How much money do you spend a week on cigarettes? What about beer? What about candy? How much is your cable bill? Were you hungry so you drove through the fast food and spent $5.00? How much have you spent this week, or last? Come on, be honest. If you just changed one of those habits you would be able to prep without having to bite into your budget.
I can come up with a boring, tasteless food storage plan that you can put together quickly, easily, and cheaply. It can sustain you for two months. And you won't even know you've spent any money. Here goes. For two dollars a day, Monday-Friday, you can save $10 in a week. That's $40 in a month. What can you get for $40?
25 pounds of rice $8.70 - 125 good sized portions
5 pounds of sugar $3.00 - good in oatmeal, rice pudding, bread, etc.
10 pounds of assorted dried beans $8.90 - 75 portions
9 pounds of oatmeal $8.75 - 100 portions
20 pounds of flour $10.00 - 50 small loaves of bread
Here's 350 portions of food for under $40!
Would you be lacking in taste? Yes. Missing fruits, vegetables, vitamins? Yes. Will you stay alive? YES?
Sure I know this is a horrible food storage plan but it is a simple start. You can easily and instantly put away almost 70 pounds of food in one month by cutting out 1/2 pack of cigarettes, or two beers, or a bag of candy, or a movie. For most people it's not hard to come up with some spare change.
To underscore your point; It isn't really "a horrible food storage plan" exactly because it is so easy to do, affordable and provides so many meals. In many ways it is the best food storage plan because most of us can scrounge up fruits and vegetables in small amounts. We are in the middle of dandelion season rich in vitamins and minerals. We are beginning the berry season again full of vitamins and minerals. But the important point is that it is very difficult to scrounge up calories and comfort food. If all you have is dandelions you will quickly starve. But if you have rice, beans AND dandelions you will be fine and may even thrive.
ReplyDeleteExaclty right. The LDS plan begins with the basic four - wheat, powdered milk, honey, salt. Calories plus whatever extras we can add is what the food plan is all about.
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