One more point about the power outages -- maybe not the last, but I'll admit it is one more than you want.Oh, the People are Angry that this has gone on so long. There have been some fists pounded on table this week on Beacon Hill, and one "man on the street" commented (cwawmentit, we say) "How could [National Grid] not prepare for this? what did they do to prepare?" (he says prepaya)
And really, Sully, what did you?
Did you bank some food and water? Did you charge your batteries? Did you trim your own trees? Did you head out of town Friday afternoon for a hotel room in Troy, New York?
Did you think to invest in a "complete 3-Month, 2-Person Food Supply" - with 55-gallon barrel water storage system. Then let us learn for the next time…
It's a what now?Look at this photo - what more do you need to know?
How big are those?Most of the photos on the Shelf Reliance website do not include other objects for scale, but I agree that they look about the size of a canister of Protein Powder from GNC. Eventually, I found this video of a home party (blink. blink.) that demonstrates these containers as exactly the size of a GNC canister.
What the heck is in there? Powder?Maaay-beee. Sometimes it's freeze-dried.
According to the video, dry eggs reduce the fear of salmonella. Aaanddd… “many of our products were Kosher at one point.” (but, no, they aren’t anymore.)
Dare I ask about meat?Before you have to turn on each other in the bunker, you learn to love TVP - textured vegetable protein, "a meat substitute that you reconstitute with water or
chicken or beef stock you make with THRIVE bouillon."Do I? do I really?Even though this is emergency/survivalist food, there is still an assumption of a kitchen. It won't suit your bomb shelter or cave, but it will your compound or lair. It's all in how you see yourself.
So sell meWhat I want to sell you on is Costco item#566053 pictured above.
$1000 for 3 month's worth of food for 2. 96 cans in this attractive food pyramid array, though I expect it comes in boxes and you pyramid yourself.
Keep going
Food groups include - grains (oh, Mommy, let's try the spelt!")
- Vegetables (most in the market for this system like to grow their own, but if conditions don't allow, fruits (harder to home-grow, and you will want bananas)
- dairy (including 4 kinds of cheese)
- Meats and beans (which you can group together because the meats are beans)
- something called Basics, which are cooking ingredients and seasonings
- six-pack samplers (sadly, not what you think, or what we all buy when the storm is a-comin'.) These are little sampler packs that can NOT compete with the Costco Thousand-pack. If you are gonna do this, go all in.
- Desserts. Before I even click this, I am going to expect astronaut ice cream, and I am not disappointed.
- The Entrees look no worse than anything Jenny Craig offers, and
- Drinks are just Kool-Aid mix.
Is it at all nutritious? Click each product in the food group area for the familiar Nutrition Facts label. Most items do appear to be whole food, with the exception of the Entrees. Beefy Chili has 68% of your day's sodium and 100 calories an ounce. So get yourself a can of the “beefy,” the beans, and the tomato powder and see what you can do. Or just become a real vegetarian.
What's the most popular item? First Aid and camping stuff. It's much cheaper. The crank-driven blender is pretty awesome, too.
I almost bought the Vigilance Survival Pack Supreme for One.Calculate your food storage needs in the THRIVE plan. I created a family of 3 with no ready-to-eat options for 12 months, and was recommended 848 lbs of grains, 41 lbs of vegetables, 38 lbs of fruit, 190 lbs of dairy, 89.5 lbs of protein, 32 lbs of salt and 15 lbs of boullion (so.. 50 lbs of salt) and 5 lbs of sugar -- Total cost... $7800. Of course, you can get on a monthly installment.
What's stopping you?
Why are those labels so creepy? Because the world is a harsh place, the End Times are near, and you have gone crazy.
Who can live on this? These guys.
PS: Shelf Reliance sells MREs too.
Hope you're enjoying National Blogpost Month.
Here's another NaBloPoMo participant chosen somewhat at random for you to enjoy.
http://southernfriedchildren.blogspot.com/
Very few of us prepare adequately for an emergency. We get snowed in every winter for 3 to 10 days and we get by without fancy survival kits because we have a fireplace and a deep freeze. Still, it takes some planning.
ReplyDeleteAs someone with diabetes who also has a tendency to wait until the last minute to refill prescriptions, it's really important to have emergency supplies of medications and whatever other medical supplies you need.
Our major preparation was buying a grill with an extra burner on the side - to heat water for coffee! I can manage cooking on the grill for several days, but there's gonna be hell to pay if neither of us gets coffee for a couple of days!
ReplyDeleteAs the food thaws I cook it and we eat whatever. Sounds like you are much better prepared.