Jack, just in case |
Last Updated: January 29, 2023
Today I’m going to present you the precise answer you’ve got been searching for about: “How much food must you stockpile?”
I’ve been helping people prepare since 2013 and one among the largest questions they ask me is:
How much food should I stockpile…
So let’s roll up our sleeves and clear this up once and for all!
Whenever I get asked “how much emergency food should I even have”? I immediately ask my very own query.
How much emergency food do you’ve Currently To have?
Calculating how long your food supplies will last
To get the whole variety of days you’ve enough stock, consider:
Let’s start with the highest half of the equation.
Calculating what number of calories you’ve
Ideally, your pantry ought to be well organized, which might greatly speed up the method. But if not… perhaps this can allow you to…?!?
Because you are going to do a listing. Yes. Just like ALL successful retail firms do frequently.
Now chances are you’ll ask, “Should I count EVERYTHING” on my shelves? If it’s stable in storage and subsequently you replace it recurrently YES, count it.
Sure, some items will change as you eat them after which buy more. But a snapshot of stable calories in your pantry is “close enough” …
Of course, count all freeze-dried foods, MREs, canned meats and #10 cans.
Too, don’t count ANY calories within the fridge or freezer.
The only exception is that if you’ve a solid backup power plan or are already living off-grid.
A strong backup power plan means having an influence plant (or a generator with enough fuel for a number of weeks). Otherwise, I DO NOT COUNT your chilled and frozen products.
I used an easy spreadsheet for this to make the calculations easier. In addition, I can later sort and filter as needed using a spreadsheet.
Start by creating a number of columns titled:
- Food – Brand
- Number of things (pouches, bags, containers)
- portions within the package
- Calories per serving
- Total calories
Once you’ve got filled your entire row with this information, multiply “variety of products” by “servings per container” by “calories per serving.”
This provides you with the variety of calories you’ve in your inventory THAT particular food item.
Now you’ve to watch out here. I added the brand to the primary column because not ALL brands use the identical serving/calorie information.
For example, separate brands of canned beans may appear equivalent, but often they are usually not. The difference can add up, especially if you’ve lots of green beans…
Now, IF the food is identical AND the knowledge per serving is identical, you possibly can put them on the identical line. Otherwise, if any of those numbers are different, add a latest item.
Now go ahead and inventory every part that is smart to you. Add up all of the calories once you’re done.
And now you understand exactly how much non-perishable food you currently have.
This variety of calories could seem huge if you’ve an honest supply.
Maybe even a number of hundred thousand calories, like 358,753 or something like that.
WOW. Massive, right? Not so fast…
Knowing your total calories may look like a very important number, but it surely’s not that helpful… yet.
Why? Because it depends upon the scale of your loved ones, right?
For example, 358,753 calories is a wonderful food supply for a retired couple of two. But what a couple of growing family of 5? Not a lot.
Therefore, we want to learn the way many calories YOUR family consumes every day…
How many calories a day does your loved ones need?
This may look like a frightening task at first, but with the best tools it is simple.
You must learn the way many alternative calories a day each member of the family needs.
- And it’s NOT the identical for men and girls.
- It can be NOT the identical for infants, children, young adults, adults, or mature adults.
- And it’s NOT the identical for individuals who lead an energetic or sedentary lifestyle.
To guess, that you must consider ALL 3 of those variables. The excellent news is that I created an easy chart to just do that.
You can use this chart to find out your gender, age, and activity level for every member of the family. Then add each number.
TOTAL is the variety of calories your loved ones needs per day.
This is a excellent number to know!
This is the number that you must know the way long your food supply will last.
Your final calculation
Take your total calories and divide by your loved ones’s each day calorie needs.
Viola! THIS latest number is a excellent approximation of how long your current food supply will last.
Perhaps your number is 58.63 days?
This means you’re very near having 2 months of food in your emergency supply.
Now, after all, chances are you’ll find a way to ration those calories a bit in the long term. But I do not recommend “rationing” your calculations.
Why? Because I’d moderately underestimate the duration of my supply by a number of days, NOT the opposite way around. He said differently I’d moderately be pleasantly surprised…
Now you understand how much time you’ve before hunger sets in after the shop shelves are cleared.
We can now finally get back to the unique query:
How much emergency food should I even have?
OK, are you ready for YOUR answer? Do you’ve a pen and paper ready?
I can already hear you booing at me… You were probably hoping for something more specific, right…
As with most things, everyone’s situation, risk tolerance, and resources are different.
I’m unable to present a more detailed answer for everybody.
But I CAN do higher than THIS.
So let’s break things down into a number of different categories. Only then can we give attention to something more meaningful.
Here are some categories of “how much emergency food should I stockpile”:
- Those who ONLY worry about short-lived, high-frequency natural disasters
- Those who’re apprehensive about mid-term disasters (natural and/or man-made)
- For those that are concerned a couple of widespread SHTF lawless event…
1. People concerned about short-term natural disasters
Some people deal mainly with short-term natural disasters.
They don’t accept the indisputable fact that the world is becoming less and fewer stable and unsure daily. They deny that the danger of major social upheaval is increasing.
It’s NOT me, but hey, perhaps it’s you.
Well, on this case that you must have enough food for two weeks. This is the bare minimum for my part. Less, and you are not fulfilling your basic adult responsibilities.
I like to recommend 2 weeks as the primary goal for two reasons:
- it’s matter – provides a basic level of resistance
- it’s achievable – anyone can hit this mark very quickly
Sure, some people will scoff at just 2 weeks of emergency food. But it’s actually a solid start, good for the MOST likely emergencies we’ll all face yr after yr.
And he’s rather more resilient than MOST people…
53% of Americans admit they’ve lower than 3 days of non-perishable food and water.
This is gross negligence!
I’m sorry, but in case you only have 2 or 3 days of emergency food, you are completely fragile. In crisis situations, you’re depending on information material. This is unacceptable and irresponsible.
The surprising reason why people lead fragile lives
So give yourself 2 weeks after which I’ll stop the name-calling…
And perhaps I’ll encourage you to shoot for a month. A month is rather more resilient than 2 weeks.
In a month you’ll find a way to survive 99.9% of natural disasters. You may even have some extra resistance to civil unrest, chaos, famine, etc.
2. Those who’re apprehensive about medium-term SHTF disasters
Ok, this category is for individuals who think 1 month just isn’t enough, but in addition think that a SHTF event much worse than the last pandemic is zero…
My point is, the more widespread and longer a crisis is, the LESS likely it’s to occur, right? It’s easy statistics.
However, I feel there may be a greater than zero probability that we’ve a SHTF event in our lives.
Why? Because the world is getting increasingly vulnerable because:
- technology is developing at a dizzying pace
- the world is becoming increasingly connected.
So what’s “reasonable” for somebody who sits between the 2 extremes? I like to recommend 3 to six months.
That hefty calorie count will keep you fed for ALL but essentially the most unlikely doomsday events.
3. Those who’re apprehensive concerning the worst SHTF event…
Well, here we’re… the immune few. Those of us who consider there may be a non-zero probability that life as we all know it should end in our lifetime.
America’s Biggest Threats in 2023 (and Beyond)
We are inclined to view our emergency food supplies as low-cost self-insurance. The policy you’ve lasts as much as 25 or 30 years if done well.
So why not go all out and sleep well at night even when the world keeps falling apart?
To enter this realm, you’ll goal not less than 1 yr price of food…
We will not be there yet, but that is okay; 1 yr is a wonderful goal. You can do more if you desire to, rattling it, 2 years in case you’re really dedicated.
But after reaching 1 yr, it’s higher to spend your time and energy elsewhere. At this point, I like to recommend specializing in skills to bring more calories into your stores.
I’m talking about:
- Canning, gardening and saving seeds
- Foraging and collecting
- Hunting and fishing
- Breeding and breeding of livestock (chickens, rabbits, goats, etc.)
- aquaponics
These more advanced preparation techniques. Why? Because they do not just offer you a runway if the grocery stores are empty. They extend your calorie runway into the long run.
If all you do is stockpile (without adding any latest calories), then your starvation time is on the countdown clock.
You keep adding calories back to your stores on a regular basis. This helps extend that point to starvation even longer in the long run.
If you ever get more calories than you burn, you will never starve to death, right?
Final thoughts
Anyone reading this needs to construct a stockpile that can suffice not less than 2 weeks. no excuses!
Once you get there, I like to recommend constructing for a maximum of 1 month. And in case you want much more protection, attempt to get to the window of three – 6 months.
Or perhaps you would like lots of food security. A pleasant long runway that provides you with enough time for the postmodern world to sort itself out – then go along with 1 yr.
Then move on to advanced skills like farming, animal husbandry, aquaponics, etc.
Ok, in case you’re able to start, take a look at my Valley Food Storage review or watch the video below:
Valley Food Storage Review & Unboxing (food for long-term survival)
Until next time,
Prepare, adapt and beat
Jack just in case.
Ps Are you ready for the hard times ahead?
Find out now by taking my short Readiness Assessment Quiz – it’s completely free. By the time you are done, you will know exactly where you stand on the “gentle” vs. springy spectrum.
Then click here to start out the Quiz….And don’t fret; the questions are so easy a 3rd grader could answer them.
Click on the image to start out the quiz and discover once and for all whether you belong to the “Fragile Mass” or “The Immune Few”.
Download the “10 Steps to Basic Preparedness” video for FREE.
