How Much Food Storage Do You Really Have?
For those of you who have food storage, do you really know how long it would last if your family had to live off of it? You might be surprised when you find out you don’t have as much as you think you have. I sure was.
Well, just the other day, a friend of mine pointed out a great online resource that helps you to figure that out. The Food Storage Analyzer — provided by Emergency Essentials — helps to calculate just how long your food storage would last based on the caloric requirements that are given by USRDA guidelines (according to sex and age). It also calculates the current nutrition levels of your food supply helping you to understand what nutrients are lacking.
I decided to go through this exercise to determine how much I really had. Here’s the process:
Enter the Number of People and their Ages
Enter your Food Storage
What’s great about this process is that you can create custom foods that may not be on this list if required.
Calculate your Final Results
I was quite surprised to see that I had didn’t have a full years supply. With 235 days of storage for my family of three I am 4 months shy of one years worth. Fortunately this calculation doesn’t include my 3-month supply (if that is calculated correctly) so with that I have close to one year total.
Another eye-opening point taken from the nutrition chart was the low amount of protein in my stored food — I don’t have any meat stored away. While meats can be purchased freeze dried for long-term food storage it is very expensive so I hope to supplement this with hunting.
Looks like it’s time to purchase more food…:)
If you’d like to get started with your own food & water storage but don’t know where to begin, be sure to check out my Getting Started with Food Storage series. It gives you a step by step process to get you going. Check it out!
Related posts:
- Food Storage Basics: Step 4 – Non-Food Items
- Food Storage Basics: Step 3 – Long Term Storage
- Food Storage Basics: Step 2 – Building a Three-Month Supply
- Getting Started with Food Storage
- Food Storage Basics: Step 1 – Water
- Posted in Food Storage
I am still new to this, but Wal-Mart has the huge tins of teanuts or honey roasted peanuts for around $4.80. Since you’re in England this would be different I don’t know about 1 pound per cup of peanuts. Don’t buy the regular spam though (SO salty!!) I’ve been messing around with salmon and tuna and have found some ways to eat it that I like). Salmon is also inexpensive and has the Omega 3 & 6 oils in it.
Hey James,
First off thanks for visiting. No matter how much experience you have, your comments and suggestions are always welcome here!
Walmart is a great place for cheap somewhat-longterm food storage.
Btw, I live in New England not England so we share similar prices, but you’re right peanuts (and peanut butter) are excellent sources of protein and fats.
Keep the comments coming!