Emergency rations

Last Friday an old friend contacted me, so we set up a time to meet in a restaurant about 30 miles away.  Over a couple of cups of coffee we caught up on old times.  He knew I had been into homesteading. His mind linked that with Prepping , and as a city dweller, he asked me what he should have in a three day survival kit.  I thought for a few minutes and cautioned him I was limiting  my thoughts to food.  I also reminded him I saw myself as a homesteader.  His train of thought was beans and rice.  My administrative mind went with the following logic:

1. For three days one can survive on water alone.  Get three gallons of water and call the project done.

2.  Ok, he wants food.  Get food that doesn’t need cooking.  Add a few energy bars, a few cans of speghetti, etc. …maybe extra.   Maybe water to flush the toilet.   I reminded him his water heater probably already had at least 30 gallons of water.

3.  Oh, he wants hot food.  Add a three day supply of Mountain House or similar, some matches, an lp burner, and a few cans of lp gas.   Maybe toss in a jar of instant coffee and some tea.

4.  Combined the above is 6 days.  Now if he wanted longer term without busting the budget, get the beans and rice…and lots more water and lp.  If he needed more variety … add lentils and split peas….maybe a can of dehydrated onions….maybe dehydrated carrots….maybe a few cans of spam.

Obviously, the list could go on, but the above takes him well past 3 days.  I never could understand the three day thing.  I have had snow storms and tornados keep me in longer than that.

If you are not a serious prepper, just buy one extra can of whatever every time you hit the super. Over a few weeks or months you have a good stock, and hardly notice it in the budget.

My wife cooks and also follows the sales. At any given time we might have 20 pounds of flour and 10 of sugar and oatmeal, boxes of breakfast cereal and whatever. Plus whatever I have saved from my garden from the prior year. Might as well call us preppers.