EMERGENCY FOOD SUPPLY

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FYI There are a number of sites that offer freeze dried and bulk food. Some are more and some are less. This led me to research the situation. I ended up buying a years supply of food for only $1300. Who wants to open a can of freeze dried and have it be rotten or taste like chalk? . I also went to our Price-Costco and bought personal supplies, soap toothpaste ect. Can you picture going to the grocery store during times of unrest? FORGET IT!!! Now is the time to organize. You can walk right in and walk right out. You can order a years supply of food through the mail and get it in less than two weeks. With the 2yk, Iraq, China, Russia, and a host of other impending disasters now is the time to protect YOUR FAMILY!! DONT WASTE ANOTHER DAY. ITS JUST A MATTER OF TIME. ANY QUESTIONS? E-mail me

-- greg wiatt (gwiatt@northlink.com), February 14, 1998

Answers

Response to EMERGANCY FOOD SUPPLY

My family spent quite a bit of time on this issue, researching alternatives like freeze dried, etc. We also discuss it in bi-weekly contingency planning meetings with two other families.

One family in our group has ordered a year's supply of food for each member from Walton's (http://waltonfeed.com/self/). We've taken a different approach.

Given that no one really knows what's going to happen as we approach, then pass 1/1/00, it seems best to plan for the worst while leaving as much flexibility as possible in case the best happens (no change). Therefore, we've cataloged a one-year inventory of everything we buy (food, clothing, medicine, hygiene, etc). We also know what we spend because our budget/expenses are tracked to the penny on a spreadsheet. Part of our Y2K Contingency budget is for stockpiling. By 1/1/99, we will have purchased a one-year supply of everything we'd normally buy (except for canned meats/vegetables instead of fresh).

Our thinking is, if the worst happens, we're out of the market place for one year, don't depend on excessive water for dehydrated foods or electricity/gas (heat tabs/Coleman stove for canned goods), etc. After one year, who knows?

Conversely, if the best happens, we continue with life with a one-year food supply on hand, using FIFO restocking to keep things fresh. I'd hate to have to eat 5,000 lbs of freeze-dryed/dehydrated food if I didn't have to!

-- J. Scott Curran (JSCurran@aol.com), February 14, 1998.


Freeze dried food is only one solution. We are using a plan that would best be called "store what you eat." We have developed a number of really good meals that we currently eat on a regular basis. By buying more of those ingredients than we need for a given week/month, we have developed a year's supply of food we know we will eat.

Going strictly with freeze dried food can leave you with a lot of things you'ld rather *not* eat. I know because I've already gone that route.

-- Alan K. Gideon (akgideon@nospam_mindspring.com), February 17, 1998.


Researching survivalist techniques is definitely a priority in planning. Don't do it alone. Get with family and friends you can trust with your life. Find a defensible plot of ground that can sustain you. If Y2K turns out to be not as bad as you thought, your planning is not wasted. Oil production should peak around 2010 or so and fuel prices will start to have an impact on global fuel supplies soon after--with ramifications that will make Y2K feel like the sniffles. If you're farsighted enough to plan for the Y2K crisis, then look a few years down the road and plan waaayy ahead. Things are not likely to return to "normal" just because the cyberstructure is repaired. Write me if you don't understand this. "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." -- Aldous Huxley

-- Hallyx (Hallyx@aol.com), February 17, 1998.

The Last of the Kidney Beans
I was over at my neighbors a couple weeks ago. They'd invited me up for chili. While we were eating, June said, "Well. I'm finally getting down to the last of the kidney beans."

As a picture of one of those near empty plastic bags of beans we get in the grocery store floated up in my mind and I spooned some more chili, she chuckled, looked at her husband, Bud, and said, "Now, that was one of the best deals we ever got."

Because she's been a power economy shopper ever since I've known her I thought maybe the beans had come from cans instead of bags. That she'd maybe gotten a deal on 6 or 8 cases of them sometime back. "How many beans did you start out with?" I asked.

"Oh. About 300 pounds," she said, and told me the story of how 10 or 12 years ago she'd "run accross a deal" on those kidney beans. 10 cents a pound, and bought about $30-worth.

Because I've had all this y2k/survival nitrogen-packed food storage kind of stuff on my mind lately, I asked her how they'd stored them all.

"Oh. We just put 'em in 5 gallon plastic buckets. They keep just fine."

And there I was, eating the 10 or 12 year old proof. The chili was great, and if she hadn't just told me the story, I wouldn't have had an inkling the beans I was eating were any different than ones she might've bought the day before...

The point is that I think sometimes we may get too carried away with what could maybe be called the "perfectionism" involved in all our preparations for y2k. Sure. It's a great idea to get the best possible quality and price on anything and to get it in the best possible container so as to maximize its usefulness (nutitional value in the case of food) when we open it... But at the same time, I don't think we should drive ourselves crazy and spend tons of Time splitting hairs in our own minds over which is the absolutely optimum way to go with anything, be it beans or land or tools or books or you name it. The main, most basic thing is to see to it that we get the things we need in the time we have remaining. In this particular instance, that would amount to just getting some beans, putting them in a 5 gallon plastic bucket, snapping the lid shut, and moving on to the next thing on the list.

And please don't anyone take this as any kind of criticism of any other posting here. It's not at all. Everything everyone's said here is great, valid, useful as can be. This is just a plug for the "lower tech" approach that a lot of us will probably find ourselves forced into by the Time Crunch. Something related to ideas like, "Better a somewhat depleted bean (or bent screw driver) than no bean (or screw driver) at all" because I was too busy trying to figure out which, locate a source, and order the best value bean (or screwdriver) available.

And speaking of potentially depleted nutritional value. I don't know. My neighbors have been eating those kidney beans for 10 or 12 years, and they seem to be doing all right. June's 74, and Bud's 76. I saw Bud cross country skiing to the mailbox the other day (on a pair of high quality ski's June got at a rummage sale last summer for 5 bucks), and June's 74. Two days ago snow slid down off their roof and knocked their heating oil tank off its blocks. I was going to go up and help them get it straightened out yesterday, but when I called to see if they needed my help June told me, "No. No need. We went out and wrestled it back up."

No big thing. The heating oil tank gets out of line and the couple that's been married 52 years just puts their boots on, goes out back, sets it right, heads back in the house and starts cooking up some more soup that's got some more of the last of those beans that were stored in plastic buckets all those years...

And by the way... They're not all that worried about y2k. Not that they don't believe it's going to happen. They're just not all that worried about it... I listen to them. I watch them. What I've noticed is they've got this great way (based on years of experience) of keeping it simple, basic, as uncomplicated as they can. They seem to see and respond well to the obvious by applying some kind of common sense. Or something...

-- Bill (billdale@lakesnet.net), February 19, 1998.


What a great story! ! ! We humans do get so carried away with ourselves don't we? Thanks for sharing that.

-- Rebecca Kutcher (kutcher@pionet.net), February 19, 1998.


The best and cheepest supply of food that contains all of the vitamins and more importantly minerals that you will need can be found in giant bags of dried dog food. There are many varieties for flavor and you will get used to it after you starve for a couple of days.... Keeps your coat shiney too! (just a little humor but the advice is still good)

-- Jessee Murphy (Y2KB52@aol.com), April 22, 1998.

I forgot to mention Kool Aid, usually less than a dime a pack and don't forget the sugar! Kool Aid and Gravy Train... That's the ticket! And don't spam me because I'm serious, just examin the canabalism that went on in the Soviet Union during the famins at the beginning of this century and Kool Aid and Kibble starts to look pretty good!

-- Jessee Murphy (Y2KB52@aol.com), April 22, 1998.

My Father was one of the build a bomb shelter boys of the 60's. He stored water and food both. The water was stored in milk

-- Anita Ray (aray@mindspring.com), April 23, 1998.

My Father was one of the build a bomb shelter boys of the 60's. He stored water and food both. The water was stored in milk cartons and it was still good a year later. The can goods some store bought and some mom put up, were turned over once a month this was to keep the salt and other chemicals from eating into the cans and causing them to ruin.

-- Anita Ray (aray@mindspring.com), April 23, 1998.

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