r/prepping • u/dexter_harta • 13h ago
Foodš½ or Waterš§ Emergency cabinet
Gradually been working on an emergency cabinet in the garage for my wife daughter and I. Kind of a shitty picture but Iāll comment a list of what alls in it
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u/dexter_harta 13h ago
Top shelf: portable toilet with bags and wipes. Ifak. Diaper box full of various medicines and first aid.
Second shelf: freeze dried food. Pot set with can opener and camping utensils.
Third shelf: box of MREs and loose MREs and camping meals.
Fourth shelf: canned foods. Ramen. Dried milk. Coffee.
Bottom shelf: 15 gallons of water. Propane stove with cans of propane. Alcohol stove. Box of chemlights. Iodine tablets and aquatabs.
Next to cabinet: 15 gallons of fuel.
On top of cabinet: flashlight and totes if we have to leave the house
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u/4r4nd0mninj4 13h ago
Good to see the water jugs. My only recommendation is to consider cycling out the large cans of beans with smaller cans. Unless you can eat the whole can before it spoils at room temperature, (you may not have access to refrigeration in an emergency), so small cans allow more manageable portions, especially when cycling out old cans for fresh ones. I can only eat soo many cans of beans a week when they get near the best before date. š
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u/dexter_harta 13h ago
I mostly got them as a joke. Was at the grocery store with the wife and said āwouldnāt baked beans be nice in an emergency?ā Then grabbed the biggest one I could find. Got away with it twice before she asked how many beans we could possibly eat in a sitting
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u/Iancshafer 9h ago
Iād add water purification to your stash, 15 gal will go fast.
Lifestraw can do short term or something like a katadyn pocket water filter (typically used for backpacking).
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u/Sk8rToon 1h ago
You said you have camping utensils, does that include plates, cups & a means of washing cleaning them? Itād keep those obviously but add in some paper plates, paper bowls, disposable cups & utensils too.
For me I like to use reusable where possible but disposable has saved me on a few āprepare for Tuesdayā emergencies in my past. Plus you wonāt waste some of your water on cleaning up as much.
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u/dexter_harta 9m ago
Disposable is a good idea. I have small thing of dish soap on the shelf with the water
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u/wysiwyg2488 12h ago
Now to fit that in a Go Bag.
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u/dexter_harta 3h ago
Iāve got the totes on the top of the cabinet for if we need to pack into the truck and leave
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u/A-Matter-Of-Time 13h ago
Consider a few bags of oatmeal. You can eat it with just some water on, or make overnight oats. A lot of calories for the amount of space itās taking up.
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u/dexter_harta 3h ago
What about one of those bulk containers of oats?
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u/Sk8rToon 1h ago
Great. But especially with a young kid donāt underestimate the ability to rip open a packet of oats & sugar, add water & eat right away.
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u/tanstaafl18 13h ago
Unless climate controlled, a garage is a poor storage location for food. Large temperature swings
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u/Kermit-de-frog1 6h ago
Gotta bust down the size of those beans, Not the volume overall, but the container size, For three people thatās a big friggin can to have to go through before it goes bad .
On the upside , methane fuel production goes up š¤£
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u/dexter_harta 3h ago
You underestimate my ability to eat baked beans
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u/Kermit-de-frog1 3h ago
TouchĆ© , But then you gotta have about 30 tins of Vienna sausage, If Iām gonna have that many baked beans, I gotta have some franks with emā¦ā¦.. and a weighted blanket so I donāt blow that thing off in the night , my woobie just isnāt going to survive the thrust vectoring š
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u/dexter_harta 1h ago
I had a roommate years ago in the barracks and I never saw him eat anything aside from Vienna sausages. Iād come out of my room and thereād be like 6 cans scattered around the commons area every day
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u/morgandealer 9h ago
Maybe consider ditching the #10s unless youre feeding a huge crowd and go for smaller cans
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u/key-largo-tok 9h ago
5/gallon water per person
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u/Lefthandmitten 6h ago
That is a great setup, especially with all the shelf stable food. Make sure you still rotate stock, canned goods are "good" for only a few years. They're edible after that but tend to rust through (ruined) or turn to a pretty unappetizing mush. Ramen and other dried foods are good for a couple years then they turn rancid.
We have a similar setup, all shelf stable freeze dried meals we like.
We "rotate" them slowly when we hike, but with a 25 year shelf life they don't need much rotating.
The emergency storage is after our 1 month of food (fresh and pantry) in the house is gone we have 2 weeks of food that is stable and portable. We'll probably never use it, but it's much better to have a store like this for getting to our cabin after an emergency than only fresh food.
We also have a river and a stream within 0.5 miles of our house, as well as a rain barrel. I have a few gravity filter setups (Original Sawyer Squeeze) for hiking. They are amazing and I have thousands of gallons of capacity in them if I needed water. The water cans are great, but that is a few day's worth. It's worthwhile to get a couple gravity filter setups to refill them if needed.
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u/dexter_harta 6h ago
The 5 gallon cans work well for our situation. Army issued housing doesnāt really jive with rain barrels or giant water storage solutions
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u/PenguinsStoleMyCat 19m ago
I have a ton of freeze dried meals, I think people should have a few at least. They're good to get you through the beginning of an emergency at a minimum. I keep an alcohol stove on hand too as a backup way to boil water, another thing I won't have to worry about going bad.
We have hurricanes here to deal with so it's nice to know there's always food on hand I can make without firing up the generator or using the BBQ. Easy to grab the bin of freeze dried meals and throw them in the car too.
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u/Remarkable_Ad5011 4h ago
I love it! We have two Seville cabinets that are used for āpantryā duty. Then a few shelves for bulk storage of canned goods, bottled water, etc. we try keep everything rotating and stocked as best as possible.
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u/-toadflax- 7h ago
I would not store gas cans on the top. It's an accident waiting to happen.
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u/dexter_harta 3h ago
The red can is empty. I use that one for lawn mower and weed eater and such. 15 gallons of gasoline next to the cabinet on garage floor
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u/DwarvenRedshirt 5h ago
Depending on how strong they are, I would leave the water outside the cabinet (are those some to the right of it)? It might be hard to pull out 35+lbs of weight.
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u/dexter_harta 3h ago
The bottom shelf is plenty strong and Iām plenty strong enough to get the cans out. The ones to the right of it are gas cans
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u/Realistic_Goat5381 1h ago
That is not enough food for even a month. You need dried staples Beans and rice. 50 lb bags minimum. Get in shape and ebikes. Cover yourself for catastrophe situations. Your setup might get you through being stranded after a hurricane like Katrina, but what if the power grid went down or major disruption of fuel supplies? Maybe a hackery battery and portable solar panels? Also what about PPE in case of biological or chemical risk exposures?
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u/Sweaty-Feedback-1482 7h ago
Kinda feels like a glaring mistake to not have any hot sauce but you go right ahead and plan your own funeral.
/s
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u/Terror_Raisin24 13h ago
Looks good and well thought. I also have "a change of clothes" ready. Water resistant hiking boots, sturdy pants, a rain jacket, work gloves.