home preparedness priorities

[wareagle69]

rick it doesn't take that much space to save a years worth of food take an 8 kilgram bag of rice(around 18 pounds sarge) how long to do think you can live on that take two of them in a five gallon bucket and lid now the same with beans two five gallon pails take up how much space? now if you are proficient in wild edibles and/or you live where you could grab a chicken or rabbit from the yard you can live a long time.

sarge 3600 calories per day minimun? thats alot for home preparedness i understand if your in the woods but not at home.
unless you are refering to twinkies then that would only be what two of them how many could you store then eh twinkie err i mean ric?

[Rick]

Well, I don't know. 36 pounds (that 16 kilograms, WE) is a LOT of danged rice but I don't know how long it would last me. I probably can last a couple of months on what I have. That's assuming the whole darned clan lands here. Rationing would be the law, I'm sure. And I don't know that I would ever want a year's worth of anything. I'd just like to know what guidelines are used.

I know the Mormons believe in one years supply so do they, for example, have some checklist that they use to determine what a year's supply is? I think it would be useful for folks to know. Even if you wanted to stock 30 days worth of food you could use that same list and just adjust it as necessary.

[wareagle69]

i was doing some plumbing at a guys house this summer went to the basement and saw his storage was i impresed turns out he is a mormon and in charge of food storage for his church, check out the bishops checklist they also have they benefit of haveing a like minded comunity to help.

[nell67]

Rick,here is a link for storage planning software per the latter day saints


http://www.permapak.net/freesoftware.htm

[Tony uk]

Nice link nell, Thanks

[Rick]

Well ain't that just cool. Thanks, Nell!

[Tony uk]

Well ain't that just cool. Thanks, Nell!

I know your realling meaining me when you say that its cool

[Rick]

Holy crap-a-moley. That calculator says I need 2392lbs of grains, 1480 lbs of vegetables, 202 lbs of oils and fat (hey, I'm already over that). 476lbs of sugars. Hmmmmmm. sugars.

[Tony uk]

Holy crap-a-moley. That calculator says I need 2392lbs of grains, 1480 lbs of vegetables, 202 lbs of oils and fat (hey, I'm already over that). 476lbs of sugars. Hmmmmmm. sugars.

Just take all the sugar

[crashdive123]

Wow! 477 lbs of Twinkies!

[Rick]

Sort of what I was thinking. I live on the two basic foods groups; sweets and preservatives.

[nell67]

You are welcome guys,LOL I haven't checked it out yet,but think I will forgo much of that sugar,a moment on the lips,forever on the...well you know

[Rick]

Gads....my mind is reeling......

[Tony uk]

You are welcome guys,LOL I haven't checked it out yet,but think I will forgo much of that sugar,a moment on the lips,forever on the...well you know

Tell Us nell, People (Okay, Okay ME) are to stupid to figure it out

[BraggSurvivor]

After thinking about your post for a bit I have a couple of questions for you. A year is a long time and feeding six people for that year would be a fairly intense undertaking if you had to do so by being self sufficient. I was wondering:

1. How did you determine what your needs were?
2. Did you utilize some standing guidelines to acquire that much food?
3. Do you have some specific location, like an oversized pantry, where you store your food?

That just seems like a LOT of food and nearly a full time job trying to maintain inventory and rotating your supplies.

First I'd like to mention that I'm not Mormon. Years ago when I owned a fire/flood restoration company, I was asked to mitigate losses for a family of Mormons after they had a fire in their home (teenage son smoking a reefer in the garage). I was completely astounded to see the food cache they had accumulated. For me the light went on and put their practices and ideas to use for my family.

We accumulated all our food storage a little at a time. Week by week and honestly alot of trial and error took place. Now we have very little waste as my wife rotates every week. We have it to the point now where she basically shops from our own supplies. If she needs something, she takes from our "supermarket" and replaces next time shes in the city. Rule of thumb: store what you usually eat.

We took inventory in August 07 and I believe if we had to replace what we have accumulated, I estimated the value at over 20K (not including meat). Buy on sale and in case lots.

Over the years we have had to add to space required to store all these supplies. I have rooms in the barn (long term storage), a 20' L X 10' H walls of shelves in the quonset (canning and preserves) and one whole wall in the garage dedicated to short term every day supplies. In the garage alone we have 2 tons of food supplies.

We always have 2 Black/Red Angus 4H steers in the paddock and butcher in the spring. I put one in our freezer and butcher the other to give to single mothers in need at the local churches. We always have laying hens (heritage breeds) that produce all the eggs we can eat. My kids make money selling eggs to neighbors and always have money in their pockets. I have a breeding pair of Large Blacks heritage pigs that can handle our cold winters and produce all the pork my family and neighbors can eat. I butchered our milk goat last fall as she had 1 bad teat and failed to produce proper milk quota and we will get another preg in the spring.
We fill two large freezers and one small standup freezer with homegrown meat each year.

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Cheers,

[Rick]

Thanks for the info and pics. I do appreciate it. I have an area in the garage as well that we use for day to day supplies as well as a decent sized pantry and I buy by the case on the most used items like tomato sauce/paste or some can goods. I don't keep nearly that much protein on hand but then I'm not feeding four kids either.

We had a good deal several years back. A local packing plant slaughtered pigs for a pharmaceutical company that only wanted the livers so if you bought half a beef they would give you half a pig (minus the liver) at no additional charge. Sweet deal until the pharmaceutical company got bought out and the practice stopped. I had three kids at home then, too.

[nell67]

Holy crap-a-moley. That calculator says I need 2392lbs of grains, 1480 lbs of vegetables, 202 lbs of oils and fat (hey, I'm already over that). 476lbs of sugars. Hmmmmmm. sugars.

It only calls for 180 lbs of sugars for me,LOL still alot of sugar

[Rick]

At the risk of repeating myself....Hmmmmmmm. Sugars.

[Tony uk]

Mmmmmmmmm Chcocolate

[bulrush]

9. Buy - Physical gold and silver.

To me, gold and silver are useless. If food is scarce, no one will sell it anyway, and you can't eat gold and silver.

Here's my list of important stuff I use for power outages, in no particular order:

- Positive attitude. Probably one of the most important things to have. A "I'm gonna die!" attitude will destroy a whole group of people quickly. I have a "no problem" attitude. If I don't have it, I can make it or hunt it. If I can't make it or hunt it, I don't need it.

- I have plenty of water containers (covered to prevent dust and bacteria getting into them, filled if I suspect a power outage is imminent) for holding water. Dirty water can be collected and used to flush the toilet. "If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down."

- I have several LED flashlights. They are super power savers and the batteries last a long time. I don't use the flashlights unless I have to. I also have several candles to provide just enough light to walk around and not bump into things.

- Disposable lighter. When the fuel runs out, the spark can still like a cotton ball. Matches are nice too, if only for removing the odor from the pit toilet. A metal refillable lighter ($20) is easier to change the flint on though, and can carry cotton balls inside it.

- Alcohol powered stove. I have actually used this camping and during a power outage. Works great, fuel easy to find normally.

- Hobo stove. Hobo stove is a tiny grill made from a metal coffee can. It is powered by burning small sticks. I have used it to boil water, as a test, and it works great.

- Canned food. Stuff that is easy to make or warm up over the alcohol stove. Beans, soups.

- Dry food. Noodles, crackers, dry beans, lentils, things like that.

- Soap for body and washing dishes. Preventing illness is a high priority.

- I also have a big pot for boiling water for drinking (if needed) or washing dishes.

- Knife. I only use this a little, even when camping, but when I need one I REALLY need one.

- I happen to have an outdoor fireplace. But no ready firewood nearby. Nearest park is about 1/2 mile walk.

More items for long-term survival situation:

- I have a pump water filter (real PITA) but it's there if I need it. I just made my own Berkey filter out of a candela I bought, and PVC. Have not tested it yet but cost was: $45 for candela and $25 for PVC and parts. Total $70. That beats $300 at most other places. My advice: buy a gravity filter, not a pump filter. It's a lot less work and worth it. Buy a big Berkey if you can afford it ($250-$300us).

- Paracord can be handy.

- Hammer and nails and scrap wood for building rabbit and squirrel traps would also be handy. No use shooting and alerting the neighbors you have food.

- Layers of clothing for cold water.

- Sleeping bag good to 0F.

- 1-2 wool blankets per person. You can always cut a slit in one and use it like a poncho. I did this and my and my son love it, we even fight over it.

- Plastic tarp. Tarps are stronger than just plastic and can be used as ground cloths or overhead shelters. Get tarps that have the reinforcing threads built into them. When plastic gets real cold, below freezing, it has a tendency to crack under stress. Tarps are a more flexible plastic below freezing.

- Candle lantern. Keeps the candle from blowing out during windy conditions (though it may flicker a lot.)

Since I am in Michigan, how materials react under 32 degrees is a big concern.

Things I do NOT recommend:

- A gun if you do not know how to use it.

- Boots from the mall. They are made of many pieces and leak like a seive. Most cannot be made waterproof either. Get your boots from a farm supply store, those are REAL boots. I have a pair of rubber boots with a felt liner. These are the warmest, driest boots I have had in my life and were only $25 (not on sale). I love these boots. These boots have kept me toasty in -12F conditions (you boys in Alaska stop laughing).

- Pump water filter. If you can find a gravity filter, get one. If not, a pump filter will make do.

- A hatchet or saw for firewood. I cannot think why you would want to waste energy chopping wood unless all you can find is green wood (it's hard to break), and all you have is an indoor fireplace. An outdoor firepit can hold 12 foot logs with east. I simply break my firewood, no chopping for me.