The Calorie Content of Survival Foods, by G.C.T.

“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

While I sit and type, the Mid-Atlantic States and much of the rest of the country are locked in a deep freeze.  Wrapped in a blanket and staring at the fire, the furthest thing from my mind is the warm breeze of spring and my summer vegetable garden.  Yeah, right!  The only thoughts that seem to pass through my brain while staring at “the poor man’s television” is TEOTWAWKI, fishing (trout season is just around the corner), farming, and summer.  Just before it turned winter cold, while we were still experiencing the crispness of fall, I dug out my vegetable garden for this coming summer.  I just moved into a house with a yard and room enough to have a small 5’x15’ garden.  For the entirety of my adult life, my living arrangements have never afforded me the opportunity to plant a real garden.  A garden doesn’t grow in a city apartment on the 3rd floor.  So I’ve been using this winter to read, read, and read.  If growing a garden is anything like drowning a worm, I’m certain that more than simply theoretical knowledge will be necessary.  Practical skills are vital, since nature doesn’t always act the way it’s supposed to.  So, while I am chomping at the bit to practice some plans and ideas, I’m still at present just a theoretician. 
 
What, then, are some of my theories?  I have some theories of how TEOTWAWKI will happen. China will begin to dump the dollar at an even faster pace.  The rest of the world will get wise to its worthless reserve currency, then bam…we’re done.  The saber rattling by North Korea turns into a destabilizing war in Asia.  Nukes start flying … then bam we’re all toast.  How about this outlandish one I just came up with… Obama’s birth certificate is never found and it’s proven that he is not a natural born American citizen.  A constitutional crisis ensues throwing our society into political and economic chaos and we are living in a “Patriots“-style post crunch America.  I’ve thought of all these theories, but they are not the ones on my mind while watching the fire.  My thoughts these days revolve around how much land will I need to survive.  What kind of food do I need to be stockpiling and how do I preserve it?  What is the calorie count of those foods?  What is the calorie count of wild game?  Heck, I’ve even thought of the unthinkable, what is the calorie content of bugs?  Let me share with you some of my findings.
Recently, the folks at BackyardFoodProduction.com covered the topic “How much land does it take to be completely food self-reliant?” in their newsletter.  The information was informative to the max and nothing short of spectacularly awesome.  If an EMP were to strike right now and we were forced to revert to a hunter/gather lifestyle, we would need in the range of 10 square miles (6,400 acres) to survive.  And this supposes that you are the only person foraging of the land.  It’s an astonishing number and, with the high population density in many parts of the US like the North East or Mid Atlantic, purely hunter/gatherer survival would be virtually impossible.  If you farm, the research concludes that 5 people can be fed complete diet on 1 acre of land, growing food 4 seasons out of the year.  If you only have 2 growing seasons, double your acreage.
 
That 1 acre of food will produce enough veggies for five people. What veggies are you growing that will satisfy that grumbling belly? Do you know what the calorie count is of some common vegetables? Have you planned your garden with these calories in mind? I for one know that if I simply planted tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, etc. I would starve.  My brother affectionately termed a calorie counting diet the carrot diet. When we are counting calories and snacking all day, we both tend to snack on carrots.  After a day of snacking like a rabbit, I’m so starving hungry, I could eat a rabbit!  When you plan your acre garden, or your back yard 5’x15’ garden, know the calorie content of the produce you are planting and plan accordingly.   I did a Google search and no two web sites had exactly the same numbers.  They always differed by a few calories.  While the numbers I chose might not be scientifically exact, they are most likely in the ball park.  Here is a chart with some of the some of the common veggies:

Here is a list of common fish, both fresh water and salt water.  Please note that depending on your locale, there are different names for different fish.

If you are really in dire straits and that 1 ounce lead meal you’ve saved still isn’t an option (and hopefully it never will be), insects can be your savior.  There is something to be said for the little bugs.  Some of the Old Testament prophets survived for most of their lives on insects.  Here is a chart that I hope you don’t find too repulsive: