Starting out with long term food supply

I came to the realization that my family's long term food supply is woefully inadequate. We are all set for defense, energy, water, coms, medical care, booze, etc., but have yet to put away serious provisions. We are not in a situation where we can grow our own food nor do we have a barter network setup with likeminded people so whatever we start with is all that we will have.

I want to start working on this and am trying to figure out where to start. Looking at offerings from mountain house, for example, I have a few questions and am interested to know where the M4C family stands on them.

1. What sizes to buy? I see everything from individual meals (expensive and take up a lot of space) to 10lb cans (how long do they last once opened?). What size(s) are you all focusing on?

2. Most of the meal buckets and 10lb cans I see are vegetarian. For a while I guess we would be ok, but we are carnivores. How are you supplementing this? With the 10lb protein cans? What's a realistic ratio?

3. Every manufacturer touts "X servings" in a container. How realistic are these for real meals? I mean, 3oz of chicken breast is considered a serving. When was the last time any of you ate only 3oz of anything? If this is a true survival situation and you are forced to stretch rations, I get it. I'm trying to avoid that by stocking up so that we can eat reasonably. Compared to the listed serving sizes on a container, what are you all realistically getting out of them without feeling starved?

4. How much storage space does is actually take to supply X people for X time? It's myself, my wife, our two adult kids in the house but I also have about 4-6 extended family members that I may end up helping out. If I'm planning for a long term situation, room to store it could be a big issue. What do you all do to maximize storage space?

5. How about climate control? I'm in the south so heat and humidity are an issue. I can put them in a climate controlled environment, but space is limited.

6. Budget. I figure starting out with $5k but can bump it up to $10k if I can negotiate a good deal. Any suggestions on where to go for the best bang for the buck? I would rather buy less and focus on quality and protein and then buy more later than just buy as much crappy stuff as I can just to satisfy the "now" need. I want to start with at least a 1 year supply and eventually get to 5 years. for 4-6 people, is this a realistic budget to start with or should I plan on a spending more?

Sorry if it's a lot of questions. I'm a buy once cry once person and this is something I definitely don't want to have buyers remorse on.

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Originally Posted by Bluto

3. Every manufacturer touts "X servings" in a container. How realistic are these for real meals? I mean, 3oz of chicken breast is considered a serving. When was the last time any of you ate only 3oz of anything? If this is a true survival situation and you are forced to stretch rations, I get it. I'm trying to avoid that by stocking up so that we can eat reasonably. Compared to the listed serving sizes on a container, what are you all realistically getting out of them without feeling starved?

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Most "serving" sizes should be thought of as shorthand units you multiply based on caloric requirements, e.g. you might be a 3-serving person while your wife is a 2-serving person. There's still a lot of variability so you really need to calculate macros for anything long term, but it's a better place to start.

Mountain House has a lot of meat entrees alone with canned meat in #10 cans. Most of the canned meat is pre cooked but sometimes you can find uncooked in #10 cans either MH or what they call mil surplus, I believe a lot of the freeze dried canned steak, shrimp, salmon etc is going into .gov bunkers for politicians and gov workers not the military. If you are feeding 4 adults the Mountain House #10 cans are a good way to go.

OK back to basics, what time frame do you want to prepare for, freeze dried is good for 30 years plus but many canned goods will still be edible after 10 years or longer if stored properly and are a lot cheaper. Rice, honey, salt, sugar etc last forever with proper storage, I would think noodles would last a long time also. Keystone canned meats have a 5 year best by date but should last a lot longer and all this canned stuff is going to be a lot cheaper than FD'd. You can go on youtube and find people eating 10-15 year old MRE's or canned goods and not dying. I would recommend getting both FD and canned, the Keystone beef or some canned chicken with some BBQ sauce and rice make a decent meal.

Thank you for starting this thread. I need to reassess my long term food supply.
I’ll be following this thread….

Quick update... I spent some time checking out prices and my $5-10k budget just isn't enough for the start I have in mind so I'm upping it to $15-20k. Sigh...

Trying to figure out how to answer complex questions with a lot of variables. It's all about what you're planning for.

Be realistic.

Lots of people starting out make the mistake of trying this all at once rather than growing into it. Those that bite it all off tend to get a bunch of stuff they don't know how to use, won't use, isn't cost effective, or just isn't practical. Chart out what you actually eat, calculate your typical and needed caloric intake, inventory what you have now. Buy 30 days of stuff you'll actually use with an eye on long shelf life and flexibility. Then +60, +90, etc adjusting each time to see how it stores, rotates, and works together in your conditions and usage. Also, differentiate eating quality meals or acceptable meals, and not starving.

Put a 1/2 or full beef and a pig in your freezers.
Pick up some flats of ~15oz cans of your favorite chefboyardee.
Peanut butter.
Candy.
Rice and beans, 50-100lb per person.
Dry noodle and pasta mixes.
Honey.
Spices and condiments.
Baking supplies, flour, sugar, yeast.
Boxed milks, broths, and bouillon.
Protein, granola, nutrition bars.
Electrolyte drink mixes.

Reality check: If conditions are such that you're relying on these supplies, you're probably not still at you're starting point. Multi-year deep stocks in a fixed location need more layers of planning, community, security, etc. Other than the meat in your freezers (use fast/first, depending) all of the above can sit on a shelf for a few years.

There's also budget friendly ways to stock up on staple foods that last a long time. I'm just now finishing off some white rice I stock away back in 2012, kept it in 2 liter bottles with O2 absorbers. Throw some canned meat on it, and you've got good eating. Not a single source solution to food stores, but some thing easy and relatively cheap to add to the larder.

I think this has been posted here before. The Mormon Church is pretty serious about prepping and has some great resources. I am not affiliated but have had some very helpful conversations with Church members. They used to have some stores out west as well.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/...upply?lang=eng

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Originally Posted by TommyG

I think this has been posted here before. The Mormon Church is pretty serious about prepping and has some great resources. I am not affiliated but have had some very helpful conversations with Church members. They used to have some stores out west as well.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/...upply?lang=eng

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They also sell canned goods at what's probably pretty close to cost, https://store.churchofjesuschrist.or...e/5637160355.c
No idea if it gets you on the visit list.

Allen

As a former mormon, I can confirm that one good thing is the preparedness mindset and good info around "long term" storage, just don't give them any money, they have enough already (See Ensign Peak Investors news stories for that).

Years ago the advice was 1yrs worth of food storage but they eventually realized that was unrealistic for many members in various circumstances. Also the eschatology around the reason for storage evolved from one big apocalyptic event to a more pragmatic "have some stores in case you lose your job temporarily" which is a more realistic scenario but not as sexy as the apocalypse.

They changed it to "long term" instead of a year so those in circumstances that don't allow a large stockpile can still be somewhat prepared.

My advice is only buy stuff you'll actually use and take it slow instead of all at once. Financial preparation by not going into debt over this principle is also wise. An extra few cans of this or that for the shelf during each grocery trip is much easier than giant barrels of wheat that so many of our Mormon grandparents had in the basement and never used. Left to the kids to throw out. It will build up faster than you realize. Start small and gradual.

So I started with a mixed variety of buckets and some 10lb cans from mountain house, readywise and chef's banquet. Man this stuff will take up a lot of space!

I'm also placing orders with the Mormons. Gotta admit their options look great. Thanks for that recommendation!

Once we get a few more options delivered my family and I will crack some open for comparisons and start buying in bulk. I'll post some pics and reviews when we start.