How to Build a Long-Term Food Storage Supply, According to Azure Standard CEO
For founder and third-generation farmer David Stelzer, a well-stocked food pantry is a foundation for a life of abundance. He shared his essential advice.
David Stelzer knows well the importance of a well-stocked pantry. Stelzer is the founder and CEO of Azure Standard, an independent, family-owned distributor of natural, organic, and non-GMO food across America. He’s also a third-generation farmer in the Pacific Northwest. A passion for healthy, sustainable food and self-reliance is in his blood.
In the 1970s, after both Stelzer and his grandfather experienced dramatic health improvements from switching to a whole foods diet, the family farm transitioned from conventional farming practices to organic methods. In the 1980s, the farm’s usual contract fell through, so Stelzer hit the road to sell grain to anyone who would buy it. Before long, this grew into Azure Standard, a business that now offers more than 12,000 health-minded products—including groceries, wellness, household, and garden products—delivered directly from independent growers and food producers, including Azure’s own farm.
Stelzer, a father of 11, emphasizes stocking a pantry with good-for-you food to feed your family well through any emergency crisis. We asked him for his best advice for getting started.
David Stelzer and his son, Zechariah, carry on the family's farming tradition. Cole Gorman
Why Prepare?
The Epoch Times: There are a lot of different approaches to prepping, and different personalities teaching about the subject. What’s different about you and your approach?
David Stelzer: I believe in lifestyle prepping. I’m not saying that you’re waiting for a calamity, but you’re creating a pantry that you can eat out of every day—a good supply of good food at all times, with variety. It’s about storing foods you would normally eat, buying in bulk to help you afford more. Be a little ahead instead of behind.
The Epoch Times: Can you tell us about emergencies that you have been in, and how they went for you and yours?
Mr. Stelzer: I’ve been in two different kinds of emergencies. One was a natural disaster while living in Yakima, Washington, when Mount St. Helens blew—almost three inches of sand fell, getting into cars and destroying the engines. No food was going in or going out for several weeks. We were farmers, so it didn’t affect us because we ate what was stored in the house.
The next disaster came three to four years later, when I experienced a personal disaster. My father ended up in a fight with the IRS. They seized 100 percent of his money and levied wages on what he might earn. There was no possibility of any kind of money coming in. This went on for almost three years. But because we had a better part of a year’s worth of supplies, plus our garden, we didn’t do too bad. We ate pretty normally just out of the pantry that we had in our basement. We had a year’s worth of food we could stretch for the full three years if we had to.
Stelzer's knowledge about prepping and storage comes from personal experience. He's passionate about sharing that knowledge with customers, including in an educational video series on Azure's YouTube channel. Konnor Donovan
The Epoch Times: How did you get interested in preparing for emergencies?
Mr. Stelzer: Very early on, this wasn’t Azure’s focus. We are more about organic and healthy food. It’s about connecting the farmers with the consumers who care about what they eat. However, my first introduction to food storage was in 1988 and ‘89. Y2K was worrying everyone about the power grid going down. There was a huge influx of food storage. We ended up selling loads and loads of grains, beans, and basic food storage items. I learned a lot about people’s buying patterns.
But what gave me more insight was the aftermath. Anyone who bought food in that time frame would have saved a lot of money because food and gas prices went up in 2000 to 2001. However, we started getting calls later from people wanting to sell their 30 to 50 pounds of wheat, because they didn’t even eat wheat. They didn’t know how to use it and assumed they would use it in an emergency. If there was an emergency, they wouldn’t know how to use it. They let it go to waste.
Legumes are an ideal source of protein for any storage pantry. NIKCOA/Shutterstock
Later, we started talking about food storage. Lay aside the things that you do use, like rice, beans, salt, spices, and chile powder—all the things that make it worth eating. Make sure those are stored in your pantry.
The Epoch Times: What kind of emergencies do you foresee the need to be prepared for, given the current state of the world?
Mr. Stelzer: There will always be something that could happen—natural disasters, or short-term things like losing a job or being without power for weeks.
If you’re completely dependent on the power grid, that’s something you don’t want to necessarily be. The power grid is complex, and because of this, it is vulnerable. Power is not that reliable in our rural area. We have a wood stove. You don’t have to have a wood stove, but you could have a propane heater.
In today’s political climate and economy, there is no guarantee that there won’t be individualized economic disrupters. I think the likelihood of a disaster happening is pretty small, but you will be much better off having a pantry filled with food.
Azure Standard has grown from a single truck to a business with multiple warehouses. Cole Gorman
The Epoch Times: What lessons can we learn from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and supply chain slow-downs?
Mr. Stelzer: None of us knew what the government was going to do. But the lesson that we should have come away with was food storage—having what you need instead of heading to stores with empty shelves. It wasn’t just having enough in your house to get you by.
What made the biggest impression on me was how important it is to take care of our health upfront. If our immunities are good, we don’t have to worry about it.
With natural remedies, what are the kinds of things you need to store—not just for a pandemic, but what if you couldn’t go to the hospital? Are you prepared to deal with injuries or illness? Having a healing book on hand is important, with remedies on hand like echinacea, goldenseal, clay, or arnica. Herbs like comfrey and feverfew need to be growing in your backyard.
Food Storage Basics
The Epoch Times: How much food and water should people store?
Mr. Stelzer: I recommend one year of food, but two months is an easy economic target that would take care of 95 percent of situations. You don’t need to spend money on the fancy stuff, just the things you eat at your house.
Honey is great for long-term storage because it never expires or spoils. Mariyana M/Shutterstock
Buy things you will eat, and make sure it is real, healthy food. You don’t want garbage food that will make you sick.
Make sure you have a balanced diet—some kind of greens, oils and fats, protein, and carbs for energy. If you can’t can your meat, have a good supply of protein like legumes—beans and peas. Honey will last without rotation.
Water is tailored to where you’re located. We don’t store water because we have a spring about a mile away, which we could access at any time. But if you’re in the floodplain where water could get contaminated, you will need to store water or get a good water filter. My recommendation is Berkey for water purification. It will take care of some pretty dirty stuff and will take out chemicals, including fluoride and chlorine.
The Epoch Times: What long-term storage foods do Azure customers most often stock up on?
Mr. Stelzer: Grains and beans are what people tend to go for most because of the economic and nutritional value. We sold out of Himalayan salt, oats, honey, and fats like olive oil and coconut oil.
A well-stocked pantry should include a variety of items for balanced nutrition, including carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and vitamins. Fevziie/Shutterstock
The Epoch Times: What essential storage equipment do you have and recommend?
Mr. Stelzer: We have a combination of five-gallon buckets and two-gallon buckets that we use to store food. Black beans, rice, flour, and grains go in our five-gallon pails with gamma lids. We use mylar bags sometimes, but we use the buckets and jars mostly.
The Epoch Times: What are the most common mistakes people make when building up an emergency food supply?
Mr. Stelzer: Improper storage of food, allowing water and insects to damage the goods. Keep everything cool and dry. Ideally, seal the food.
Some people will freeze grains before storing them to make sure there are no insect eggs. The eggs are airborne. If it’s warm and humid, beetles or mealy moths could hatch, so freeze it fast. It has to be below zero for seven days to kill insect eggs. None of the foodborne insects are toxic. It’s not a big deal; it’s more psychological than anything. It doesn’t feel good at all to open up your bucket to find it full of eggs and moths.
Vacuum packing will increase shelf life, especially on things that don’t keep as well, like raisins.
The Epoch Times: What are your best tips for someone prepping on a budget?
Mr. Stelzer: Do one thing at a time. You don’t have to buy everything all at once. Buy a 25-pound bag of beans; next month, buy 25 pounds of rice. Spend an extra $20 to $30 per month. The cool part is it all pays back in dividends because you’ll have the rice you paid less for and start using it. Do one to two things this month and one to two things next month.
The Epoch Times: Do you have any specific preparedness tips for people living in urban areas?
Mr. Stelzer: The only difference with urban areas, versus rural, is that you have less of a chance to get straight to the garden. You might need more herbs, spices, and greens, even if they are dried.
Never take for granted the value of sprouting, especially in an urban area. You can do this in a couple of ways:
Grow in a tray or canning jar by soaking them and then adding a screen. You’re good to go. You’ll have sprouts in five days.
Grow seeds like sunflowers, peas, and wheatgrass in little trays of organic potting soil. One of my favorites is buckwheat. Plant it thick in the soil in the tray and let it come up one inch tall. It makes the most beautiful salad greens. We try to get two crops out of the soil and then compost the soil after the harvest.
Sprouting microgreens is an easy way for urban dwellers to keep a fresh supply of greens. udenko Alla/Shuttesrstock
Community and Mindset
The Epoch Times: What is your advice for readers with family or other loved ones who are not open to preparing for emergencies?
Mr. Stelzer: Don’t go too hardcore; don’t tell them it’s the end of the world. Tell them that they should save money by starting a pantry. You’re eating better and saving money. That’s a great way to get in the door. It’s not about storing due to disaster; it’s about storing for better health and lifestyle.
The Epoch Times: What’s the best mindset to have as we prepare for emergencies?
Mr. Stelzer: We are in a world of plenty, and we’re thriving. We really do live in a world of abundance. Our great-grandparents would be blown away by what we have today. If we come into that mindset of thriving more, thriving better, it’s about doing great and doing a little bit better.
The Epoch Times: How do you maintain morale when an emergency strikes, both for yourself and your loved ones?
Mr. Stelzer: With the emergencies I’ve experienced, morale wasn’t that much of a problem. With the natural disaster, it was about everyone working together. In the economic disaster, it was about faith and community and having support.
My advice is to make relationships that matter. Have friends, have a church community, and have faith that there is a purpose in something bigger than ourselves to handle anything that we experience physically or emotionally. There is no reason not to have an abundant mindset, instead of a scarcity mindset. If we have a mindset of abundance, we will never live a life of scarcity, because we take appropriate actions.
