Mr. Rawles,
First off, thanks for your fine web site! I was proud to become a 10 Cent Challenge [1] subscriber.
For those looking to increase their food storage supply in a cost-effective manner, I would recommend stopping by Wal-Mart and picking up their 12-pack containers of Ramen noodles (in various flavors). They’re currently $1.73 per package, which comes out to just 14.5 cents per single pack.
Nutritionally, a single pack of Ramen noodles contains:
380 calories
14 grams of fat
52 grams of carbohydrates
2 grams of fiber
10 grams of protein
and 16% of your daily requirement of iron
We ate a lot of Ramen noodles in the field while I was on active duty, you could boil up a single pack in a canteen cup and add a can of mushroom soup to it for a hot meal that was a break from C Rations. It would actually feed two guys most of the time.
Ten cases would cost you $17.30 to add 120 servings of a filling and easy to prepare base to stretch out your food storage dollars. This is worth the money, in my opinion! Yours, – Will from Florida
JWR Replies: The nutritive value of ramen is marginal, so it should not be considered a primary storage food. But I can see the wisdom of having some on hand as a food storage supplement, especially in lean times when hunger pangs will be a distinct possibility. There are lots of interesting ramen recipe web sites on the Internet, like this one with 430 recipes [2]. Coincidentally, instant ramen is nearing its 50th anniversary [3].
In my experience, ramen, like other bulk pasta, is particularly vulnerable to vermin. I strongly recommend storing it in 6 gallon food grade buckets with gasketed lids. If you are short on buckets, One alternative–albeit providing a shorter shelf life–is finding metal cabinets (such as military wall lockers) with tight-fitting doors. These will at least keep your pasta safe from mice and rats. (But not necessarily safe from insects.)