Calories and survival

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Plus you can send the tourist out to hunt them.. Food & entertainment

 

This post has resonated in my mind for some reason. If I had about a 24 hr notice that things were about to collapse, what would I buy? There are some calorie dense foods that do not store well and aren't a significant part of my preps as the long term storage versions are usually quite expensive. I would not buy guns or ammo as I think I am fairly well set there. I would buy about all the oils, including the Crisco types, butter, cheese, bacon, and other calorie dense foods for use in the first few months and try to save my true LTS for later. In the same nature I would buy rice, beans, Ramen soups, cheap Mac and cheese boxes, matches and lighters, canned spaghetti sauces and the noodles for both my short term use and for give aways and barter. Know from my own experience that a package of spicy noodle soup combined with a cup of rice may not be healthy, but it will fill your stomach well, as will Cream of Wheat, oatmeal, corn meal, pancakes made with a generic Bisquick, etc. I know it is really hoarding if you buy it at the last minute, but $500 spent on generic cooking oils, one a day vitamins, generic aspirin and pain killers, generic birth control, generic Bisquick, spaghetti at $1.50 a jar and the noodles at $1.00 a pound, rice, lentils, and beans at about a $1.00 a pound, cheap tuna in oil that the wife normally won't eat, etc As a side benefit if they do confiscate your food, and my long term storage food is a little less obvious, you are going to appear to be just a little more prepared sheeple who panicked more effectively than most. Five gallons of fuel for the generator would cost about $15 today, give me electricity for about a day, but yesterday when I bought groceries, I looked at some things just as an exercise. I could have bought 5 cans of tuna, 2 boxes of oatmeal, 5 lbs of cooking oil, 2 pound of pancake mix, 6 packages of Ramen noodles, and 3 pounds of rice for the same $15. It would suck big time, but it would keep my wife and I alive for another week I think. In the same token I could have chosen soup mixes, rice, beans, spaghetti sauces and noodles, mac and cheese, and oils, for the same $15 limit and also survived for a week with a totally unbalanced diet, but with enough bulk and calories to at least continue. It would be more practical in extending my LTS to buy eggs, cheese, butter, cooking oils, with the same $15, some needing to be used in days, some in weeks, but all very high in calorie value.

 

Thinking of the time and energy spent hunting for what every meat you might be able to find ,and the possibility of running into other hunters competing for the same game I believe the chances of survival begin to dwindle .
Long before the white man , Indians had their own wars over available hunting ground, and presumably there were much greater herds of deer then, as well as other animals . .
Remember too that the Spaniards introduced many animals to this country like hoses and pigs and chickens .
Indians died of starvation too, when they could not grow corn and what ever else they knew to grow, even had taboos over eating certain animals.
Like many cultures , to justify war and death, glorified it , some even committed suicide rather then be enslaved .
They were smart regarding their life as it was but in their ignorance could not see the bigger picture .
They did not herd/raise animals ,the techniques of animal husbandry were brought here by Spaniards and other cultures .
My point is," If you expect to have meat for the future you'd best be raising it ."

 

Reading thru the net this morning and was fascinated by the calories for a day required as computed by the US military during WW2. Lifeboat rations, absolute minimum needed to keep you alive sitting still for a few days, were a few hundred calories of sugar, vitamin pills, and some chewing gum to keep your mouth moist with salt or minerals to replace those lost thru sweat. Rations issued to small units, tanks, etc, that were actually fighting and physically active were 4,000 calories a day. Kearney in his Nuclear survival seems to come up with about 1,500 for a few weeks setting still.

As a kid, I knew a couple of people who survived Hitlers death camps, looked fairly normally physically, but had very serious health problems with stamina, etc. Also knew children that were "pigeon breasted" or had spinal problems from malnutrition and women that said they had lost their teeth during pregnancy. These were a result of poverty in the 1930's or living on the "res". Calories and nutrition must be tailored to stage of development and pregnancy

 

Has anyone come up with a better survey of absolute lower limits to survival food than "Maintaining Nutritional Adequacy During A Prolonged Food Crisis" written in 1979 by Kearney among others? It is dated, but based on the real world starvation and food rationing experiences of WW1 and WW2. It is the total opposite of freeze dried and modern long term food storage. Almost a scientific validation of the LDS approach, which is also based on real world experiences. I don't know how to do the computer stuff, but one of the "literate" may want to look at it and see if it should be a resource along with Nuclear War Survival Skills.

 

"My parents started feeding a stray kitten a couple weeks ago. This was their front porch today."

SHTF lesson. Never dispense charity from home. If you have it to give, give it to a shelter, church, etc., anonymously.
Why I Won’t Be Charitable When The SHTF

 

@duane I so appreciate you posting your thought process on... if you had 24 hour notice, .....and I agree with you fats, crisco, butter, you can easily clarify the butter and get several month storage no fridge.....ramen and i would add canned beans to the immediate purchase list. Ramin requires water, same with beans and rice and if water isnt an issue then dryed bean are fine,

on flour, i would not buy Bisquick... it goes to mold very quickly, better to buy flour, baking powder and crisco and keep them separate for longer storage...

 

Good replies. I once looked up what was given to starving kids in Africa. It was basically a peanut butter blend in a tube. I think it maybe had honey also.

 

The nice thing about canned food is that it is already cooked and does not require reheating to consume.
Many canned foods will last 20 -50 years depending on how well it was maintained .
I was just re reading some material in salt brining meats , worth an investigation and some investment .

 

This recipe is equivalent to 1 cup of biscuit Mix.

• 1 cup flour.
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder.
• 1/4 teaspoon salt.
• 1 tablespoon shortening, olive oil, or melted butter.

@ghrit you make me laugh occasionally that was a funny post

Its a personal preference, biscuits are so easy to make from raw ingredient and i have had a box or two of bisquik go bad in the heat that i store individual ingredients.

TIPS if you have bisquik and it isnt rising because its old (it does off gases over time) just add teaspoon of bakin powder to the mix and it rejuvenates it

 

I plan on getting most of my calories from carbs (rice, oats, pasta) and fats (canned butter, canned cheese, olive and coconut oil). Most of my protein will come from canned meats and beans. I do want to try to make my own pemmican one day though.

 

Sometimes much more. My first time in Afghan I was eating 4 to 5 MREs a day and still lost like 30 pounds in the thirty five days we were there.

A good rule of thumb is 10 cal per pound of body weight just to maintain with an almost seditary lifestyle.

 

Some basic physiology: carbs & protein 4 cal/gm; fat 9cl/gm There's reason carnivores go for the liver & marrow first.
It takes 5-800 cal/d just to power breathing, heart beats & body temp maintenance-- and a whole lot more in cold weather.
Thumper's right about 10cal/lb bodyweight for maintenance when sedentary.
Personally, I would stock up on preserved meats/fats rather than starchy grains & such-- denser protein & calories source and more vits/mins. Grains are basically sugar with little other nutrient content..

Rancid fat & moldy food may smell bad, but it's still good nutritionally....You know what they say about "If you're hungry enough..."

 

Ya it's a sad fact things with oil will go stale .Lost lot of peanut butter I put away.
Bought some powdered peanut butter , Hope it does better.
I've learned to buy packaged things in smaller containers in stead of family sizes .it's not cheaper but more practical when dishing it out.
My rice and beans are in portioned bags with O2 absorbers and then together in larger bags with more O2 absorbers and finally in 5 gallon buckets again with O2 absorbers .
Rats have chewed through buckets before so I'm cautious .
Maintaining fresh small portions of Rat poison is a good idea for the pantry or where ever you hide your preps. IMO

 

Purchase two of these not long ago. Cleared the mice and rats out of my barn in one weekend. Automatic reset and shouldn't wear out. No mouse mess to deal with, just pour the dead ones out with the water in the bucket. I worry about kids, pets and livestock eating rat poison. Saw fly tape kill a good size dog once.

Wooden Walk The Plank Mouse Trap Catcher - Auto Reset Rat Mice Trap Sensitive | eBay

 

So....about the 20 pounds of extra fats I carry around with me all of the time lately....

 

I had haggis and blood sausage in Scotland and Ireland. It was great! What passed for sausage over there was just grounded up pig. They have never heard of red pepper or sage! My Mother and Father owned a small meat processing plant and butcher shop many years ago, and we never knew WHAT we might be having for dinner.