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Food Storage is Not About Servings
August 1, 2022
When planning your food storage for emergencies and food supply disruptions, the most important aspect of having enough food is to go by healthy calories and not by number of servings. This can be a hard thing to do, as so many manufacturers are now hiding their calorie content and just stating how many servings they contain. But if you don't have enough total calories in your supply you are going to go through your supply much too quickly and you will regret it.
A secondary concern would be the source of the calories. Are they from fat or from carbohydrates? Is there a good balance? Also, are you getting the minerals and vitamins you need along with the calories? Buying whole foods rather than refined pre cooked foods will provide you with the maximum amount of minerals and vitamins available that your body can absorb.
Sometimes you need to do a little math to calculate the total calories in a package and how long will it really last you. Food Storage Guys endeavors to do all the math for you so you know what you are getting. You want to shoot for 2,000 calories per person per day. So if a package says it has 34,000 total calories in it, you can calculate that it will last one person 17 days by dividing 34,000 by 2,000. You can also find out how many calories they intend per day by dividing the total calories by the number of days.
Once you know the number of actual days it will supply, you can find out the cost per day and compare that between packages so you know you are getting a good deal. Take the cost, say $170, and divide that by the actual number of days it will last. So our example of it lasting 17 days would mean it costs $10 a day, which is about average. If you can find packages that are cheaper than that, you know you are getting a good deal.
You also want a variety of food types in your supply. It is best to have easy pre-made meals, but you will also want to have side dishes of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and grains to balance out the meal. Also most pre-made meals are going to have too much salt and not enough nutrition if that is all you are eating for weeks or months on end.
Another aspect of food storage packages is that usually the longer the supply is for, the more variety and different types of foods will be included. This is helpful to keep in mind. If you are buying for 4 people, rather than buying 4 three-month supplies for them, you can buy one-year supply. You will get the same number of calories but with much more variety to choose from. It will usually be cheaper as well.
About the author: Daniel Baldwin
I run a web development business located in the hills of Sweet Home, OR. I am interested in health, Christianity, gardening, and storable food.
