This is not exactly relevant to the epitome of prepping at all – I think it’s important to prep even if you end up with waste (though I think it’s good to minimize waste) because I think it’s important to be prepared in case worst-case scenarios happen. To me, the cost of “wasting” is much smaller than the cost of being ill prepared for bad and potentially life threatening situations. Still, I find it really, really satisfying that the things I have stockpiled have never actually gone to waste.
We moved from Canada to the UK, and when we did, our stockpile dwindled down a little, but was nowhere near depleted by the time we left. What happened to everything we’d stockpiled over our years in the Great North? We started giving it away a little bit a time a few months before we left the country. Knives and equipment (that we weren’t coming back for – yes we kept our Spydercos, but not our machetes and some select other knives) to people who camped and hiked or were into self defence, people we knew would appreciate them. Food we also gave away to family and friends, pastas and sauces to people who regularly used them, curry jars to those who would polish those off happily – basically little bits to different people who already ate the particular types of long-term expiry date foods we had.
Household goods? Easiest thing to give away (besides alcohol that is). Who doesn’t use toilet paper and dish soap? If someone doesn’t want all the household goods, no problem. Give the first person as much as they want, find someone else, ask them to take as much as they’d like, on and on.
We obviously had another stockpile in the UK before we left for Portugal, and again, while we tried to eat through the vast majority of it, we didn’t completely deplete it by the time we left. What happened to that stockpile? When we left, Thomas’ grandmother distributed everything she didn’t want amongst her friends, and that was that.
There’s always going to be someone who will be happy to take bits and pieces you have from your stockpile if you have to relocate. Even if they aren’t preppers. Even if they think prepping is a bit crazy. They’ll take the stuff.
If you need to re-locate to the other side of the country for a new job, it may be a little frustrating knowing you’ll have to re-start a large chunk of your stockpile, but don’t worry about wasting the stockpile you’ve built up. You’ll absolutely find plenty of people want something, and often, people can think of others they know who probably could really use those other things you have and so will take them off your hands to distribute them to others they know. There’s no waste in stockpiling so long as what you have is truly long-lasting, based on my experience. And to me that’s a pretty satisfying feeling.
Do you guys care about waste when it comes to stockpiles? How important is minimizing waste to you?
Have you ever re-located and needed to give away items you’d stockpiled for some time? How easy did you find it was to do? Do you find it’s easy to minimize waste as a prepper?
I rotate my food regularly. I hate waste. Like most, I have found things that I don’t use in a timely fashion, so I don’t replace those after they are consumed. I have eaten crackers 2 years past their “best buy” date and they were fine. Mayo? A least a year past. I store those pop top cans upside down so air doesn’t get in to get them safely to their expiration date. Those pop tops cut down the life of canned goods, unfortunately. My freeze dried food isn’t anywhere near it’s “expiration” but I have started using the first bucket I bought to make sure my family likes it the brand I chose. I plan to buy 10# cans of those entrees we really like.
Makes sense, the girl and I do something similar- buying long shelf life food and not trying it is just weird to me, buy what you know you will enjoy on a long term basis!
I have a stockpile, at least 2 weeks of food and water for the 6 of us for hurricanes. We have 2 camp stoves, lanterns, emergency radios, fake candles galore, real candles, emergency flashlights/night lights strategically placed in our home. Plenty of cleaning supplies, baking soda, some meds…. What would be the best next thing to do to prepare? We live in FL. and space is limited.
Have you looked into a water purification system? They have portable options that don’t take up much room. I would also suggest perhaps a small inflatable boat. This is just based on the flooding that occured in the past and people being trapped on rooftops. Thanks for dropping by Dawn!
Just yesterday I was going through my battery storage drawer. I found several C size batteries that had started to leak from the bottom, not cheap generic batteries but Energizer brand . The best by dates were 2013 so I can’t complain as their five years over, but it did make me think that storing them for future use will cause losses since they were for emergency flashlights and radios I’m not using. As far as food goes most of my long term supplies are good for 25+ years but emergency pantry items I have to watch out for. Even though there in cans, some have use by dates that is coming up soon. Deviled ham is one. I don’t use it much and probably won’t restock that particular item. I did a spreadsheet with all pantry items that are perishable, that helps out plus I inspect all items at least twice a year. Emergency food is to expensive to waste, and stuff like MRE’s expire to soon for me even at optimum temp and storage conditions. I honestly can’t afford to buy cases every three years so I’d rather go long term with freeze dried or dehydrated food. If I have to move I’ll ship my items out some how.
Thats why I hoard lithium batteries for the long haul, also Nh-mh rechargeables for AAA/AA size. And aye, we made the choice to ship our dehydrated food to our new house- its too expensive to waste.