Toward Food Self-Sufficiency

[Luigi]

Freax,
Those are some nice kerosene stoves. I have one from butterfly. It is nice to have a pressure stove that can fit in a backpack. I cannot find the silent burners. Where did you find them?

[cockpitbob]

OK, now you're talking my language.  Coffee is my drug of choice.  I tried going caffeine free for 6 months once and nearly got fired.  I would sit at my desk and feel like I was working all morning, but by lunch I would review what I had accomplished and find the list pretty short.  I had a great uncle who was a cowboy in Oregon about 90 years ago.  The things the chuck wagon always had in large sacks was beans, flour and coffee.  The cook made sure there was hot coffee available whenever there was a fire.

We buy beans from Dunkin and I don't think they have a shelf life that's long enough.  Anyone know the shelf life of those vacuum packed bricks?

[Quietguy]

Anyone know the shelf life of those vacuum packed bricks?

You might consider roasting your own.  I have been doing this for a few years now, and it's hard to go back to store bought coffee.  "They" used to say frozen green (unroasted) beans last forever, but now some experts are saying that isn't really true.  Some people say that degradation sets in but I don't know if it is quantifiable.  Plus, they are usually talking about high end coffee, not campfire swill like we would be grateful for in a nasty situation.

I buy fresh from Sweet Maria's at http://www.sweetmarias.com
but MREDepot has canned green beans they claim has a long shelf life:
http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/the-881/coffee-beans/Detail

My roasting (a medium roast) results in a bean weight loss of about 13%, so MRE Depot's 19 ounce can of green beans should yield about 1 pound of roasted beans unless you go to a very dark roast... so about $12 per pound of finished product, which doesn't strike me as too bad.  Although, I don't know how good their beans are.  He is currently selling a Central American bean but the case I have put away is from Brazil, I think.  But the Central/South American coffees are generally in line with my tastes.

Why, no, I'm not a coffee snob... why do you ask?

Wally