In this era of obesity epidemics, it seems a little strange to talk about potential food scarcity. But here's the hard truth: the abundance we enjoy is utterly dependent on a complex infrastructure of producers and distributors that has multiple stress points. If the trucks stop or can't get through, the shelves of most food stores will empty in less than a week. Government sources estimate that most homes have enough food on hand to get by for three to four days, but this is just sketchy enough that the same folks recommend that you have a three-day emergency supply. The good news is that with all the specially prepared canned and dried foods available these days, stocking up for the "Staying Put" option is fairly cheap and easy. The lighter "mobile" varieties are more pricey, but they've come down over the last few years -- and seen big improvements in taste and variety. Having a hefty supply of long-lived food on hand is one of the best kinds of insurance.
General Guidelines
-- Since caloric requirements vary widely among individuals the best estimate to work with is 1500 to 2000 calories per person/per day. Lord knows, many of us could lose a few pounds, so lower intakes for the short term wouldn't be so bad. Just be sure to keep essentials like vitamins and minerals in your diet. Actually, having to set aside food for a emergency is a great way to get an idea about just how much food -- by weight and volume -- most of us consume. Remember, most of our ancestors had to spend a large portion of their waking hours securing and preparing food; now may not be a bad time to look back with a little humility and awe.
-- You will want to optimize your storage efficiency in two ways. First, the general goal is to maximize the calories per unit area in order to get as much food energy as possible in the least amount of space (yes folks, now you can have the rarified experience of stashing away all the high calorie food you can handle). Second, you want to spend most of your money on food reserves with long shelf lives, both to minimize annoying stock rotation duties and to get the most bang for your buck Additionally, some portion of the food should be lightweight in case you need an evacuation cache. There are three basic types of preserved food to consider:
1) Traditional canned and sealed foods found on grocery store shelves (storage life variable, but assume 1 year max)
2) Specially prepared softpackaged foods like MRE's and backpacking meals (storage life: 5 to 7 years)
3) Freeze-dried, nitrogen packed foods in #10 heavy-duty lined cans (storage life 25 to 30 years).
-- These three groups offer an almost infinite variety of food and storage types to choose from and an almost equally limitless number of strategies. To help choose which types amd amounts to go with, ask yourself several questions:
1) How much space do you have for food storage?
2) How much variety do you need?
3) How much effort are you willing to put into preparing food?
4) What's your most likely emergency strategy -- will you stay or will you go?
If you live in a small space in a city or suburbs, your choices are much simpler, just as they are if you're in a rural setting with lots of room. The more difficult spot is for the rest of us somewhere in-between.
Click on the title links below to navigate to the different sections. There's lots of reading, but there's also a lot of valuable info all in one place. So stick with it.
If you have any questions or comments, send an email to technolithic@discovery.com.
PRELIMINARIES | WATER | FOOD | ENERGY
