Food Storage

Obtaining a long-term food supply is one of the first challenges for the individuals that will make up the shelter complex. We are accustomed to obtaining food from grocery stores. These assets are insufficient and will be quickly exhausted. The only viable long term food source capable of carrying us through an "impact" winter are raw grains, corn, soybeans.

Most of the world lives on grass seeds; wheat, oats, rice, millet and other cereals are grasses.²⁶ In the United States, corn is a natural choice for food storage because of it’s abundance. The United States produces vast quantities of food. In 1997, the U. S. farmers harvested 8.6 billion bushels of corn, 2.2 billion bushels of wheat and 2.5 bushels of soybeans. This production equals approximately 333 million tons.

According to the UN, the minimum daily requirement for food is 2,300 calories per person.²⁷ Grain meal provides between 1200-1700 calories per pound. One ton of grain is required to supply the needs of one person for three years. The grains must be protected from the heat, rain and debris following the impact. A few weeks after impact the temperatures will drop below freezing and remain there for approximately one year or more. This cold temperature will act like a freezer, minimizing degradation of the grain and aiding in the long-term storage.

Grains in this nation are stored by farmers and by organizations such as farm cooperatives, and Feed & Grain stores. The quickest method to obtain a large quantity of grain is to either drive up to a farm coop and have them load bags of grain onto your pick-up truck. A fifty-pound sack of corn is currently running $6.10 at the local Feed and Grain. Large shipments can also be delivered to any destination you request in bulk form. In my local, a ton of corn can be delivered to my home for $104 with a $1 per mile delivery fee. I recommend the storage of whole corn kernels rather than cracked corn to extend the shelf life.

Corn is lacking in two essential amino acids, lysine and tryptophane, and is below the nutritional requirements for non-ruminant animals and humans.³² For this reason, a diet of corn must be augmented with beans (such as soybeans) or rice.

One approach for grain storage is to utilize ISO Intermodal Shipping & Cargo Containers (sometimes referred to as Conex Storage Boxes). These containers are designed to be wind and watertight. They are used as ocean cargo containers and they are structurally significantly stronger than semi-truck trailers. (According to Tom Malloy, from the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) , there are 13.5 million intermodal shipping containers in the worldwide inventory. This includes shipping containers that onboard ships, sitting in offshore and domestic terminals, container yards around the world, on trains, in terminals, on trucks, in shops for repair, etc.) Shipping containers come in various lengths including 40 foot and 20 foot. In general, these shipping containers will be used and may be banged up and have gashes, dents and holes. Any damage that may impact the water tightness of the storage containers should be repaired. Sand off the paint in the affected area. Use Bondo Body Filler to repair the holes.(Currently, a used 40 foot container can be purchased for approximately $500 -$1500.)

A long trench 8 foot deep and approximately 12 feet wide should be excavated. The shipping containers are designed to transfer weight at the four corners of the container. As a result a substructure should be created to support these corners. This could consist of burying 4 layers of bricks forming a 1 foot by 1 foot square for each corner. Each container should be backed into position within the trench and then filled by hand with grain. This can be done 2 at a time by starting at the center, positioning the containers back-to-back. Then the next set of containers could be positioned within the trench and filled. This process would continue until all containers are in place within the trench. Even though these shipping containers are stacked seven high on cargo ships, they are susceptible to buckling and collapsing. The weight of the seeds should counterbalance the weight of the earth on the sidewalls if the container is filled with seeds and the trench is filled with granular soil at the same time. This is not the case for the ceiling of the shipping container. The weight of the earth will crush the ceiling of the shipping container. As a result, the inside of the shipping container must be shored up like the inside of a mine, using vertical wooden columns to support the weight of the soil. The containers should be covered with sheets of 6-mil black plastic. The trench should be filled in with dirt and an earth mound created insuring that the containers are covered with a minimum of three feet of earth.

Approximately 18 ISO Intermodal Shipping Containers (40 feet by 8 feet by 8 ½ feet high) would be sufficient to store the 800 tons of grain (a 3-year supply for 800 personnel). [Two 20-foot containers could be used in place of one 40-foot long container.]

Home canning of fresh vegetables and meats could also be stored away for the "impact" winter. With a good pressure cooker, adequate canning jars, and energy (electricity or natural gas) thousands of quarts of food could be set aside. This will provide some needed variety to the bland diet of grains. I have canned 100 quarts in one day. I believe that one pressure cooker utilized round the clock could produce twice that amount. The glass jars that are used for canning are vulnerable to the blast shock from an impact and to breakage from earthquakes. They must be packaged well or they will be destroyed. All canned goods whether in metal cans or glass jars must be protected from the heat produced in the impact and from freezing in the "impact" winter. Store powdered milk, salt, canned fruits, to add variety and nutrients into the diet. Store 12 gallons cooking oil per person for your fatty acid requirements. For 800 personnel, this would work out to 9,600 gallons.

Another food-source that could be tapped is roots and edible tubers (potatoes, beets, carrots, etc.). Over the years, farmers have successfully stored potatoes in cool, dry locations; such as root cellars for a year or longer. It is not a far stretch of the imagination to view Stage 1 shelters as acceptable alternatives to a root cellars. I recommend this approach be coupled with another process to further extend the shelf life, gamma ray food irradiation. Irradiation is a process in which radiation is applied to food products to destroy insects and microorganisms that cause food to spoil quickly. Irradiation will also prevent potatoes from sprouting. I recommend the irradiation process be performed in an oxygen excluded environment and an environment where the temperatures are kept very low in order to minimize the loss of natural vitamins. In Stage 1, irradiated potatoes and beets could be double wrapped in large plastic trash bags and stored underground in covered trenches. In Stage 2, the potatoes/beets could be moved into the Stage 1 Personnel Shelters for long term storage. Carrots are best stored in sand. Roots and edible tubers must not be allowed to freeze.

Irradiation of meat followed by vacuum packaging could produce large quantities of shelf stable meat without the need for refrigeration.

I recommend that chickens and rabbits be included in the shelter planning. They can provide eggs, meat, and fur that can be fashioned into clothing. I recommend that the shelter complex contain two pairs (male & female) of each and that they be housed in cages. In Stage 1, they should be housed in one of the shelters. Chickens will feed on cracked corn. Rabbits will require the storage of 3 years supply of rabbit food. In Stage 2, their population levels should be maintained at a flat level. In Stage 3, it may be wise to keep them in cages in order to minimize their exposure to contaminated feed (heavy metals).

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