Foods with High Nutritional Density per pound and per dollar

truecougarblue · Heavy Crude Joined: Dec 21, 2005 Posts: 471

It would be great if we could get some input on favorite food storage items on a calories/ounce or calories/dollar basis.

My favorite two for the list are peanut butter and dried beans.

If possible, lets give some nutritional and cost details. In the US this is easy because almost all prepackaged food has % daily value right on the package.

Another favorite of mine is hot chocolate packets. Each packet has 10%DV of saturated fat and 8%DV carbs and they cost about $0.15/packet.

I think with some thoughtful input we could really help some people get a bit of storage going for not a lot of money.
_________________
Cougar

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." - Brigham Young

TorrKing

Doesn't understand the thing about storing a lot of foods (except for the event of a mass extinction event). I hope you have plans for what to do after your supply runs out as well....

There is a lot of wild carbs that can be harvested for free in enormous amounts. Cattail is the thing I am talking about. The rhizomes can be dried and ground into very nutritious flour. Several hundred kilos easy.

$0, but perhaps not worth it due to all of the work it requires.

Rice is very cheap to buy these days I have found out though.

Torjus Gaaren

truecougarblue · Heavy Crude Joined: Dec 21, 2005 Posts: 471

Thanks for the input Torjus, I agree that all should be thinking about long term sustainability.

Food storage is very important in the near term because it will help people make the transition from supermarket to garden. In a depressed economy in might make the difference between starving family members and family members that can produce good effort.

Food storage could also be a really good barter item.

I think that a total doomer scenario make food storage moot to a certain extent, but I'm trying to plan and prepare for as make scenarios as possible.

Now back to the thread topic...

NeoPeasant

I have a lot of beans and white rice and a few hundred pounds of wheat berries.
The beans cost me about 50 cents/lb
The white rice and wheat berries cost me about 20 cents/lb
I also have a rotating stock of canned meats, fruits and vegatables.

Wheat berries can keep a decade or more and can be used to make bread, gruel cerial, and beer. They can also be sprouted, or planted to grow more wheat berries.

One pound of wheat berries ($0.20) contains approx:

1577 calories
10 grams fat
345 grams carb (60 grams fiber)
49 grams protein

You could probably live on a pound of this stuff each day (supplemented by occasional wild/homegrown greens and critters) for quite a long time. You better have a grinder unless you want to settle for soaked cooked berries.

Here in Utah you have no problem buying this stuff in bulk since the LDS church tells it's members to stockpile food. Even though I have never been a mormon, I always suggest to my mormon friends to go to their church's Provident Living web site and follow the food storage and other self sufficiency advice there.
_________________
The battle to preserve our lifestyle has already been lost. The battle to preserve our lives is just beginning.

clover · Heavy Crude Joined: Mar 29, 2006 Posts: 117

Beans and split peas are about 50c./lb here. Lentils are much higher- better to buy in bulk. Ramen is always cheap.

Green split peas-
$1 = 1lb = 900g... 2.6kcal/g...

$1 = 2340kcals, 231g protein, 540g carb (230g fiber)

Ramen-
$1 = approx. 2530kcals, but high sodium and fat.

RonMN

Ammo!

A quiet pellet gun for a quiet killing of delicious critters, a .22 for slightly larger critters, and a 12 guage for large critters.

Other than that, i agree with peanutbutter & crackers (don't forget the crackers)...grapenuts & other cerials...pancake mix (just add water). and as mentioned before...cattails (make sure you've got a good shovel).
_________________
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes.

frankthetank

Doesn't peanut butter have something in it that is bad for you? I'd make sure to keep it cold or frozen.......

truecougarblue · Heavy Crude Joined: Dec 21, 2005 Posts: 471

Here's another good one, instant oatmeal. The printed shelf life is about 18 months, cost is $0.17/packet. I like the vitamin fortification.

Serving Size 1 Packet (35g)Serving Per Container see table

Calories 130
Calories from Fat 25
Fat 4%Saturated 3%
Total Carbohydrate 9%
Protein 3g
Vitamin A 20%
Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 10%
Iron 20%
Thiamin 20%
Riboflavin 20%
Niacin 20%
Vitamin B6 20%
Folate 20%
Phosphorus 10%

truecougarblue · Heavy Crude Joined: Dec 21, 2005 Posts: 471

Here's the numbers on peanut butter. 8 tablespoons (and a superhuman effort to swallow them) would give you all your needed fat and half your daily protein.

I think long term it could go rancid, but I can't remember ever coming upon a "bad" jar of peanut butter.

Also, I'm not sure it's a good idea to reject food based on to much sodium or fat, etc. If we really need food we won't be worrying a lot about high blood pressure.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 2 Tbsp • 32g
Amount Per Serving

Calories 190 Calories from Fat 153
Total Fat 17g 26%
Saturated Fat 3.5g 18%
Sodium 150mg 6%
Total Carbohydrate 6g 2%
Dietary Fiber 2g 8%
Protein 8g 12%
Iron 2%
Niacin 20%

Found this good link as well :

Link (there is a little button with a globe and chain on the form that helps you do this - Pops Smile

)

Pops · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 1:41 pm Post subject:

There are a couple of good downloads here:
http://www.peakoil.com/downcat2.html

And the sticky threads of course.

First I’ll say mostly we just store what we eat and rotate it. While having a small stash of the type of food you are talking about is a great thing for a little backup if that is all you have, the advantages of a larger pantry of the stuff you use daily are nice:
Fewer trips to the store – could be very important someday
Cheaper prices when buying in bulk and case-lots - again nice anytime but getting more important all the time
And should you really need to have the extra, the situation will certainly be uncomfortable and stressful to begin with and the comfort of familiar meals will be welcome.

Having said that, we are probably as far down in pantry goods as we’ve been in years; OTOH, our overhead is minuscule compared to what it used to be and both our kids are in the military and only the 2 of us at home. We also have a full freezer and a bunch of four-legged combines munching away out in the pasture and enough hay to keep them going when the grass stops for summer.

We try to buy by the case whatever is on sale and can whatever is in season. We buy (or at least after 25 years I still try to get Susan to buy) the largest size of everything that doesn’t spoil and every once in a while we go to the big town to Sam’s so we can get big ol jugs of spices, baking soda, soap – whatever. We also buy bread and GP flour, sugar, beans, some white rice, etc in bulk, ziplock it and store it in the cool room in metal garbage cans. If we can keep the freezer freezing we probably have enough for quite a few months, 7, 8, maybe more?

We have a little bit of back of the shelf type stuff, wheat, corn, honey, salt, powdered milk and eggs, a couple cases of USDA canned meat I got somewhere, and a few MREs and who knows what all – we could live off that stuff (grudgingly) for a couple months.

Before you stock up on 500# of wheat berries, I’d suggest getting a pound and try working after eating nothing but gruel and honey for a couple days – you won’t have much time between trips to the little house with the moon on the door.

And for those of you who have never been caught short between paychecks or jobs, or unable to get to Mickey Ds due to ice and snow, earthquakes, floods, fires or gas shortages, and wonder whats up with these goofy survivalists, just ignore our mutterings as we sort through our green bean cans looking for the oldest date.

Hadn’t really planned to write that much, too much whole wheat on the brain I guess, I got diarrhea of the keyboard!
_________________
Make a plan and work it:

truecougarblue · Heavy Crude Joined: Dec 21, 2005 Posts: 471

Pops · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 2:48 pm Post subject:

Fishman

Peanut butter has a very high nutrient load since it has so much fat. The worry with peanut butter is aflatoxin, rare in good peanut butter, probably more of a problem if you were to make your own.
Though one could probably not store long long term foods, its the fluctuation in availability of food that one can guard against with a personal stock. Remember, you only have to outrun the other person, not the bear.

NeoPeasant

pstarr

Italian dried Soppressata di Calabria salami lasts forever like shoeleather and is all nutrition. These salamis are living foods (like yogurt, sourkraut, kimchee, etc.) that contain beneficial micro organisms that help to preserve them. Chris Columbus lived on this stuff and there is still some in his boat, the Pinta. It was sold to the Soprano family and is moored in Hoboken. Smile

_________________
director

ree rah rip ram. sunofabitch godamn. hidey didey christ almighty. rah rah crap wav