I recieved the following email from a friend. Pretty good info on stocking up on food when short on funds. RD6
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Reflecting on the concerns expressed to me in a couple survival & political internet forums I moderate (which is why this is BCC'd as they
get it as well), I put this together. Do with it as you wish.


With times getting like they are, more and more people are getting more concerned about the reliability of a supermarket. I recall one woman
saying a few years back that during some kind of a disaster (I don't recall what it was, but it was in California) the local supermarket,
Safeway, I think, was empty within hours. So if there is an event that cuts off the supply, how long will your supermarket last? So as I
openly share my experience and advice, people come to me asking "what do I do now?" Well, the first thing is to think. Then start asking
yourself the same questions I have been asked, and you will find that the answer lies within you.
Let me explain.

Exactly what is an emergency food supply? Well, it's a food supply that you rely upon in he event of an emergency, right? Right! But, what IS an "emergency" Ah! Good question, now start thinking. What happens if you lose your job, and you can't find work? Oh boy! Can't pay the rent! Utilities! FOOD! Now back up for a moment.

There are Churches, some are Christian and some aren't, that will help you for a month or two. In fact I recall one I attended for a while
that had a deal. If you worked for the pastor doing odd jobs with him, he covered your rent. Well now, that rules out having a 5 bed 3 bath
condo in Aspen, for sure! And if housing was lost because of the situation, he had brokered deals with several motels for housing.
Motels suck when it comes to housing, really. But if you have no where else to go and the manager is willing to trade a litle bit of your work in exchange for a month or two, who's to complain, right? Right! And the same for utilities, in fact every utility company I have had accounts with in the past 20 years had a program that would help people in times of crisis like that. So that's a no-brainer.
But now #3- food.

Today I went to Saturday's, a store on the extreme south end of Leadville, and after getting gas found a couple nice deals on food. 12 pack of Kraft Macaroni & cheese for $10.99, a pint of dehydrated hash browns for $1.79 and two boxes of rice for $1.25. Total cost, $14.03 and total suggested servings, 77. Now think about that for a minute and set it in the back of your head, please.


The most common question I am asked is "What do I buy", "Is thee a special type of food? Special tools?" The biggest message I here is "I
don't understand". So how do you figure it out? What do you get? Now this goes over to what I learned when I learned wilderness survival.
And THE biggest key to surviving is all psychological. When you have a bad situation arise, don't treat it like it's a disater. Like it's the end of the world. Actually, make the situation as stress-less as possible. In the wilderness that means knowing what to do and having the skills to utilize it. In the urban setting, it means make it no different than ordinary life.

There are no special foods to buy for a crisis. Instead, buy what you normally buy, but keep in mind that perishables do very poorly in storage. So I suggest you do what I do- buy dry packaged & canned foods. Canned foods have a long life span. Dry packaged foods, even longer. And it does not take up a lot of space, either.

Now reflecting back on the purchase I made earlier. $14.03 plus tax. 77 suggested servings. For me that means more like 48-50 servings, as I'm a pig. I eat to live and live to eat. But, how many meals comes from that 48-50 servings? Honestly, for me, around two weeks in a crisis, three if I push it. And you know what I did? I bought exactly what I use already.

Right now, how much can you spare out of each paycheck? Can you cut down on smoking (if you smoke)? What about the beer? Lots of stuff you
can cut back on. Me, I don't drink or smoke, and I can get around $50-75 per month I can throw into stocking up. And reflecting back on what I desribed in today's purchase, you can see that you can get an awful lot, you just have to look around to find it.

So let me give you these keys to a better-than-expected emergency food plan.

1. Mix & match. Make sure your diet varies. Very few people can live a long time on one type of food. Mine has macaroni & cheese, shells & cheese, sweet peas, cut green beans, sliced green beans, cream corn,
whole kernal corn, and I even have rolls of beef summer sausage. Also have ramen noodles, dried pinto beans, dried split peas, cubed & granular chicken broth, and essentials like salt & pepper and other spices to take the monotony from the same repetitive diets.

2. Have a safe place to store them. Keep them dry & keep them cool. And be cautious of rodents. Poisons are a very bad idea to have around food storage. So what I do is if there are rodents expected, dump an entire box of flaked mashed potatoes on the floor. Mashed taters? Yep. No poison to it, the rodents will eat their fill, and you can guess what happens next. Always worked for me.

3. Consider who will be using this storage. Is it just you? You and your wife? You, your husband and kids? Plan the menu around that.

4. Reflecting on #1, write down what you eat at each meal, how much, and do that for a month. There's your purchase list right there.

5. Be cautious in buying specialized foods. If you are not already used to the diet, a switch
"on the fly" can be deleterious to your crisis.
You can get sick from it.

6. Emergency supplies is more than just food. Make sure you have medications, personal care items, spices, seasonings, female hygiene
products if you're a woman or will have a woman there, and one thing you should never run out of is toilet paper.

So to reflect again on my experience, a year and a half ago I lost more of my food supply. I had a lot. So in th past year that I have been
working on this, and I have accumulated 14 months of supplies. It was done easily, as my diet never changed. It was done economically, as I
was willing to stick money back for the local sales. In such cases I was saving up to 75%.

Now lets go back to the third paragraph. You lost your job. You can't find one. You go to a church and get help for two months rent. Your
power company gives you a break for three months so you can get back on your feet. And now, with your emergency food supply, food isn't an issue. Your three biggest problems are taken care of. Now, utilizing these, and the resources you get elsewhere (like unemployment) life hasn't really changed much, and you can use the public aid to help you find work.

Amazing, isn't it? Such a complex problem, with such an easy solution. The next time you go grocery shopping, spend an extra $10. Get maybe a couple cans of beans, or flaker potatoes, or even macaroni & cheese. It won't seem like much at first, but it'll grow.

In closing I want to share one of my favorite quotes, bu Dr. Louis Pasteur- "Chance favors only the prepared mind."

I do have a problem with this.

You really need to know what a "serving" actually is. How many calories and how much fat does this contain. Some of the sizes of the "servings" wouldn't feed a child. An adult male that is moderating working needs around 3500 calories.

Are you going to get that from one or two servings of Mac & cheese? Also, will that size serving stay at the same size with the next box you buy or will the supplier downsize that serving or calories? What will they be adding to that next case you buy, perhaps an extra helping of MSG?

Plus what may be filling to you won't be to someone else. Every food storage program needs to be tailored to an individuals needs.

No, you don't need a year's supply from EE for $3000, but you need something better than just supermarket food.

That's why bulk foods, rice, wheat, etc, is a better deal. When you buy a pound of wheat, it really is a pound of wheat and you can be pretty sure of its nutrients and calories. You can't say that about grocery store food.

I agree with the Wolf on this.
You need to do the calorie math, It's more QC than anything, it insures that know what you have will accomplish what you need it to.

Eat what you store and store what you eat! This practice combined with a Multivitamin and you'll have a nice foundation for success.

Also a side note to all of you who have not yet attained a Food Life-Line... You can get a one year supply for a family of 5 in the pantry for roughly a thousand dollars!
Do your own buying, preparing, and storing!
Check out the LDS, they are a great example and supplier.

MK who has 1000 bucks to plunk down when the bills need paid ? if one buys a little at a time its easier on the budget..granted one year for 5 at $1000 is a great deal but if your family wont eat it or if it made up of stuff that people cant handle in thier bodies such as heavy on the rice and beans and fiber then it wont do them any good any way..an emergency is not the time to throw your system into chaos with different food..and a multivitamin will help but have you looked at the shelf life on them ?
i have right now about 3 weeks of food for our family(3 adults 1 child)and its all good for at least a year and im still working on it..i have a couple picky eaters here so food is geared to them but like i tell them "if your hungry enough you will eat rat tartar" i hope to never test that theory..

Yeah I am totally on the Budget just like anyone else, Slow is Smooth and Smooth is Fast. But I make a point to purchase bulk so instead of going to China-Mart and get the crummy 20lbs of rice, I go to the LDS in Dallas and pick up what my budget allocates for the month to feed my family. But anyway you can get it you most defiantly should.


Now also keep in mind that meat is not going to be our primary intake of protein, so to supplement the loss of the available meat we can produce we use peanut butter and other various nuts. Like i said before if you eat what you store and store what you eat then your body will not go through the shock that most will suffer when they switch to emergency stash.

When I started I spent like 50 something dollars on canned goods. Made a list of what we already had, made a few notes on what we needed and what we did not necessarily "Need". I came home with good deal of food which all had a minimal shelf life of 2 years. Throw in a few 50lbs of Rice, Wheat, an Beans and you have a really good start, then build from there.

the LDS (latter day saints)you are talking about is it just a local church or is it a distrbution point for the church? i might have to go talk to our local LDS church to see what they have access to.

Don't forget the weeds .

Hence This little bugger . When digging out my garden plot, these were everywhere. Now that I know they're edible, and I can get them in mass quantities right from the lawn, I feel better about weeds growing.

Tobor,
They are Food Distribution Centers ran by the Church, The LDS are known for having products "at cost" or really close to the cost. So you wont find that 30% markup that is everywhere else. I like using them because I know I am not supporting China-Mart... IMO its a no brainer. Even better I believe they have a case lot sale once a month or maybe every quarter, not exactly sure. I do the case lot sales at the base once a month, save quite a bit in canned food alone.

MK will have to talk to the local LDS for sure then..find out where there is one around here..thanks
Tangalor dont forget about dandilions too..get them early in the spring and make salad or wine out of them

it never hurts to set your food into some sort of rotation either...constantly eating and adding to it.

i usually wait one year to do food rotation..everything food related is put into the pantry and new supplies are stocked and put in the buckets..it amazing to me some of the short shelf of some items..like ramen noodles are only like 6-8 months..

Ramen noodles will be edible for years if stored properly. Ive eaten packages that are over 5 years old, they might taste or smell a bit stale but the MSG packet or some hot sauce covers up just about anything. I am not sure about them loosing their nutrition value, but thats what vitamins are for.

My mom used to make dandelion wine and it was pretty good. You can also make a good tea from the roots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhWoCxBgCjA

Heres a video on some ideas about food that has a good shelf life taste great and dont costs much. And is readly available.

thanks for the vid glock..might have to invest in a sealer..but they arent any good without electric..so it becomes a paperweight after the juice goes..

Very true but thats why you should already have things sealed up waiting and ready. Always be prepared right?

true prepared before hand is better..but i have seen something from glad brand bags that they have with vaccum bags and a hand pump and im wondering how well that would work post electric?

you mean the handi vac? don't bother. It made a fool of me. I did a review of them and they looked as if they would hold up. Now I must report that all have failed within one year.

I agree with bona na croin i bought one and tryed it they are junk! Made for a few usese it seems because they break down after that.

ok thanks guys saved me some cash and aggrevation

Hey Tobor no problem thats what were all here for is to help each other out.