[KillTheHumans]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnDenver', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seahorse2', 'P')up,

Does this peak Wal-Mart in 2006 still stand?

[seahorse]

Based on all the naysayers, I'm modifying this original post to make a challenge. Here's the challenge. Get a $500 budget and tell people exactly what to buy, in what quanties, give the storage life, and it has to involve no storage preparation, meaning, a person stores it as it is bought. Why did I choose $500? Because most people have $500 credit card limits, many municipal employees I know get a $500 X-Mas bonus, and the last government rebate averaged $600. So, that's our budget.

The purpose of this thread is to give people an actual plan, within a budget, that any urbanite (who can't have farm animals or garden) can buy at any store and stock it away until a rainy day. No canning! This has to be simple for boiled frogs to jump out of the mental frying pan that they don't have the money or know how to take action.

I've done my best to come up with a one year food supply, that is long lasting (at least two years), on the cheap, which provides the minimum caloric intake of an adult to survive - SURVIVE NOT THRIVE, for under $500. Here it is:

Breakfast - one serving of oatmeal, 150 calories; with one tablespoon of honey on it (60 calories), and A one a day vitamin;

Lunch - one peanut butter sandwhich, which is 2 table spoons of peanut butter (380 calories) and two pieces of wheat bread (140 calories);

Dinner - package of Ramen noodles, 2 servings per package (total 380 calories);

Rice, beans not included in this daily meal plan, but are on the shopping list (quantity to buy listed later).

Total daily calories = 768 (excluding rice, beans)

GO TO BED HUNGRY, BUT ALIVE, SUPPLEMENT WHAT YOU CAN FROM WHERE YOU CAN.

Now, how much does it take and cost:

1. Peanut butter - Jar of peanut butter, (30 servings), $3 per month x 12 months total of $36;
*peanut butter has 2 year shelf life
2. Honey - 5 lb bottle, $9 per bottle, 108 servings per bottle, 4 bottles per year for total of $36;
*honey has indefinite shelf life
3. Bread - 3 loaves per month x $2 per loaf = $6 per month x 12 months = $72.
*I recommend buying bread as you need it, set the money aside to buy as needed
4. Ramen noodles - 12 packs per case, one pack is 380 calories at less than .20 per pack. One pack per day = $4 per month x 12 months = $36 per year. Ramen noodles have at least 2 year shelf life.
5. 300 pack daily vitamin, $15
6. 50lb bag of rice ($30);
7. $50lb bag beans ($30);

Total costs $295.


With the remaining $200, Throw in some spam, and some type of canned fish. It is cheap and last indefinitely.

[Precipice]

$220....assuming no significant inflation/hyperinflation in the near future?

[Fishman]

Not bad seahorse. I was thinking crackers would have a fair shelf life instead of the bread. Cornmeal for polenta and a bottle of vegetable oil woul dramaticly increase the calories for a little bit more dollar wise. Oatmeal is high on my survival supplies with fiber, as is the peanut butter, lots of fat calories, long shelf life.

[dunewalker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seahorse', ' ') *I recommend buying bread as you need it, set the money aside to buy as needed

[vision-master]

That sounds like my diet right now.

[Tyler_JC]

768 calories a day? That's starvation.

Double all of your figures in order to get something survivable.

[seahorse]

I really don't care where people buy their food, I merely used Wal-Mart as an example one doesn't have to buy high dollar freeze dried stuff, because they think they can't afford to buy long lasting, good food, that you can survive on. So, but it whereever it is cheapest.

There are two points to this thread: (1) a year supply of food is affordable necessity and good insurance in the tough times we will be facing; (2) most people have never sat down and try to think how much food it would take to survive on. This thread is only to get people thinking and hopefully acting. This is a starting place, but don't wait too long. Start doing something.

I also advocate adding rice and bags of dry beans. They are still cheap and last a long, long time. I just checked yesterday, and a 50lb bag of rice at Sams was about $20, so, it should be added to the list. I didn't price the bags of dry beans, but they should be added also. One could easily add those two additions, keep in within $300, and significantly add to the caloric intake. Throw in some spam if you have another $100 to spare. It is cheap and last indefinitely.

[DomusAlbion]

You will die on that diet. There are not enough calories there to maintain normal weight. And where will you get the fresh bread for your lunch? You can't store a years supply.

Rethink this.

Addendum after reading your next post.

Beans, rice, peanut butter, oat groats and wheat kernals will get one through, but you'll need a grinder for the oats and wheat. I think a more realistic budget would be $800 for one person for one year.

[Lumpy]

This link (below) looks a little cheesy when you open it. But the caloric numbers are based on FDA figures.

http://www.dietbites.com/Pyramid-Diet/c ... index.html

At 768 calories a day, any one would begin to lose weight immediately. First fat (if any), then muscle wasting. Weakness, of course, would follow on -- and it would be impossible to take care of such important matters as raising one's own food ... like the veggies that are missing from the diet you mapped out.

(I presume you are talking of buying up a lot of bread and freezing it.)

And you'd better find some more sources of protein and vitamins/minerals .

At the end of of year on your diet, you would be wasting away (literally), plus suffering from a multitude of deficiency-related problems.

Not a good plan, my friend. No disrespect intended.

Lumpy

[patience]

I put some cheap cooking ideas in the "Guidance from GD" thread. Cornmeal formed a big part of the diet in the 30's, and cornbread has a lot more food value than store bread, besides being dirt cheap. Lots of biscuits and gravy served back then, too, for precious little money.

edit: I like the grinder as an aid here. Corn is going for about $4 a bushel (56 lbs.) right now, and wheat is around $6 to $8 a bushel (60 lbs.) bought at the farm feed mill as whole grains. If you can grind these to make flour and meal, you are well on your way to having a cheap diet, with the benefit of all those B vitamins in whole wheat that are missing in store bread.

As a side note, I think I read that the 4 staples the Mormons store are wheat, honey, salt and powdered milk. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. Those folks have been doing this for a long time. I have a book, "Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook" by Peggy Layton, with quantities and recipes that I highly reccomend, from Amazon, I think. The author is from Utah, and could be Mormon, I don't know. Best book I've found on the subject.

[skyemoor]

Frugal, most assuredly, but let's look at some of the aspects;

- 1800 calorie diets abound that help people lose weight. This diet is 768 calories. If a person is morbidly obese, they might live through 8-12 months on this diet, but someone of ideal weight will likely be too weak to work in a few weeks, if that long.

- Healthy fats are important; peanuts have a 5000 to 1 ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3, though an ideal ratio is 4 to 1. Ratios in excess of this 4 to 1 lead to depression and inflammation.

- There is no complete protein in this diet. Peanuts lack lysine, for starters.

- Such a lack of variety in the diet would bring on appetite fatigue, where people would start skipping meals rather than eat the same thing over and over. People can actually starve themselves to death this way.

[seahorse]

Well Lumpy and the rest of the detractors, until you have better advice for what a person can and should buy for under $250, offer it. The negativity only reinforces the false notion that people can't afford to buy food and store it. So, my plan is better than your plan which is, nothing, at least yet.

So, go back and read my post - this is a starting point for people that don't believe they have the money or know how to store food. I gave examples of what to buy and where to buy it, so they would have no excuses. What do you offer people?

Further, you missed the part which said in bold SUPPLEMENT WHAT YOU CAN WHERE YOU CAN. Which, when a person is hungry, they will do anyway.

Now, for all you naysayers out there, how many rats have you trapped and eaten in the wild? Before you start lecturing me with your bullshit, you might consider the point of this thread which is to get people who aren't thinking and not doing anything because they either don't have the money or knowledge of where to start, and get them acting. Its trying to make boiled frogs jump out of their damn mental pans. So, why don't you offer something constructive? Make out a $300 dollar budget, tell them what to buy, the quantities, and where to buy it.

Further, for all you smart asses out there, you may also ask why I used under a $300 budget? Well, because lots of people have less than $500 credit limits on their credit cards and many municipal employees I know get about a $500 X-Mas bonus. So, there is ryme to the reason here. Now, offer something that people know and believe they can afford right now.

[dunewalker]

Ok, now I'm gonna defend old seahorse here. I'd interpret his diet list as a core survival ration. If possible it would be supplemented by fresh greens, wild or domestic, scrounging the roadsides, whatever it takes. But having this stash might enable a person in difficult times to sustain hope, energy and resolution to survive, as opposed to someone totally out of supplies in one week. Most here might be willing to admit that they have a few extra calories already stashed away "onboard" to supplement for awhile. Even a month or two of this "starvation diet" might just see us in fighting trim.

ps, I realize that to seahorse, Mall Wart might BE the local grocery...

[strider3700]

you're also seriously lacking in vitamins and minerals. A garden can supplement this relatively easily. Add some back yard chickens to supply eggs and a bit of meat and you've got a reasonable diet.

Getting enough calories out a small yard/farm is going to be the difficult part. Having enough bulk calories to survive stored in a closet will go a long way towards keeping someone alive.

I would double your amounts though, In the grand scheme of things $500 is nothing when it comes to food bills.

[PrestonSturges]

3 cases of canning jars will hold:

25 lb of rice and 9 lbs rolled oats http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/naviga ... tem=193531
and probably another 10 lbs of lentils.

I guessing these will keep 10-20 years in jars.

Add a gallon of corn oil, and yes the 2 cases of ramen noodles.

You will need the oil to supply calories because there will be much work to be done.

That's a couple months of food for $50.

The canning jars will be another $35, but you will be able to use or resell them.

Other bargains - 5 lb sacs of buttermilk pancake nix, some large cans of baked beans. You need some corn products in there also.

[Sixstrings]

Nice post, Seahorse. Good to remind folks they really don't have to put down all that money for the fancy 30 year space food.

For bread, I'd suggest folks learn to make their own. It's actually very simple. I'm not sure how long yeast would last long term, but making a sourdough starter is easier than people think.

Other staples others have mentioned would be rice, dry beans.. veggie oil is important (I think someone said peanut oil lasts the longest?).

But ya, if people want a cheap and simple food kit, peanut butter and ramen would work great.

You'd probably want to have a supply of multivitamins as well, so your body doesn't get low on potassium and such.

[Fishman]

Seahorse
Though we frequently differ on politics I think this is an excellent thread. Perhaps a few cans of jack mackeral for the omega 3 fatty acids, a cheap bottle of vitamins. I would have to agree with the bread concerns, not a storable item. Boxed quick oatmeal has a shelf life of at least two years, much cheaper than the instant. Its cheap, I would recommend a doubling of your amount

[seahorse]

Okay, here's the challenge. Get a $500 budget and tell people exactly what to buy, in what quanties, give the storage life, and it has to involve no storage preparation, meaning, a person stores it as it is bought.

The purpose of this thread is to give people an actual plan, within a budget, that any urbanite (who can't have farm animals or garden) can buy at any store and stock it away until a rainy day. No canning! This has to be simple for boiled frogs to jump.

[PrestonSturges]

Every survival minded person should have a heap of rat traps. Rats aren't going away any time soon and are likely to be more abundant. A couple bigger traps and snares would be needed to control the raccoons, rabbits, and possums.