For CANDY or anyone else interested in....

Discussion in 'Back to Basics' started by Equilibrium, Feb 14, 2011.


  1. Equilibrium

    Equilibrium Monkey++

    For CANDY or anyone else interested in comparing notes about Emergency Essentials and other long term storage suppliers like them.
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    OK…. I know you had a post somewhere where you said you were going to be using your tax refund toward buying long term storage items…. I couldn’t find it but I’m working really hard on a pantry for myself so checked out their website and I’m just gonna give you some basic rundowns from notes I kept for myself.
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    Calories required according to Emergency Essentials per day
    Male 1-3 1000
    Male 4-7 1400
    Male 8-13 1800
    Male 16 2400
    Male 20-30 2600
    Male 49 2400
    Male 50+ 2200

    Female 1-3 1000
    Female 4-7 1400
    Female 8-13 1600
    Female 16 2000
    Female 20-30 2000
    Female 49 2000
    Female 50+ 1800
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    I played with Emergency Essentials’ Food Storage Analyzer, - Emergency Essentials.
    I feel it’s more of a highly effective marketing tool than a legitimate storage analyzer. Their calculator is really ingenious but it’s based on servings that they’ll conveniently deliver to our doors and all we have to do is find a place to stack it all up. Seems kinda silly to me with the way we can get our hands on free small-large food safe storage buckets using oxygen absorbers or perhaps better yet....an air extraction pump with a leak detection tab.
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    I had to take a close look at what they were recommending and that meant using a calculator since they seem to derive substantial benefits from advertising serving sizes rather than standardized weights that are easily recognizable by ordinary folk. I’m just using their own nutritional information provided for their can of whole wheat flour since I've bought wheat flour myself recently, Nutritional Information. 3 T = 28 grams. Now we need to multiply that by the number of servings in a container of their whole wheat flour and we come up with 1792. Now all we need to do is convert those grams to something that Americans rely on when price shopping. That can of whole wheat flour is actually about 63.2 ounces or…. drum roll please… about 3.85 lbs. That’s $6.95 for their little container which means we’d be paying around $1.80 per pound. Aye yi yi…. doesn't look like any of their containers are re-usable and…. that’s a boat load of money for only 5,760 calories and that’s without adding what their shipping and handling is but who knows…. at that price they probably ship for free. Their calculator “thinks” for us then they conveniently sell us a solution in which they think for us again by offering their products to us. CANDY…. This is just something to consider since you’ll be getting that refund check back soon-
    Powdered Dried Whole Eggs - Freeze Dried Fruit - Blanched Almond Flour - Steel C - Search
    I’ve been buying 50# bags of whole wheat flour from them for $42.99 plus shipping anywhere of $4.49 or…. about 95¢ per pound. I think you can cut that 6k bill you were quoted in half if you shop around and do the math.
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    Next I took a look at Emergency Essentials’ freeze dried meats and was sort of aghast when I did the math especially when we can buy meat on sale ourselves and grind it and process it for longer term storage but take a look at the nutritional label yourself, Nutritional Information. Now catch the disclaimer down at the bottom since you've got one kid with auto-immune deficiencies-
    I think maybe it’s better for people like you and me really trying to cut back so we can scrimp and save to build food pantries to rely on the basic food storage calculator provided by the Latter Day Saints then go out and buy bulk- Food Storage Calculator
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    I tell you the more I learn about Mormons…. the more I realize they’re happenin’ folk!!! At 1<sup>st</sup> glance it didn’t look like the LDS calculator was as sophisticated as Emergency Essentials’ food storage analyzer because of the ease of use and simplicity but…. I played with the LDS calculator and I think they took into consideration a need for higher calories during a natural disaster when we’re going to need more food to accommodate an increased level of physical activity as well as more food to keep our bodies warm. Using the food calculator offered by the Mormons means working backwards but…. I think it’ll result in thousands of dollars of savings in the long run for little people like you and me. Oh oh oh…. I think quinoa can be counted toward the grain or the cereal category.
     
  2. CANDY fISHER

    CANDY fISHER Monkey+

    wow what a wonderful bit of info, girl you are smart!!! I did spend money at emergency essentials, in fact over 1300 dollars. I did it as there were things I wanted and in can form. I am done with them, well I did place a new order and that was for tvp sausage thats cheap. but your right, its not economical to get from them as you can get cheaper else where. I loved the fact the meat in a can was dehydrated, you seen what happened to my dehydrator LOL. I hope to start dehysrating as soon as the new one gets here, but I think there pretty much crap and even if its free I am wary. I really wanted to get food in here fast, and I looked today and do not even have 3 months for all of us. UGH this is going to take work. Thank you hon for doing the leg work for me, I will not be buying any more from them. I will stick to bulk. to bad we do not have any bulk here, it sucks but the only bulk I can get is the health food store and she is atrocious in prices.
     
  3. Equilibrium

    Equilibrium Monkey++

    Oh dear.... I'm not "smart" but.... I have been rolled over by the mack truck more than my fair share of times and some mistakes are simply not fun enough to ever want to repeat again.... ;) I'll send you what I'm using to work "backwards" privately so you can use it if you would like.... for "educational" purposes. tee he.
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    It's been helpful to me keeping it on my desktop so that I can readily see where I need to be and how best to get there. I blanked it out for you so you could personalize it. All you need to do is open up a word document and cut and paste what I send you into it and.... it's all yours baby!!!
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    I took the liberty of pre-setting it to a family of 4 bumping everyone's age up by one year. I based it on a 9 year old, a 11 year old, a 17 year old, and a 50+ year old. ;) You can delete products that you don't use.... add products you do use.... fill in what you have.... and... basically keep track "at-a-glance" of what you're adding to your pantry in a handy place. I also have this in Microsoft Office Excel created for me by one of our older sons and he's going to work on MS Access during spring break. In Access we should be able to add all kinds of notes like recipes and online suppliers and Excel does the math for us where word doesn't.
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    I was invited to "share" what little I've learned about food storage with a small group.... ha ha ha.... don't get overly impressed.... it's a non-profit group and money they don't have to spend paying "guest speakers" goes right back into community gardens that everyone benefits from.... in other words.... I was probably "invited" because they know I won't charge. ;) I'll be passing out free CDs of the list (knocked down to one month of recommended foods for a family of 5 so it's not overwhelming) and I'll have the excel "thingie" our son made that provides space for expiration dates to everyone who comes added to the CD too. I'll probably add some other goodies to the CD too. My husband knows how to "burn" these things onto CDs and CDs are cheap enough for us to buy and pass out. I think it'll be a really fun way to get some ordinary folk going on a pantry of a one month's food supply!!!
     
  4. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Strongly suggest taking a pass on Access. It is more limiting than Excel across the board, and you can make Excel do all the things that Access does without the limitations (or possible conveniences.)

    Tried it with several attempts with things I thought I would like it for, and scrapped it in favor of ginning up my own databases. As always, YMMV.
     
  5. Equilibrium

    Equilibrium Monkey++

    I'm no good with any of these things. I certainly couldn't create my own database and I don't think most folk can. I can do MS Word and I can use the others like Excel and Access a little from taking classes but that's it. Our son is making them for me using the programs we have on our computers. He's not a techy either but he knows waaaaaaay more than I do about computers.
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    I searched the internet hi and low for databases and they either force you to pay or force you to log on to get access to the database that they "save" on their servers or we buy them and they're not exactly all that comprehensive. The "free" ones at best cover only those products they offer for sale. If you have such a database that you would be in a position to share with me, I would love to be able to use it and give it to the people I'm speaking to this May. They're good people but.... they're from lower socioeconomic groups which means... living paycheck to paycheck. This is a free workshop so nobody's paying to attend and the refreshments and snacks are provided by the volunteers to help defray costs to the parent organization. On average, there will be anywhere from 20-25 attendees.

    adding- what does YMMV mean.
     
  6. kckndrgn

    kckndrgn Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Your Mileage May Vary
     
  7. IndieMama

    IndieMama Monkey+++

    I use the food storage calculators at www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net

    There are a few things I need to change on it, but for the most part, it suits my needs. I know enough Excel that I can change the items and formulas, if necessary.
     
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