How much food is enough? How to you figure amount?

[Lindals]

Hello Everyone,

 

I can, dehydrate and buy food and supplies but I just don't know how much is enough. Where and when do we stop?

 

My house hold is just my husband and myself, but we have two daughters and 6 grandchildren that will need help. One daughter was working on a food storage but ended up having to go to work and now has all be forgotten it.

 

My other daughter is trying but she is disabled and can't do like most of us. So I am working on setting enough aside for all of us.

 

Can anyone help me with at least the basics of the amount I need? I have only started this seriously for the past 8 or 10 months.

 

Thanks for any help.

 

 

[The WE2's]

When I first started (about 2 years ago) really trying to set aside for emergencies, I sat down and figured what we were currently eating and how much. I started by just saving canned foods from Aldi's etc., because I've never canned in my life (but will learn this year) and knew very little about dehydrating. If it were me, I think I'd try to buy just the basics for those outside of your immediate household. We're talking survival, not necessarily gourmet foods. I don't store raw grains (even though I did buy a small, manual grinder) because it's so labor intensive and would be my very last resort. I store lots of rice (vacume sealed in mylar bags and vacume sealed in canning jars), lots of pastas (again...in mylar & jars), I invested in can organizers and stock about 500 cans of various vegetables & canned hams, canned chicken, tuna, etc. I've also invested in food safe 5 gallon buckets w/gamma lids that I can put my mylar bagged rice & flour etc. so I can easily get in, grab a bag and reseal it tightly. Last year, I also dehydrated lots of my garden veggies etc., and vacume sealed them in jars I'll do the same again, but plan to try to learn to hot can them in my pressure canner. We've also invested in a solar oven. I could go on and on, but like everyone around here, we have soooo many ways that we've tried to prepare ourselves to survive a catastrophic event. "Stay Tuned" ... I'm sure some ladies are going to arrive shortly!

[Canned Nerd]

I'm fortunate in many ways since I only have to store for myself, no other family or friends involved, and I have about a year's worth of food and as much water as I'm able to work with. When you start adding extra people into the mix the amount needed to store can go beyond your available space. I can suggest you store what you can with the space available and you are comfortable with. It should be part of your regular pantry so foods are regularly rotated and not just stored away and forgotten.

 

I preserve and store more as an effort to stave off higher prices from inflation and reduced availability. Water is maintained for emergency situations, assuming I survive the emergency. You can go without food for a long time, but not water.

[Lindals]

Thank you for your responses, it looks like I am on track so I will just keep going as I am.

 

I have flour, rice and sugar bought in 25 and 50 lb bags but I won't be storing any raw wheat. These items I can store in mylar bags in huge buckets.

 

We pretty much stay away from glass jars as we live near the New Madrid fault and I sure don't want to see all this food bounce off shelves and shatter on the floor.

So for me it is cans, boxes and bags and buckets.

[Ambergris]

For me, there's no cap. No amount will be where I say, "This is enough." So I come at the topic from the opposite direction and keep tabs on how long what I have would last us, assuming decent conditions.

 

A very quick and dirty estimate of how long your canned supplies could sustain your group could be done by counting one quart jar or one 15-oz can as a day's supply for one person. Yes, that person is going to spend half the day feeling less than full, but will not starve. Some people count double, some half. You can do the math or let the differences cancel one another out--this is the power of averaging. This method lets you know where you stand right now, and lets you update with very little effort anytime you want. I'm looking at a shelf with thirty cans of wet food, 15.5 to 19 oz apiece; for the three of us, that's ten days in which we would not go hungry.

 

Boxes and bags attract bugs. Sugar sucks humidity out of the air and becomes a brick. I have become a fan of airtight containerizing.

 

Two-liter bottles are working very well for me right now. Being able to see food, in variety and in quantity, comforts me; at the same time, being able to see what's there encourages rotation. (Yes, I know some items do last longer if light as well as air is blocked.) I see a two-liter bottle of barley or soup beans as five person-days of food, or more accurately I see three bottles as fifteen major meals. I rotate the newer bottles through my home office first. When I'm feeling fidgety and anxious, I count them and do the math, and sometimes can then turn back to focus on my work.

 

Someone at the office is now using Poland Water in the three-liter bottles, which stack vertically. I am looking forward to testing how stable and sturdy these bottles are.

[Andrea]

Great advice, Ambergris! I hadn't thought of the square bottles or stackable plastic bottles. I too have used 2-liter bottles in the past and they work well but they're a bit of a pain to store and fill.

 

As far as how much food to store, start out with putting together a week's worth of food, water and toiletries for everyone you plan on helping. When that's done, put away another weeks worth of items. When that's done, put away another weeks worth, when that's done . . . Don't forget things like contractor bags, cat litter, pet items, and things you'll need for overall sanitation.

 

Then, once you have built up enough reserves to keep you and your loved ones fed for the length of time you have determined, make sure to keep rotating the items out - even if it means gifting your daughters every year with a week or two of supplies. If you're trying to do this without letting anyone know, gift the Salvation Army once a year.

 

Personally, three months is the minimum I would store. If there were a flu pandemic, you could be looking at a quarantine that would keep you in your house for 30-90 days. As far as the maximum amount I would store, some things I have a few years of (wheat and soaps never go bad), other things I only have a weeks worth of (mre's). It really is up to you and what you feel comfortable with having on hand, and also, with accepting what your budget will allow you to have on hand.

 

Start small and keep plugging away. It's like the fable "The tortoise and the hare", slow and steady wins the race.

 

By the way, Welcome Lindals!

[The WE2's]

Referencing plastic bottles. Mountain Man and I watched a video on youtube where a man built a "rack" for them. MM intends to build one for us, and we've been saving the 2L bottles...buying Dr. Popper at Dollar General for 89c a bottle...LOL

[Lindals]

For me, there's no cap. No amount will be where I say, "This is enough." So I come at the topic from the opposite direction and keep tabs on how long what I have would last us, assuming decent conditions.

 

Boxes and bags attract bugs. Sugar sucks humidity out of the air and becomes a brick. I have become a fan of airtight containerizing.

 

I think this is the best for me too, just keep going till I can't anymore or we are out of time. I do have bags of sealed items such as flour, sugar but it is all sealed tight in bags and then sealed buckets, so it won't go bad. I also have fruit leather and sweets (not tons just some) for the little ones as I do want to keep from shocking their systems if I can. If things go south they will have enough stress on them.

 

I am sticking pretty much to the way we eat now but low on the meat side. But then we have always been a beans and dumplings type diet. I come from a poor family and ate mostly basics so that won't be a big change.

 

 

As far as how much food to store, start out with putting together a week's worth of food, water and toiletries for everyone you plan on helping. When that's done, put away another weeks worth of items. When that's done, put away another weeks worth, when that's done . . . Don't forget things like contractor bags, cat litter, pet items, and things you'll need for overall sanitation.

 

Now this I never thought about. This sure gives me a better way to organize my thinking. I have bought toilet paper for instance but never figured how much just got a couple of cases. But this gives me a measure to go by, thanks great idea.

 

I don't know what contractor bags are and have no cats. But I am dehydrating veggies and chicken (separately) for my dogs. One of them is in the picture above. They are on this diet anyways so they won't know any difference.

 

(A very quick and dirty estimate of how long your canned supplies could sustain your group could be done by counting one quart jar or one 15-oz can as a day's supply for one person.) Wow that really isn't much food for one day. Yeah I have to work on that, stress alone would eat up all those calories.

.

Thanks so much, already I can see how to organize better and that I don't have to have a limit until I run out of money.

[Andrea]

Contractor bags are really thick black plastic bags. It takes effort to break through one of those bags. I have a couple of boxes set aside to use as latrine liners. And while I have cats, I also have cat litter set aside to use in the latrine. I set this up quite awhile ago before I learned about composting toilets. I'm currently researching those.

[lovinit]

For your weekly calculations you will find good information at "Food Storage Made Easy". I also had a copy of the "Supply table" which is a basic list of preparedness items as information for members of the "Later Day Saints" (found on line). This listing shows you the purchase priority for each item listed, and includes everything to have on hand, not just food. I found it to be a great help.

[Mt_Rider]

Lovinit, do you have a website for that priority list. I haven't seen that one.

 

 

MtRider

[CrabGrassAcres]

I figure on mostly dry foods in LTS. One pound of any dry food is approximately 1500 calories. (It varies a little depending on how much fat is in the food vs how much fiber, but is a good working average.) I started out by making a big order from Walton Feed on their pool truck. I had to make it a large order so they would drop it at my location. This gave us several yrs worth of basic calories at one whack. This is not our entire calorie intake for that period, just a base. Then I canned up a lot of meat I raised. Since then, I've been rotating the meat and adding to it sporadically. I also dried some veggies and bought more dry fruit and veggies. Later I was able to get another, smaller order of grains and beans to replace what we had used. I buy sugar locally and try to get more than we will use between trips. I garden when I can (I've been ill a lot and right now plan to move as soon as this place sells), I raise dairy goats (milking 6 right now and bottle feeding 8 doelings), so that provides a good share of daily calories. I also have a good size flock of free range chickens and ducks for eggs and about 50 pet geese. (I should think of geese as meat on the hoof, but I call them my lawn mowers since they keep the grass short enough I don't have to mow.) My hens hatch chicks constantly, though I give many of them away so I don't have to bother raising them, I still get enough roosters for meat. I've been promised two piglets to raise, waiting on delivery. They should be ready to butcher about the time I've used up the lard and most of the meat from the last two.

 

I know most people these days don't have farms, but if possible, it is a good thing to have some chickens or ducks or quail for eggs and some rabbits for meat as well as the largest garden you can manage. Just remember that a garden won't produce without a good bit of work so don't make it too big to start.

[Ambergris]

I might need to clarify. A quart of stew or whatever per day will not sustain the health, body weight, or good temper of a hard-working 200-lb laborer. But two quarts a day, split between the worker and the eight-year-old with a few strenuous chores, will keep them going long enough for the garden to produce, will keep them going when there's no game or fish to add to the pot, and will keep them from daring extreme danger to go out and buy food.

Edited May 14, 2013 by Ambergris

[CrabGrassAcres]

Amber, about how many calories in your qt? I figured a qt of canned seasoned beans is about 750. Daughter has one qt a day plus 3 pts of rich goat milk plus a pt of juice and a bowl of fruit. She weighs 90# and is not active, yet she barely maintains her weight on it. I can't get any more down her though.

Edited May 14, 2013 by CrabGrassAcres

[Lindals]

Vegetables are not a problem I can get them easily and have been dehydrating them non stop. Meat is another concern, I have a freezer but it is full of meat and pizzas and such. But I don't feel I have near the meat I should. Buying freeze dry from the big companies is out of the question so I am trying to fill in with what I find on the shelves at the stores.

 

But I do have buckets of different beans (navy, pinto, lima, split peas, kidney and lentils) and they are full of protein so they will have to fill in on the part of our diet that needs protein.

[CrabGrassAcres]

I don't buy freeze dried meat or anything else freeze dried for that matter. However, I pressure can my meat. I don't like keeping much in the freezer because it could be lost if the power goes off.

[themartianchick]

Lindals-

 

If you don't can, you could probably buy some canned meats at the grocery store. I don't can meat very often, but I do have some store-bought cans of corned beef hash, chicken, tuna, salmon, etc... We don't eat ham or I'd probably have some of that in the pantry, too.

 

As much as I hate them, I also buy Ramen noodles for my daughters/grandkids, etc... They are dirt cheap and are viewed as a comfort food. Although I make homemade mac and cheese, I also keep a few boxes of the kind with the velveeta-like cheese in it. They are another comfort food.

 

For determining how long the food in my pantry will last, I use some of the pantry and freezer inventory sheets from the foodstorage made easy site. It also serves as a visual reminder when something runs out. I have had times when there is a gap on a pantry shelf and I can't seem to remember what used to go there. The pantry sheets help. Sometimes it is just something that was a one-time lucky purchase. other times it might be that I'm out of a staple item!

 

I try to take a quarterly inventory. I am probably overdue right now, since I can't remember the last time that I did one. I figure my number of stored meals a bit differently. I add up the number of servings of everything (meat, dairy, veggies, fruits, starches, etc) and divide by 4. Four items makes a meal (in my mind) for one person. Then I divide that number by the anticipated number of people I expect to have to share with. and divide that number by 3 (for three meals per day).

 

Usually, that number is enough to send me out to the store to stock up on some more stuff!

[Ambergris]

Amber, about how many calories in your qt? I figured a qt of canned seasoned beans is about 750. Daughter has one qt a day plus 3 pts of rich goat milk plus a pt of juice and a bowl of fruit. She weighs 90# and is not active, yet she barely maintains her weight on it. I can't get any more down her though.

 

 

I just realize I have been saying a fifteen-ounce can when I meant two fifteen-ounce cans. Fifteen ounces is close to a pint, not close to a quart. Weird how my brain will sometimes settle on a fact and not examine it until someone makes me think. And now--duh!--I remember I always used to count pairs of jars/cans this size.

 

Anyway, the 14-oz can of coconut milk I grabbed has 480 calories, so two cans would be close to a quart and yield 960 calories. The 15-oz jar of sauce for tikka masala has 460 calories, so two jars would be 920 calories. The 32 oz almond butter has, if I calculate correctly, 3960 calories. I asked my son how many calories were in the jar of peanut butter he was opening, He crossed his eyes and said a little over three thousand. The quart of coconut oil looks like 7550. 30 oz green beans is 300 calories and 32 oz of salsa (not the cheese kind) has 320 calories. Looks like 750 in this roughly-quart-sized jar of grated Parmesan. 17,760 calories for eight semi-quarts is a little over 2200 calories per day. A larger sampling would probably bring down the average because as I look over the shelves, I think rather more than three quarters of the jars/cans are either fruits or vegetables at less than a thousand calories per quart.

[Lindals]

Quail Flockmistress, I do know how to can but haven't done it in many years. So after reading these comments from Munchie Mama about canning meat, I went looking for my pressure cooker. Couldn't find it anyplace and than realized where it was. I kept it in the shop out back and two years ago we were hit by a tornado and lost the shop completely. Never gave that pressure cooker a thought. Darn, it never got put on the insurance either. :frying pan: So much for canning meats.

 

I do agree about the electric going out and have prepared for that event as much as I can. Yes I am picking up canned meats as I go but need to get much more.

 

The last couple of days I have been going through my storage and checking everything for condition and taking a count of what I have. I also have Ramen noodles for the kids and will add veggies as needed to improve them.

 

(totally off subject) Quail Flockmistress my husband is from a tiny town near Binghamton NY and I am originally from Middletown NY but we have been down here for over 40 years.

 

Family Member I really haven't been thinking calories very much, but I guess I should start. I do plan on getting much more peanut butter and I think I will pick up some jar cheese. Use to love that stuff when I was a kid. I sure wish I had room for chickens and rabbits but than I probably couldn't kill one anyway.

[Canned Nerd]

Lindals, a pressure "cooker" is not any use for canning meat anyway since you need a pressure "canner".

Edited May 16, 2013 by Canned Nerd

[Lindals]

Hi Canning Nerd,

 

Lindals, a pressure "cooker" is not any use for canning meat anyway since you need a pressure "canner".

 

I'm sorry but I meant a pressure canner not a cooker.

 

I just went to Amazon and ordered a new one so I will be working on getting some meat canned up.