Food Storage Calculator
 

The following calculator will help you figure the minimum food storage amounts needed for your family. These amounts are based on the recommendations listed in the LDS Church's Home Production and Storage manual. These figures are recommendations, and are basic year supply minimums only. You will need to choose the best options and foods you should store for your family.

http://www.thefoodguys.com/foodcalc.html

Re: Food Storage Calculator
 

Hey, thanks BB. Most constructive post in the last 24 hours ...


.

Re: Food Storage Calculator
 

I have read Esther Dickey's works and observed a strictly macrobiotic diet, some facets of which we still employ.

This is a pretty fair guideline but way too heavy on powdered milk and sugar. I would substitute honey where possible for sugar. Sugar would be a good barter item, but I entered -4- over age 7 and came up with 160lbs of Sugar. that much sugar in your diet would cause serious health problems. Who knows what is in the powdered fruit drink?

I would have more rice. Rice and beans makes a complete protein. If cooked with macrobiotic sea vegetables can be a healing food.

the dry beans I would store are Anasazi, Black, Black Soy, Red, Kidney and Garbanzos. Adzukis are excellent, but a health store item.

Overall, the guide is way too starchy to be what I would say is a preferred diet.

I would go heavily to spices and flavorings. McCormick sells a great beef and chicken bouillon base in a 4 oz jar it makes better soup with a bit of spaghetti than Campbells in a can or the Lipton packets. Cheaper by far, stores dry easy to use.

Pepper was once traded 1:1 to gold. it may be a sleeper "investment". Buy corns, not ground for long term storage. I just opened a jar from `91 and it is great.

Way too much shortening. better to have pure lard than hydrogenated shortening. better still to only use it to grease a pan with or season cast iron. AVOID ANYTHING WITH HYDROGENATED INGREDIENTS. Why use anything that will diminish your health?

Store good, quality multi vitamins. you need every edge you can get.

Canned meats are good to flavor with. Stir fry uses less meat and everybody likes it.
Soy sauce and Worcestershire is a great marinade for jerky. Make your own.
Fish can be jerked too.
Candy and treats are good for morale boosters

don't store flour, it will rancid. store wheat berries and grind as needed. I have 2 Corona mills, the electric one is 1000x better.

get a variety of cook books.


THIS GUIDE IS BETTER THAN NOTHING. WITH MORE THOUGHT YOU CAN STAY HEALTHY AND NOT HAVE TO EAT EACH MEAL FACED WITH BOREDOM.


MONEY MATTERS

Re: Food Storage Calculator
 

I have been practicing living on stored food for when TSHF, and am learning as I go.

The first requirement is to have some bulk in your meals, vitamin pills are fine, but if you are really hungry, they do not go far. The two bulk foods that store really well, are low cost, are rice and pasta. You can store mountains of the stuff for years and not worry about a use by date.

Calorie counts are fine, you will be healthy, but you also need bulk. I discovered planning menus only with regard to calorie count and variety, always left me feeling hungry. One hot filling meal per day is required. High energy foods will keep you alive, but feeling totally miserable. It might be fine in a life raft out in the Pacific for a couple of weeks, but you cannot live like that for lengthy periods.

Tinned foods will probably form the basis of your diet once the fresh stuff is either consumed or has gone off. So work on a monthly menu, and find out what you like and what you do not. Keep some foods that you can just eat without any preparation at all, like tins of baked beans (for example). Another thing to watch is that the plating on metal cans is not very robust. Cans form surface rust spots over a years storage, nothing serious, but if left unchecked the cans would probably have developed pin holes in about three years storage. I am going to start dipping my cans in a solution that leaves a thin layer of vaseline (tasteless and odorless) . Allowing cans to freeze can also destroy the contents pretty quickly.

Fresh foods like eggs, fruit, vegetables and so on are obviously not going to last long no matter how you try to store them. Baking bread may be possible if you have an oven that works. In a natural disaster, there may be no oven.

Try living on tinned and dry foods for a couple of months and find out what you like, what works, and how much you require each month. Do not forget to include some small luxury items like nuts and chocolate. It makes a welcome change to a constant diet.

Practice now, and find out what you need and what you can do without.

Find out how much water you can get by with. Commercially bottled water is good, but you can just store tap water provided it is kept in the dark, remains cool, and is treated with a good dose of colloidal silver. I have about a six month supply of bottled and stored tap water.

When the power grid finally goes down for good, there will be no tv or internet. A really big box of secondhand books, board games, pack of cards and so on might just stop your family from going crazy.

Also think about cooking, heating, and lighting. Have at least two means of each. Bottled gas will not last long, and neither will batteries. Coleman lanterns and stoves that run on gasoline are extremely efficient and economical, and gasoline is easy to store. Get only waterproof camping matches, and lots of candles, and a fire extinguisher ! You will use far more matches than you can possibly imagine. Try living without power or natural gas for a week, it is fun and you will learn a lot.............

Re: Food Storage Calculator
 

Great suggestions there, guys. Let me add molasses, a gravity water filter and a few dozen throw away propane bottles for coleman stoves/lanterns.
Rice, vitamin pills and spices are the bare minimum. It may be easier to hunt or buy livestock on the hoof (with silver) than to buy groceries or find fresh fruits and vegs.

Cooking may have to be done with wood and fuels may be scarce, choose foods that cook fast like rice instead of beans.

Re: Food Storage Calculator
 

Since the publication of my book, Code Red: The Coming Destruction of The United States, 2004, I've been receiving an ever increasing number of emails and letters asking about if people should be preparing themselves for a disaster. These emails also show that many of you are even afraid to acknowledge to family and friends that you are even thinking about preparing for something bad to happen. Well, let me share something with you:

"Be prepared to improvise and use what you have on hand to make it on your own for at least three days, maybe longer. While there are many things that might make you more comfortable, think first about fresh water, food and clean air. Consider putting together two kits. In one, put everything needed to stay where you are and make it on your own. The other should be a lightweight, smaller version you can take with you if you have to get away.

You'll need a gallon of water per person per day. Include in the kits canned and dried foods that are easy to store and prepare. If you live in a cold weather climate, include warm clothes and a sleeping bag for each member of the family.

Start now by gathering basic emergency supplies a flashlight, a battery- powered radio, extra batteries, a first aid kit, toilet articles, prescription medicines and other special things your family may need. Many potential terrorist attacks could send tiny microscopic "junk" into the air. Many of these materials can only hurt you if they get into your body, so think about creating a barrier between yourself and any contamination. It's smart to have something for each member of the family that covers their nose and mouth.

Plan to use two to three layers of a cotton t-shirt, handkerchief or towel. Or, consider filter masks, readily available in hardware stores, which are rated based on how small a particle they filter. It is very important that the mask or other material fit your face snugly so that most of the air you breathe comes through the mask, not around it. Do whatever you can to make the best fit possible for children".

Now, let's understand something very important, I didn't write this nor has any other researcher who like me has been telling you to start preparing. These words are quoted from your own US Government at the website they've created for all citizens at www.ready.gov! So now you have not only me and other researchers telling you to prepare, and NOW, but also your own government. = The only difference between the government and us is why you should be preparing. They are using as a reason that we are going to attacked by terrorists. Others and I are saying that we are facing a near extinction level event. You must also know that there is no way the government can tell the truth because to do so would cause panic and chaos. So, what they have done, and are continuing to do, using the 'excuse' of us being attacked, they are at the same time telling you how to prepare. Keep in mind too what they are 'saying between the lines'.

For example: In the above quotes they talk about 'microscopic junk' and then tell you how to make breathing filters. What they don't tell you however is that the type of filters they are suggesting in no way could keep out bacterial and/or viral agents. Instead they are suggesting filters which are very good for dust, dirt, and volcanic ash!

My advice to you today? Like always, start preparing just like your government is telling you to do!

Until Our Next Meeting,

David Booth WhatDoesItMean.com

"Code Red: The Coming Destruction of The United States, 2004"

"How many of you know that for the past 20 years the intellectual, industrial, and military might of the United States has been systematically dispersed throughout the world? Would it surprise you to learn that in dollar terms this ongoing transfer of wealth and power now totals over $20 trillion dollars? Did you know that out of the 189 existing countries in this world, US military forces are in 121 of them? Did you know that aside from The United States and Russia, Iraq has the largest amount of underground fortified structures in the world? Are you aware that Yellowstone National Park has been virtually closed this entire year? Are you aware of the fact that over 1,000 of the worlds best astronomers have been to Antarctica this past year? Did you know that of all the existing historical prophecies of all major religions the United States isn't even mentioned? Would it surprise you to know that The United States of America is the only country the world has ever known that would survive intact the total destruction of its physical landmass? There isn't much time to learn the answers to these questions and more so I hope you order this book today!" --David Booth, author.

http://WhatDoesItMean.com

Re: Food Storage Calculator
 

David Booth has been interviewed about 4 times on Alex Merklinger's netcast. the shows are archived and have no commercials. at www.mysteriesofthemind.com
the discussion is interesting. More so about the comments on current USA situation than on what to do if TSHTF.

Regarding cooking facilities: highly recommend Lodge or Wagner cast iron skillets, and dutch ovens. Lodge even sells a nice cast iron Hibachi type grille cooker. A hd steel grille with folding legs would also be nice. Propane cooker would last for 2-3 meals in my experience. got a bbq with a 5 gal propane tank? get an adapter so you can hook your portable stove to it. 5 gal tanks probably cheaper to buy at $30 than small 1lb cyls.

If you would be serious about living on your food storage, investigate the facts. you want organic foods, and you want brown rice. white rice has almost no food value.

Rice and beans are a complete protein, they can be a substitute for meat and fish etc.

You can use a pressure cooker and save your fuel. A real Dutch oven, one with legs and a cast iron lid can bake bread, make stew you can cook eggs and bacon on the lid.

Kurt Saxon had a trick way of cooking wheat berries over night in a Thermos bottle. Take 1 cup of wheat berries place in thermos, add boiling water to fill, set the stopper and in the morning you have hot cereal for about 5 cents worth of wheat.

If you plan to eat, you better have good knives and good sharpening gear.

It's easy to learn how to sprout grains and make wheatgrass.

I have stored wheatberries and brown rice in 5 gal plastic pails, new ones, I add chips of CO2 dry-ice before I seal the pail lids. We are eating from some of the first ones I did 9 years ago now. the quality has not diminished.

Eggs can be stored, I have read that they can be dipped in parafin and kept longer than a year. got a place with a stream? you can use a cooler box to store perishables.

Canning used to be very common. Why pay $9 a doz for jars, get em at your thrift store. We also like the french bail lid jars with the rubber gaskets for keeping bulk items we use often. Widemouth gal jars are also nice for flour and grains, since kipping out of 5 gal buckets is a hassle.

Water filters are a must. We use a katadyn with a 3 gal reservoir. Takes abourt 12 hour to process a full reservoir. We like colemans 5 gal water jugs with the removable spout tap more than the jerry can style jugs.

nice to have backpacking gear for everyone. Esp sleeping bags and goretex jackets. MSR makes great gear esp their waterworks filters and whisperlite stoves. be sure to get the stoves that will burn gas, diesel kero or alcohol. nice to have a small grille so you can use wood.

my wife makes soap, it is better than you can buy for $4 a bar.

Ever read Roberrto Vaca's "The Coming Dark Ages"? He stated that people would value the tools and cooking utensils of the prior age more dearly than money. Levis 501's, Carrhart work pants, quality cookware and utensils, metal fabrication tools, guns and reloading eqpt, camping goods, compass binoculars and maps etc.

Ever read "A Canticle for Leibowitz"? About a guy who stored every sort of reference he could find and how they were priceless. Why have to reinvent the wheel? Good cookbooks and a MacKenzies formulary be to have. Euell Gibbons and Bradford Angier books very good too! Nice to be able to harvest those wild edibles, if you can know em you can eat em. Ragnar Benson wrote some great books one was "Survival Poaching". Better to snare animals than hunt em. put out 50 snares, better chance of getting food versus hunting.

Look at this link for some of the best info http://waltonfeed.com

God bless your efforts. Few men plan to fail, they just fail to plan! It is always a good time to begin assuming responsibility for your future.

Money Matters

Re: Food Storage Calculator
 

Or, there is an adapter I bought that allows you to fill the little ones from your 5 gal.
I have the 5 stone Lansky system that accurately controls the angle on your blades. It will do the 17 deg. for a filet knife, the 20 or 25 deg. for your kitchen or skinning knives or the 30 deg. for axes and hatchets.
Or you can make a 15% solution of "water glass" (sodium silicate) and keep them in a 5 gal plastic paint bucket for over a year also. A 5 gallon bucket will hold over 12 dozen eggs. Still is at our house! In fact we opened another jar of our dill pickles tonight. Grew the cucumbers, the dill, & the garlic. Bought only the vinegar and the salt.
As I said in an earlier post, "Plan now, or plan to die later."

Re: Food Storage Calculator
 

May this bump be moved to survival ..

Good one..

Re: Food Storage Calculator
 

Thanks Golddust, for bumping this, it's really informative. I have to say though, that plugging in the numbers for a family of 6 - the amounts are quite intimidating! I have a looong way to go.

Re: Food Storage Calculator
 

Great thread.

Shouldn't this be in the Survival Prep sub-forum, though?

Re: Food Storage Calculator
 

I think these numbers are overkill. To figure out what 1 person needs for one month, type in 0.08 and calculate.

24 pounds of grains!
5 pounds of sugars!
5 pounds of dry milk!
30 pounds of fruits and vegetables!

For one person for a month?!? That's one hefty eater. This is a useful calculator, but I would modify accordingly. For instance, if you think the above amounts are twice as what is needed, and your goal is for six months instead of a year, then divide your number of people by 4. So for a family of 6, plug in 1.5, and that would give you an estimate of a 6-month family supply.

Re: Food Storage Calculator
 

Thread was created before sub-forum. Will copy it there.

Golden Regards
Uncle