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SHTF! What's In Your FRIDGE?

7K views 47 replies 21 participants last post by  SOCOM42 
#1 · (Edited)
The fridge - imho- is the "first line of defense" from hunger.
Most perishable items are in the fridge, therefore the contents of your fridge are what we're supposed to use up first in a survival scenario. We usually don't realize how much food we actually have in the fridge.
Normally, I tend to cook more than enough so there'll be left-overs, or meals that can be recycled - which saves me some effort at cooking.
A lot of people do that in this day and age , especially busy households with working parents.

In our prepping, keep in mind....... the contents of your fridge if SHTF, can buy you time and stretch your stockpile.

If SHTF happens NOW, how many days will you get out of your fridge, meal-wise? What's in your fridge?

We just had our Thanksgiving Day last weekend so my fridge is really heavily laden. Left-over turkey, some ham, cooked asparagus, some cooked shrimps, unopened pack of bacon, cheeses (old cheddar block, Italian shredded, Kraft slices) lettuce, tomatoes, celery, and sweet peppers, an 18-carton and a half carton of eggs, milk and cream, maple syrup, butter, and variety of condiments, and jams, fresh apples and lemons. Just the two of us - these can give us about a week of eating!

We can extend it to more days, if we incorporate using fresh bread, fresh potatoes and yams to stretch it.
There should always be bread! Don't let it run out without having an extra loaf or two. I always have 6 in the small freezer.

The oldest and the ones to easily spoil will be the first ones to be used. In our case, it'll be the shrimps and the turkey!
The carcass of the turkey can be simmered into soups.

I think the first 48 hours of a SHTF will be so uncertain as we have to understand what's happening out there, and make contingency plans from there. Having not to worry about food will really help a lot to keep us focused on the immediate steps to be taken.

Note: in this uncertain times, I'll make it a point to always have 2 cartons of eggs (plus some pickled eggs), 2 unopened packs of bacon, cheese slices, and some cooked ham in the fridge.
 
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#2 ·
Live outside town. Married to a farm girl. Who knows what is in there. But bet it is stuffed full at all times as are the freezers. I often tell her I fear opening it . The stuff falling out may kill me.
 
#5 ·
..........If SHTF happens NOW, how many days will you get out of your fridge, meal-wise? What's in your fridge?.........
Depends on whether the power stays on, now, wouldn't it?
 
#6 ·
Just made breakfast so I looked 5 dozen eggs. Lots of cheese , ham , Turkey. Avocado's, Apples Pears. 4 gallons milk 1 bottle of her wine. Plus a lot of other food. freezer side I am not opening that door. To much work stuffing it back in.
 
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#10 ·
Too funny SAS...

The fridge. Huh. Well, it’s loaded up and I don’t know half of the stuff in there. Now the freezer is damn near over flowing. Wife commented she wished we had a larger freezer. I asked her what for... she said.. bodies.. and walked away. Should I be worried?

Some of our food isn’t refrigerated like eggs and veggies we grow.
 
#13 ·
Well I have 2 chest type freezers a and a refer/fridge combo and another one coming in a week.
Mine have raw chicken done up with a food saver, hamburger done the same way.
There is ham and bacon also about 20# of each, in a month it will be cold enough to leave stuff outside.
One freezer is outside and will not draw electricity for five months.
A third of one chest is filled with meds of all sorts that are needed here plus SHTF stuff.
Some fish, vac packed and frozen commercially, I don't eat it myself.
There is 30 pounds of butter in the freezers.
Both of our diets consist mainly of chicken and rice, that is what there is the most of in there, chicken.
 
#15 · (Edited)
SHTF! What's In Your FRIDGE?
In the fridge:
1) About 20 cans of sardines and kippered snacks.
2) Several bags of nuts (macadamia, sun flower seeds, walnuts, pecans, pinion nuts, and raw hemp seeds [shelled]).
3) I have a drawer full of cheese.
4) I always keep plenty of Almond/Coconut milk on hand.
5) Various other foods stuffs and condiments.
6) Two large jars of olives.
7) Two dozen free range eggs.

Freezers:
1) About 100 lbs of grass-fed ground beef.
2) 25 lbs of free range chicken.
3) About 10 lbs of fish (salmon and cod).
4) Two beef roasts.
5) Many bags of frozen veggies (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, cauliflower, kale & other leafy greens)
6) Several bags of mixed berries (blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries).
7) Maybe ten 8-packs of beef hot dogs.

Since I live alone ... this is more than enough for me. I have two boxes of #10 cans as well as 5 gallon buckets of freeze dried foods in my storage unit.
 
#22 ·
If SHTF happens NOW, how many days will you get out of your fridge, meal-wise? What's in your fridge?
It's hard to say....Assuming the power goes, the generator will kick in. If I stretch it out by using shelf stable foods as well, I think I have enough meat to last a couple weeks between the kitchen and basement fridges. I also keep many spices in there.

The big freezer has oils, bbq sauce, honey, maple syrup, powdered milk, chocolate syrup, etc.
 
#26 ·
There's not much in my fridge..I tend to keep as much as possible shelf stable.

I do have eggs, cheese (various types), bread, juice, chocolate, cookies, meal prep meals, butter, condiments, soda, pepperoni, summer sausage, cabbage, kielbasa, apples, tortillas, and sausage thawing in there. If there was no power, I'd use up what I could. Some stuff in there is fine out for awhile. My freezer I'd be more concerned with, but mostly that's flour and stuff. Most of my meat is already canned.
 
#29 ·
I’ve put a lot of thought into this subject in case of power failures. I’m thinking that I would adjust my freezer thermostats to the lowest temperature possible. Only open and remove food once per day. Run the genny maybe one hour in the morning and another hour in the evening to cool the freezers down to their extreme lowest temps possible. After shutdown cover the freezers with blankets or moving pads to provide a little additional temporary insulation. Make sure you remove the blankets while the freezers are running.

The refrigerators are a different story. I can’t pull them down below 32 degrees for obvious reasons. So it may be necessary to run the genny to cool em down 4 to 6 times per day. I’d have to play this by ear and adjust as necessary. Thoughts?
 
#30 ·
I have experimented with our refrigerator and freezer as to there operating off a generator, I have a Honda 6000 generator. I can run the entire house off it. It drinks between 3/4 gallon and 1 gallon of gas per hour. Depending on the load that i put on it. During normal power outs I run During the day when we need it and shut it off between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. when I want to. The fridge and the freezer will run for 45 minutes or so in the morning go off for a few and come back on for a few, normalize then relax to normal. The end of the story here is that you will need to run a generator every 12 hours or so to keep the refrigerator and freezer cold.if you don't have dip shits opening and closing them because of boredom. So you will spend 2 gallons of gas per day to maintain that presence until perishables run out.
 
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