Please help me find threads re: HOW MUCH FOOD TO STORE

Lumpy

I know these threads are here somewhere - I just can't figure out how to find them.

Three adult children and a 4 yr old and 2 yr old coming to live communally with us. Trying to figure out how much more stored food we need to be getting.

Please direct me to right threads and/or links.

Thanks

Lumpy
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Ludi

I can't find them either.

What kind of food do you plan to store? Are you looking for poundage needed, or calories per person per day? How long a period do you plan to need the stored food?
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SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 943

I recommend the following book. Making the Best of Basics - Family Preparedness Handbook by James Talmage Stevens. ISBN 1-882723-25-2.

This book is the exact one you are looking for and the only book you'll need on this subject. I looked for years for a book like this and when I got it, it made planning a whole lot easier.

Lumpy

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1737

The Ball Blue Book has some info in quantities, and is the best canning book I know of. But I'm gonna buy what SCF suggested, too!
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Lumpy

Lumpy

Ludi

food storage calculator
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SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 943

When deciding how much food to store, it really depends on a number of things that are individual to your family and situation. I'm going to paraphrase a bit from the book I recommended above and then maybe that'll give you an idea on how to go about calculating your own amounts specific to your families needs.

This book uses a 'family factor' method to make decisions.

"The Family Factor Formula assigns each family member food consumption points. These food consumption points are percentages. These are numbers relative to the average adult male consumption level. Using 100 points for the adult male as the base, or index, number, the consumption points for the other family members are lesser or greater percentages, depending on a, sex, and appetite, of course."

Example.

Male Adult 100
Female Adult 85
Male Teen 140
Female Teen 95
Male Child 95
Female Child 75
Infant (1-3yrs) 50

To find your family factor you simply multiply the number of people in each category by the corresponding points, add these together to find your total family points and then divide by 100.

So.

Family of 2 parents, 2 teen boys and 1 teen girl, one male child and a baby would have a total family points of

100+85+(140 X 2)+95+95+50 = 705 points.

Divide that by 100 to get a family factor of 7.05 or 7 if you prefer to round it down.

Multiply the family factor by however quantity it is that the adult male would normally consume for that period of time that will then give you the total for the entire family.

So if you decide that the adult male quantity of wheat is x, then 7x is the quantity you'd need. Extrapolate that to your own situation for all your supplies and then you'll be able to make this complicated decision much easier.

The book comes with recipes, charts ( dozens of them really ) to help in your own personal planning.

This book is very important tool.

My gawd people...it's only 15 bucks at Amazon. Buy this one and Seed to Seed while you're at it.

Family Preparedness Handbook

Seed to Seed

Shannymara

Enthusiastically second the book SCF recommended. It's great, also has many recipes for cooking with wheat and such.

We do have some downloads here, too:

http://www.peakoil.com/downcat2.html
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kpeavey · Expert Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 1321

A good rule of thumb: one ton of food per person per year.
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Jenab6

I only buy greens in late fall to eat over the winter. In the other seasons, it's just too easy to get edible greens out of the yard.

Otherwise, I decide what to store based on nutrition, and decide the amounts based on calories. I figure on using 1 cup of legumes and 1 cup of rice per day: that's 1000 calories per day. The rest of my day's food will come from something else, like tuna and homemade bread (or crackers, whatever happens to come off the woodstove).

A goal to work toward, in my opinion, is five years' supply of stored food. Beat the Mormons at their own game.

SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 943

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1737

My wife has baked our bread for 30+ years from mostly local soft red winter wheat. We mix in some hard red winter wheat for better texture, which gives the dough more gluten (?), anyway it is less crumbly. Soft alone is good, though. Hard is better.

To the point: For the 2 of us, and a few meals for visitors, we use 5 to 6 loaves /week baked in "one pound" loaf pans. The loaves actually weigh about 3 pounds! Fills you up like a steak. The 6 loaf batch takes about 3 quarts of wheat, which we grind fresh as needed. Don't plan to grind it ahead of time more than a few days; it doesn't store well without freezing.

So, 3 quarts of wheat/week for 2 adults (old, less active than teens, etc.). This comes out to 39 gallons/year. We plan on having a 55 gallon barrel of wheat for a year, for us two,because we like whole wheat pancakes, too. A US bushel is 8 gallons, so 5 or 6 bushels of wheat/year, which, if bought from the farmer, straight out of the combine, is going to cost maybe $6.50/bu. this year = maybe $40. Cheap eating and good stuff! Hope this helps.

We store it in sealable barrels. We have used dry ice lumps in the bottom then filled it with wheat-leave the lid loose to allow co2 to escape until the next day, then seal. This kills the bugs. Now we use my Mig welder gas tank, which is 75% Argon/25% CO2. Just pop the hose off the welder , add a length off copper pipe to reach the bottom of the barrel, and fill with wheat. Turn the gas on and set a small lit candle in the wheat. As the gas percolates up through the wheat, it dispalces the air, finally extinguishing the candle. Then you know that ALL the air is gone, and can seal it up immediately. Kept it this way for 2-3 years, rotating stock, and no bugs.
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SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 943

Off topic:

Patience, do you have to sift out the bran after grinding the wheat or is your flour ready to go right after grinding?

We have ground our flour and found that we need to take some of the bran out before we can use it.