amount of food to store

[KevDen2005]

I tried to do a search but it wouldn't work. So, does anyone have ideas on the amount of food, in pounds, that you should store for survival in a bugg in type of situation. what I am wondering is, I am about to order some of those 10 pound cans of Mountain house meals, and I am wondering how many I will need total. I am not really sure how long a pound of food would last me, or once you add water to cook these, how many meals you get out of a can? Any ideas or suggestions would be great.

No expert here, in fact Jerry will probably end up having the best knowledge with this...

But you will probably need a lot, depending on how long you plan on bugging in. Think about how much food you normally eat and try to compare. Plus, you should order a few cans and make a test run seeing how long they last and how well they store, etc.

I keep some food like that for absolute emergency, but the best bet is probably overstocking regular types of foods that have long shelf lives and rotating them out as you buy more, using the oldest first. That food is cheaper and many canned foods have long shelf lives. Plus Jerry teaches a canning class that I would love to get to some day.

[Byte Stryke]

not as an answer but more to help you better ask your question.

• How many are you feeding?
• What are the ages of those you are feeding?
• how long do you plan on being holed up before getting out?

Don't quote me but I believe I read somewhere for food it's 2#/Day per adult.
I'm sure someone will be along shortly to tell me how wrong and stupid I am.

[StagLefty]

[*]How many are you feeding?[*]What are the ages of those you are feeding?[*]how long do you plan on being holed up before getting out?

Bytes right on with those questions. Also buy the food you and the family will eat-nothing worse than stocking up on on sale food that nobody likes. Go on the LDS web site and do some reading,they are huge on stocking food and know what they're talking about. Mountain House is an awfully expensive way to go for food stock. JMHO

[jerrymrc]

Start here. http://www.co-ar15.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19906 Many use the LDS guides that are available online. It is not necessary to put it all into weight since Freeze dried (mountain house) is very light. and those are number 10 cans not 10lb cans. 10 lbs of wet pack green beans = about 2 lbs of freeze dried or dehydrated.

You really cant put a number on how many pounds unless you are talking basics like wheat, sugar, salt etc. I store flour myself and rotate it. So now we play the math game. I store 5lb sacks of flour in mylar. 5lbs is about 18 cups and it takes 3 to make a loaf of bread. 3x6=18 so I get 6 loaves of bread per sack.

I keep at least a year in reserves and my basic thought is one loaf per week for the two of us. 6 loafs of bread, 52 weeks in a year means I need to store 9 (rounded up) sacks of flour at 5lbs each just for the bread.

This does not take into account doing anything else but make bread. I also need to make sure that I have enough yeast to go along with that.

If you have a family then unless you are a hard core Mormon your family will take a dim view of some of your preps. My daughter just flat refused to eat anything that came out of the pantry downstairs.

Mountain House is good but very expensive. I would suggest trying some and seeing what the family thinks of it (if you have one) also look at the weight of the contents. If there are 3lbs in a can and it says 10 servings I can almost guarantee that it may be more like 6. If you choose to go this route do keep a large stock of wet canned goods on hand as well.

I buy on sale and always look at the dates. Rotate your food. In the link above I talk about variety in your food preparations.

Just some thoughts. I see I am slow today.

[Big Wall]

I agree with everything above. I think you want to think more about calories per day than about weight per day.

[Wulf202]

+1 to the above.

Another concern is your family size and #10 cans of food that can spoil. If you get a can and can't finish it without transferring/refrigeration buy smaller cans.

[Irving]

Also consider how many calories you'll need compared to now where you can just sit on the couch while the microwave cooks your food, or when everything is shut down and you're having to do everything manually and cook your food over an open flame. It might not be quite as many calories as if you were trying to live in the woods or something, but I still think it would be significantly more than your average daily caloric requirement today.

[ldmaster]

Take a look through their archives (they are all online) and you don't have to join. The LDS book has easy guidlines, and you can download it for free.

Variety and more variety are key. 5 gal buckets, gamma seals and mylar liners and you're good for years.

[ShooterJM]

I keep at least a year in reserves and my basic thought is one loaf per week for the two of us. 6 loafs of bread, 52 weeks in a year means I need to store 9 (rounded up) sacks of flour at 5lbs each just for the bread.

This does not take into account doing anything else but make bread. I also need to make sure that I have enough yeast to go along with that.

I never really thought of it in that sense. Looks like I need more flour....

[COvigilance]

thanks for all the help guys, I assumed that the #10 can meant 10 lbs. wow was I wrong. I did the calorie calculations from the mountain house nutrition information, and there is about 2,000-2,500 calories per can. only a days worth of calories. I think I will get a few for long term storage. (there advertising says 30 year shelf life) and then go the other route you all suggested, it sems to be better cost wise. Thanks again.