Food Storage in Glass?

jimh0220

jimh0220

Joined
Apr 15, 2008
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Watching episodes of the very entertaining Doomsday Preppers, the one thing I notice more often than not: storing food in glass containers! Am I the only person that knows that in a disaster, ready for this? Hold on..... big news.... you won't believe it..... GLASS CONTAINERS BREAK! These self proclaimed 'experts' do it over and over. Don't thy see the footage of grocery stores after every natural disaster? Geez!
Am I the only onte that notices this over and over?
 
Do you do a lot of canning? I don't think it's as much of an issue as you think it is.
 
If the disaster you have to deal with has destroyed your home by wind, fire or earthquake then you might have problems with glass but you why do you think plastic would survive all of those as well. Fire and plastic don't work well together for storage, food sealed in plastic may get crushed and ruined by your house collapsing on to your cache. If you build your food storage area so that it can support or survive a house falling in you would still have to be able to access it in the aftermath. That might be a challenge. The best plan allows for some flexibility so why not use glass to store some things? Most likely you have jars or can find them cheap. You can't pressure can food in plastic. A quart jar of a good meaty stew sure would be nice to have if things turn out bad. Even better would be to have three or four dozen jars of food like that.
 
I guess those steel containers are an option, but expensive!
 
Thats the thing tho, chances are if there is a major disaster that directly effects you and your food supply, hanging around to eat all that food wont likely be an option.. Things will either be so bad you need to move on, or minor enough that things will start getting back to normality in a few days.

Every situation is different, and of course you should be prepared for the worst, but having lived though a few good shakes you quickly realise that you need to be as flexible as possible. We are advised to keep 3 DAYS worth of food and water on hand, and have a fully prepared "get away" kit, or bug out bag as you call them.

Maybe things are different here but the idea that someone is going to sit in their house for 5 years or so living off stock piled food seems a bit ridiculous to me, you'd just be a target for any post apocalyptic scavenger, and if you are forced from your home you have nothing. Id rather go bush and eat rabbits.
 
Glass is still the best material for food storage/long term food storage. It is economical, sterile, comes in multiple sizes and is re-usable -something important for people who know what they are doing. Oh yes, you can also see the contents to see if the food is still usable, kinda lame to open that can or bag years from now to discover that the food inside has spoiled...

OP, what containers do you think are appropriate? Plastic, metal or mylar? All these fail, oftentimes, at a greater rate than the classic Ball jar + metal lid.
 
As was mentioned already for long term food storage glass is one of the better way to go. Also glass is much stronger then most people think. In the big pic glass is the best over all way to store canned food.
 
The reason you see all the broken glass in stores after a disaster is because the shelves have no restraining system built in. The slightest shake will send the jars onto the floor. Properly built shelving will have as a minimum a wire or board across the front to prevent this. I have worked in chemistry labs in earthquake country and that is a standard practice.
 
lambertiana said:
The reason you see all the broken glass in stores after a disaster is because the shelves have no restraining system built in. The slightest shake will send the jars onto the floor. Properly built shelving will have as a minimum a wire or board across the front to prevent this. I have worked in chemistry labs in earthquake country and that is a standard practice.
Click to expand...

Also the glass used in commercial retail jars is made as thin and cheaply as possible since it is disposed of once the contents are gone. Canning jars are a whole different thing. They are meant to withstand heat, pressure and reuse.
 
Me and my lady just canned 10quarts of pickled asparagus last night and after the jars cooled I accidentally dropped one on the kitchen floor, and it didn't break but left a dent in the floor.
 
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