Shalom Jim:
I was visiting Geri Guidetti’s Ark Institute web site and she has posted on there that for just one adult male the following is the minimum food storage requirements for one year:
1.) 350 lbs. of wheat (actually for a family of four it is close to 1,200 pounds of wheat alone)
2.) 155 lbs. of various grains
3.) 55 lbs. of beans, etc.
My question for you is do you agree with these numbers? And are you storing quantities like this or do you use a different system?
I am getting ready to make some large purchases so I’d appreciate your knowledge, please.
Shalom B’shem Yahshua Ha Moshiach (Peace in the Name of Yahshua the Messiah) – Dr. Sidney Zweibel
JWR Replies: Those figure vary widely, depending on which book you read or web site you visit. I think that some figures are perhaps a bit high, but they are made with the conservative assumption that almost everything would be made from scratch. For example, that you would have only whole wheat and no stored supplies of flour, pasta, or breakfast cereals. Thus, you’d often be using wheat berries (soaked swollen whole wheat) in lieu of breakfast cereal.
The most widely accepted figures come from the LDS church food storage web site. There, they have an interactive calculator. Punching in “4” (for a family with four members that are 7 or older), it yields these figures:
Wheat: 600 pounds (of a total of 1,200 pounds of grains, which includes 200 pounds of rice.)
Beans, dry 120 pounds (out of a total of 240 pounds of legumes.)
This calculator also gives quantities for sugars, milk, fats and oils, salt, and so forth. It is quite a useful tool, and I commend its anonymous author/designer. (No doubt part of someone’s LDS missionary project.) BTW, this calculator also serves as a valuable reality check for anyone that just used their our own quantity assumptions when buying bulk foods.
Quite importantly, if you think that you’ll have any assorted parents, siblings cousins, aunts, uncles, church brethren, and shooting buddies (and their offspring) arriving on your doorstep on TEOTWAWKI +1, then consider those additional numbers when making your storage food quantity calculations. Odds are that it will give you some very large numbers, indeed!
The shelf life of most bulk foods is quite long (8 to 30 years) if they are properly packaged. (See Alan T. Hagan’s Food Storage FAQ. It is excellent.) In their soft grocery store packaging, some foods have a pitifully short shelf life. I included a lengthy table with some very useful data on food shelf life in my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course. The table differentiates between packaging methods for many foods.
When planning, if you must err, then err on the side of larger quantities. The extra supply will either extend your own supplies or provide a surplus for charity of barter.If you have the space and you have the money, then buy more. Someday you’ll be glad that you did.