What's the rule of thumb for prepping food?

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In terms of pounds per days, what is the rule of thumb for prepping food?

The rule of thumb for water is a half gallon per person, per day; what's the equivalent for food?

I'm reviewing our stores and trying to quantify our survival plan, but I'm having trouble nailing down how much food I can expect my family to consume in an emergency, both for purposes of prepping and designing a rationing plan. Our normal dietary habits are pretty random, so it's hard to use that as a baseline.

Without going into calorie counts, what do you guys use as a rule of thumb?
 
You could always use portion size; ie 1/2 cup of rice = x servings, etc. That then could be extrapolated out into containers; if 1/2 cup of beans is a serving, and you get five cups of beans in a can, there are ten servings of beans per can..

Calorie counts and nutritional value really are the way to go, though. If there's a SHTF event and you're splitting wood every day when you normally live behind a desk, you'll starve on normal rations. If your wife is a stay at home mom and chasing the little boogers is her only form of exercise, lugging water around, gardening, kneading bread, and tending the wood stove all day is going to consume quite a few more calories than lugging laundry baskets from room to room.

You can always rough out the calorie plans (one can of beans = 20k calories, for instance) if you want to keep it simple. It IS easy for this stuff to take over your life for a while if you let it. [wink]
 
I do it based on calories and nutrition. I use 2000 cals as the basis for everyone. In reality the kids are a little less and I am a little more but it is reasonably close. I just use the info on the packages and multiple by servings and number of packages.
 
2000 cals is a good number assuming a modern, semi-sedentary lifestyle. If you're moving a lot after the big bad thing happens- foraging, patrolling, carrying heavy stuff every day, whatever, it's just above starvation.
 
To maintain body weight, take your current weight and multiply by 12 for men, and 11 for women (rule of thumb)

ex. 200 pounds, x 12 = 2400 calories

This assumes "normal" activity, and non-severe environmental conditions.

This is a quick way to estimate the "mileage" of given foods - foods high in fat have more calories per unit of weight than low-fat.


Fat: 1 gram = 9 calories
Protein: 1 gram = 4 calories
Carbohydrates: 1 gram = 4 calories
Alcohol: 1 gram = 7 calories

Your body will utilize simple carbs (e.g. sugar) faster than fat, or protein.


If you're using packagd foods, note that many are multi-serving....yeah.....right! [laugh]
 
2000 cals is a good number assuming a modern, semi-sedentary lifestyle. If you're moving a lot after the big bad thing happens- foraging, patrolling, carrying heavy stuff every day, whatever, it's just above starvation.

It is but I figure I can comfortably pull in another 1000 cals a day/person out of my garden/ plantings etc. This is a mix of grains, potatoes, beans, squash, fruits and veggies and includes root cellaring, drying and canning for year round preservation. This estimate is based on past yields which I then cut in half as a worst case.
 
It is but I figure I can comfortably pull in another 1000 cals a day/person out of my garden/ plantings etc. This is a mix of grains, potatoes, beans, squash, fruits and veggies and includes root cellaring, drying and canning for year round preservation. This estimate is based on past yields which I then cut in half as a worst case.

Yeah. I know you know what you're talking about. I was just posting in a "general knowledge" kind of way. [grin]
 
I do it based on calories and nutrition. I use 2000 cals as the basis for everyone. In reality the kids are a little less and I am a little more but it is reasonably close. I just use the info on the packages and multiple by servings and number of packages.

Same here - I keep track of the total calories of what I am storing and divide by # people/2000 calories to get an estimate of days on hand - have a good mix of fat/protein/veggies/fruits - but need to better quantitate that.
 
Same here - I keep track of the total calories of what I am storing and divide by # people/2000 calories to get an estimate of days on hand - have a good mix of fat/protein/veggies/fruits - but need to better quantitate that.

I dont really keep track of the mix of fats/proteins etc. I should but most of my counting involves my deep storage stuff. Most of the oils, fats etc I try to keep rotated through about every 6 months to a year with the canned and boxed goods. All that stuff to me is bonus and doesnt factor into the storage calcs. It is what we use every day. Too be honest I need to sit down and get that stuff organized but it isnt going to happen any timne soon. I envy those super organized folks with the clipboard hanging on the shelf with each can recorded.
 
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