Tactical Intelligence » Food Storage

Fight Food Fatigue: 20 Oft-Forgotten Items in Your Long Term Food Storage

Tactical Intelligence — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:41:08 +0000

One of the major mistakes people make with regards to food storage is buying a huge amount of one or two staples (ie rice and beans or wheat and powdered milk) and nothing else. While there’s no problem with storing thousands of pounds of wheat, if that’s all you have you are going to suffer from a serious case of appetite fatigue in a short time.

Appetite or food fatigue in simple term can be described as a phenomenon whereby eating the same foods over and over cause you to become disinterested in eating. In the best of cases it will cause minor malnutrition but in severe cases it can lead to starvation – despite being hungry.

Though this may sound ridiculous it is a very real phenomenon, especially during times of stress (something that a SHTF situation would probably promote), and young children and older people are particularly susceptible to it.

If your family’s nutritional security is as important to you as it is to mine, appetite fatigue is a real threat that you’ll want to plan and prevent. Given that, here is a list of 20 oft-forgotten food items that will help to expand the culinary possibilities of your existing bulk food storage and fight food fatigue:

Baking Powder
Baking Soda
Corn Starch
Cream of Tarter
Cooking Oils
Instant Dry Yeast
Ketchup
Mustard
Pectin
Plain Gelatin
Powdered Eggs
Rennin Tablets (for cheese making)
Salt
Shortening
Spices
Sugar
Vanilla Extract
Vinegar
Vitamins and other Supplements
Wheat Gluten Flour

Don’t Forget to Practice

Like a mantra I’m sure you’ve heard the advice, “store what you eat, and eat what you store”. If you plan on using your bulk storage with some of the items above in a long-term emergency be sure you have practiced a number of different recipes to ensure you know what your family will eat (especially if you have young kids). At the least, have a number of good cooking books that call for simple ingredients that you can easily store.

Food Storage Calculators

Tactical Intelligence — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 04:14:35 +0000

Just wanted to quickly let you know that I created a new menu item called “Food Storage Calculators” that puts the two calculators I had created together in one convenient spot.

I’ve already received a number of good recommendation on improving them and will be implementing these changes soon. Like I mentioned before, these calculators are a work-in-progress so if you have any ideas or suggestions on how to make them better please leave a comment or send me a mail via the Contact link.

Thanks!

- Erich

Space and Storage Calculator for Long-Term Food Storage

Tactical Intelligence — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 05:27:27 +0000

I know that those of you who are just beginning to put together your long-term food storage are often overwhelmed with not only how much bulk food to purchase but also how many 5-gallon buckets you'll need as well as how much space you'll require to store those buckets.

Since I had a little time today, I decided to code up a quick calculator for those of you who are beginning with this process.

Many of you have seen the previous calculator I put together which figures out the suggested long-term storage needs based on the amount of weeks and number of people that you want to store away for.

After you arrive at that number, this next calculator will tell you how many 5-gallon buckets you'll need to purchase in order to store all that food, as well as the amount of floor space (in square footage) you'll need based on how high you want to stack your buckets.

Please let me know if you have any recommendations on improving this calculator as it is a work-in-progress.

Input Data
Enter how many buckets high you are willing to have for each stack (the recommended number is 4-5):
Enter the amount of food you need to store (in pounds)
Wheat:
Beans:
Rice:
Dried Milk:
Flour:
Sugar:
Oats:
Macaroni:


Estimated Storage Requirements
Total number of 5-gallon buckets needed:
Total square feet of floor space needed:

How to Dehydrate Foods without a Dehydrator

Tactical Intelligence — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 04:05:25 +0000

Dehydrating foods is one of the oldest long-term food preservation methods known to man. If you think about it, it must have been exciting for early man to discover that small pieces of raw meat, fruit, and vegetables -- when left outside in the sun or wind -- did not go bad but were actually preserved for quite a long time and retained much of it's original flavor. Since those early beginnings, technology may have changed how we dry foods but the principles behind process has not. In this article I want to share some methods of dehydrating foods that don't require the need of a store-bought dehydrator.

Alternate Dehydrating Methods

Most everything that we eat contains some amount of moisture; and it is this moisture that causes food to go bad. Dehydrating is nothing more than removing water from food which inhibits decay and the growth of microorganisms. If you can remove the moisture from foods than you can extend their storage life way beyond their normal shelf life. Here are some methods that you can use which don't require the use of a dehydrator. These obviously aren't the only methods (they are just the ways I like to do it).

The Sun

Place food on or between two screens (window screens work just fine) and place outside on a sunny day. It does not have to be necessarily warm outside (you can do this in the winter). Just be sure that it is not wet outside as this will defeat the purpose of drying.

An Oven

I would not recommend this method of drying if you have an electric oven (it's too expensive). Here's the process: Set your oven temperature to very low (140 degrees F) and leave the fruit or vegetables in the oven until completely dry and nearly crisp (between 4 and 12 hours). It may be necessary to turn the cookie sheet(s) around in ovens with uneven heat distribution.

Fire Drying

This method is best used for drying meats. Basically you'll want to hang strips of meat on a rack and place these in front of a fire. Vegetables and fruits can be placed on the ground near the fire, however be sure that you are protecting the food from nearby critters.

Wind Drying

Form a bag out of some netting (or use an existing netted bag) and place the food inside it. This is then hung from a clothes line or tree branch outside. This method also works inside the house in front of a fan.

A Word of Caution about Home-made Jerky

Even though I've been making jerky outside for many years now without issue, I need to caution you that the USDA does not recommend drying meats at home. Given that in a survival/major-collapse type of situation, normal medical facilities may not be available, food-borne illnesses like Salmonella are a very real issue and it may be a good idea to follow their recommendations. This warning also applies to many store-bought dehydrators. Since many of these can only heat up to 140 °F, it will not reach a high-enough temperature to kill the microorganisms. Here are the current recommendations per the usda.gov:

[The USDA's] current recommendation for making jerky safely is to heat meat to 160 °F and poultry to 165 °F before the dehydrating process. This step assures that any bacteria present will be destroyed by wet heat. But most dehydrator instructions do not include this step, and a dehydrator may not reach temperatures high enough to heat meat to 160 °F. After heating, maintaining a constant dehydrator temperature of 130 to 140 °F during the drying process is important because:

the process must be fast enough to dry food before it spoils; and

it must remove enough water that microorganisms are unable to grow

Dryness Test Guidelines

Here are some guidelines on how to know if your dehydrated food is sufficiently dry. Source: BackWoodsHome.com

GUIDELINES FOR FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
Food	Preparation	Dryness test
Apples, pears, peaches	Wash, core, and peel. Cut into 1/4" slices or rings	Leathery with no moisture when cut
Apricots, plums	Wash, halve and pit. "Pop" backs.	Leathery and pliable No moisture when cut
Bananas, rhubarb	Peel, slice in thin rounds	Brittle
Berries	Sort, wash, and remove stems.	Brittle and hard
Cherries, grapes	Sort and wash. Pit cherries.	Slightly sticky, like raisins
Asparagus tips	Wash, blanch 3 minutes.	Leathery to brittle
Beans, cabbage, peppers	Wash, chop into small pieces. Blanch 4 minutes	Brittle
Broccoli, cauliflower	Wash, trim, and chop. Blanch 3 minutes.	Brittle
Carrots	Wash, cut into slices. Blanch 3 minutes.	Dry and brittle
Corn	Husk, trim, cut off cob.	Dry and brittle
Mushrooms	Wash, sort, and slice 1/4" thick.	Dry and brittle
Onions	Remove outer skin, then chop.	Brittle
Peas	Shell and sort. Blanch 3 min.	Brittle
Squash, zucchini	Wash, peel, remove seeds. Blanch 2 minutes.	Leathery and tough
Tomatoes	Scald, chill, and peel. Slice into quarters.	Leathery and tough

Food Storage Experiment: German Pancakes

Tactical Intelligence — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 10:49:59 +0000

This morning I decided to try out one of my favorite breakfast dishes, but instead of using the standard ingredients, I wanted to try using only items that I have in my bulk/long-term food storage. What I experimented with was German Pancakes and here's a picture of how they turned out: I thought they looked and tasted great. The only difference between these and the standard German Pancakes (using fresh ingredients) was that the standard ones tend to be a bit more fluffier and lighter. Despite that, I thought these were pretty good considering they are made from food storage. Here's the recipe I used:

How to Make German Pancakes from Food Storage

Ingredients

3/4 cup of powdered eggs 1 1/2 cups of water 1 cup of milk (made from powdered milk) 1 cup of flour (optional) 4 tablespoons butter powder mixed w/ 2 tablespoons of water

Directions

Place an all metal pan that is around 9" (can be square or circular) in an oven and preheat it to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl mix the powdered eggs, water, milk, and flour until it reaches a smooth consistency. If you use the butter, pour mixed butter into preheated pan and immediately pour batter mixture on top. Cook for around 20 minutes or until the pancake is puffy and the edges are a nice golden brown. Enjoy with syrups, fruit jellies, or powdered sugar.

Bulk Food on the Cheap: LDS Storehouses

Tactical Intelligence — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 08:26:54 +0000

One of my readers had sent me an email last week wanting to know where to find the storehouses run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (or the Mormon church as we're sometimes called) in order to buy bulk food for long-term food storage. I thought I'd answer this question in a blog post so that all can benefit from it. I'll also provide some insight into what they are, what you can find there, and of course where you can find them.

What is an LDS Storehouse?

For those not familiar with the storehouses, I thought I'd explain what they are and what their purpose is. The LDS storehouses (or Bishop's Storehouse as we call them) were established as part of the welfare system set up by the Church which aims at providing assistance to needy families and individuals within (as well as outside) the Church. The main purpose of the welfare program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to not only care for the needy but to teach principles that will allow needy persons to become self-reliant and retain their self-respect (it's the whole "teach a man to fish" kind of thing which is missing in our nation's welfare program). Welfare recipients are not only given education and job placement assistance, but they are also asked to work (if able) on Church farms, in the Church storehouses and so on. This helps them retain a sense of self-worth and prevents an entitlement program. Funding for the welfare program (which includes the storehouses) is provided by donations from Church members. One Sunday a month, members of the Church go without two meals (a fast) and give the money they would have spent on food to the Church.

What Can You Find at the Storehouse?

The storehouses themselves consist mostly of food items -- some being your basic groceries that needy families can come and "shop" from as well as a large portion of bulk foods (typically 25lb bags) such as wheat, rice, legumes, oats, dry milk, dehydrated vegetables and so on. Most of these bulk food items are grown by Church-owned farms that are run by volunteers. These are then processed and sent to distribution centers (storehouses) across the country to be distributed to families in need. The other purpose of the storehouse is to help Church members obtain a year's supply of food. To assist with that, within most of the storehouses is an area called the "cannery" where church members can dry-pack the bulk food they purchase. The facilities are usually equipped with #10 metal-can and mylar-bag sealers (or you can just leave with the bulk packaging if you want). The prices of these bulk foods tend to be very cheap since the storehouses, farms, and canneries are all operated by volunteers, and the church doesn't make a profit from them. To give you an example, a 25lb bag of hard-red wheat goes for around $6 at the storehouse whereas the typical online price for the same amount goes for around $20. Here's the current list of available bulk foods at the storehouse and prices in dollars as of today (for an always up-to-date list of prices you can click here):

Where Can I Find an LDS Storehouse?

LDS storehouses can be found throughout the world. Click on the map below to take you to the Church site which has the most up-to-date list of available storehouses near you:

Can Non-Members Purchase from the Storehouse?

One common question I hear is if non-members can buy bulk food from the storehouses. Although there is no set rule (it's probably storehouse dependent), of all the storehouses I've been in the United States, they have all allowed non-members to purchase bulk foods. The only restriction I've heard is that some storehouses allow it as long as you're accompanied by a member. The best thing to do is to call the number of the storehouse near you. They'll be more than happy to answer any questions you have (we don't bite...hard that is ).

How to Make Cheese from Powdered Milk

Tactical Intelligence — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 03:46:37 +0000

Here's another recipe I wanted to test out that puts to use the buckets of powdered milk I have stored. Remember if you are constantly rotating your stored food (especially the 3-month food supply) not only will you greatly reduce the chance of anything going bad, but you'll actually be learning to use your bulk-stored food and eating what you store -- some of the most important rules in food storage. To make cheese from powdered milk is an easy process (unexpected since I never had any experience making cheese before this). Here's how it works:

What You'll Need

Powdered Milk
Water
Cooking Pot
White Vinegar or Lemon Juice
Cheesecloth or Clean Cotton T-Shirt

How to Make Cheese from Powdered Milk

I used a small amount of ingredients so I could test it out first before using the full recipe. The full recipe calls for:

3 cups powdered milk
6 cups water
1/2 cup plain white vinegar

In my instructions I quartered this recipe as follows:

	Step 1: Mix together 3/4 cups of powdered milk with 1 1/2 cups of cold water in a cooking pot. Stir until dissolved.
	Step 2: Stir milk over a medium-low to medium temperature until it becomes hot to the touch but not scalding (this should be around 140º if you've got a cooking thermometer)
	Step 3: Maintaining the same temperature, stir in 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice. You should immediately begin to see the curds separating from the whey.
	Step 4: Continue cooking to allow the curds to separate from the whey. After a few minutes there should be large globs (if that's a real word ) of curds in an amber pool of whey. If it's still too milky, add another tablespoon of vinegar, stir and cook it on medium to medium-low heat until the curds completely separate from the whey.
	Step 5: Pour the curds and whey into a colander lined with a clean cloth, cotton t-shirt or cheesecloth to drain off the whey (this sweet liquid can be used in the place of water in other baking recipes so drain it into a bowl if desired).
	Step 6: Taking the cloth or cheesecloth (a t-shirt in my example) squeeze the curds to press out any remaining whey.
	Step 7: Rinse the curds -- which is essentially ~~ricotta cheese~~ (I've been informed that this is more a paneer style cheese and not ricotta. Ricotta is made by further processing the poured-off whey. For more instructions into this, check out the links in some of the comments below) at this point -- under cool water and eat fresh or store in the fridge.

Conclusion

What you should be left with is about the same amount of curds as you measured out in powdered milk. Since I used 3/4 cup of powdered milk in the above recipe, it resulted in about 3/4 cup of curds -- so plan your recipes accordingly. I was really excited when learning this, since I love lasagna. Pasta as well as tomato sauce -- in the form of canned tomatoes (or powdered tomatoes) -- stores very well, but fresh cheese doesn't. Now that I know how to make fresh cheese easily from my stored powdered milk, even lasagna can be enjoyed during the end of the world.

How to Make Powdered Eggs

Tactical Intelligence — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:28:55 +0000

The incredible edible powdered egg. Despite the at-times negative media attention (we all know how reliable the main-stream media is nowadays) eggs are a very nutritious source of food that is one of the cornerstones in baking. With it's low-cost but high-quality source of protein, if it weren't for its short shelf life and fragility, it would be a great addition to your survival store if only you could store it. Well, unbeknownst to many people, eggs can in fact be stored (up to 10 years if stored correctly) in the form of dehydrated egg powder -- perfect for bug-out bags, camping trips and long-term food storage. They can be used in baked goods just like normal eggs or reconstituted and made into fluffy scrambled eggs. Here's how you can do it at home:

What You'll Need

A food dehydrator (I use a cheap Walmart version)
Eggs
Something to store the powder in when complete

How to Make Powdered Eggs

The process for making powdered eggs is fairly simple. However there are two ways (one which creates a far superior product but more on that later), let me explain the process for both: (In these examples, I used a half-dozen eggs for the cook-dry method and another half-dozen eggs for the wet-dry method)

The Cook-Dry Method

	Step 1: Whip up a half-dozen eggs using a blender (for a more complete mixture). And then then in a non-stick frying pan, cook the egg solution like you would when making scrambled eggs.
	Step 2: Place cooked eggs onto a drying rack in your dehydrator and set the temperature to about 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
	Step 3: Let dry for around 4 hours until completely brittle throughout.
	Step 4: Chop dried chunks in a blender or food processor (or coffee grinder) until it has a fine powdery constancy. Bag it and store it away.

The Wet-Dry Method

	Step 1: Lightly grease a fruit roll sheet (it comes with the dehydrator) with a paper towel.
	Step 2: Whip up a half-dozen eggs using a blender (not necessary but it does make for a a more uniform mixture). Pour the egg slurry into the fruit-roll sheet and set the temperature to about 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
	Step 3: Let dry for around 16 hours until completely brittle throughout.
	Step 4: Place dried chunks in a blender or food processor (or coffee grinder) until it has a fine powdery constancy. Bag it and store it away.

Here's a picture showing the final result of both the wet-dry and cooked-dry method of dehydrating. Each half-dozen eggs dehydrated produced almost exactly a half a cup of powder. You can also see how the wet dry method produces an orange powder (this color turns back to yellow when reconstituted and cooked).:

My Results

When comparing the two methods there is most definitely a clear winner -- the wet dry method. This is surprising since most of the information found online and in books explains that you should use the cook-dry method. Their main reasoning is that by cooking them it will kill any potential salmonella bacteria. I find this point irrelevant since after reconstituting them you will be cooking with them anyways (as you would with the original eggs) which will kill the salmonella. The only advantage I found with the cook-dry method is the quickness of the drying time (four hours compared to 16 with the wet-dry method). Beyond that, when reconstituting the cook-dried eggs and cooking them like scrambled eggs, they have a grainy texture, and they taste dry and stale. They also do not fluff up like normal eggs when cooked in a pan. I assume this lack of "rising" would not work to well in baked goods that require this "leavening" property. The wet-dry method produces a much better product. Although the powder turns initially orange, when reconstituted and cooked like scrambled eggs, the orange turns to yellow and they taste, look, and feel just like non-dehydrated egss. They also maintain the "leavening" property and fluff up which is important for baking. Here's a picture of the two in powder form with their resultant reconstituted and cooked product:

How to Use Powdered Eggs

Uses of Powdered Eggs

Powdered eggs can be used in the same exact manner as regular eggs. The only thing you'll not be able to do is create things like poached eggs, or sunny-side-up eggs etc. But for all other needs like baking, french toast, scrambled eggs and so on, you'll have the same results -- but in a much more compact and storage-friendly form.

How to Reconstitute Powdered Eggs

Reconstituting powdered eggs is a simple process. To make the equivalent of one average sized egg mix 1 heaping tablespoon of egg powder together with 2 tablespoons of water. Stir it up, let it sit for 5 min and use as you would normal eggs.

Conclusion

After trying out this process, I'm not sure if it's entirely worth it to spend 16 hours to make a dozen powdered eggs. I assume if I had a better dehydrator with more than two fruit-roll sheets it would be an easier process, but given what I got it would take 120 hours to fill a #10 can (it fits about 7 1/2 dozen eggs) if I used the wet-dry method (the cooked dry egg taste so bad I wouldn't even consider it). Also, since you can purchase really cheap powdered eggs online, equivalent to what you would pay for fresh eggs in the store, makes it even less appealing. For example, from HoneyVilleGrain.com (where I get my powdered eggs from) you can purchase a six-pack case of #10 cans of powdered eggs for $89.99. This is equivalent to 45 dozen eggs (each can fits about 7.5 dozen eggs) - enough for a year's supply for a small family. At $89.99 that's around $2 a dozen. Not too bad. Where this whole process would definitely be worth it is if you had chickens that produced more eggs than you typically consume. This would help to store up a good amount of eggs when the chickens go through their down phase.

Food Storage Basics: The Gamma Seal Lid

Tactical Intelligence — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 06:57:07 +0000

If you've read any of my other articles on food storage, then you'll know that I always stress the importance of rotating and using your food storage now -- this includes your long-term bulk-food items such as sugar, dried milk, wheat, flour, grains and legumes. Not only does this force you to figure out how best to use these items, it also gets you and your family used to eating what you one day may need to rely upon. The problem with bulk foods is that most people tend to store them in large, air-tight 5-gallon buckets (as I do), and once you peel back the seal strip and open the bucket, the seal breaks and forever loses it's air-tight sealing properties. This obviously doesn't lend itself well to reuse. And since you're most likely not living exclusively off of your long-term food storage, it will take a bit of time to go through say a 5 gallon bucket of wheat or dried milk -- increasing the potential of it spoiling or getting infested before it's used up. Up until recently, when I opened a bucket, I would transfer my bulk food from it to smaller individual mylar bags. This was before I found out about Gamma Lids. Gamma Lids converts any food-grade 5 gallon bucket to a reusable, and resealable airtight and leakproof food-storage container. Check out this video to see just how easy it is:

The Importance of Having a Survival Seed Bank

Tactical Intelligence — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 06:21:21 +0000

Along with storing food, storing garden seeds should be of primary importance for any well-prepared individual or family. There are many indications that there is a major food shortage right now and that it will continue to grow worse in the coming years (see here and here for some good explanations into this crisis). Given the right conditions, it could get bad enough that food becomes more valuable than gold or silver. In times like these, having a backup of seeds that can be planted as a "crisis garden" to supplement or support the needs of your family will be worth more than its weight in gold.

What Types of Seeds Should I Store?

The most important types of seed you'll want to store are seeds that consistently put out the same type of plant/fruit generation after generation. In other words, if you were to plant the seeds of the parent then the fruit/vegetable that is produced by those seeds would maintain the characteristics of the parent plant. For the beginning gardener this includes purchasing open-pollinated seeds instead of the typical hybrid seeds found in your garden center. As a general rule (there are exceptions), hybrid seeds are first-generation seeds and if you were to use the seeds produced by one of these plants they will be sterile or more likely fail to breed - not a good option if next year's crop is dependent upon the seeds produced by this year's. This also requires a yearly visit to the garden center -- a dependency that's great for the seed dealers but not so great for the survivalist. Heirloom seeds are a type of open-pollinated seed that have been conserved by repeatedly growing them out again and again over the years. These are perfect for seed storage.

Where Can I Buy Them?

With all the seed sellers out there here are the companies where I recommend you purchase your open-pollinated and heirloom seeds. I've broken them down based upon the climate where the seeds are produced and tested. This will ensure the greatest success of germination and production in your area. (Be sure to order the open-pollinated or heirloom seeds as these companies also sell hybrids). Short Season Climates (northern U.S. and Canada)

Moderate Climates (middle-American states)

Maritime Climates (Cascadia)

Territorial Seeds

Other Sellers These companies I'm not sure where they are best grown but I've heard good reviews nonetheless (both deal exclusively in non-hybrid open-pollinated seeds):

How Do I Store Them?

Now that you've grown your open-pollinated seeds and have fruits and vegetables that are producing their own seeds, you'll now want to be able to store those seeds for the next year. If seeds are stored properly, they can last for years (10+ or more). The three big killers when it comes to seed storage are temperature, moisture, and oxygen with the most important being temperature and moisture. For the ideal temperature, store them in an area that is 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below (refrigerator or freezer) and to combat moisture, the best process is to dry them to 8 percent moisture or less by drying them at 100 degrees F for six hours. You can do this by drying your seeds in the sun, with a food dehydrator, or by using a conventional oven (never use a microwave oven):

Sun Drying: Spread the seed out in the sunlight and try to obtain 100 degree temperature for 6 hours. Longer times are expected if the temperature is less.
Food dehydrator: Set the dehydrator to 100 degrees F. Dry for six hours.
Conventional oven:Keep the oven door open several inches, and make sure the seed is not heated to more than 100 degrees for 6 hours.

Seed Moisture Tests: Here are 2 methods that are a easy way to tell if the seeds have been dried to a proper moisture level of around 8 percent or less:

Longer seeds should snap smartly and cleanly in half when bent.
Wheat, beans, peas, corn and other large seeds should shatter and turn to powder when hit with the head of a hammer.

Once your seeds are dry, you'll want to place them in an airtight moisture-proof storage containers. Be sure to mark the containers with the seed names and date of packaging, then store them in a cool dark place (again a refrigerator or freezer are ideal for this purpose).

All-In One Solutions

If you would rather have an all-in-one solution that takes the guess-work out of choosing what types of vegetables and fruit seed to buy, dries and stores them to last for years and packs them in a container that can be stored for years then I would check out the following resources:

Survival Seed Bank: They also provide a book that describes in detail how to plant your seeds, cultivate them as well as how to gather and store your seeds for the next growing season.
Heirloom Organics: These guys provide multiple "seed packs" based on the size of your family and needs.

Resources

http://www.icrisat.org/Journal/volume5/Groundnut/gn4.pdf
http://www.savingourseed.org/pdf/SeedProcessingandStorageVer_1pt3.pdf - In depth look into the process of saving your own seeds.
Garden Web Seed Saving Forums - This forum/thread has some good dialogue on the process behind saving your own seeds.