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Do You Have Enough Food Storage?
By Kellene Bishop
“How much food storage do I need?”
For the record, I absolutely loathe the term "food storage." It's no longer used in our household because I'm not a squirrel. As such I don't purchase items which serve no other purpose than to be stuffed away into a corner, only to promise unpleasant eating later. If I don't eat it or know how to use it, it doesn't come into our home. And if it comes into our home, we use it and are very familiar with it.
Now, have said that, the question posed above is a common question in my line of work because others don't necessarily share my point of view. That's okey dokey. Regarding having "enough" there are certainly plenty of numbers thrown out there. I do have an opinion to add to that list of suggested amounts, of course, though I confess that my answers aren’t always well received—I have this nasty habit of sharing facts that may contradict what a person has relied upon for a long time. *wink* So, how much food do you really need in order to have a year’s supply for your family at any given time?
Do you have the right kind of food storage?
In my book, there’s nothing worse in my book than having a false sense of security. I will never forget the time that my husband was invited to “take a peek” at the newly acquired “food storage” that a friend of ours had purchased. This friend was just so tickled and so proud of himself for finally getting out there and doing something about providing better for his family in the future. Frankly, I always join in someone’s peace of mind when they are moving towards a more self-sufficient life. But on this occasion, my joy for this friend was short-lived. This friend has a wife and 5 children, so imagine my husband’s surprise when our friend showed him 365 regular sized soup cans of a hearty stew. Yes, you read that right, folks. In this man’s mind, 365 cans of soup for a family of 7 is enough food for a year. Ooops! Now mind you, I’m a believer in miracles yesterday and today, but as I understand things, I don’t think that we’re supposed to put ourselves in a position in which we require a miracle to survive, as long as we can help it. There are SO many things wrong with this scenario I’ve just shared with you, but let’s just focus on the obvious here—he doesn’t have anywhere NEAR enough food for his family to last him a year.
In the world of “emergency preparedness” there are many resources which will help you calculate exactly how much food storage should you stock up on for your targeted time frame. An internet search for a “food storage calculator” will bring up lots of nifty little sources. Since the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (commonly referred to as “Mormons”) has been urging it’s members consistently since the 1800’s to have “food storage” I’m comfortable sharing with you there suggested guidelines to help you get an idea of “how much food storage do I need.” See the calculator here:
The first thing you will see on the usual food storage lists that are out there is the category of “grains”. The standard rule of thumb you’ll hear most often is 300 pounds of grains per person, regardless of what their age is, for a year. I always plead that people NOT quibble about the ages of the persons in their family because it's obviously likely to change… after all, kids get bigger with time, not smaller. So since one doesn’t know when they will have to rely strictly on their year’s supply, it’s a good idea to prepare with the “worst case scenario” of needs of older kids in mind.
Now grains constitutes all kinds of grains items such as flour, pasta, rice, muffin mixes, popcorn, spelt, quinoa, wheat, cereals, etc. (Notice we’re talking about WEIGHT here, so keep that in mind when you’re looking at that very big, but oh, so light box of Cheerios.) Again, the most common rule of thumb amount for grains is 300 pounds. I've actually never said anything less than 350 pounds, but regardless, nearly all of you who are reading this will have that momentary shock to the system as you contemplate just how much grain that would mean for a family of 4, let alone 7. Imagine how much that family on cable TV with 19 kids would need! Whooee!
Inevitably when I share the magic number of 350 pounds I will always hear someone declare “Oh, there’s no way that I consume that much grain in a year.” Well, either you live off of Hershey’s candy bars and plan on just leaving this life in a chocolate coma--perhaps not the worst that could happen *grin*—or you really don’t have a grasp on just how much a person actually consumes in a year. So think about this for a moment. Does your money ever last as long as you think it will? Surely you’ve experienced that “holy cow” moment in your life when you realized how fast that “extra $100” in your wallet disappeared. And surely you’ve at least seen plenty of folks who thought they had enough gas in their car to get them to their destination even though the needle was sitting on “empty.” And of course you’ve all experienced one of those days where you have no idea where all the time went, right? Well then, isn’t it fair to say that when it comes to the topic of long-term food consumption there just might be a bit of perception error? And I’m about to show you just how far off that perception is in most homes--and I"m talking about homes in which people actually consider themselves to be mindful of these kinds of things. Wait until I show you just how LITTLE that 300-350 pounds of grain in your food storage will provide you in the form of daily meals. (corrected)
The absolute minimum amounts of recommend food supplies for a year which provides you with "about a half of a small loaf of bread daily along with 3 small servings of beans" (corrected)are as follows:
300 pounds of grains per person (FYI, a pound of grain--depending on type--is between 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 cups)
75 pounds of legumes (pinto, black, red, lima, kidney, turtle, garbanzo, etc.)
75 pounds of milk (powdered, evaporated, etc.)
65 pounds of sweeteners (sugar, molasses, honey, etc.)
4 pounds of shortening*
2 gallons of oil *
2.5 pounds of leaving agents (yeast, baking soda, baking powder, etc.)
5 pounds of salt
45 gallons of water **
*This does NOT include other fats which are absolutely necessary for proper organ function such as butter, coconut oil, peanut butter, nuts, etc.
**this is ONLY enough for an average of 3 daily consumable ration examples (corrected) as noted below and does NOT include the minimum of 2 quarts of water each person should drink daily—minimum for proper body function, nor does it take into account any additional water needs such as laundry, bathing, sanitation, or any additional cooking.
That's a LOT of Food Storage!!!
So, you see these massive amounts of food storage and think “Holy cow, that’s a LOT!” but I’m going to show you what JUST THESE items translate into a 3 times (corrected)DAILY RATION basis. Ready? Brace yourself…
You see this pittance of an amount of beans and this tiny, UNdelectable 4 inch“loaf” of bread? That’s what this “massive” amount of food translates into what you get to look forward to three times a day for one person. Mmmmm…you’re just salivating like crazy right now aren’t you? Wow! That’s quite the feast there… Bet you can’t wait to dig into that, eh?
Here’s what was used to make this bountiful feast you see in the picture:
¾ cup of grain (equals about 1 to 1 ¼ cup of flour IF and only IF you’re able to millgrind it)
1/3 cup of beans
2 Tablespoons of powdered milk
2 Tablespoons of oil (fat, lard, butter, etc.)
1 Tablespoon of sugar (in order to best activate the yeast)
2 ½ teaspoons of yeast
2 ½ teaspoons of salt
And approximately 24 ounces of water to cook the beans, make the bread, and for drinking water in order to ward off digestive ailments.
What do YOU want your food storage to look like?
Now, is there anything else missing…you know like fruits, vegetables, flavorings and spice, comfort foods, etc? How about some MEAT like chicken, ham, or beef? And where in the heck is the chocolate—medication of the sane?! And this isn’t exactly going to make my Blue Ribbon 100% Whole Wheat Bread either. Even if it did, I can tell you that my husband can happily polish off a whole loaf of a REAL sized loaf of bread in the first 24 hours after I’ve baked it, and I assure you, that’s not all he eats when I make bread…the irresistible, moist, light bread is consumed in addition to his regular meals. Seriously, can you even fathom serving your children or your elderly parents and grandparents nothing but this speck of food every day? This puts things in a little different perspective, I hope.
Perhaps now you understand why I cringe when people focus so much on traditional “food storage”? It’s simply NOT as abundant as people think it is, nor does it provide anywhere near enough calories to THRIVE. This kind of a minimalistic “preparedness” will not serve much more than to buy you a little bit more time before your most certain death—especially if you haven’t taken thought for the tools and skills needed to GROW and produce additional foods so that you’re not doomed for death by starvation on Day #375.
Consider this also…what about your INCREASED physical demands for nutrients because you’re having to do more physical labor that a true crisis scenario would demand? How about just lugging your bug-out bag for 5 miles every day? You think that this paltry amount of food will be enough to fuel your body and your spirit so that you can do that? How about the energy you’ll need to shovel a latrine, be alert and on guard, or washing laundry by hand? Can you also imagine just how grumpy people would be in an already stressful situation because this is all they have to eat?
So, do you have enough food storage? Um…I’m thinking that at least double these minimal amounts of food is much more in line with the reality you’ll want to deal with in the event that life drastically changes for us.
(Special thanks to one and only Preparedness Diva, Lisa Barker, of Honeyville Grains for taking the time to put this visual together!)
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Benita Hyde :)
Joanne, please tell me more
Yolanda, you're actually
why not! Yes I could stock just the basics, but if I can store things that would make life more comfortable now why shouldn't I. Why store just rice and beans when I love tuna casserole. It tasts better and would be a welcome change from what you are eating!
Thanks for all that you do! Ordered my diatomaceous earth! Hope that it comes this week. Cant wait.
I'm right there with you,
Lorenz K.
Abstract
The practice of sprouting of cereal grains has become popular in the western world. Sprouted grains are thought of as having exceptional nutritive value. Sprouting is easy and can be done without sophisticated equipment. Untreated seeds of good quality and high germination percentage are placed in an environment of adequate water, a desirable temperature, and a certain composition of gases in the atmosphere for several days for sprouting. The sprouts can be kept for a few days to over a week under refrigeration. They can be used in many different foods including breakfast items, salads, soups, casseroles, pasta, and baked products. Sprouting of grains causes increased enzyme activity, a loss of total dry matter, an increase in total protein, a change in amino acid composition, a decrease in starch, increases in sugars, a slight increase in crude fat and crude fiber, and slightly higher amounts of certain vitamins and minerals. Most of the increases in nutrients are not true increases, however. They simply reflect the loss of dry matter, mainly in the form of carbohydrates, due to respiration during sprouting. As total carbohydrates decreases, the percentage of other nutrients increases. There are no nutritional evaluations of cereal sprouts in humans. Animal studies with cattle, pigs, chickens, and rats have failed to show a superior nutritive value of sprouted grains over ungerminated grains. Studies with humans are not likely to produce more encouraging results.
She is just another victim of
Those are great things to
Fran, you should check out
A lb of spag has 7/1/2 6 oz servs. I reduce that to 6 to do my calcs. I believe that when TSHTF we will be in an emergency situation, therefore a rationing situation. So we will ration until we get things under control and continually re-adjust our storage. another concern for me is water. I've stopped buying freeze-dried because it will add to my water storage and I don't have the option of a "water barrel bed" like yours, kelleen !!!
any way, for those of us with limited space, can you give me any words of encouragement on the "servings" method ?
I inventory what I've got but I do it primarily by "serving size" as "pounds and ounces" really don't mean much to me in my everyday life. And it certainly is more accurate than those cans of soups that try and tell me that they contain 4 servings..yeah, I think I'LL be the one to determine how many a can of soup will feed.
So I'll continue with my efforts as we all will and hope for the best but prep for the worst. Thanks for your advice and time. A voice of reason in a sea of chaos.
We are going on a trip the end of the month(going to p/u our G-son in SLC and take him to the Grand Canyon ) and now I am busily prepping for our trip. I got a very large duffle bag and am deciding what exactly to put in it for 3 people to survive on if something happens while on the road (in the desert) . Well, 2 adults, an almost 11 year old boy with autism and a dog..LOL!
Amazing - a real eye opener. I'll be sharing your column with others --
Throughout the U.S. there are LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) Cannery locations in which the church cans #10 cans of items through the help of volunteers. When a person volunteers they are then able to purchase the goods which are better than you'll ever find wholesale or below because the church produces their own food and has no middlemen. However, you do need to go with a member. But, the good news is that you can also order through the mail key essentials such as wheat.
Karen
Glad we were able to get to your question...finally. :-)
If I vacuum pack ground flour, beans, and dried cherries in plastic bags what would the shelf life be for them?
What is the shelf life of commercially prepared water, stored in plastic water
bottles for water coolers?
What kind of water purifier do use?
I have a question. In your
Thank you for this
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