Prepping Equipment For Food Storage,
Bug Out, Camping & Hiking
The Food Dehydrator & Vacuum sealer
In this article I want to concentrate on the main storage equipment and the essential prepping equipment that is easy to use and readily available to preppers in the UK.
This list could be adapted to suit your own survival needs and situation.
Some items of survival equipment may not be high up in your survival kit list, but there are many tools that are essential items, and as such must be obtained firs for long term benifits.
This food storage equipment is a very good addition to making your prepping a lot easier.
The Cost Of Food Is Not Going Down
Your weekly or monthly food bill will, no doubt, take up a large part of your income and it’s hard enough to make ends meet sometimes.
So the thought of building up a stock pile of additional food and supplies can be a daunting and somewhat overwhelming task for anyone new to prepping in the UK.
But you have to start somewhere, a little at a time and your stocks will soon grow from extra daily supplies, to weekly and then on to having survival supplies for months.
By adapting a preppers state of mind you can even save money on your shopping bills.!
The two best money saving tips for prepping equipment that will make your live substantially easier and far more efficient as you build up your survival supplies.
These items are well worth the initial cost and will enable you to have a larger store of survival foods that cost you a fraction of the original shop bought items.
FOOD DEHYDRATOR - essential food storage prepping equipment
This will save a lot of money in the future and is an excellent source of good quality foods that are high in nutrients.
The advantage here is to buy your fruits and vegetable when there are in season and at their cheapest – an even cheaper way (£00:00), is to go out and pick your own.
You will very soon have a survival storage of snacks and good quality foods that just require a little re-hydration to bring them back to being as near perfect as when you picked them.
As a general rule, dehydrated food will last 6 months to 1 year if stored properly based on ‘room temperature’, or 70 degrees F (21 C). *for every 10 deg cooler you can extend the life from 1 year to 2 years.
A quick batch of foods to add to my storage supplies.
Most food dehydrators are very reasonably priced, with the one shown here costing under £50 all in – this should easily be recouped on your first batch of dehydrated foods.
You can dehydrate just about any food and it will last and taste just as good when re-hydrated.
I have dehydrated many foods over the years for long term storage and, so far, had complete success with everything I have done.!
A large batch of home made beef jerky was my greatest success.!
The whole dehydration process time will differ from food to food depending on the different foods initial water content - this is the essence of dehydration.
Essentially all you are doing is removing the water from the food, and as bacteria cannot grow without water the food stays fresh.
But with something like a beef jerky you have a fat content that means it will be quite a slow process, especially as you have to do a little inspection every few hours to dab of the fat from the top of the meat.
A large box of mushrooms will reduce to a tiny amount >
But its well worth the effort.!
I cannot recommend a dehydrator highly enough and it should be up there on your 'must have' list.
Dehydrating you food for long term storage is the first part of the process - once you have your batch of food you now need to store it for a future date.
VACUUM SEALER - essential food storage prepping equipment
This is the next essential bit of food storage equipment that is necessary to give you guaranteed high quality storage.
A food vacuum sealer will let you store your dehydrated food into sensible sized storage packs for future use.
The vacuum sealer will extract any air for the pack making the dehydrated food both water and air free, thus extending the life even more.
This is a quick video of me sealing up some Bannock Bread Mix for a hiking trip using the Andrew James Pro Sealer.
Vacuum sealing grains and rice will help stop the foods sticking together and give you a much more extended shelf life – in fact, if the packs are stored correctly – in a cool, dark cellar for example, the shelf life can be anything up to 10 years plus.
These food sealers are not cheap – with most good quality units costing over £100 – but they will, without doubt, save you a lot more money in the long run.
But their main objective is making your prepping life easier. Using a vacuum sealer will enable you to build up a good supply of dehydrated foods that are compact and long lasting, and for us preppers, thats a must.
You are going to need to purchase the proper sealing bags – any old bag will not really do. As you need the sealing bag to be a good quality and size suitable for the vacuum sealer and also to be strong enough for long term storage.
Here’s a link to the correct vacuum bag rolls –
Without a doubt these methods WILL YOU SAVE MONEY and also enable you to still have a supply of all the foods and snack you like.
They are all great bits of prepping equipment that will make your life so much easier in the long run and are definitely worth adding to your preppers cupboard – even if you only use then once a year they will pay for themselves in a very short time.
Add one of these to your dehydrator and your good to go - cheap, fresh and long life survival foods that will easily store and keep ready for any emergency.
Make Your Own Food Packs
I use my sealer to prepare my own food packs, and use them when out wild camping or hiking.
You can also add to your food stores.
By vacuum bagging your own food, it will last, it's water and moisture proof and is exactly what you want, when you want it.
In these photos I am making some Bannock Survival Bread with different ingredients.
These pack fit neatly into my rucksack and weigh next to nothing, and all done with my vacuum sealer.
I have a full article and video on this bannock bread making process here:
Bannock Survival Bread
If your serious about building up a varied food store, then dehydrating and packing your own foods is an excellent money saving project.
As well as a great space saving method, you know exactly what and where most foods have come from - local fresh food, picked at its best. It will retain flavour and nutrients and is the perfect method for prepping food storage.
Happy Prepping Folks.
Steve
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