RV FOOD STORAGE
I did cover this before, but I understand that my huge reader growth, rivalling that of the birthrate of an infertility clinic, dictates that I cover this again. Also, before we start, I'll cover my policy on the comments section moderation once again. Censorship, in my opinion, has no gray areas. You either allow free speech or you don't. There is no good reason to block what others see. It is like any other freedom. You either are, or you aren't. As soon as you start making exceptions you open Pandora's Box. Corporate censorship is almost as bad as government censorship, since it is merely sucking up in one form or another. Sure, Big Daddy Government, I'll be your unpaid toady, turning in those with unpatriotic ideas so I'll be the last one to go to the re-education camps. I understand each blog is like a small business. Their owners should be allowed to run them as they please. If one has a high readership of sensitive religious types, by all means keep a lid on the comments. You don't want to offend. Myself, I run an anarchist organization. It reflects my political ideas. I hate the racist crap as much as the next guy ( of course, to be honest some of the jokes can be funny if you like your humor rough and unpolished ) but I won't use that as an excuse to censor. My blog might be one of the few places you can say as you please, even if I don't agree. It doesn't make any difference, only having a thousand readers. But it's the last bit of defiance I'm still allowed. This is not a licence to print nonsense, or stray off topic, but I won't stop the idiots. I hope that makes sense.
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Storing crap in a trailer can be a tough business. There is inevitable clutter if you don't have a separate storage area. And there never will be enough storage space, even in a forty foot fifth wheel with pull-outs. I've owned 16 footers, twenty-five, 35 and currently a 32 foot trailer. Some are much easier than others for storing your years worth of food, but none are impossible. The eight foot cab-over would never store enough, but that should be the only exception. Right now I have almost two years worth of food in my trailer, and that is with the storage space under the bed full of books and camping gear. This trailer was easy, since it has storage under the bathroom that holds three hundred pounds of wheat in buckets. But I've also stuffed that same three hundred pounds of food in sixteen foot trailers. Granted, at the time I owned almost nothing, having just got out of the service. And the climate was so mild I owned nothing more than sweaters, jeans, tennis shoes, etc. So my trailer had no storage other than prep food.
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On a sixteen footer, you may have to fold out the couch every night for a bed, but there are at least four or five storage areas under that and the other seats, plus one outside storage bin. If you vacuum seal bags of wheat, you'll be able to get enough wheat stored in there for your bare bones starvation diet. You won't fit in nine hundred MRE's or several hundred cases of canned food. It will be a thousand calories a day grain and bean diet. Some of the grain will be used for sprouts, the beans are your protein. There are plenty of other storage options outside the trailer, but if you're living in a tin box more than likely you can't afford them. I have two pallets under the overhang of my fifth wheel piled high with storage foods, covered with a tarp. That cost about ten bucks, seasonally. But I also keep the wife at home, and the neighbor dogs love to hang out at our place, so my security is pretty good. Far from perfect, but I'll be damned if I can see putting out the big bucks for the illusion of further safeguards. Sure, when the whole ball of wax begins to melt, I might worry more about theft. But by then I'll most likely be home permanently. And it's not like you can tell what the tarped pile is. But, back to interior trailer food storage.
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Next we go up to your regular cupboards, those in the living room and kitchen. You can fit a lot of food in those. I have no idea what weight they will hold, but I've put almost a hundred pounds of beans in one of them. I kept getting one or two small bags at a time, then transferring them into Christmas metal tins as I pulled them from the trash. Being lazy, sometimes it took me awhile to transfer them. Which is why I had so many in the cupboard at one time. I do have the Hippy Bread Van that holds a lot of storage ( almost a ton before I transferred to the pallets ), but I have held food in the trailer for long periods of time. If you forget about the clutter factor for now, you can too. If you've stuffed a large family into a small trailer and can't set up outside storage, I hope you are pulling it with a van or enclosed pickup. There is some storage. That is one drawback to the fifth wheels, no storage in the pull vehicle. If you've settled in one place and build on an enclosed porch, you can make couches and beds out of plastic pails containing your grains.
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So, settle on a bare bones food storage. Vacuum pack bag the grain and stuff in every nook and cranny possible. Even in a small trailer, you should have enough stored to help you sleep soundly. I've gotten several hundred pounds under the bed/couch and almost a hundred in the small outside storage areas with these bags. You can put a layer on the bottom of the closet. It is not impossible if you sacrifice the space for other items and put up with clutter.
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Monday, January 12, 2009
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11 comments:
Good article Jim and I agree on the comments. Anyway you stole my article for tomorrows post on The Survivalist Blog, well the idea anyway. I guess I will save it for next week!
Clutter ? What clutter...? Nice thing about being single, I can put things where I want ( my cats consider it a playground) and that helps to discourage too much company! That is, until some of the kinfolk find out it's food!
If you can eat it, it ain't clutter, it's survival in a bucket!
Amen to letting everybody speak their mind (some of those jokes were funny). The Black Panther brothers are welcome to post here as well right!
Jim,
It seems that your storage locations are susceptible to heat exposure in the warmer months. Since you are so fond of holes in the ground why don't you have the old lady start digging a few. I seem to remember a pallet house you proposed building one time. Now combine the pallets, some black plastic and a hole in the ground. This will you a nice cool place to store all that wheat plus another 7 years worth. Tell the old lady the blisters go away after a while. Maybe she can enlist the help of the neighbors dogs to assist with the digging.
James thanks for the article. Can you or MDC elaborate on the 5th wheel thing. I assume a person has to have a substantial 3/4 ton pickup to pull it with? I understand that you can either size your trailer to your pickup or your pickup to the trailer. But which is best? Which brand of 5th Wheel would either of you two buy? used? I assume. I have seen some at auctions around here but they seem somewhat flimsy especially the roofs and therefore the ceilings? If you were going to put and live in a 5th wheel in the desert around say Deming New Mexico what would you be careful of? Other than the reverse migration that seems to be going on now. Mikey theres a post for you....
Old fart who is actually planning two years ahead..
Me again.
Forgot about those damn varmints. I have pack rats and mice around my place so I guess you would have to stick with the metal tins or any other metal containers you can get your hands on.
I fully agree with the free speech aspect, and I don't moderate comments on my blog either. Hell, I don't do word verification either (I HATE that!). And yup, you can pack a lot into a trailer, especially a larger 5th wheel, with it's "basement" under the forward end, as my folks call it on their 5er. A 33 foot Cedar Creek Silverback. Suh-WEET! Very roomy for two.....
Forgot to mention, they are "fulltimers".... They sold the house a couple years ago....
i'm with you on the censorship. Chosen to ignore for the most part the lengthy anon racist drivel in the comments (though the less part says i have enjoyed some o' the humor; hey, gotta have laughs. and the best jokes are so b/c they ring true...). I'd abhor the idea of editing the tripe more so than being left with the freedom to decide for myself...
now, onward through the fog...
great info on storage; my future abode being an as-yet-determined T.T, it gives good food, no pun intended, for thought.
Yeah, hermitjim always asks "wanna see what's in them storage buckets? G'head!" and points at the composting one...
THAT discourages the coffee-raiding, i tell ya!!!
Anonymous 2:29, don't forget good ol' PVC pipe, that stuff was designed for sticking in the ground without any hint of rot. Can even write the contents of them right outside on the tube, date, etc.
If I did my math right, (cylinder volume formula is pi*r square * height. Divide by 231 to convert cubic inches to U.S. gallons), a 6" diameter PVC pipe that is 24" long will hold just under 2.93 gallons of material, for example.
Now if I could only figure an inexpensive method for end caps, PVC ends are a bit pricey.
To Anonymous, the old fart. Hope you catch this. The best source I know of for learning about RV stuff:
http://www.phrannie.org/phredex.html
GL
Great post. Maybe this is a stupid question but if I just purchase some wheat and put in in a food safe bucket how long will it last? I know of different methods to pack/ preserve wheat in buckets but what about if you just throw the stuff in the bucket the cheap and easy way.
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