Have you sealed any of your food storage in #10 cans? If not, here's some information!
One way to do it is make an appointment at an LDS cannery (you don't have to be LDS), buy bulk food there, & can it there. It is non-profit & they have a some great basic food items. Here's a current price list:
http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/123141_HSC_OrderFormUS_EngNov2011_pdf.pdf
The other thing you can do is "check out" the can sealer for a few days & seal cans at home. This is what I've been doing once a year. I let family & friends know too, & they schedule a time to come seal their cans while I've got it. The cans with a lid & oxygen pack come out to about $1 each. The cannery can help you figure out how many cans you need for what you have, but an example is, 5-6 cans for 25 lbs of flour. I do it at home because I can work for a few hours, stop & then do more. I can also put in things I've bought myself out side the cannery (the cannery can't let you bring in outside food because of government health regulations). So I can put in the chocolate I bought on clearance, or our favorite noodles, or what have you. It also is easier to get friends & family to participate if I have the cans for them & they just have to come over to my house. They will show you how to seal the cans when you check it out. It's not hard, my 8 year old sealed all our cans last time, & loved doing it.
I had some friends who were just starting on their prep efforts. In all they spend around $100 on the cans & things like flour & rice from Costco. When they plugged what they had into Emergency Essentials food storage calculator, they were excited to find out they had 3 months worth of food! It took them about an hour to can it all. Now that flour & rice will keep for around 30 years, in earthquake proof cans!
I collect food on sales, etc all year, & then get the canner once a year.
A couple of tips: sugar doesn't need oxygen packs in. Salt doesn't have to be preserved in cans, it's a preservative itself. And be sure & "shake" the cans after you fill it. The food will settle in & leave you a lot more room at the top to put more in. This is especially true of flour.
So start getting food before prices go up more & then go get some cans!!
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