Cold Times — How to Prepare for the Mini Ice Age

by Dr. Anita Bailey

  Avoiding Air

  The more free air inside a pack of stored grain, the greater the opportunity for the foods to age and become stale. Grains are actually living, even if they are stable at the moment. They do “breathe” (respire) and maintain their ability to grow while in storage. Reducing free oxygen around seeds puts them deeper into a kind of suspended animation, so they maintain their freshness longer.

  Think of the tomato seeds that NASA once sent into space. Even after being in the deep freeze of space in an airless vacuum, many of the open-pollinated Rutgers variety “space tomatoes” grew just fine. A few had interesting abnormalities caused by cosmic radiation exposure, but that’s another topic. After years, even in an oxygen-reduced environment, grains do eventually get less fresh and may not sprout when given the chance, but they’ll taste just fine. Less free air also means a much reduced living environment for insects, too.

  When grains are packed for long term storage, there are several ways to reduce free air. The previously mentioned oxygen absorber packs, about the size of a packet of sugar, are dropped into the bag with the grain – which must be the type of Mylar bag that can be completely sealed, more on that soon, too. The oxygen absorber will cause the sealed bag to draw in, as if it is creating a vacuum inside the bag. When the bag is later opened, it reinflates as free air is introduced again.

  Another method to remove air is to pack grains in a heavy container, such as a plastic bucket with a sealable lid, and place dry ice on top with the lid loosely over that. Once the ice has “sublimated,” that is, turned to fog and sunk to the bottom of the bucket, the lid can be sealed. The nitrogen in the dry ice drives out oxygen, and sealing the lid keeps the oxygen out. Insects cannot live in that environment, and the seeds remain as fresh as when packed. CAUTION: If lids are sealed too soon, buckets can implode and cause severe damage or injuries. This is not my preferred method, for that reason.

  A mechanical method of removing air is to place grain inside a Mylar bag, almost completely seal the bag as discussed following this, and use a vacuum cleaner to suck the air out of the bag and then quickly seal it. Grains can also be packed in individual air-tight “food saver” type vacuum-pack bags, if you don’t mind packing it in two or three pound sacks and fitting those into a bucket.

  Avoiding Rodents

  Rats and mice can get into just about any space where food is stored, either by slipping through small cracks and holes, or by getting in when doors are opened, or by chewing their way inside. Anything in cardboard or plastic sacks are susceptible. Very hungry or large rodents can also chew through plastic trash cans and tubs to get at the contents.

  Double sealing grains inside Mylar and then plastic buckets helps keep the vermin out. Apparently they can’t smell it, and so don’t chew into containers to get it. Keep rodent populations down by using traps and reducing their potential food sources. If there’s nothing for them to eat, they’ll move on to somewhere food is available. Having a couple cats around wouldn’t hurt, either.

  Low Cost Rodent Trap: Use a steep-sided bucket and fill about half way with water. Set a small ramp up to the top rim. Attach a small “gang plank” so that it is like a mini teeter-totter – hinged in the center so that when the rodent travels down the plank to the portion that is over the water in the bucket, the plank should tip. Rub a little peanut butter on the end of the plank. Mousie runs up the ramp, out onto the gang plank, sniffing the bait. After it passes the balance center of the plank, Mousie’s weight pulls the plank down and it tips him off into the water, where he drowns. Plank then pops back up into position, awaiting Mousie II. You’ll have to clean drowned rodents out of the bucket daily – add to your compost pile.

  The Process of Packing Grains

  Understanding the four nasties that we want to keep out of our grain stores, and recognizing that most of us don’t have huge grain bins, there’s a process that’s been developed by the prepper community over the past decades that works at home.

  For this, you will need several 4-5 gallon plastic buckets (each will hold 20-25 pounds of grains), large Mylar bags to fit inside the buckets, a wood board that will overlap the top of the bucket, a clothing iron, a lid for the bucket, your bag of DE if you plan to use it, and oxygen absorber packets. Don’t open the oxygen absorber packet bag until you have loaded everything and are ready to start sealing Mylar.

  Place your buckets so you can work around them easily.

  Fit a Mylar bag inside each one with the top overlapping the lip (so it won’t slip into the bucket while you are adding grain).

  Add one or two packets of oxygen absorber to each bucket, if you’re using it, and put any leftover absorbers immediately in a sealed freezer-type baggie.

  Pour grain into the Mylar inside the bucket, to within about 2” of the top.

  Add a handful of DE to each bucket, if you are using it. Mix in with your hands. Perfect distribution is not necessary.

  Heat your iron.

  Place the board across the rim of your bucket and drape the Mylar over it. Press excess air out of the bag. Try to avoid wrinkles at the edge that is to be sealed with the iron.

  Use the hot iron to seal the Mylar closed. Press the hot iron evenly across the bar so the Mylar sides overlap and stick solidly together. Let the sealed edge cool, then gently test it. If it hasn’t sealed and air can escape from the bag, iron it again a little higher or lower on the bag. Repeat until you have a good seal.

  When sealed, attach the lid.

  Label the exterior bucket with contents, weight, date – use a permanent marking pen, so there’s no risk of losing the label.

  Buckets can be acquired from hardware stores for about $3-5 each, with lids. They should have a metal “bale” or carrying handle, too. I have also gotten free buckets from restaurants by asking for them. The ones I received had been used for holding pickles, and never did stop smelling like pickles….even after 30 years!

  Lids come in two varieties: basic tap-on type; and the type known as a Gamma Lid. The original tap-on lid attaches firmly with a snap, and has to be pried off (there is a lid-removing tool like a giant bottle opener that makes this a little easier). The Gamma Lid comes in two parts: a lip that attaches directly to the bucket rim, and a screw-in inner lid that fits inside. The Gamma Lid is easier to use, and costs about $6-7 each. I have Gamma Lids on buckets that I open frequently, and regular lids on the rest.

  Since they won’t be in direct contact with your grain, you don’t need “food safe” buckets, although it doesn’t hurt to use them. Food safe buckets are marked with a symbol on the bottom, a small triangle with rounded corners with a “2” inside.

  Mylar protects the grain inside the bucket, is air-resistant (not perfectly impervious), but it punctures easily and is not strong enough to hold grain by itself. It needs the support of a bucket. You can pack grain in a food safe bucket without the Mylar. The Mylar just adds one more layer of protection to your food supply’s endurance over time.

  Adding Flavor and Nutrition

  Once the very most basic items have been secured, then you can focus on building add-on storage to improve the taste and nourishment of meals and snacks. Remember, what we’re looking at here is having enough supplies to get you through the awakening into the Zen-slap phases of the transition – this is not going to be a life-time supply of assorted foods. It will be enough to allow you and yours to make a graceful change from today’s condition into tomorrow’s circumstances, with a minimum level of distress and fear. If you collapse now and avoid the rush, as John Michael Greer has suggested, you are ahead of the game.

  What should I store?

  Many preparedness writers provide a list of items to store, sometimes based on average daily caloric requirements, or average number of meals served, and sometimes based on special diet elements such as vegan or gluten-free.

  Personally, I’ve never found those lists more than marginally useful because no one else eats like my family. We have food preferences and di
slikes, things that we must have (coffee, chocolate), and things that we likely won’t eat unless we have no other choice (any Smoothie). What you store must meet you and your family’s needs.

  Here is a simple method to determine what to store: write down everything consumed in your household for 7 days. Write the quantities, the meals and snacks, in a table format for ease of evaluation later like the chart on the next page.

  List everything you eat, including fast foods, meals eaten out, and candy bars grabbed at the convenience store. You want a complete list:

  When you have recorded 7 full days, you will see some real patterns to what you routinely eat. For example, in the chart here, it’s clear that bread is a typical part of the diet, perhaps a half-loaf in 2 days. That would be a full loaf in 4 days, so two loaves per week.

  There is salad once a day and salad components used on sandwiches. That could work out to at least one head of lettuce per week. One or two tomatoes per week.

  Cookies, 6 per day, is several dozen per week.

  Glass or two of milk daily, plus used in coffee, is a gallon a week.

  Canned or frozen vegetables like peas or green beans – perhaps 2 or three cans or a pound of frozen each week.

  Fresh fruit or fruit drinks – 10 or 14 per week.

  Sugar? Dip? Snack cakes? Chips? Condiments like mayonnaise, catsup, mustard? Pickles? Gum?

  Notice that I was assuming that some meals are cooked or made at home (tuna casserole, egg breakfast), and there is only moderate reliance on prepared goods (such as Cheerios and snack cakes). You may use more prepared goods, or eat more meat, or eat out more often. Just write it all down.

  Add it up, then add in the rest of the family’s foods. That’s why your food bill is so high – incredible how much we eat, in just a week!

  Now You Have a Plan

  With your list in hand, you can stock up a full month’s supply merely by loading up on the routine items, except for perishables like the lettuce and tomatoes. Just multiply your existing list times 4, that is, a 4 week (one month) supply.

  You can readily store a month’s worth of breakfast cereal (8 or 10 boxes) and snack cakes (2 or 3 boxes), and tuna casserole fixins (10 cans tuna, 2 bags dried noodles, 8 cans mushroom soup, 4 cans peas, dried onions), in your usual cabinets. Consider replacing some of the fresh fruits and veggies you would use with canned items and tomato or vegetable juices; they can sit on the shelf indefinitely.

  Fats: What’s the deal?

  One of the most healthful foods you can store is fat – lard, olive oil, butter, and coconut oil being the top ones. Fat is higher in calories than protein and carbohydrates, ounce for ounce, which means the same amount of space can hold almost twice as much nutrient “energy”. Furthermore, during the cold, fat is super-efficient at helping your body keep you warm.

  Here’s one example: a friend who was stationed in Alaska years ago, said that part of their daily ration included a cup of bacon grease, sweetened with brown sugar. Seriously, a full cup of fat, every day. You won’t have to take yours that way – just use plenty of fat or grease in your cooking. It won’t cause worsening cholesterol problems or make you gain weight – look up the latest research. In the cold, fat can keep you alive.

  Later, when you have livestock, save and store the fat – you can cook it down in an oven or on a stovetop, then pour off the hot liquid fat through a strainer into clean mason jars. Seal them while still hot. It will solidify as it cools. As long as the fat isn’t in the open air, it won’t go rancid for several years. Throw away rancid fat, or use it to grease garden tools.

  If you have a stand-alone freezer, put 8 loaves of bread and several packages of rolls in there, double wrapped or vacuum-packed – they’ll keep for months and thaw out nearly as tasty as fresh when you need them. To save money, you can buy the bread at “day old” bread outlets along with the snack cakes. You will end the month with a little more cash in your pocket!

  When you have a month’s supply, keep adding on until you have several months’ worth. Your final goal is a year’s supply for each member of your family.

  Trial Run

  Give yourself a little while, say 3 weeks, to start collecting your basics list of beans, rice, wheat, flour, milk, and to begin gathering the additional flavor and nutrition items. This should give you enough right now on hand, so that you could eat “normally” if you couldn’t get out for some reason. Don’t delay this process, though. There is no “right time”, except for right now.

  The best way to find out if you really have enough is to do a trial run. A serious trial run. Give yourself a full seven day test. Start on Sunday, and go through to the following Saturday. Use only the foods you have on-hand – no additional purchased snacks at the vending machine or convenience store when you get gas, no quick runs to the supermarket for a forgotten item (there will be some!), bring lunches to work or school, and so forth.

  If you are hungry for something and don’t have it, substitute something else or go without. Stress yourself a little, so you can experience what happens to your mood and attitude. Make two lists: the “oops, missing” list, and the “wish I had this” list. Write down any additional thoughts or ideas, too.

  The trial run will be your first Big Eye Opener. If you are like most people in our society, by Saturday night, you’ll be ready for a night out. Go, enjoy, and discuss your trial run experience.

  Trial Run, After Action Report

  Your After Action Report (AAR) is the opportunity to compare the reality of your storage with your actual needs. The list you made of “oops, missing”, and the “wish I had” items provides you with a new shopping list. Fill in the “missing and wishing” items, plus get one or two extras of each and set them in your growing pantry.

  Be mindful of any changes in mood or attitude that comes out of your experience. Can you keep going if you don’t get something you want at the moment? Keep your AAR, perhaps with your recipes, so you can see over time how your storage improves and your ability to use it increases, as well.

  For those pre-prepared foods, such as purchased cookies and snack cakes, begin thinking of ways you can replace them by cooking from your basics storage. If you have a bread machine, pull it out of the cupboard and review the recipes and ingredients there. You will be able to make a super-tasty hot loaf ($1 for ingredients or lower) for less of your hard-earned cash than buying any pre-made loaf ($2-$4 or more).

  If you make all your bread at home using a bread machine and mixing the ingredients yourself for a mere 3 months, you will not be able to go back to the flabby air bread from the supermarket. That premade stuff might taste fine, but you’ll notice that it leaves you feeling….strange. Homemade cookies are always better than store-bought, especially when you use the best ingredients such as real butter and pure vanilla. Start trying out recipes and saving those you really like, in a binder or 4x6 card box.

  Incremental changes in the way you eat now will save you and your family from the shock of sudden food changes. That is a very important part of what this awakening transition period will accomplish for you.

  An important note: involve family members in meal preparation – dicing vegetables, or cooking dessert, or figuring out good food combinations, or finding recipes. Children, especially, benefit from learning how to feed their loved ones.

  Remember, everyone contributes.

  Keeping Track of Stored Goods

  At this point, you are probably beginning to feel like you are running out of places to store food. Continue to stack buckets and #10 cans under beds and in closets. You can also utilize your cases of canned goods by disguising them as furniture: stack boxes, cover with a pretty cloth and you’ve got a coffee table; add a couple pillows, and you’ve got a side chair or a window seat.

  If you have an attached garage that doesn’t get overly hot or cold, you can stack your buckets and set up shelves there and start storing. Place a curtain or doors on your storage so that inquisitive passersby can’t easi
ly see what you’ve got. Conspicuously mark boxes “plumbing supplies” or “Christmas Décor” or other innocuous labels so that prying eyes find them uninteresting.

  If you have a spare room, or bedroom, cooled attic or water proof basement, that space can become your “pantry” for storage food. Unused bedrooms that stay at regular household temperatures are ideal and relatively easy to retrofit with basic shelves. Attics are okay if they are not subject to summer heat. Heat will destroy your storage in short order.

  Basements are perfect, since they tend to maintain steady temperatures but beware of the risk of flooding, either through porous walls or because of a pipe break on upper floors or from same-level piping. Be certain your basement can drain unimpeded, even when the electricity and sump pump go out, or don’t store your critical supplies there.

  Records

  As soon as you begin your grain and bean collection, you’re faced with another reality – keeping track of what you have and where it’s stored. If you’ve got twenty pounds of wheat flour in your freezer, that’s one thing. When you have dozens of cans of various items, it starts to be a whole other problem….particularly when you need to get out one specific thing quickly. The only way to manage your supplies, is to keep written records.