********If you only eat one meal per day, eat it at night- it goes to your organs. Food in the morning gets burned quickly from energy. You will survive longer if you eat one meal at night instead of in the morning. Just a great note from my friend Barbara.
*******Remember to get freeze dried sour cream, butter, veggies, fruit, milk, cheese, – all the things to make recipes.
******* Remember to stock up baby formula and baby items!
******* STORE PROTEIN. Protein is rising the most in price. Store it now!
www.preparewithKate.com for FANTASTIC deals on food storage. You can make payments on it too if you have a small budget.
From askaprepper.com EXCELLENT INFO MUST READ ABOUT FOOD STORAGE
THE CHALLENGE – As we had nearly 400 cans of food nearing their expiration dates my husband decided this would be a good time to try living off our food storage. I could use any seasonings that I have in my food storage. Unfortunately I haven’t stored very many seasonings, because I have a full complement in my every day cupboard. By his rules these will be off limits.
Normally we eat oatmeal, grits or other cereals for breakfast, so our first change is breakfast food. I decided that we would alternate between fruits and the occasional corned beef hash. We really enjoyed the corned beef hash, but we found the canned fruit to be lacking in staying power, we would be hungry again long before lunch time.
For lunches and dinners we would have canned meat and canned vegetables. We have always preferred fresh and frozen food, so we don’t normally eat much that comes from a can, but this seemed like an easy solution that shouldn’t require much change to our routine. Unfortunately, we would have to give up bread and pasta.
INITIAL INVENTORY – I took an inventory and tried to make meal plans, but we ended up eating what we wanted each day rather than the original plan. Making the meal plans did reveal some imbalances, however. We had enough canned meat to eat one can a day for the two of us. So, if we had the planned corned beef hash for breakfast, that was our meat for the day.
We were well stocked on vegetables, but there wasn’t a lot of variety.
We had enough fruit to get us through the first three weeks, but had to switch to purely vegetables for the last week. I tried to save out some of the more filling vegetables like sweet potatoes, but we ended up eating corn for breakfast a few days.
CALORIES & HUNGER – This ended up being a diet for both of us and we lost weight. I lost twelve pounds over the month, and Jim lost five. He was already lean, and really could not afford to lose much more. The calorie count of the cans varied, but overall they were lacking. For example, a cup of green beans has only 40 calories. It was difficult to get 600 calories a day, much less enough to supply significant energy for our jobs and life.
The bulk of the meal would fill us up for a short while but hunger would return quickly. I considered cheating several times, and I think my husband might have had a few burgers and fries when away from home. I was able to resist the desire to cheat for the sake of the challenge, but it was very difficult. I was hungry most of the time.
TASTE – The first thing I noticed was a lack of salt. I had not put any salt in my long-term storage, so it was off limits. Salt makes a big difference to the flavor of foods. The meals were not as good as our usual, but were acceptable. However, it soon became monotonous. Our meats were a rotation of canned ham, corned beef hash, tuna, and canned chicken, plus a few soups with meat. Green beans, corn, carrots and tomatoes were getting old.
I think it would have been easier if I had stocked some different seasonings and spices. Cajun seasoning, All-purpose seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder and onion powder would have allowed me to change up the flavor of our meats and vegetables and added more flavor to soup.
OUR FAVORITE MEALS – We enjoyed the corned beef hash for breakfast, but learned that some brands are better than others. We also enjoyed the canned ham, possibly because I only had four cans so it was like a treat. We got tired of canned chicken and tuna quickly. I had some canned stew type soups and these were a treat, both because it was a pre-seasoned meal and because it was easy to heat and eat.
LESSONS LEARNED:
1. Buy more fruit for calories, sweetness, and diversity
2. Spices and flavorings are important
3. Don’t forget the salt and pepper
4. Buy an assortment of food, instead of large amounts of any one food at a time
5. Taste a can of each food before buying large quantities
6. Learn to cook the foods you stock in different ways
7. Keep track of expiration dates
8. Buy some foods with higher calorie counts for balance
9. Buy pastas, rice, oil and other filling foods
10. Plan meals with the foods you purchase so you have everything needed
We were able to put together nutritious meals, but we needed more calories and more variety. Toward the end of the month the variety of foods shrank and we were eating green beans, peas, carrots, and tomatoes over and over again.
We missed the pasta, fresh vegetables, potatoes and butter. I learned how important our vegetable garden is and how much we enjoyed many of the fresh foods we usually eat every day.
I cannot stress enough how important spices, seasonings, and stock cubes are. In the future, I will stock a large variety. All those cans of tomatoes would have been more interesting with spices to make pizza and pasta sauce, or even just by adding a little balsamic vinegar.
I am glad that we spent this month eating our canned food storage, but I’ll be planning our purchases for food storage differently in the future, focusing on meals.”
