, the food should be in good shape for 10-25 years depending on the conditions where you can store the drums.

This is my plan and it’s based on 1 person for every pallet of four drums:

1. Rice: about 300 pound per 55 gallon drum is equal to 4 years of rice based on 2  4 oz. servings everyday. 75 pounds per year per person. 500 4 oz. servings per 50 pound bag. Approx. cost $200.00 including the drum.
2. Wheat grains: about 300 pound per 55 gallon drum is equal to 4 years. I used a 1.5 pound loaf of bread per person per week.  My cost for hard red wheat is about $14.00 per 50 pounds. Total cost would be about $125.00 including the drum.
3. Beans: Now it starts to get a little more expensive 350 pounds of beans is just under 4 years worth based on 8 serving per pound and 2 meals per day. My average cost on a pound of beans tends to be under a dollar per pound depending on the type. I figure filling this drum will cost about $350.00 including the drum.
4. Last drum is the Misc. staples you want to add grains like dent corn, barley, oats and whatever else to add variety to your meals and if there is a sale. I figure the total cost to be about $150.00 and will give you 4 years adding variety to your basic “bulk food” setup.

A pallet worth of food in 55 gallon drums really does not take up all that much space at 4 ft. x 4 ft and 4 feet high. If you have a family of 4 that is a year of food for less than $900.00 total that is good for many years and will keep you fairly healthy and full as I allowed for little extra per drum. If you plan your meals and add in what you have grow in the garden, add in a little foraging as well as critters for protien, you should be able to stay healthy and feel that you are eating pretty good even if the meals could get a bit boring.  You can start cheap under $50.00 with your first drum and 50 pound bag of grain or rice and each month add to your drum or start a new one. I get my pallets for free by just asking if stores will let me take them off their hands.

Heck you could turn a bedroom into a huge storage area with a “Loft bed” held up via 4 barrel of food/water in the drums for long term storage and your pantry of canned goods and short term stuff underneath the bed.  I saw a cool set of drawers that was for a bunk bed that you could walk up like stairs. Might make a good safe area in a storm if you don’t have a storm shelter. Or start placing one barrel of food and one of water in each closet and place a small board on top and store your shoes or what ever in between the barrels. Who says your bed can’t be 3-4 feet off the ground? Since heat rises it makes perfect sense to place your bed higher so it’s warmer, and with a couple of fans below your bed it might keep it cooler in summer.

Think outside the box and about the possible. Do it different and what works for you!  If you really give a darn what others think about you and how you live your life you probably ain’t a prepper!  I think it’s great I have “dee” comment on my site and we are on kind of opposite ends of the economic spectrum and I don’t care!  I learned more from her free fist aid stocking up from a “Preppers perspective” than I have learned in the last 6 months on some of the more popular sites. I love how riverrider shared what he learned going without power for over 10 days in a heat wave after the little/sarc wind storm that blew through.  Big tough guy had to get some AC and went on a 100 mile drive and just happened to have a few cooler he could fill with ice for the neighbors.

I see the goombas that are supposed to be the elites, smarter than “the people”  and how they think they are going to save us!  Then I watch the “people ” go to work and make stuff happen.  I take quite a lot of glee when I see people fix the problems and bypass the PTBs because I know it drives them nuts!  I’ll take “dee” a self described liberal over at least 90% of the Republican party as I know she’s goes out and get dirty and gets the job done.  I’ll take tough guy riverrider who actually pays the gas and brings back ice paid out of his own pocket to his unprepared neighbors over 90% of the Democrats who claim they care about the little guy.

It’s a lot easier to talk a good game than play a good game. Results is what matters and I have no idea what I’m doing will work. I’ve study history and I think I doing the best I can based on logic but that does not mean I’m right. I’m hoping we have 2013 to stock up and finish up those last minute things I’d like to have on hand. I’d like to have another five years to help folks but I think that is a wash. Heck if I’m wishing I might as well go over the top and think 16 trillion + in debt is no big deal, and the Fed buying up 90 million in junk paper won’t really matter. I think it will matter sometime in the near future.

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