In the prepping and homesteading world, storing food for an SHTF event is the perennial #2 topic. It's only beaten out by the good old bug-out-bag.
To hedge against a real disaster, standard advice says to buy food that'll store for a long time without going bad. The quantity varies: some say six months, some say a year, and there are hard-core folks who'll go up to five. Usually, the recommendations revolves around what kind of prep food to buy and store: freeze-dried, MREs, etc. A more conscientious prepper advises his/her readers to work their prep food into their regular diets so as to get used to 'em. The idea being, it'll be less of a shock when the prep food has to be relied upon.
But as far as I know, no-one has tested out living on prep food solely for a month or more.
That's the purpose of this series. For the next thirty days, starting tomorrow, I'm going to live off a 30-day supply of freeze-dried prep food. Every day, I'll write about the experience: how the meals taste, plus their effects on my health, energy level and most importantly my weight.
If I lose a significant amount of weight, then the daily rations are not adequate for a largeish male. This is important to know because it directly affects the time that the preps will last. If a six-month supply only provides half the calories needed, then bam: your six months is now three.
Obviously, it's best to know this in advance of a real disaster.
The Brand I Chose
Since I'm a member of Costco, I bought the "Mountain House – 1-month Food Supply Pouch Kit." It cost C$369.99 total.
It arrived in a big box
which contained eight smaller boxes. These boxes contained the free-dried food packets.
Five of the right had suppers, six per box:
And, the other three had breakfasts - ten per box:
The dinners require 2 cups of boiling water per packet; the breakfasts require only one cup.
One Smaller, One Bigger
If you've got your calculator whirring, you've seen that the total number of meals is sixty. Thirty days means two packs per day: one small, one big.
This is something I would not had known had I just thrown the box into a storage space.
Because the "supper" is twice the size of the "breakfast", I could eat half for lunch and save the other half for dinner. For this trial, however, I'll stick to two meals a day.
What I'll Be Watching For
As noted above, I'll be making notes each day that focus on:
- Taste;
- Health (vaguely);
- Energy (also subjective);
- Weight
With regards to the last, I'll weigh myself each day and show the scale. To be honest, I could lose a lot of weight.
If this experiment proves to be the "SHTF Diet," I'd actually be better off. :)
But if you're normal weight and depending on this food, you're at risk of becoming underweight if your prep food doesn't supply enough calories. As I said at the beginning, it's important to find out in advance if this is the case. Best to find out before the SHTF if your six-month supply is really three.
(Image from here.)
Over the next thirty days, in this adventure of a sort, I'm going to find out if a thirty-day supply of SHTF-ready food is adequate for a real thirty days. Follow along, and you'll find out too.