RoseRed Homesteading Storage of Dry Foods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct18THw4w-M

I have watched videos from many sources and don't follow just one channel, but if you search you tube for "Forever Foods" or "Foods that Keep Forever," you will find a number of videos that will give you ideas for things that naturally keep well mostly without special preparation, and some are things you would not think of that you may need - salt, cornstarch, instant coffee, white rice - things that would actually keep for decades without degrading, and it's useful to look at some of these videos to get ideas. One thing I learned is that even though we think of brown rice as being healhier, because of natural oils it can go rancid and won't keep as long, so if you want to buy a huge amount of rice to store indefinitely, get white rice, and it does best if stored in glass jars. But you will see videos such as "15 Forever Foods," or "20 foods everyone should have" etc. and they are helpful. Btw, we rice, doing some further checking, I found that Basmati white rice has 4 grams of protein per serving which is as much as brown rice. I was thinking of all the ways to get protein if meat is not in the stores, but then found a video that remnded me not to overlook fat which is an important energy source for us, and also needed in order for us to utlize some vitmains that are "fat soluble."

This link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M43rO3hXiX0 goes to one of the "Forever Food" type of videos, and the suggestions are good except he may be a bit off on two points 1) he said if you are doing long term prepping, get regular salt instead of "iodized salt," but here is the thing - salt with no iodine apparently keeps longer, BUT to prevent thyroid problems, everyone needs a little iodine which most people get from table salt that contains iodine, PLUS, I'm thinking, I'm not worried about keeping food for the next 40 years, I'm worried primarily about just getting through the next couple years, so I would want to have iodized salt. 2) In the video, he also mentions real maple syrup will keep pretty much forever but he recommends against artificial maple syrup, and then someone in a comment said, the fake maple syrup will also keep long term, and I would think so, but I don't know for 100% sure. Again, in any case, I'm not thinking about something that will happen 10 years from now, I'm thinking about a relatively immanent food shortage, and having food for now and perhaps to have things to list into 2024. Many foods we buy may have a shelf life into 2023, but fewer would last till 2024, except that some foods naturally store long term where you don't have to be thinking about special prep or worrying about expiration date.

As far as one good channel, I would recommend RoseRed Homesteading I will post links to 2 of her videos and if you go to one you can subscribe if you choose. In this one, she is explaining good storage methods for dry foods like flour, wheat, oats, dry beans etc. basically thinking about how to safely keep bugs out. She says living in a desert area, she has only ever had a problem with bugs in her food once but she shows you that you can put your dry foods (rice, beans, lentils, wheat etc.) into Mylar bags with an oxygen absorber, and the bugs will not be able to live without oxygen, that video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct18THw4w-M and then she had another one to explain why it's not really safe to do what some call "dry canning" to store your dry foods - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_OZ09VJk7o

RedRose Homesteading you tube channel has a presenter who has a PhD in a scientific field, who has done a lot of do-it-yourself homesteading kinds of things for decades, lots of experience, and explains things in accurately and in an understandable and interesting way, not too academic but very practical by someone who knows what she is talking about. There are numerous videos on you tube about something called dry canning which is very complicated and time consuming but not actually safe or useful - people put their beans and rice etc. into canning jars, put them in the oven to heat, apparently to kill any possible insect eggs or bacterial spores - but she says, this is not really a good method and may hurt rather than help food quality.

I do know a lady who has milled her own flour in her own kitchen and baked her own bread for decades, and I asked her some questions when I decided to start doing this myself - she cautioned me that if I get wheat that is just packaged in a plastic bag, to put in my freezer for three days to kill any possible insect larvae, and the RedRose lady also mentioned about 3 days in the freezer though that is NOT necessary if the food is packaged in Mylar with an oxygen absorber, and you can buy wheat that way, if you want wheat, some of the farms that sell wheat on Amazon will ship them sealed in Mylar and in a plastic bucket with screw on lid. The bugs can't live without oxygen, so that will store without having to do anything else and when I considered the cost of me buying the mylar, the oxygen absorbers, the buckets, it seemed fine to me to just buy it already packaged that way.

Oh, and an article on long term foods that will keep pretty much forever - https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/long-term-food-storage-staples-that-last-forever/

The thing to do is just search a bit and start reading / start watching, and ask questions. I asked a few questions of a lady I bought some wheat from. You can read reviews of some of the companies that sell various products on Amazon, and I have emailed several companies, actually about information I needed - you can buy a lot of foods in bulk through Amazon. Some of the survival foods are overpriced, like - well, look at MyPatriotSupply or 4Patriots, and some of their things may be "worth it" and others not - you can buy wheat or rice in bulk from Amazon and comparison shop, figuring out how much does this cost in the grocery store, and how much per ounce online. Problem is, food does keep going up, prices keep going higher and higher, but for the most part, you don't actually need tons of prepackaged meals that will last for 30 years, you need food for winter of 2022-23 and maybe the year after that - one can buy some of the special survival foods, but I'm thinking more about what normal things can I grown from heirloom seeds in my own garden, and what normal foods can I get that will stay good or store safely to stay ahead of current and upcoming shortages. You can do a lot with "normal" foods without buying the expesnive survival foods, though some items may be worthwhile.

And then keep in mind water - for example, the Berkey Water Filter would help you to purfiy water from a rain barrel or possibly sketchy sources if necessary as well as for just every day filtering out pollutants from tap water - https://www.berkeywaterfilter.com/

Maybe that would get you started a bit. You have to just do some digging, and I suppose there are also helpful books on Amazon but I've been learning online and then asking questions where I can as needed.