How much? Moving on to food prep.

[Guest NYCrulesU]

With most of my 3 month water supply questions thoroughly answered, and nearly 3 months of water purchased, I'd like to move on to:

3 months of food supplies. Speaking almost exclusively of store bought foods. No MREs or Mointain House freeze dried foods.

*My final numbers will reflect a family of four (2 adults, 2 children).

I'll be looking into and asking input for:

- Which foods to buy

- How much of each item to buy

- Total dollar amount

- Expiration dates (Which items last longer than labeled)

- Condiments/spices

- Proper inexpensive storage

And any other related sub topic.

I'll start with rice. A staple in a "SHTF/WROL" scenerio.

You could survive on rice for dinner (mixed with meat, beans etc) every night for 90 days. You may not want to or have to, but you could. Of course you would be taking dietary suppliments and vitamins as well.....

If I figure correctly....

2 cups of dry rice can feed a family of four for 1 dinner. There are 40 cups of rice in a 20 lb bag.

At a maximum (overlill?) of 4 cups per day/family of four (lunch & dinner) for 3 months = 360 cups of dry rice = (9) 20 lb bags of rice.

I would round it up to (10) 20 lb bags to be on the safe side.

Now, we all know you would not be eating rice twice a day for 90 days straight. So this amount of rice could last a family of four anywhere from 3-6 months depending on other supplies/sources of food and rationing.

I would then focus on storage. I've seen the "20lbs of rice in a mylar bag" videos on youtube. I don't agree and son't like storing large quantities together like that. It forces a timetable on consumption.

I prefer individual packaging of 2 cup servings. Using food grade 5 gl buckets and making aome all rice, some buckets rice/beans/spices/snacks (balnaced meals).

My question on rice storage is...

Would putting 2 cups in a ziplock, sealing and then duck taping the bag (like a brick of heroine in the movies lol ) be enough to keep it fresh for up to 6 months...a year?

What other inexpensive methods would you take to store rice? That doesn't include mylar bags and oxygen packets?

[Dolomite_supafly]

With most of my 3 month water supply questions thoroughly answered, and nearly 3 months of water purchased, I'd like to move on to:

3 months of food supplies. Speaking almost exclusively of store bought foods. No MREs or Mointain House freeze dried foods.

*My final numbers will reflect a family of four (2 adults, 2 children).

I'll be looking into and asking input for:

- Which foods to buy

- How much of each item to buy

- Total dollar amount

- Expiration dates (Which items last longer than labeled) As long as a dry item isn't opened it will not go bad. Now it may not taste as good as when fresh but it is still edible.

- Condiments/spices

- Proper inexpensive storage I went to a bakery and asked for buckets. They will give away food safe buckets with o-ring seals. That is where I got my buckets from.

And any other related sub topic.

I'll start with rice. A staple in a "SHTF/WROL" scenerio.

You could survive on rice for dinner (mixed with meat, beans etc) every night for 90 days. You may not want to or have to, but you could. Of course you would be taking dietary suppliments and vitamins as well.....

If I figure correctly....

2 cups of dry rice can feed a family of four for 1 dinner. There are 40 cups of rice in a 20 lb bag.

At a maximum (overlill?) of 4 cups per day/family of four (lunch & dinner) for 3 months = 360 cups of dry rice = (9) 20 lb bags of rice.

I would round it up to (10) 20 lb bags to be on the safe side.

Now, we all know you would not be eating rice twice a day for 90 days straight. So this amount of rice could last a family of four anywhere from 3-6 months depending on other supplies/sources of food and rationing.

I would then focus on storage. I've seen the "20lbs of rice in a mylar bag" videos on youtube. I don't agree and son't like storing large quantities together like that. It forces a timetable on consumption.

I prefer individual packaging of 2 cup servings. Using food grade 5 gl buckets and making aome all rice, some buckets rice/beans/spices/snacks (balnaced meals).

My question on rice storage is...

Would putting 2 cups in a ziplock, sealing and then duck taping the bag (like a brick of heroine in the movies lol ) be enough to keep it fresh for up to 6 months...a year? Rice will last 6 months without any special preservation. Make sure it is in a coold dry palce. I say pour the rice in a food safe bucket then keep it sealed. Open it up and take what you need for the day then reseal it.

What other inexpensive methods would you take to store rice? That doesn't include mylar bags and oxygen packets? Dry ice, add a cube to a bucket of rice and let it sit overnight before sealing. Co2 is heavier than air so it will push all the air out leaving only Co2. The Co2 will keep the rice fresher and kill any pests inside.

Why only 3 months?

People need to realize that they need more than 3 months of food. Imgaine if today the world ended as we know it, I mean really ended. We cannot plant food crops until spring and they will not be ready until late summer which is 8 months away. And even if we plan on foraging for food nothing will be edible for at least 4 more months. And foraging alone isn't going to provide enough for a family. And 3 months of food is only going to extend the inevitable starvation. Any food in stores will be taken almost immediately by looters and thugs.

Do you have a well? if so there is a cheap and easy way to have all the water you could ever need.

Sand filters are easy and cheap to build and can turn bad water into useable water.

I bought a bunch of rice form Walmart. It is like $6 for 20 pound bags and for enough for two people for 6 months is probably less than $75. I have had one bucket of rice in Co2 for over a year to test viability. I plan on opening it up in the next few months when I run out of my current open container. The bags have survived a year without any issues either. For protein I have 10-15 pounds of beans as well as plan on taking game locally. The first sign of SHTF and I am dropping the deer that hang out in my front yard and begin making jerky.

Security is also another big concern because LE will not be concerned with anything but their own families, which is how it should be. So roaming bands of thugs are going to emerge almost over night. And it is these thugs that are going to prey upon those people/families who leave their current location for a better one. Also, I wonder where those planning to bug out are planning to go where everyone else isn't aleady going? This mass exodus is only going to make for easy pickings for the thugs. Every member of your group should be armed with some type of firearm. It is the one equalizer that prevents people from becoming victims or at least levels the playing field.

The biggest thing to survival is never give up hope and always think. Think about how to improve things like your living conditions and your security. Have a backup for everything you need to survive. Also, I believe those people who are tinkerers are going to make it longer than anyone else because they tend to see things differently than the rest of us. They can use normal everyday objects is ways we never envisioned to help improve their lives.

Dolomite

[Westwindmike]

Here is a link to a LDS food storage calculator.

Food Storage Calculator

If you look on their site, you will find recommendations for methods of storage also. The LDS Church has been preaching food and water storage for over 100 years. They pretty well have it figured out.

Here is another version of the calculator that goes into much more depth.

http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm

Edited February 2, 2012 by Westwindmike
Link added

[Guest NYCrulesU]

Thank you for both of your responses, very helpful.

As far as why only 3 months? It's just an initial goal I've set...once reached it could expand further.

[Timestepper]

Just make sure that whatever you stock up on will be something you and your family will willingly consume - I once carried 5 pounds of rice on an extended backpacking trip in the Rockies and still had 4 1/2 pounds left when I left the mountains after a month because I found out that I don't much care for rice (and I'm a forager - I was eating things like roots & rose hips & fish head soup and making tea from pine needles and doing other stuff that'd make a buzzard puke, but I just couldn't get hungry enough to make rice taste good).

...TS...

[hkgonra]

If I was starting over again from scratch on food I think I would put back at least 1 starter pack per person per month for everyone in my house until I got at least a year. It isn't everything but it is a great start and covers the basics.

Starter Kit - LDS Online Store

[peejman]

One thing I learned from this thread (http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/survival-preparedness/66734-free-survival-manual.html) is variety. Particularly with kids, eating the same thing over and over will get old real fast.