Your Survival Food Pantry…

What's For Dinner?

First of all, assume that you have no electricity.

Also, assume that you have no gas if your cooktop or oven runs on natural gas.

What’s that smell?

The contents of your freezer and your refrigerator are going to be soon worthless (unless you have a generator). You will want to start out the first few days eating the refrigerated food and then the frozen food since it is going to be worthless after about 3 days. So, you are not going to be eating a lot of meat unless it is canned. 

TIP: You can keep your freezer and refrigerator cold the longest by keeping the door closed.  Get in and out very quick.  Also, get all the ice from your ice maker and put in coolers and put some refrigerated items in the cooler.  If it is cold outside, put the cooler outside…

After this initial period, you will be relying on the food stored in your survival pantry. As a start, you should try to prepare for at least one month where you can be 100% self-sufficient. Consider any close family or friends who may be less prepared and who might decide to come stay with you to weather the disaster.

(I’ll discuss Cooking in a post soon, for how we can still cook our food in an emergency situation without electricity or natural gas…)

One month is not really that long and many people could make it that long with almost nothing to eat as long as they had water. But we are planning in advance so we can be reasonably comfortable.

How Much Food Do You Need?

If you assume 2,000 calories per day per person x 30 days, this means you need about 60,000 calories per person for a month’s supply.

Items like rice, pasta, instant potatoes, pancakes, cereal, beans can supply a bunch of these calories fairly easily. Figure that about 60% of the calories will come from these items (1200 calories per day per person)

2 pound box of pasta has 1200 calories (about $2)
3.25 pound box of dry mashed potatoed contains 5000 calories (About $5)
5 pound bag of rice has 8000 calories (about $5)
2 pound box Complete pancake mix has 3200 calories (about $2)

There are of course many other options which are covered in Stocking Your Survival Pantry (available late Sept 2009) which will eliminate all of the mystery…
So, if you are setting up for thirty days, you need for each person…

4 boxes Complete pancake mix ($10)
10 pounds rice ($10)
10 pounds assorted pasta ($10)
2 large boxes instant potatoes ($12)

then you are 60% towards your food needs for thirty days for under $50 a person… just buy things in sizes you will be able to use. Not army-sized cans…

This is carbs and calories mainly, we discuss proteins, fats and other important items in a later post and in our Survival Pantry ebook (available soon)…