Anyone who has even looked at prepping whatsoever knows that prepping is an expensive addition to our lives. This is one of the biggest excuses people give for not getting into prepping. Food is expensive and many people have trouble paying their grocery bill now, let alone with adding money for stockpiling extra food for an emergency.
Part of that problem is that they think of emergency food stockpiling just like they think of buying their normal groceries. But that’s not realistic; not only from a cost point of view. We mostly buy fresh, frozen and junk food for our families.
The fresh and frozen food won’t survive without refrigeration and the junk food is the last thing we need to be eating at a time when our diets are restricted.
Related: How To Preserve Your Whole Harvest Without Refrigeration
An emergency survival stockpile for eating when everything goes to pot needs to be considerably different than what we include in our daily fare.
There are some authors who have written that we should stockpile the same foods our families are accustomed to eating. Obviously, those authors haven’t thought things through or they never would have said that. Those who know what they are talking about prescribe a totally different diet for survival.
Just What Is A Survival Diet?
We’re all used to hearing about the “ideal” 2,000 calorie per day diet, which for most people is actually more like 2,500 to 3,000 calories per day. Back in elementary school we were taught that, along with the “food pyramid” that’s supposed to make sure that we get the right nutrients in our diets. Yet most people don’t actually eat like that, even while paying lip service to those ideals.
Please note that such a diet is not a survival diet by any means. First of all, we don’t need a full 2,000 calories a day to survive, let along eating 2,500 calories. For survival purposes, 1,300 to 1,400 calories is a good number to figure on. In more extreme cases, as food starts running out, that number can be dropped to 1,100 or 1,200. But 1,400 is a good starting point for building a stockpile.
Now, Just How Do We Break Those 1,500 Calories Up?
If you talk to a nutritionist or read anything about nutrition today, you’re going to read a lot about micronutrients; things like antioxidants and Omega-3 fatty acids. The assumption seems to be that we’re all getting plenty of the macronutrients, so they focus on these things, as they are reportedly necessary to maintain our health.
But what if we’re not getting enough of the macronutrients? If we’re talking survival, aren’t they going to be the things that we need to focus on?
The answer to that rather simple question is a resounding yes. We can actually survive just fine without all those micronutrients, just as long as we’re getting enough of the macronutrients.
That doesn’t mean we want to live on a macronutrient diet forever; but survival has to come before maximizing our diet for best health. Besides, what those nutritionists believe today will probably change in a few years, just like it has, many times before.
So, What Are These Macronutrients And How Much Of Them Do We Need?
- Carbohydrates – Our body’s main source of energy. Saliva starts the digestion process, breaking carbohydrates down into simple sugar, which our muscles then use to power movement. Fifty to 60 percent of our caloric intake needs to be carbohydrates in a survival situation.
- Fats – Fats are also broken down by our digestive system into simple sugars, but the process is much slower. This is advantageous, as the combination of carbohydrates and fats gives our bodies a one-two punch of energy. When we run our of energy from the carbohydrates, the energy from the fats is just starting to arrive. Our survival diet should include 30 to 35 percent fats.
- Protein – Proteins are the basic building blocks of life, necessary for the forming of new cells. Since our bodies are always producing new cells, there’s always a need for protein. If we don’t get enough protein in our diet, then our bodies are forced to cannibalize healthy cells to get that protein; a very inefficient process. We need 10 to 15 percent of our survival diet to be proteins, if we can get it.
Everything else is secondary to these three macronutrients in a survival situation.
Buying That $100 Stockpile
I don’t care how you cut it; $100 isn’t a whole lot to spend on a three month food supply. With that being all we have to work with, that means a very limited diet. But we’re talking survival here, so we need to be sure that we think in those terms, not in having what we want to eat.
Eating two meals a day, for three months we’re talking about 182 meals. So whatever we do, it has to be able to provide that many servings. I’d recommend buying in bulk quantities at Sam’s Club or Costco to make that $100 go as far as it can. Based on the prices shown on the Sam’s Club website, I’ve been able to come up with a diet that will work for three months, sticking to that $100 price tag.
Related: $100 Walmart Prepper Food Run
It’s not a very appetizing diet, but it will provide enough to keep alive. Keep in mind that we’re talking a stockpile for one person here. It would be necessary to multiply this by however many people are being fed.
The Basic Menu Consists Of
- Rice & Beans
- Pan Bread with Peanut Butter
Let’s look at how that breaks down:
- Rice – buy a 50 lb for $17.54 – that gives you 400 servings at 206 calories; eat two servings per meal
- Pinto beans – buy a 50 lbs for $30.72 – that gives you 600 servings at 42 calories; eat three servings per meal – pinto beans are a great source of proteins
- Cooking oil – buy two 2-packs totaling 3 gal for $20.76 – that gives you 384 servings at 124 calories; giving us enough for two servings per meal, used mostly in making the pan bread
- Flour – buy 2 25 lb. bags for $15.46 – that gives you 225 cups at 455 calories; eat one per meal, with peanut butter on it. The peanut butter is a great source of protein and fats
In addition, we need to buy:
- Baking powder – $4.98
- Salt – $1.52
- Peanut butter – 2 pack of 40 oz jars for $6.52 – that’s 188 calories per serving, once per day
Total cost for that shopping trip is $97.50, leaving $2.50 to splurge on something you like; maybe a pack of gum. But you’ll probably have to buy it elsewhere, as Sam’s is only going to have huge packs that will cost more than that $2.50.
What If You Had More Than $100?
While this proves that a basic stockpile of food to survive three months can be purchased for $100, I don’t think anyone would really want to live on it.
Related: The SHTF Diet: Minimum Food And Water Supply For 3 Months
Some people might even go so far as to say they’d rather die than try to live on that diet; but I’m not so sure they’d follow through with that, if they were stuck in the situation where that was all that was available to them. It’s amazing what people will eat when they are actually starving.
Nevertheless, this is an ideal starting point for someone just starting out as a prepper. Once that basic stockpile is built, then it can be added to, rounding out the diet with more variety, as well as tastier foods. Here’s what I would add to that, as my next stage if I had a bit more money to work with:
- Spices – to make the food taste better. Buying spices in restaurant sized containers, like they sell them at Sam’s Club, is much cheaper than buying them in the local supermarket.
- Beef and chicken bouillon – gives us the capability of turning our rice and beans into soup, along with any vegetables or meat that we can find, including road kill. Anything, with spaghetti sauce on it, tastes like spaghetti.
- Pasta and spaghetti sauce – who doesn’t like spaghetti?
- Powdered eggs and milk – allow the flour to be used for baking other types of breads
- Sugar – also for baking; sugar, like honey will keep forever in a sealed container
While those items are more expensive than our basics, they really aren’t expensive foods. More than anything, they are going to add to the flavor of our diets, although they will do little to increase the overall nutrition.
But if you’re anything like me, you’re not going to be satisfied with that. You’re going to want to go on with improving on your stockpile, as soon as you can.
What Else Should You Add For That $100 Stockpile?
- Jam or jelly – to go with the peanut butter
- More baking necessities – baking powder, baking soda, etc.
- Fruits (canned)
- Vegetables (canned)
- Canned meat (this one’s getting expensive) – there’s actually quite a variety available – tuna, salmon, chicken (which is pretty good), Spam, Vienna sausages, corned beef, corned beef hash
- Dried meat (even more expensive, but great for soups) – this can include both dehydrated and freeze-dried meats
- Honey – a better, healthier source of sugar, as well as being a good natural antibiotic
- Dried vegetables – do it yourself for putting in soups
- Coffee and/or tea
By now things have started getting a bit expensive; especially when you add in the meat. If you can, buy meat in bulk, such as buying a side of beef or an entire steer. Have it butchered and then start dehydrating it yourself.
Make sure that it is well stored to protect it and that it is dehydrated with a lot of salt. But properly stored, it should last well.
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While there is some truth in your article there are glaring lacks.
Vitamin C, many deficiency diseases here that will weaken and eventually kill you.
SCURVY being the most obvious. Skin sores that never heal, sort of a slow-motion leprosy teeth falling out and so on. Very bad. Immune system REQUIRES it for effective disease resistance in general. So, your ability to resist even a flu is in grave doubt.
If I was going for a beans and rice emergency diet (not a bad one BTW) I’d ADD A Good Multivitamin AND 500mg Vitamin C BEFORE I spent a dime on canned meats or such.
At least most deficiency diseases would be held at bay.
Starvation dieting, not recommended 0 stars. A snip: Your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is an estimate of how many calories you’d burn if you were to do nothing but rest for 24 hours. It represents the minimum amount of energy needed to keep your body functioning, including breathing and keeping your heart beating.
For most of us (I did mine just now) the Basal Rate JUST to keep the lights on is 1600 calories. Thats RESTING and waiting around. Not a calorie for even walking around looking out for trouble. There’s a REASON Military MRE’s are 1,250 calories on the average with THREE issued daily for troops.
When you account for the work needed to keep some firewood and security your starvation diet is close to 2K per day.
Two thumbs up! I would add vitamin D to that stock pile, for those of us who live/winter in the northern climates and as a prep just in case you find you can not venture outdoors for a length of time.
I read much of a book on scurvy that was written before people knew what caused scurvy. It was written by a British physician who tallied the medical status of quite a few ships that came into British ports. He noted how many sailors had scurvy or cholera and how many ended up hospitalized or dead. As this physician didn’t know what exactly caused the scurvy, he didn’t really know how his findings related. He did note that he found one ship captain who did not supply his sailors their daily allotment of rum to drink and those sailors were healthier than the rum supplied men. This captain, instead, gave his sailors wine and in a higher quantity than the usual rum allotment. His men did not end up dead or in the hospital like the rum drinking men.
I guess the lesson is that, even with a poor diet, if we don’t consume too much of something that is harsh on our system, we will do better.
Just go outside your door, collect pine needles and make a cup of tea. . .has lots of Vit C in it. Just read stories of early explorers and pioneers who “cured” themselves of scurvy with tea of pine needles and bark. how do you think the Native Americans survived . Jacques Cartier and his crew is just one story. There is a whole world of food and medicine outside our door. . . investigate!!
Good point Karen but be aware not all pine trees are safe to make pine needle tea from. Common names often confuse so research your trees.
These prices on rice and beans are no where near the actual prices where I live in swmo. Yes, you can prep on a budget.
The caloric intake for guests at the Nazi “work camps” (Arbeit Mach Frei) was 1500!calories. Except for Holocast deniers, the rest of us know how well that turned out for those guests. The same caloric daily intake was also the norm for guests of the Japanese Imperial Army. We know from pictures of those guests when they were checked out of their guest quarters by allied forces how well that worked out for those guests. In addition to scurvy and beri-beri, some had lost their eyesight due to poor neutrition.
Yes, you won’t starve to death in three months on 1800 calories a day but you will have loss of energy, diminished mental acuity and will be on the verge of vitamin deficiency pathologies.
Not every line needle will do for human consumption. There are some species that are toxic to humans, ponderosa pine is one. You absolutely must know what is edible and what is not if you are going to forage wild greens.
Additionally, wild greens, while providing needed vitamins are notoriously low on calories. We really were not meant to be herbivores, but omnivores. I know, vegans everywhere will condemn that statement. I posit after an EOTW event there will be no vegans nor vegetarians. We will revert to our original omnivore status or expire.
Good post with excellent historical facts for reference.
Personally, I look at 2,000-2,300 calories/day, just as a starting point, as it doesn’t take much work or activity to increase caloric requirements. Your comment on pine needles is a bullseye. Those people who are going to ‘forage’ for parts of their dietary needs need to ‘know’ exactly what they are picking or at least have a ‘very’ good idea as to what is or might be poisonous. Your last two sentences are absolutely true. When trying to survive, people will eat almost anything they have to in order to survive…and cannibalism can never be, entirely ruled out.
Cannibalism is not an option for disciplined Christians – so I encourage them even NOW to join me in avoiding McDonalds ( which does indeed process human flesh not utilized in adrenochrome “harvesting”)
Also:
Advisory to boycott food corporations: Kraft, Nestle, General Milks, Tropicana. Lipton, Quaker, and ALL gum manufacturers..
.because they DO add HEK 293 (Human Embryonic Kidney cells) for “enhanced flavoring”.?
KCC, while looking for something else, I came across an excellent article on calories per day and what nutritional aspects degrade over time.
https://issuu.com/usuextension/docs/food_storage_booklet2_49bc3ab844f0dc/s/10352735
Excuse the typos. Typing on the tiny cell phone keyboard and the light gray type make proofing a challenge.
LCC
Today, I too committed an inadvertent typo (General Milks…instead of General Mills)
At present there is no way to edit a text once posted on this website… and sometimes there is no way to respond to a response…
Am trusting responsible readers are able & willing to discern the intent of the writer…as well as overlook flaws inherent in persons and in our Inventions.
I, too, would welcome an “edit” button.
Left Coast Chuck,
So very happy to see ya back on line!! Was getting very worried Bout ya.
Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving and that you and your wife are doing well.
Peace to you and yours,
MadFab
I agree with Michael and LCC, 1400 to 1500 calories a day will work for a short amount of time, by 3 months you would be in sorry shape.
I also disagree with the authors statement , that we should not store what we eat now.
A serious and instant radical change in diet, along with the stress of an emergency, will send our bodies into a tailspin.
Constipation, diarrhea vomiting
and food fatigue will not help the situation. Plus we all need some comfort foods for morale.
Peace,
MadFab
I agree about comfort foods and a rapid change of diet, but I agree with the author that stocking food that will get you by for a few weeks is not a bad idea. I would rather eat beans and rice that I stored, than pull a Peter Pan scenario of eating imaginary food. People have stated in earlier posts to include multivitamins in your stockpile; it helps, but taking a multivitamin on an empty stomach has always made me nauseous. We all have our pet peeves about the articles we read, but remember, the author is writing about survival, not normalcy.
I know SHTF is coming, and I hope that I am adequately prepared to last at least 3 months with some level of comfort, but the comment “the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray” has been weighing heavy on my mind recently. I live in a rural area, and I believe FEMA or some other government agency already has plans to requisition stocks of food without proper compensation. Even if justly compensated, I can survive longer on stale beans and rice that I can on some worthless promissory note from a failed government.
I am a strange person. I like foods that most (young) people won’t even touch. I am purposefully stocking the less desirable foods so that maybe I will be one of the last locations raided. I have some brand name food, but most of it is no name/store brand. Lima beans, navy beans, corned beef, super spicy food, ramen noodles, and sardines are prominently displayed in my stash. The “good stuff” is not easily noticed. What I do have are some notebooks with survival suggestions that I can hand out to people. I figure that will give them a few more days of starvation time to get right with God.
Not so fast! Here in the big city, nutrient rich sardines are the breakfast choice of super models and super model want a be’s!
Just curious, what state are you in? Asking due to your fema comments..
City Chick..
When SHTF, my pinup posters will be Miss Piggy, Porky Pig, Ferdinand the Bull… maybe even Tweety, but the super models won’t be making any money from me.
Bridgette..
I am in Texas, but when they start taking stocks, it doesn’t matter where we are located, because someone will always believe their life, or compassion, is more important and they will force us to show compassion to those too lazy to prepare.
Prepper in Training:
Kippers are very tasty too!!!!
MadFab: Thanks for the kind thoughts. I use my MAC portable for internet cruising. The keyboard fits my fingers better. However Claude’s new format and my computer don’t agree. Claude’s website is the only one I experience problems with, so I know it is his format. I don’t know what it is with light grey type. I guess most programmers are twenty somethings with perfect eyesight but for us more mature types, tiny type in grey face militate against easy reading.
I agree with your statement. Inasmuch as I am the one responsible for our menu, it is surprising how quickly even your number one favorite meal becomes monotonous if you have it more than three times a week. That’s only 3 times out of 21.
When I was on Okinawa we had chicken in one form or another six meals out of 20. On Sundays the mess hall only served late breakfast and cold cuts for Sunday dinner. After two years on that, chicken was not high on my list of desirable meats.
C-rations were 3600 to 4000 calories per day with a very high protean and fat content. The MREs that I have run the same. That calorie content requires that you eat every morsel of your ration. Throw anything away and the calorie count drops. Those rations are intended for short term use, no more than two weeks. Longer will result in alimentary canal problems, usually constipation.
Even during the desperate days of the Battle of the Bulge, every effort was made to get a hot meal to the front line troops every couple of days.
For even the most prepared preppier, I think our days will be much like the Battle of the Bulge. True, here in SoCal and Red’s SoAz, we won’t have to worry about snowdrifts and frozen ground, but water will certainly be a constant source of concern and will assuredly involve significant effort.
Speaking of typos, Chuch (Chooch?) was Topcat’s little buddy in the Topcat cartoons. Anyone remember Topcat?
I don’t know anything about Macs but there must be a fairly convenient setting to change the type appearance. Or maybe not. I’ve been in conferences where everybody’s laptop has a different OS and Webpages look different in all of them, sometimes not even displaying fully.
I have noticed all my life that, as I get older and older and even older my caloric needs decrease significantly. As a beast of a young stud I ate 4-5 full meals a day washed down with a gallon of Bud and never gained an ounce. One thing and another, as a certified old man, fairly active outdoors, I have coffee for breakfast, something like a half cup of stir fried vegetables with 4 legged protein, then a chicken breast and herb dressed salad for dinner, and I’m 50 pounds overweight. No beer! It sucks, but makes it a lot easier to store survival rats. I think we must have evolved (or it could be God’s idea) so that, as old people got slow and fat and clumsy in the hunt they needed less food so it was a good trade to feed them in exchange for the cultural riches we have stored up in our grouchy old minds.
I have never seen protein powder(plain, not flavored) mentioned. I wonder if it’s useful to put it in oatmeal, or in soups or stews.
Kathyryn as long as you’re ok with GMO Soy Proteins go for it.
However be aware that some folks get kidney issues from over doing them.
Personally, as I go for a 2K calorie daily plan I seek out best price per Kilocalorie. White rice and dry beans are difficult to beat nutritionally and price. Both can be used to bulk up-thicken soups and stews.
This article describes my basic plan for the family, enough rice and beans for 5, for six months. With canned meats, fruit, and pasta thrown in. I do stock vitamins and even have a small bottle in my bug out bag.
If every household in the USA used their Joe Bidan check to buy $100 worth of rice and beans and followed it with $50 worth of extra food for every month, including a water filter, then the USA would be better prepared to weather any storm. Natural or man made.
Same with every house hold storing an extra 5-20 gallons of gas or diesel.
I have been prepping since 2008, so, I have learned what goes bad in storage and to avoid wasting food, I try to buy what I eat. I have learned not to buy big cans, because they end up going to waste. People simply do not want to eat a big can of corn all at once.
I actually like rice and beans, my family, not so much. So, I try growing Okra, Asparagus, and things they like. I think collard greens are a much under rated survival food, in Georgia they grow even during the winter.
When purchasing large bags of food, see if you can first get a little bag of the same brand to try out first. I purchased a big 25# or so, bag of rice. It is awful stuff. No matter how I cook it, it never gets soft. It has zero flavor – just not useful. In spite of the pull date being in range, it’s as though it is really old rice or that CCP rice made partially from plastic.
This article is great because it addresses all income levels. Following these instructions, even the most financially stretched person can set aside something. It might be nice to have all the well balanced and tasty foods but if just getting by for today is difficult, stocking up might be out of reach.
Hopefully, the person who has not been able to put aside higher quality foods can trade a skill set with someone who has an extra can of tuna or whatever.
Carbs are not a friend. At best, a supplement for a real diet. Yes, there’s a lot of people who depend on them for day to day meals, but look at them. India, average life expectancy is 48. Mexico, 56 but they eat a lot more animal fat.
Carbs cause a rush in the system. They force the body to produce a lot more insulin. It gives you a sugar rush and them what? This is why so many dieticians are recommending a keto or carnivore diet. It’s natural and what we’re meant to eat. There are people who have not eaten anything but fatty meat for years and are healthy. Carbs are for flavoring, and not a lot more. niio
I like my carbs Red. They are very satisfying and give me energy when I need it the most. I can’t imagine not having them as an important nutrient on the menu in my food supply.
City Chick, I love carbs, too, but my body works a lot better when they are an accent to the meal rather than the whole meal or star of the meal. I followed a high carb, low fat diet for many years, and while my taste buds loved it, my biochemistry did not.
I reluctantly switched to a lower carb, higher fat and protein diet. It took a long while for my taste buds to be happy about it, but took a much shorter time for my biochemistry.
A friend of mine is a vegan. When we get together and I eat what she eats (she is a marvellous cook), I don’t feel right. It’s not that the food isn’t tasty, but I feel logy. As soon as I add some animal protein or animal fat, I’m right as rain. The first time I really noticed it, I attributed it to the long drive I took to visit her, but subsequent visits produced the same results.
My personal opinion is that 99% of us function best as omnivores but finding the right mix so we can be at our best is different for everyone.
CC: Mind your body, I was always taught, and it will mind you. As said, I’m not arguing about this. If it suits you, go for it, but carbs do cause a sugar rush, and then nosedive. We get the same thing from carnosine in meat but the dive is long, slow, and not wrecking the system. Grain and sugar are not good for you. Eat fruit and sweet veggies, instead. When I make sun tea, it’s cut 50-50 with fruit juice. A lemon is quartered and dropped in each gallon of tea. The lemon tree, a Meyers, decided live was too much fun and is covered in blooms, oi niio
The writer makes some assumptions that aren’t true in my case. I make most of my meals from scratch. I use fresh and frozen foods often but also use canned or dehydrated foods as well.
The article talks about 1400 calories then goes on to say what 1500 calories a day looks like. I can live on either of those amounts but then again I’m not a big person. And some days I eat more, especially after strenuous physical activity.
I do like how he shows that you can use the $100 to put some aside. Beans and rice together make a complete protein and fats add to satiety.
I got a 20 lb bag of white rice recently. I prefer brown rice, but white rice stores longer. One serving is a 1/4 cup dry, and the 20 lb bag label said it contained 202 servings. Other brands of rice I’ve used show 59 servings in the 5 lb bags. So the 50 lb bag mentioned in the article would have 500 servings.
I would suggest having dried milk in the next tier of foods, if your body can handle dairy. Making a rice pudding would be something different from rice and beans.
I’d also suggest if people are going to stock very differently from how the currently eat, they should figure out now how they’re going to prepare those emergency foods and have a few practice runs.
I make it a point to check my grocery store’s mark down bin every time I go shopping. On one trip, I found vanilla beans half price. Using those and some vodka to make vanilla extract is cheaper than buying readymade. No not exactly a shtf item, but it’ll keep a long time and can add some to rice pudding.
Legumes like lentils and peas are also relatively inexpensive and filling.
Also the beans, rice, and other legumes can be ground into flour. Flax seed ground and doused in water becomes gelatinous and can work as an effective binder Helpful if you want to make pasta or egg noodles and haven’t any eggs.
Beans and rice can be stored for long periods, but they do need to be stored properly. That will also cost money, whether one uses mylar bags with a sealer (an iron works), or vacuum sealing jars. I agree with wanting to have spices on hand to enhance the flavor of the food but spices lise potency over time. To keep them as fresh as possible, it would be essential to have some way of vacuum sealing them.
The 5 lb bag of rice showed 50 servings not 59. Sorry for the typo.
Mbl: The problem with white rice is it’s all starch. If going grains, then use a whole grain. That slows digestion and slow the sugar surge caused by starchy food. Whole grain still has the heard in it, which is where the real food value is plus a lot of nutrients in the bran. Store it in the freezer. If at all possible, buy it in bulk from a farmer or rancher and freeze it. That kills insect pests that processors are plagued with.
We can get raw-dried beef at a tienda down the road. it was 25/lb, but it’s going up mostly thanks to let’s go Brandon, but because a lot more people are buying it and putting it by. Here, when we buy fresh veggies, it’s likely to be onions. Onion cores go in a pot in the house to regrow as a green onion. Green onions are kept outside and often divide into more onions. When they get large, they’re cut off an inch above the soil and chopped, then frozen until used or enough accumulate to dry a batch. Greens, very often the crown will root again.
Fertilizer is 1 tablespoon of fish emulsions in a gallon of water. 1st gallon will also have 1/8 teaspoon of zinc in it to stop any plant viruses. That also helps with bacterial and fungal infections.
We have a severe problem with dwarf mosaic in maize. Aphids carry it from pasture grasses and sorghum to the corn. Using the zinc helped. For sorghum (it came up from bird seed) I tried it on different patches and the seed heads are twice as large, tho it all came up in poor adobe soil heavy with caliche. Next year, all of it will get a dose. niio
Red you have my interest about using Zinc for plant viruses. Could you PLEASE expand on the use and where do you get the apparently water-soluble zinc for this?
White WITH Beans seems to be less a sugar surge that alone. It’s a meal basis for many a south of the boarder family. Also, very common in Japan as sweet beans and white rice is often a favored breakfast food.
If you have access to swampy areas not polluted with nasty stuff, the muck is an Excellent Side dressing for heavy feeding plants.
Red, This has little to do with the discussion but I thought that you might find it interesting. Your comment about the raw-dried beef you purchase reminded me that the Mapuche in Chile will take beef and lay it on the railroad tracks for the trains to run over to expedite their drying.
Red, I agree, white rice is mainly starch and filler. There are more nutritious choices. That said, we do eat rice about once a week, and I typically stock brown. Freezer space is all in use at the moment, and the 20 lb bag of white rice I saw was on my way to getting something else.
I do have other whole grains on hand I can use, but this can change things up and be part of the rotation. Easy enough to vac seal it in jars and add to the shelf. I’ve also cooked up rice and then dehydrated it for later. That’s very handy as I only need add boiling water, and it’s ready to eat in a few minutes.
Thanks for the info on fertilizer. I regrow onions at times. My last attempts all rotted, but two heads of romaine lettuce from the store grew new leaves, and I let the plants go to seed, so I now have many romaine lettuce seeds to plant. If the seed ends up being dead, I’ll know it soon enough, and it costs me little to try.
We’ve got snow on the ground now, so I’ll test the lettuce seeds indoors to see how they fare. If all goes well, I can have next year’s romaine lettuce sorted.
I need to get a better protected area to be successful in growing grains. We have deer here that have done a dandy job trimming the hemlocks, and a porcupine thought the fruit trees mighty fine to gird.
I planted two pounds of seed potatoes and harvested about 2 lbs. A rat dug underneath the garden fence and helped himself to most of the spuds. Two feral cats have hung around, seeing my place as a good hunting place. One cat has warmed up to us and killed a red squirrel and large mouse/small rat in two days. Those were just the kills I saw. I haven’t seen a rat in nearly two months, so my guess is the cats are doing their job and eating well.
I’ve tried making biltong. It was okay, but really salty to my taste, and I stored it in the freezer to keep it longer term. I need to try my hand at making pemmican. I also want to play with different marinades for jerky, too.
While it’s great to have items on the shelf with a 25-,year shelf life, I think it’s also prudent to have items that can be stored for several or five years. I can add variety in the larder and not have to use it all up ASAP. Should the situation arise where the poo be strewn about, I’d like to think I’d have enough on the shelf to see me through, and use the rice and beans to stretch the meals rather than be the only items I’d have on hand.
Mbl: The word to eat a meal in Vietnamese is eat-rice. American grandchildren going to visit family there average, if memory serves, 6-12 inches taller, if not more thanks to an American diet. Brown rice is great, I like it, but the body doesn’t like carbs. If it suits you, I’m the last one to tell you that you’re wrong. My argument is it causes a sugar high, then a crash. I like low-salt soy sauce and rice vinegar, both pretty easy to make. The solids are used as sourdough and some sort of miso. If I had to stash a grain, I’d can it using forever (plastic) lids. Metal can be used if dry canning and not burying it in the ground. Grain and dehydrated stuff only need to be heated high enough to seal the jar.
Sopa seca is dry soup. Good stuff! Do you do noodles the same way? For most flours, some starch makes the dough sticky like wheat flour is.
Old-timers farming on the asgina nohi (demons road) would say, plant 3 seeds (corn) in the hole. One for the devil, one for the deer, one for the raven. Deer and other animals hate is the pickers on squash and pumpkin vines.
Potatoes do not do well here, but sunchokes thrive. I usually let rattlers take care of any problem but they also eat cats. This time of year, cats are all over protected place (fenced yards coyotes can’t get in) and we leave bones in a shed where the dog can’t get in but they can. Unfortunately, one neighbor let morning glories grow on his fence. Now they’re all over, and rodents love the roots.
Have you tried planting winter radishes in the beds in the fall (September to November)? Rose and black radishes usually have a heat index close to horseradish and rodents tend to avoid having sinuses scorched. If winter is warm, over 25F, chop the crowns off before planting potatoes or other root crops. Under 20F, radishes will die on their own and leave a very rich, loose soil. They match well with cereal rye as a cover. Daikon radishes will meet the same fate as potatoes.
When making bacon or related products, when it’s cured, wash off the salt and re-dry. Salts keep things from freezing well.
Why throw away a valuable ‘waste’? Check out what they’re doing in 3rd world nations to make methane and fertilizer. This gives the basics, https://thetinylife.com/compost-toilets-and-biogas-systems-2/ and https://attra.ncat.org/product/anaerobic-digestion-of-animal-wastes-factors-to-consider/ but the original composters for methane were developed for small farmers in India, circa 1800s. Today, people use a raised outhouse made airtight with acid-resistant plastic. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-12/how-you-can-turn-your-food-waste-into-homemade-gas/9324434 Most 3rd world nations have a human wastes problem. Making biogas is the best solution.
Michael: I had to buy it on-line. Ranch supply stores only carry it at certain times of the year and then it’s 50 lbs sacks. I bought it here https://www.etsy.com/listing/634291735/zinc-oxide-1-gallon-bucket-6-lb?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=garden+zinc+fertilizer&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1
It’s likely the bucket will last several years. Only a very small amount is needed. I got this because we already add sulfur to combat caliche. Word is, most soils are badly depleted of zinc. That leads to a lot of heal issues in people and animals.
Sweet beans like black beans (a cowpea), are bred for high sugar content. Man, have you had sticky rice candy filled with black bean paste? Like eating black raspberries. niio
Sage: sounds as tasty as Mongolian jerky. Cut meat in then layers and put it between the horse and the saddle, then race the horse around till the meat is cured. Then it’s a toss up which is tastier, the jerky or the saddle. At least what we get is dried in an oven. No salt added niio
Red, I can likely get by with fewer starchy carbs than I eat currently, but I also am grumpier when I do that. On days I have lots of physical activity, I find I’m okay with some starchy carbs. Note I said, “some,” and not “many.”
I planted some sunchokes this year, but I didn’t see them come up. I ordered a bunch of plants from a nursery online, and the death rate of the plants has been excessive imo. They have a one-year guarantee, so I’ll see what comes back in early spring. I had high hopes for some of these plants. Maybe a few that I have written off will sprung back to life
Thanks for the tip on radishes. Our winters can get pretty cold and for most of winter we have snow on the ground. I’m zone 5 as far as planting goes, but some plants that are 5b have trouble here, so I’m either in microclimate 4b or 5a, or the USDA map is incorrect.
At this point I plant stuff that does well in zone 4 and add a few zone 5.
Rethinking my garden plan now to see if I want to add cold frames. I had them at my last location, and they were handy. Here, I’ve tried them a few times, but that was the chapter spanning a few years where I had ginormous slugs visit my garden. One year I dutifully covered the broccoli and cabbage plants with a floating row cover, congratulating myself on doing it early in the season to keep the cabbage moth and worms at bay. Alas and alack, I was a day late, and didn’t realize it until I had returned after being away several days. Both broccoli and cabbage plants eaten down to nearly nothing, and the cover protected the worms from any predators.
Thankfully, I knew a local farmer who had better success, so I bought produce from her.
Mbl: When farming, we used salt on slugs and slaked lime on cabbage worms. Lime is dusted, but salt needs to be on the slugs to kill them. At one time we could get powdered lime to use for a dust. When we saw a lit of fireflies in the fields, Dad would groan. they prey on slugs and snails. Light use, always. Some salt is good for plants. Too much kills them. I was more than happy to get home to AZ. No slugs here. Cabbage worms get eaten by lizards and birds.
Don’t get me wrong, I like carbs, too, but can’t eat a lot. That’s why I researched Keto and carnivore. You can raise achira (canna) lily in 5, but have to dig them up each fall. I’m in Arizona, zone 9A, and it’s a perennial. That’s considered the 2nd best food starch known. Store them in a frost-free place, like a cellar. The old-timers in Penna (pre-Columbian) would take roots not needed for planting and peel them, then cut thin, dry, and crush into powder for starch. 1/3 starch to 2/3 corn flour or -meal, and I have noodles.
We went thru some bad years thanks to the fires. Everything was stunted or didn’t grow. this year tried to make up for it. Heavy monsoon rain that doused the fires, and plenty of lightning to put negative ions in the rain. Last year, ‘chokes got 4 feet tall. this year, they wouldn’t stop growing and hit about 12 feet. After the rains hit, the kumquat decided to try to bloom again. It’s still got a ton of fruit. But, too much humidity and the mesquite crop got moldy. niio
I am reading a book about the environment written by a life long environmentalist. In the book he talks about a change in attitude about meats and fats by dietitians and nutritionists. Based on studies he named it has been found that people with a high protein diet generally are healthier than people on a high carb diet. They don’t have the heart disease the doctors have been threatening us with for decades. They definitely don’t have the diabetes problem that carb hogs have.
This is a very interesting book. It validates almost all of what I have thought about the green movement and the climate folderol. It is perpetrated by monied folks who want to make more money. Billions have been made on the green movement and the climate change movement by folks who piously spout nonsense to further their ends. Remember Tom Steyer the environmentalist who spent a fortune (for me anyway) on his run for president? Mr. Environmentalist made his fortune off of oil production and gas production yet decried the effect they were having on the environment and the climate. When called out about his financial holdings he promised to rid himself of them. A check of his investment company’s SEC filings reveals that he did no such thing.
When I finish the book I will write a review of it. He also has some good things to say about nuclear energy production of electricity.
Off topic, but in 2009, I think the year was my wife and I did a tandem tour down the Mississippi River using the Delta Queen on her next to last run for nighttime travel down river. On the way back, I had a tremendously interesting talk with a fellow. Well, he did most of the tasing and I nodded and tried to make cogent comments. We were taking the train back form New Orleans to Memphis after the ride. I don’t know how the conversation started, but he said he was a science writer and had taken an assignment to write an article on how bad nuclear fusion was for the environment. He said he undertook the assignment because he believed that was the case. He told me that after he had read up on the topic he totally changed his mind and realized that based on what he had studied as background for the article nuclear fission, not fusion was the wave of the future and would be the ultimate source of energy for the planet. I can’t recall all the details he explained for his conclusion because it was well over my head. All I know about nuclear is nuclear fusion is what makes the atomic bomb go boom and it is a very delicate process, not easily replicated by Omar the goatherd. As for fission, I don’t have a clue.
Interestingly enough the lifelong environmentalist author of my current read believes nuclear power is the answer to the world’s power needs with the least environmental impact on the planet. He categorizes nuclear waste as a minor problem compared to the environmental impact of fossil fuels. An interesting and surprising opinion, considering the source.
LCC: How are you?
While I agree nuclear is better than dams, soar, and wind, I don’t like it and most Arizonans done. It’s never paid for itself but depends, like all the rest, on tax dollars. If doing the green 3 at home, the only reason it does pay there is a) no government involvement; and b) you can never count the hours it takes to maintain and so on.
Geothermal is natural, Yellowstone and a lot of other places do it 24/7. While there are issues, it is the most efficient, and even Kali is replacing other power plants with it. Apparently, liberal politicos get a pass; Reagan wanted to do that and was stopped. Ditto Schwarzenegger. Word is, Gruesome Newsom offered jail time for the freaks and the nazis bowed to his will.
You! I think a couple of ladies were planning to hunt you down for not reporting in. Beware, Mommy spanks meaner than Dad ever did. People care about you two. That’s family, you suffer we all do. niio
For those who can afford the initial cost of installing geothermal, they seem to be the happiest about their energy source. There are many private homes closer to Yellowstone that have geothermal.
I don’t know yet if this is a valid point but I heard a few days ago that the huge wind farms are affecting the natural wind patterns in their area, thus longer droughts in some areas.
Sage: AZ governments went solar. As I was given to understand, it’s because of shtf. But, 1 nuke plant in the state and it’s a waste. If Kali is going geo, we all should learn from that. Dems will not spend a nickel on anyone if they can grasp it for themselves.
Even Rhode Island is supposed to have cracks that can be used for geo. God knows NYC does. The Hudson follows a major fault. niio
Red, Solar companies have had too many odd government connections in the past. Some companies seem to have only been set up to collect gov. “loans”. If they are supposed to replace petroleum then the whole solar assembly needs to be rethought as much of it is a plastic petroleum product. The batteries connected are also made from petroleum products along with rare earth minerals.
A passive solar home is practical, such as one with a window wall facing a brick heat sink wall or floor. Windows and plenums could be positioned to create an updraft to cool in the summer. An old fashioned California cooling pantry in the kitchen would help preserve food. Homes could be built to be much more efficient without more energy use.
Sage: AZ is doing this because of shtf. They want as many as possible to go solar. For home use, it’s good. But when the government got into it, it because a white elephant, a mouse built to government specifications. Most solar homes in AZ are privately contracted to electric companies. The homeowner uses all the juice they want, and gets paid wholesale price on what goes into the grid. They are ‘renting’ their roof to the company. the panels are no-touch, and the company maintains them. I thought about it, but they wanted to remove the pine on the south side of the house. niio
My husband’s close friend is from the Dominican Republic. Jona, is 64. Here is a VERY interesting side story… Jona was arrested for driving while intoxicated three years ago. The defense attorney was able to get the charges dismissed when the attorney presented experts who stated that Dominican people are not impaired when their blood alcohol content (BAC) is .08%. Jona is probably .05% when he wakes. Any way, Jona, his oldest son, and two of Jona’s grandsons (25 and 22) eat rice and beans three times per day. Jona’s wife (they divorced a few years ago) started adding peas, green beans, and/or salad greens when his son (not hers, but she raised him) started eating only rice and beans too. A few times per week they add an egg in the morning and fry the left over beans and rice. They will occasionally eat a salad and will VERY OCCASSIONALLY eat dessert. Jona and his oldest (47) work for a tree company. They, climb, drop, and haul wood all day long. The tree company often works when the temperature is 15 or 20 degrees F (taking tree limbs off of power lines in winter storms). Jona once lived with us for three months while they got divorced. He ONLY ate rice, beans and sometimes an egg for three months. Now… he drinks A LOT of alcohol. Not that this is any indication of well being, but Jona and his new girlfriend (38) just had a new baby girl. Jona has great-grandchildren. The oldest greatgrand child is three.
Tee: Back in Penna, I lived in a Dominicano ‘hood for a few years. Every Christmas I gave away 20-25 lbs of summer kraut. I showed Papi, a neighbor, the best way to plant sweet potatoes. He’s an expert gardener, but not used to the cold damp of Penna in the hills. When he found how easy it was to raise cabbage and spuds, ecstatic does not describe it.
Red beans and rice are standard fare. i never heard anyone trying to live on it, tho, without becoming diabetics. Papi and Mami called it slave food. Good and good for you, but only for so long. An old remedy for hangover is ginger beer. Fresh ginger, touch of vanilla, lots of sugar and heavy cream.
What I know from dieticians in the family, when someone goes vegetarian or vegan, they suffer. Elders used to say it was because they dissed the animal aspects of God. Of the only 2 who clung to being vegans both developed blood disorders and other problems and passed away. To this day, both are mourned. niio
Red, In my neighborhood, people give out cookies at Christmas. I am sure that your neighbors appreciated your kraut a whole lot more. A couple of seasons ago, I collected various seeds from the plants in my garden to share with my neighbors at Christmas. These were plants that had self-seeded already, so I knew they would grow. It didn’t go over very well. Not one neighbor made a positive comment about the seeds. They did like the cookies, though. I guess none of my neighbors are serious about prepping.
red,
A few times, my husband and I decided to try a vegetarian diet for a few months. We wanted to see if we could be 100% self sufficient. You know, grow everything we ate. We had plenty of food, but neither of us felt great. Neither if us had better cholesterol levels. Our blood pressure did not get any better and both of our a1Cs (blood glucose) increased (NOT GOOD). Plus, our dog got moody because there were no meat scraps and bone meal. I see NO REASON to go vegetarian.
I called Jona and I told him that I posted about his diet. He thought it was funny. Then he told me that his girlfriend went to Florida three weeks ago to visit friends. She has not returned. She left him with the baby. Luckily Jona’s granddaughter works at a daycare and she and her parents are caring for the infant. He is scramtbling to find the baby’s documents because the whole family usually flies to the DR for two or three weeks each Christmas.
I like that you taught your neighbors to grow red cabbage and sweet potatoes. I am from the central, west hills of Pennsylvania. I think cabbage grows wild there.
Sage: In DR, sauerkraut is very expensive. It’s more a treat, something to eat at holidays to remember the Americans who fought to fee the slaves from Spain.
When giving seeds away, peanuts in the shell are great for blacks. its a wish for good luck and blessings. Arabs, dates. Ect. Here, more rural than town, people like getting seeds and cuttings. Just before thanksgiving, I got a letter meant for a neighbor, skinny but hottie about 60. I took it to her and grabbed some broadleaf ice plant cuttings, too. She was all smiles over the cuttings. And, of course, her grandson stood there scowling at me so not even a hug. This is a very conservative area niio
Tee, Are you saying that Jona wakes in the morning, without a drink, and has a BAC of .05%? I have read that some people’s liver enzymes create their own BAC. Jona sure got his money’s worth with that attorney though, I am not sure about the science to back up his defense.
Jona’s family might get by with such a limited diet but I am not sure that it is the best thing for them. My family has many of the men well over 6 ft. tall. One couple in my family decided to bring up their child on a non-dairy, non-meat diet that focused on pasta. (He is not lactose intolerant.). This child did not grow properly and he had to have extensive dental work as a preschooler. He also was hard on the plumbing system as his digestive system didn’t work consistently. Now that he is an adult, he did not attain the family average of over 6 ft. He, instead is about 5’7″, which in our family tree is shorter than any other male.
Sage,
I think Jona is ALWAYS DRINKING. I found miniature bottles throughout our spare room when he moved out.
I am not surprised that your family member did not reach the height that he probably would have.
My husband has a few friends from Cambodia. 5′ seems to be the average male height in their group. When one of the couples moved to the US, they fed their new son milk, and eggs, and meat. I saw him a few months ago. He is around 30. He is also 5’10”.
I found all this incredible interesting and gives a novice some thing to think about when starting to stockpile. I did want to mention that I freeze all my flour, sugar before i use them to kill any unwanted guest in the product. I also store my extra flour, sugar, rice, instant potatoes, coffee and prepackaged muffin mixes in the deep freeze to help keep them fresh.
For those who are gluten intolerant (but in our instance who not only can eat rice and beans, but like them), masa for corn tortillas and casava flatbread are a good option to replace regular wheat flour. That can raise the total $100 thought experiment budget a little, but not by much.
Also, a high-quality multi-vitamin supplement (available in bulk from many suppliers), though outside the $100 limit, would be a very good addition.
Peter: Masa and cornmeal make great noodles, if 1/3+- of the dough is starch. Starch noodles are great, too. Called glass noodles, they make little kids giggle about eating ‘invisible’ noodles. I can raise buckwheat, but the weather in AZ is too unstable for it. That and rice sourdough are the basis for Asian noodles. Water off the sourdough is a very expensive vinegar. When the sourdough is done fermenting, vinegar and dough all go in juice jugs on the pantry shelf till needed. vinegar is racked off, and put in a different jug. The sourdough is ‘wet’, runny, but thickens well with starch. This works with any grain. niio
Red, I really appreciate your sharing so much knowledge with us. I learn something new nearly every time.
Thanks.
Mbl: I am a wonderful mine of general misinformation. Just ask some of the folks around here. After the rat-brain soup fiasco, the school councilor was actually polite when she asked why we were feeding little kids glass. When it came to eating porcupine balls, there wasn’t a peep from any of them. That’s what they’re called. meatballs rolled in cooked rice. Rat-brain soup is chicken soup with hand-mushed rivvel noodles. It’s how her older sister got the 5 year old to start eating meat, again. She’s going on 30, an Lt in Navy, but if you ask her if she had any lately, she dissolves into a giggle fits, and then admits she makes it a lot. niio
Most countries eat rice with every meal. In Ecuador, the ‘lazy wife’s breakfast’ is actually really good! Rice as the base then add a fried egg or two (over easy because you want that yolk to mix with the rice, then add fried hotdogs. You can dice up span if you want.
I’m always adding to my stash. I tend to buy the Knorr` side dishes along with instant mashed potatoes as they are CHEAP. I try to get things that contain no MSG and only take water to make. I also try to buy things that I can mix to expand how far the meal will go.. Exp: 1 can chili with no beans, then add beans and elbow mac. The beans are cheap and if you get the chili with no beans, you get more meat and sauce. Put them all together to make a pot of chili mac that can feed 4 people. Rice with stew. You don’t add rice to the stew, you add stew over the rice. Get the instant soups and add rice and beans. Put rice or pasta in your canned soups.
I will say that you better get ready for mostly ‘one pot’ meals. Keep a 4qt pot of rice on the stove at all times and simply reheat it. I know. I know. Won’t it go bad? Isn’t that dangerous? Well, the Ecuadorian family I lived with for a while never put anything cooked in the fridge and especially not the rice which was ever present on the stove and served at every meal.
Tip from my host family that is not food related: They didn’t run their sinks full of water to wash dishes. They had a small bowl with a bit of dish soap and water with a small bit of sponge. When the meal was over, you rinsed your plate and utensils, squeezed out the sponge, ran it over the dishes then rinsed again before putting in the drain rack. They even did this after parties. It really saved on the amount of soap used!
Being a ‘prepper’ for many years now, I stored up on anything and everything I thought I might need in the kitchen, not just food. I will say that I stored up coffee and if it was in a plastic container, I put it in Mylar with an O2 absorber and vacuum sealed it. I HATE coffee! I did it for my husband who had to have it. Sadly, he passed away in April of this year and now I have about 2 years worth of coffee that I won’t drink. Bet it’ll help me get some work done around the farm though if people will come help do it. They can come in the morning and get a fresh cup of joe before starting work and get paid with rice and other stored up foods until the crops come in. I planned my stash of rice and other things just for that purpose. You see, I REALLY don’t eat much.