One year supply of food . . . for $225????

I cannot find when this was written but I saw the picture of what one year for one adult looked like and was stunned. Why do my preps look more space consuming. This lady has a simple plan and it is worth investigating.

Bulk Food Storage Guidelines

Here is the image of a years worth food for one adult- This picture is not with the link article but it is along the same lines.



Please note- I have issue with all that oil. I think it has a short shelf life and I believe you can find healthier substitutes.

 

That is some boring assed eating. I'm sorry, I know it would keep you alive, but where's da beef? These types of claims need to show all the "extras" that a person will need, such as a good grain mill to grind all those bags of grain, and explain all the time involved in doing such. Don't mean to knock the post Moto, but this ain't for me

 

You'd probably die from your body being so bored of that diet that it quits processing it.

 

Ha! My next thread Build Your Own Grain Mill | Survival Monkey Forums I still would like a bike grain mill.

 

I agree it is real boring but it is cheap filling, the basics. Come summer, you can supplement with veggies and fruit. After eating grain all winter, one would be tempted to eat grass. But that is $25 a month to prep a years food, though I really do not like the oil. It will expire and is a waste of $$. I would rather can apple sauce and use that as a sub for the oil. I have read you can use some dairy products (yogurt type) or vegetable puree as subs for oil but these subs are only seasonal.

 

My biggest concern is with a lack of dietary supplements ( greens and yellows) as well as proteins there are going to be heath issues in about 7 months or less. Lack of Vitamins and minerals will cause all sorts of imbalances and muscle loss. Sugar will have negative effects on the body's fat stores, and will accelerate rapid loss or essential fat reserves! Lack of proteins and minerals will cause bone loss and blood issues! This "Starvation Diet" will do you little favor, and the money spent could have been invested better in canned goods and long shelf life pre packages foodstuffs!

 

Being LDS myself I would recognize the interior of an LDS chapel anywhere!! I really get discouraged when I see other church members perpetuate the minimum life sustaining effort. If you read further down you'll see what else you can have IF you add other items.

That said...something tends to be always better than nothing.

 

I don't think any sensible person would consider the OP ration scheme to be a total, sustainable diet. What it does represent is a useful, affordable core from which to supplement with food that is grown, hunted, fished or foraged. It provides for basic nutritional requirements that are portable, have a long shelf life, don't take up much storage room and doesn't require refrigeration. Together with a kitchen garden, an orchard, a milking cow or goats, and some small livestock, (poultry, rabbits), with the OP ration plan, a family will be doing much better than the unprepared.

Edit: Although the ingredients in the OP plan have quite a long lifespan, it makes sense to have a rotation plan so that items get rotated into regular meal preparation, and replaced with fresher items. If necessary donate to family or charity at about 75%-80% mark of the expected life span.

For instance, with the oil...plan on rotating into storage stock one new bottle of cooking oil a month, and take one out of storage for day - day cooking use. That way the whole stock of oil doesn't become unusable at pretty much the same time. Keeping your long storage preps in a cool and dry storage (with little temperature variation) environment will help in getting the maximum out of the stock's shelf life.

 

We started originally with beans and rice. We had our pantry with limited amounts of flavorings (spices, canned goods, etc) and assumed we would be able to supplement with fish, animal protein and wild fruits and veggies. 30 years later, we have a wide variety along with seeds for gardens, paper goods and every little "goodie" that we ran across over the years to make a better life. You must start somewhere.

As long as people don't get what is shown and think that is all they need to do, I don't see it as a negative. Yes, I would hate to live on that for a year...but I would rather see a person with that as a base than see them with noting at all or (the common suggestion for starting to prep) a pantry with a few weeks extras of the food they normally eat.

JMO/YMMV.

 

Get rid of the oil but you have to replace its fat and the calories. You can always use the rancid oils to make lamps. As mentioned, this is the basics. It will keep you alive with the proper mix of protein, carbohydrates, fat and fiber. It's simply a starting point to build on. The Mormans have been doing this for a long time.

 

Sub out the Veg oils with Olive oil, Add Beans, add dried Veggies, swap out half the sugar with good rice and you have a better set up! I would add honey and powdered milk, and this would start looking much better!

 

Grain that can be sprouted gives about three times the food value, plus vitamins.

When diets get too boring, people often stop eating enough to maintain their health. Especially kids.

Ten pounds of hard-core spices can be worth much more than another ten pounds of rice by month 1.5.

Comfort foods are mandatory to maintain morale. They are well worth the weight/space/cost because they provide emotional stability during times of stress.

Every meal in a "survival store" should contain 1500 calories. That's because in a survival situation 3000 calories a day or more can be expended very easily. If you can get by on fewer calories, your store of food last longer. Win-win.

You must eat well to maintain your ability to think well. Hungry people make bad decisions.

Oils (fats) are mandatory, too. Without them you can die of "rabbit starvation" in a surprisingly short time.
See: Protein poisoning - Wikipedia

Good old-fashioned lard is cheap, easy to make, and hard to beat.

 

Then you have people like me, who can eat 3000 calories on a pre-SHTF workload.

 

Just in case: A manual of home preparedness by Barbara G Salsbury (1975-08-01)
by Barbara G Salsbury Bookcraft

In this book Ms. Salsbury has hundreds of recipes using, wheat, milk, salt, cooking oil and honey as the primary ingredients. Wheat is used to make bulger for protean and so on.

Add cornmeal, rice, beans (black, navy, red), oats and lentils to balance out the wheat (not all one grain). Some canned meats (SPAM!, canned beef, pulled pork, etc) and spices. In reading the book, I assume that the author believed the reader would have some kind of starter already at hand. Basic foods are only boring if you lack the imagination (and cookbooks) to serve many dishes.

Wheat = flour = bread, pancakes, fry bread, tortillas and so on.....

I agree that dried veggies are good, but we look to sprouts for the 'greens' so needed in a good diet.

YMMV, but as was said before, build a core and then fill in any gaps as time, $ and space allow.

 

If you have decent neighbors in an agricultural community, in hard times you might be able to trade some of those basic rations for meat or fish, and fruits/veggies. Stress the word DECENT.

One of my must have pantry items is tomato paste. I like to get some water to boiling, add herbs/spices, boil noodles, then when they're almost done cooking, add a small can of tomato paste, so it is not too thick or thin, and if you have meatballs and cheese and mushrooms, you can add them as well for one pot spaghetti. I also make one pot alfredo, make the sauce extra thick, add water, bring to boiling, and add noodles.

As for oil, there are home oil presses available for around $160. I want one. If we didn't have access to any dairy products, I'd be using homemade oil in place of butter for cooking on the stove.

 

I would not swap anything in the original stockpile for dried vegetables. Most have few calories which are required to fuel the body. That's why they are diet food. Molasses I agree with and also honey. However, that raises the cost, and that's the point of the original stockpile; one year for $225. If money is not an object, then a one year gourmet mix could be designed. I would like to see other stockpiles which cost the same and would be more nutritious than this one. I buy for 32 people and have 5 tons stored and I can't do it. I would love to know a better way.

 

I have never thought of cooking oil as something to burn in oil lamps. Cooking oil smokes at a hotter temp and tends to get sticky. Have you ever done it? I know that Crisco type grease is burnable but with cooking oil I envision a sticky smelly mess.

You are every correct and @Ganado is an expert at sprouting. I bought some wheat berries from a health food store. Age and processing unknown and tried to sprout them with no success but it was an experiment in my mind because I thought, if SHTF and I found mystery grains, let's see if I could get them to grown.

I agree with the molasses because I love it and will occasionally just eat a spoonful for a treat. Molasses adds more flavor then honey. I like to store peanut butter but it has a short shelf life, same with the new dehydrated peanut butter. The dehydrated stuff tastes good and you can mix with water or oil but it last about a year before the label says it is expired.

@VHestin tomato paste is great but the acidity is no thing to consider when storing in bulk. It tends to smell like the can if you keep it past the expiration dates.