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Joni's avatar
May 5Edited

Thank you, we’ve been preparing for years on many important things. One thing it has done is definitely allow us to have much less food costs right now. Please take his advice on the food for sure, if nothing else. I am already seeing limited quantities. It’s expensive trying to buy everything you need to get you through a two or three year period, so if you haven’t started, please don’t think it will be there when you need it. If you don’t know where to start, do dry good first like beans and pastas. They last a long, long time. Put them in large sealed containers in your basement if you have one to keep bugs and rodents out. Also think about preparing your homes for power outages. Those will be sure to come. We are in the northeast and installed a large wood burner that will heat our entire home if necessary and keep our plumbing from freezing. And of course store water. I bought large 55 gallon food drums with a pump, plus you can buy containers (10 or 20 gallons):made specifically for water at a good price. Generators are great too, but use them sparingly to get your water. If the shit hits the fan you will have people roaming the streets to steal what you have. Keep quiet and don’t announce you are prepared. Encourage family and friends to do the same preparation. So many people don’t believe this will ever happen. I even have family members who choose to ignore!!! My grandparents lived through the Great Depression and it did happen. They lost their first home. They had to move in with a relative. My grandmother could make anything that tasted great out of the simplest ingredients including those dandelion greens, etc., with beans, pasta or mixing them all together.

Get foraging books if you live in more rural areas. You’d be surprised on all the highly nutrient “weeds” like dandelions, plantain and other great greens that surround us. I don’t spray anything. I’ve actually allowed some areas to just grow for picking. If you can do raised beds, plant some herbs and greens that are nutritious. I’ve also bought other good books for health and wellness. You know they will take the internet down at a point. Also, please ignore dates on packages….we never had them years ago. If dry good are sealed good for bugs, etc., they last a very long time. Canned goods last beyond the dates, but just check if the can is puffed. If so, throw it out. Vinegar, sugar, honey, and alcohol have very long shelf lives. Honey just needs warmed in its container in hot water if it crystallizes. Sorry for getting long winded on this if you are prepared, but I have found that these simplest of things can make the difference in a crisis and help people who didn’t know this!! It can be intimidating as to where to start.

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Danway's avatar

One cup of dry (uncooked) rice is about half a pound and 800 calories. If you had this as 40% of a 2,000 kcal/day diet you’d need 365 lbs of dried rice to last two years PER PERSON. I have rice in mylar bags with oxygen and moisture absorbers in food grade buckets. Each bucket has about 35 lbs. You will need about 10 buckets of rice PER PERSON. Then you need proteins and fats. Two years worth of stored fats is going to be the biggest challenge but even more challenging is finding the space for all of it AND cycling through it to keep it AT MOST 2 years old. But if you do that then in two years all of it will be two years old. Farming is the only way to survive long term.

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