SOLAR STORMS - FOOD AND WATER

Food and Water Challenges During and After a Devastating Solar Storms

Emergency Food and Water: It's strongly advised that you have at least 12 to 24 months of supplies if not longer. Since solar events are measured in months, this coming solar event that NASA tells us that is absolutely coming could last for a good long spell. If food stores find they can't operate and or are looted, there is no telling just how long it will take before food stores in your area will get back into operation. Dried foods as well as dehydrated food such, beans, dates, raisins, bananas, powdered milk, beefy jerky, etc., should be resealed in a super heavy duty vacum bags and left in a cool, dry place completely out of sunlight until needed. This way your food will still taste good as you may not need to use it until 20011-12, as the food will still be good upwards of 2 years when kept in a cool dry placed. Be sure to eat the foods with the shorter shelf life first such as any dried fruits. There are also manufactures and suppliers of long life storage of dried foods in bulk who claim a shelf life of up to fifteen years. No doubt if you have the money, this makes for a quick way to go, that is, if time is still on your side. NOTE: Be sure to use a black marker to write the purchase date when you obtained each item, because much of it will not have easy to read expiration dates, let alone expiration dates that can be easily understood by the average consumer.

Here is a basic list of foods that have a shelf life of at least 2 years when kept in a cool dry place

Canned goods such as chicken soup, tunafish, and most any canned goods that have a high salt content typically store well.
Rice is a must as you use it to 'bulk up' your meals, this way your primary food supplies stretch two to three times as far. So plenty of rice is key to making your other foods stretch real far.
Frozen foods are a big 'NO' as you may not have electric power to run your deep freezer.
Powdered Milk.
Dehydrated Potatoes
Dry Noodles
Dried Beans
Peanut Butter. Peanut butter is incredibly nutritious and delicious, and fairly inexpensive to boot. Keep in a constant temperature and humidity to avoid separation.
Nuts. Only buy nuts in their shells, as they'll keep for up to a year in the shell but only 3 or 4 months in a tin or a plastic package. Nuts are great for protein, and a good meat substitute for a vegetarian diet.
Chili. Chili is delicious, great as a topping on eggs, and it lasts pretty much indefinitely.

For a comprehensive list of dried foods, please download our Solar Storm Survival Guide.

Water: If you own a well and it uses an electric pump, be sure to learn what it will take to install a hand pump on your well and then buy it. There are different kinds of hand water pumps, so be sure you select the one best suited for your needs and place it in storage where the well is located (and all of the required parts and attachments and tools) where you will have easy access to it should you need it. Those without a well will need to own a hand held reverse osmosis water filter. There are many kinds, at many different prices and allows for 1 to 3 gallons of water per hour. Be sure you have two or three hand held reverse osmosis water filters for when one of them breaks down. You will also need a way to catch rain water or a bucket to get water from a stream. Be sure to get at least 6 changeable filters for each reverse osmosis water filter you purchase. You might also want to look into, "gravity fed reverse osmosis", this way you are making clean drinking water as you sleep. You will need at least three 5 gallon water dispensers to store drinking water. If you are dealing with a large family of six or more, then you should double up on your water supplies as you need to make sure you have plenty of portable drinking water as well as for brushing your teeth, cooking and washing hands. For a comprehensive list of water filter options, please download our Solar Storm Survival Guide.

Food Seeds: You should seriously consider buying various food seeds as we simply do not know how bad thing may get. Besides, food seeds are cheap in the scheme of things and can produce a wealth of food once planted and cared for properly.