Food Storage - Real Numbers

How much food do I need for my family and what will it cost.

The picture to the left represents one years worth of food for one person. It may seem like a lot but think about how much food you consume in a years time. There are 15 five gallon buckets holding a variety of dried foods that will provide a baseline 1800 calorie per day diet.

This diet will be supplemented with fresh game provided by hunting and fishing...note the .22 and fishing gear. As well as hunting/field dressing manuals, beer brewing/wine making equipment, chainsaw to supply the wood stove and 30 twelve packs of ramen noodles although not all are shown. Food cost of roughly $300 all gathered at WalMart.

Note that there are no expensive #10 cans of various high end survival preps. For your basic bulk needs #10 cans are not cost effective. When you start to refine and specialize the food stocks then #10 cans of dried fruits, powdered cheese and possibly powdered eggs are warranted but the basics should be purchased first and from local grocery supplier. These are foods that need colorful menu planning and preparation experience to be fully appreciated.

I have a couple of years of food already stored with plenty of spices and bullets. This batch will be added to the existing supplies and work will begin on the next set of buckets. Each additional set of 15 I add different types of products increasing the variety of foods available. On the buckets that are being actively consumed I use omega lids. These are fancy screw top lids that are resealable. If you can afford it all your buckets could be outfitted with these handy items. Be sure to label you buckets on the top and side with the product and date stored.

One five gallon bucket holds 80 cups of dry stock.

How many many cups of each product are needed yearly to meet the 1800 calorie daily baseline.

For instance you decided that you need one cup of white rice per day either at lunch or dinner, this is 650 calories or about 1/3 of your daily intake. It works out to roughly 365 cups or 4.5 five gallon buckets worth of white rice. Now round the amount up to 5 five gallon buckets. Simple

Decide what dry products your family will eat and how many cups a day are needed. Once you have the number of cups just convert it into buckets. I usually round up, this give me some padding and possibly product to barter with.

How many pounds of each dry product are needed to fill a five gallon bucket.

These numbers are very close to true but might vary slightly depending on the brand and size of the product being stored.

Brown Rice
32 pounds per five gallon bucket
670 calories per dry cup

White Rice
3o pounds per five gallon bucket
650 calories per dry cup

Pinto Beans
32 pounds per five gallon bucket
620 calories per dry cup

Elbow Macaroni Small
21 pounds per five gallon bucket
420 calories per dry cup

Quaker Oats
12 pounds per five gallon bucket
300 calories per dry cup

Lima Beans Large
30 pounds per five gallon bucket
600 calories per dry cup

Black Beans
32 pounds per five gallon bucket
620 calories per dry cup

Pancake Mix
20 pounds per five gallon bucket
420 calories per dry cup (6 midsized pancakes)

Ramen Noodles
3 twelve packs taped together store like one 5 gallons bucket
380 calories per brick

White Flour (with 26 packs yeast)
20 - 25 pounds per five gallon bucket (26 loafs at 14 slices per loaf is 364 slices)
440 calories per 4 slices

Note that if you go to WalMart and buy 63 pounds of elbow macaroni the clerks will ask questions. Have a clever lie ready before hand. I tell them I am preparing meals at a church camp...they smile and nod approvingly.

I am not giving exact costs because they vary regionally and are increasing rapidly.

If you found this article useful check out the other two entries in this series.

Food Storage - Why Do It
Food Storage - Three Plans

Wine Making

Well it's more like a hooch.

Here is the super secret recipe for Bear Ridge Blue.

Take one gallon of Ocean Spray Cranberry/Blueberry drink. Heat to boiling and add 2 cups of white sugar. Pour into the fermenting carboy and let cool to room temperature. Add one half tea spoon of regular baking yeast and cap with an airlock. Let the stuff sit for about a month then drink.

The sweet tasting wine will knock you on your butt.

This recipe is very close to prison toilet hooch but I use real yeast instead of moldy bread and a clean carboy in place of the toilet bowl. It the little things that make all the difference.

Bear Ridge Brewery

It was not the plan to make a dark beer but hey we got one.

Bear Ridge Black is our latest offering. This is a hardy dark beer with a robust swarthy aroma that stimulates the senses and enslaves the soul. The bubbles rising through the dark ale reminds one of stars filling a moonless mountain night. Best enjoyed on cold winter evenings in front of a roaring fire curled up with your partner naked on a bear skin rug.

If you prefer your beer light, Bear Ridge Morning Wood is an airy light brew whose fragrance and color reminds one of sunlight dancing across a dew covered stack of mountain pine at your local lumber yard. This energized lager can take the edge off the most difficult roofing project or lubricate the social wheels of any outdoor occasion, especially camp outings and rugby matches. It should be enjoyed in jeans and work boots…shirts are optional. This was previously brewed under the name Bear Ridge Bush Beer.

Bear Ridge Bush Beer

This is a good starter beer recipe, simple and inexpensive.

2 5 gallon buckets with lids and air locks (home brew store)
1 3 lbs can of hops flavored malt syrup (home brew store)
4 lbs cane sugar
1 pack of beer yeast (bakers yeast will work but beer yeast settles better)
5 gallons of water

Boil malt, 4 Lbs. sugar and 3 gallons of water for 30 minutes, cool slightly, then pour into a sterilized food grade plastic bucket marked at the 5-gallon level. Add cool water to the 5-gallon mark, cover with a plastic trash bag secured with rubber bands. When cooled to room temperature, add yeast cover with bucket lid that has air lock and let it work until only a few bubbles are breaking the surface (about 5 days at room temperature.)

Next, siphon your beer into another sterilized bucket, leaving the gunk (lees) that's settled to the bottom behind. Cover with air locked lid and let settle for about 3 days and bubbling has ceased. Your beer is now flat and ready to bottle, except that you must add 1/4 cup of sugar per gallon so it will carbonate in the bottle. Do this by dissolving 1-1/4 cup of sugar in about a quart of boiling water and pouring it into a sterilized bucket (first bucket), then siphon the beer into it carefully to leave the gunk (lees) behind again, mix and bottle. Let beer set for 10 days then enjoy.

Regarding bottle strength, use only bottles that require a bottle opener to remove the cap. Bottles with twist-off caps are thinner and prone to explosion, or use the 2-liter plastic containers. You should buy new caps and a capper from a home brew store. 5 gallons of beer makes 54-12 oz bottles or around 28-22 oz bottles. I use 22 oz bottles.

This was a good first beer. I use glass carboys now instead of buckets and have adjusted the recipe slightly. I would recommend buying new bottles at a home brew store. Next big step is to try brewing with the malt seeds instead of malt syrup. I will include pictures in the next few days.

Bread, Beans, Bullets and Booze

As the American economy and the dollar continue their downward spiral and mass inflation and unemployment loom on the horizon skills will be needed that are not based on current monetary methodologies. After reviewing problems encountered during my stays at Bear Ridge, I have come up with a list of four basic skill sets necessary to survive in a trade-based economy.

The Four Basics are Bread, Beans, Bullets, and Booze.

Bread is pretty evident. The ability to make various breads from scratch is a valuable commodity. Freshly baked bread are sold at farmers markets or traded for goods and services. Everyone should stockpile several five gallon buckets of flour and as much yeast as possible. The flour will keep for several years in a sealed bucket and most yeast has at least a 3-year shelf life. Learn how to bake bread in a propane, solar and wood-fired oven. A great additional skill is building solar and wood-fired ovens.

Beans are actually meant to represent all gardening and vegetables. Learn how to grow various plants under different conditions. A large diverse garden planted in the summer will give you plenty of nutritious food for trading or canning. Buy a large canning pressure cooker with jars and preserve your vegetables for winter. Seeds should be purchased now and stored in a cool dry container, buy a lot of them. Try planting a few of your favorites each week over the fall and winter and grow them in a south facing window. You will gain experience growing the plants and have fresh vegetables every week. Additionally decide on a few beans you like and buy them dry from your local store. Fill several five-gallon buckets with these and throw in a couple of buckets of dried rice. This reserve of food holds you over until the garden is producing.

Bullets are for hunting and protection. At minimum, every household should have a 22 rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun. The rifle can be used on small game and for target practice. The 22 is not a large gun and the bullets are incredibly cheap and can be purchased in bulk cans. Nothing beats a shotgun for protection, great accuracy is not needed and the weapon itself is very intimidating. Buy plenty of shotgun shells and a reloading kit. The reloading kit saves money and gives you a valuable skill useful in trade.

Booze is certainly the most valuable commodity know to man. The ability to brew a fine beer or vint a robust wine gives the artisan a distinct advantage. Alcohol based beverages are easy to produce and can be sold or traded for just about anything. Learn and understand the fermenting process. Stockpile malt, sugar, brewers yeast, hops and bottles. Home brew beer usually is made in 5-gallon quantities; purchase a brew kit if possible. People in a depressed society look for an escape. The person furnishing that escape becomes invaluable to that society.

This certainly does not cover everything but it is my starting point. This journal is dedicated to developing the above skill and sharing lessons learned. Let me know what you think or anything I should add.