Something that is often forgotten in people’s preps is salt and sugar. Now, the reaction of most people when I tell them to store salt and sugar, is that these are not important items. Some even make the statement that for health reasons you should not store them. I am as health conscious as most people and try to avoid things that are bad for me. However eating sugar and salt is a better option that starvation, which can occur if you are unable to preserve your foods.
My wife and I have spent quite a bit of time learning different ways to preserve foods. We have tried all kinds of different methods, including dehydrating, canning, vacuum packing, salting, fermenting and many others. As a result of this, we have come to the conclusion that many preppers make a major mistake in not storing large enough amounts of salt and sugar for preserving food.
Sugar can be used to preserve foods by canning fruits, making jams and jelly and preserving other foods. Salt can be used for preserving meat, pickling and fermenting. Fermenting, in particular, has enormous health benefits and is easy to learn. Both sugar and salt could come in handy as barter items, since both are such necessities for making foods flavorful.
We used to figure that a hundred pounds of sugar a year would be enough for the both of us. However based on our experience with the amounts of sugar it takes to preserve food, that would not be enough. The same thing applies to salt. Often when I talk to people about how much salt they store, they only have between 1 to 5 pounds. Buying salt in 25-pound bags is inexpensive. It costs very little to store a couple of hundred pounds. Consider buying different types of salt as well: kosher, Celtic sea salt, iodized salt, pickling salt.
Often, the reason given for not storing more is that they are trying to avoid the use of salt and sugar. If we had to live on food preserved by old-fashioned methods, our use of salt and sugar for preserving food would go up. This would not necessarily increase our daily intake of salt and sugar, because we would not be eating all the store bought, prepared foods that are heavily salted and sugared.
There are several types of salt that you can store for different purposes. Some are considered healthier than others. Salt, What Type Should You Store?
Both salt and sugar have medical applications.
In a long-term disaster, both salt and sugar for preserving food will be heavily in demand and will be great trading items. Both are inexpensive and have an almost unlimited shelf life if kept dry. They can be stored in five-gallon food grade buckets without Mylar bags or oxygen absorbers. Store as much salt and sugar for preserving food as you can. They will be like gold in the future.
Howard
I was wondering if you know if I can store Splenda or a sweetner like that, I recently found out I am diabetic and can not use sugar 🙁
My wife has started using stevia and a couple of other non-sugar sweeteners. According to the Splenda website, it will store for many years. Just keep it in a dark location away from humidity. I would recommend storing it in Food Saver bags or in a canning jar — use a jar sealer attachment to remove air/oxygen in the container. If you buy Splenda in the heavy plastic bags, it will probably be fine as is. You might also consider growing stevia. You can dry and steep the leaves in water, like a tea, and have a handy sweetener liquid.