What does a month of food really look like?

[Merovech]

I have looked in my 'prep' pantry many times and thought to myself, "We could stretch that a month if we had to..." WRONG! I think many others may have made the same mistake on multiple occasions, maybe they have really never seen a REAL month's worth of food... I certainly hadn't and Ive been on this board and others for more than 6 years.

As with my other posts, this will get wordy. I am an author by trade and when I need something to 'jump start' me, I write up something here on ZS I think is worthwhile... it gets me punching the keys.

So, our topic is, What does a month of food really look like?

You could stack, Red Beans and Rice, Peanut Butter, MREs and Daltrex Rations ceiling high and be very efficient calorie wise. But are you really wanting to eat nothing but red beans and rice for a solid month? Have you lived off of MREs for 3 days, much less a month?

I take a realistic approach to what I store. I store what I use for the most part. When my wife or I need something for the kitchen, we raid our 'stash' and then add it to the grocery list. This way things get rotated fairly quickly. I also take a tip I learned here and spend an extra $10 a grocery trip on 'preps'. Buying just a little extra. It is amazing how things grow quickly that way.

My goal here is for a balanced diet, and to show for real what a months worth of food for one person really looks like all laid out.



This is one month of food for a single person.

Breads, Nuts and Meat:

1 Large Tub of Planters Mixed Nuts: 9690 Calories
6 Cans of B&M Bread in a Can: 6240 Calories (Best Prep Food EVER, no lie)
6 Cans of SPAM of various flavors: 6480 Calories (Note: The Turkey Spam is WAY lower in Calories than the other flavors, be advised)
1 Large Tub of Peanut Butter: 6300 Calories
4 cans Corned Beef Hash: 3120 Calories
5 Cans of Tuna: 500 Calories
4 Cans of Hormel Turkey: 480 Calories
4 Cans of Hormel Ham: 900 Calories
2 Bottles of Tactical? Bacon: 550 Calories

Fruits and Veggies:

2 Cans of Sweet Potatos: 1500 Calories
8 Cans of 'New' Potatos: 1400 Calories
15 Cans of fruit (Various): 2025 Calories
2 Cans of Carrots: 245 Calories
4 Cans of Beets: 425 Calories
2 Cans of 'Veg-All': 315 Calories
6 Cans of Sweet Peas: 960 Calories
12 Cans of v8 Juice: 360 Calories

Misc:

3 Cans of Baked Beans: 1540 Calories (I am not a big fan of beans, but I would put them in a soup/stew)
4 Cans of Rotel of various flavors: 250 calories (Low on Calories but good for adding to stuff)

Morale Items:
2 Large Cans of Spiced/Sugared Apple Pie Filling: 1400 Calories
3 bars of Milky Way Midnight Candy Bars: 880 Calories

Totals:
45,560 Calories +1 Can opener (Inedible)

Notes:

You will notice that a Major bulk of the calories is: Nuts, Bread in a Can, Spam and Hash... and of course peanut butter. Without the nuts, peanut butter, or bread in a can the 'bulk' of this list would be more than double the size... if you had a nut allergy for example.

This is working off a 1500 calorie diet per day, so 45,000 calories for a month.

This diet (As with all canned goods) is REALLY high in salt/sodium. Which means MORE water preps.

If you are 'working hard' you will need many more calories than this per day. If you are sitting on your butt watching TV, you will need less.
I DO have stores of rice, beans, MREs, Daltrex etc. But that isnt what this post is about.

---

Addendum:

I am not including this addendum in the calorie intake, but you should also have seasonings and general cooking preperations:



Iodized Salt (You need it, 1 container will last a lot longer than a month)
Ground Pepper (to taste)
Condensed Milk and Goat Milk. (EXCELLENT on Calories, 2 cans of condensed milk is 2600 calories, 2 cans of goat milk is 840 calories. Great way to boost calories in a stew or soup, or to pour over rice.)
Chicken/Beef Bullion. (Great for dropping in some warm water to taste, chicken soup for the soul. Also for cooking.)
Hot Sauce (Tabasco and Cholula, nom nom nom)
Real Honey (Never goes bad)
Garlic Powder (Running low, time to make a SAMs trip)
Dried Minced Onions (Running low, time to make a SAMs trip)
Chili Powder (Running low, time to make a SAMs trip)
Creole Seasoning (Great on Fish or anything really)
Olive Oil (For lots of stuff, great on fatty oil intake and cooking)
Sugar
Loperamide (No lie, you need it)
TUMS (See Above)
Bottle of Multi-Vitamins (Not Shown, its in my BOB)

And you CANNOT Forget:



An Iron Skillet and the Last Box of Twinkies and Cupcakes on the Planet. (Will trade for Snoballs...

[Barnabus]

does the B&M Bread in a Can make good sandwiches ? They o.k. with the tuna and spam ?

[Merovech]

does the B&M Bread in a Can make good sandwiches ? They o.k. with the tuna and spam ?

B&M bread is like bread made with a heavy molasses content, comes with raisins or no raisins. It is good stuff, I had to talk to my grocery store manager to get them to stock it though. I walk out with a couple cans a grocery trip and it is always restocked now.

I dont know if Id make tuna sandwiches with it... I guess you could. Im not a big tuna person... Id prob toss the tuna and the beans into a soup and choke it down just for a bit of variety in the diet.

My wife is the tuna and baked beans person, I stock it for her.

[Sins]

What's the shelf life of B&M.
I heard breads and meats have the least shelf life, but I have honestly never heard of canned bread.
I will have to look for some, but to be honest it sounds gross.

[TacAir]

Didn't see any rice
Didn't see any flour, or cornmeal or rice flour

Or black beans, red beans, or white beans..

We keep some of the B&M bread around, good with a lot of thing including PB&J. Except, you don't have any jelly or jam.

Everybody has their own tastes - we enjoy black beans and rice several times a month, white beans make great soup. And so on. We focus more on dry goods with a very long shelf life - items that we recognize these dry items will take water and more fuel to cook and taken that into account.


Thanks for the photos - maybe another column on shelf life by each item would help folks new to the mindset of food storage....

[Merovech]

What's the shelf life of B&M.
I heard breads and meats have the least shelf life, but I have honestly never heard of canned bread.
I will have to look for some, but to be honest it sounds gross.

It's good stuff, buy a can and try it.

The can I have that Expires the 'soonest' is November 17th 2014, I have prob had that can for at least 8 to 10 months. So I would guess a solid 3 years till the expiry. I keep everything temp controlled, so I personally wouldnt have a problem eating a can 1 to 2 years past expiry, as long as it passed the look/smell/nibble tests.

[Merovech]

Didn't see any rice
Didn't see any flour, or cornmeal or rice flour

I keep those things, but its easy to plop a 20lb bag of rice, 20 lbs of beans, and a 20 lb bag of flour and clap your hands and say 'done'... and thats great for 'long term storage and shelf life' and all, but not very realistic.

I would get tired of beans and rice after 1 day of it... I think I would be eating my shoes after a month of beans and rice.

All of this stuff I eat normally at least on a quarterly basis... except the SPAM and hash which is solely a camping trip delicacy.

The main point in this thread is showing how much food a month of canned goods really is.

I didnt show Oatmeal, Rice, Flour or Beans because thats 'easy' and should be spread as filler throughout the rest of a normal diet.

I used to look in my pantry and 4 rows of shelves and think to myself, 'Oh yea, we can stretch that 3 months or so if we HAD to...' when in reality it was enough for my family for 2 or 3 weeks. Im not of that mindset at all any more, but wanted to show what a month of food looks like for those making the same mistake.

If you want to post a picture of a months worth of red beans and rice, go right ahead...

[Dawgboy]

I have eaten a 10 year old can of B&M bread. No difference in taste or texture... I like to toast it and drizzle butter on it. Which brings up the question, why no oils/fats in your store plan?


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[DarkandShiny]

Which brings up the question, why no oils/fats in your store plan?

There was a pic of it above

Olive Oil (For lots of stuff, great on fatty oil intake and cooking)

But a large can of shortening wouldn't hurt as the stuff rarely goes bad.

[prepper7]

An excellent post, OP. You're right, a nicely stocked pantry can be deceptive. Thx for taking the time to put the pix together; they're worth... well, you know.

[iron_angel]

I note you mention two drugs in there; there's two more I'd add. Those would be Pepcid, since it lasts a *lot* longer than Tums (but equally, takes longer to work) and also fights allergic reactions, and either Benadryl or Dramamine (for allergies and nausea - all this food is of little use if you barf!).

Otherwise, good lineup - the canned bread is something I wouldn't have thought of.

[Merovech]

I note you mention two drugs in there; there's two more I'd add. Those would be Pepcid, since it lasts a *lot* longer than Tums (but equally, takes longer to work) and also fights allergic reactions, and either Benadryl or Dramamine (for allergies and nausea - all this food is of little use if you barf!).

Otherwise, good lineup - the canned bread is something I wouldn't have thought of.

Yea, I didnt really want to delve too deep into the first aid/medication rabbit hole... But Benadryl is absolutely a must and can save your life. I didnt know Pepcid fights allergic reactions...

[maypo59]

Nobody, and I mean Nobody, wants to eat only "beans and rice" every meal.

BUT.. they ARE solid staples, can be "put up" in large amounts cheaply and quickly, and the point of the extended pantry is so you don't have to eat ONLY beans and rice, but literally 1000's of dishes that contain some...

beans and rice.

To not include them, or to preach against them, is a disservice to people who are trying to learn how to live with a deep pantry. To not be eating that diet now so you know how to cook with them, and to improve your health, save money, etc.. is doing a disservice to yourself and those who depend on you.

[sporkticus]

+1 on the beans and rice, but awesome to see someone put something together like this. Would this supply fit in a rubber tote? I wonder how much it costs. I wish I could find the brown bread in a can where I am but no luck.

[Boondock]

You forgot the beer. For the carbs, ya know.

[duodecima]

This is a fantastic thread, right up there with how much can you get for $100. More of us should put together a realistic month's menu and take a pic of it.
*puts this on the very long to-do list*

If you hate rice and beans, then yeah, plan accordingly. I use a pound or 2 of dry beans every month, at least a pound of rice, 3-5 lb of onions and at least 10 lb of whole wheat flour, so my month will look different. Those amounts would easily go up if I couldn't just go to the grocery store for milk&eggs and get chinese takeout. I made dal the other day (yum!) and proceeded to happily eat 5 meals over a week out of 3c of rice and 1.5c lentils. It wouldn't have lasted as long without the side dishes of course. There's no right way here - the moral of the story is to do the math and make sure that what you think is a month's worth of food really IS a month's worth of food.

[silversnake]

Nobody, and I mean Nobody, wants to eat only "beans and rice" every meal.

BUT.. they ARE solid staples, can be "put up" in large amounts cheaply and quickly, and the point of the extended pantry is so you don't have to eat ONLY beans and rice, but literally 1000's of dishes that contain some...

beans and rice.

To not include them, or to preach against them, is a disservice to people who are trying to learn how to live with a deep pantry. To not be eating that diet now so you know how to cook with them, and to improve your health, save money, etc.. is doing a disservice to yourself and those who depend on you.

I didn't get that the OP was deliberately not including them as a means of preaching against them. Rather, I thought the first post very informative from the standpoint of educating the guy who's looking at the exact same quantity and mix of products on his pantry shelf and saying to himself "I don't need to buy any beans and rice because I've got enough here to last a month or six weeks for my wife and kid and myself". Now, that same uninformed person can look at this thread, see that what he thought would last three people a month is really only a month's worth for one person, and know that he has to add more, including beans and rice, to bulk it up and stretch it out.

It didn't read to me as being about "this is what you should have" as much as it seemed to be about breaking the delusion of "I have enough already".


Edit to add: Forgot to say, thanks for the thread Merovech and that I'm amazed that people can't find brown bread in a can. Here in the northeast it's as common as pasta in supermarkets and I've even seen it in convenience stores a time or two.

[Merovech]

It didn't read to me as being about "this is what you should have" as much as it seemed to be about breaking the delusion of "I have enough already". <--- this, thank you


Edit to add: Forgot to say, thanks for the thread Merovech and that I'm amazed that people can't find brown bread in a can. Here in the northeast it's as common as pasta in supermarkets and I've even seen it in convenience stores a time or two.

Yea, Im not preaching anything or saying my way is the right way. I just wanted to show what a month of canned food really looks like. Drums of beans and rice are excellent to keep and supplement meals and add calories and that is the truth.

On the 'oil' subject, you are correct I prob should have a bit more 'fatty oils' over the long term.

The thread was much more "Look at how much 'mass' a month of canned goods really is" not really "Look at my month of prep food, you should do this too!" There are much easier ways to stack calories. But if I lost my job, or my wife did... this would prob be a big part of our menu for a month or two... along with a lot of rice

[Murph]

+1 on the beans and rice, but awesome to see someone put something together like this. Would this supply fit in a rubber tote? I wonder how much it costs. I wish I could find the brown bread in a can where I am but no luck.

I'm curious too about how much this cost, even if it's a rough guess.
Also, I think it would be cool to hear about what kind of meals you make using the various pieces.

I'm in the process of eating through my canned preps to "reboot" my system to it. I'm looking to move from a "lets have a random variety of food stuffs" to "lets meal plan everything and regularly rotate the supply."

[Murph]

+1 on the beans and rice, but awesome to see someone put something together like this. Would this supply fit in a rubber tote? I wonder how much it costs. I wish I could find the brown bread in a can where I am but no luck.

I'm curious too, about how much did this cost, even if it's a rough guess?
Also, what kind of meals do you make with all of this?

I'm in the process of eating through my canned preps to "reboot" my system to it. I'm looking to move from a "lets have a random variety of food stuffs" to "lets meal plan everything and regularly rotate the supply." So, this thread is perfect timing.

[Dawgboy]

The thread was much more "Look at how much 'mass' a month of canned goods really is" not really "Look at my month of prep food, you should do this too!" There are much easier ways to stack calories. But if I lost my job, or my wife did... this would prob be a big part of our menu for a month or two... along with a lot of rice

Amen to that part about the job loss. My canned preps are nearly gone, and one of my "6 month drygoods" barrels nearly so, from the year of underemployment I just finished. It is truly good to be able to raid my stores when dfb and the kids want dinner. The plus side is that I used up a lot of stuff I put up in a 20 gallon barrel 3 years ago. Plus is I get to rebuild that 6 months barrel his spring with all new stuff. it had nearly 100 pounds of mixed beans rice, split peas, Lentils, Barley, and oats, along with grits and seasonings.

[feedthedog]

This thread has been something of an inspiration to me. I've been doing the beans and rice thing, but I think canned goods are probably the way to go for a while. I've been trying to spend $10 on canned goods and other preps when I hit the store a couple of times a week. I got 8 cans of vegetables and two big things of shortening. At this rate, things should be piling quickly.

[TacAir]

The wife just picked up a couple of cases of 'atomic' milk (UHT) with the use by date of JAN 2013.

Those go into our storage and used across the year. Great for cooking and things like oatmeal...

[Merovech]

I'm curious too about how much this cost, even if it's a rough guess.

Murph, sorry. I missed this the first time through.

I did a rough guess, and Id say $130 roughly. I wouldn't call that cheap, but Ill eat everything there without any turning up of my nose. And the cost was spread out over at least 2 months, maybe 3.