Food Supplies and storage with minimum recommendations ------------------------------------------------------ The Mormon 4 plan. The Mormon 4 is usually the basis of most long term food storage plans. The quantity and quality of the food storage plan of most survivalists depends on what problems the survivalists expects to encounter in the future. An economic survivalist expecting a several month period of turmoil might have just a 1 or 2 month supply of canned goods that is rotated continously. A social decline survivalist might have a mix of grains, freeze dried, air dried, canned goods, and seeds to supplement available food supplies during times of trouble. A nuclear war survivalist might have a 5 year supply of the Morman 4+ nitrogen packed seeds, freeze dried, sophisticated water purifiers, and other supplies. The Mormon 4 was created by the Mormon church to provide one year of food at low expense that would have a very long shelf life. Part of the Mormon faith stipulates that all families should have at least one year of food in storage. Here is a table of the Mormon 4: FOOD #/PERSON(AVERAGE,RANGE) SHELF LIFE COMMENTS Wheat 300, 200-365 INDEFINITE Hard Red packed in nitrogen Powdered Milk 85,60-100 packaging varies 1 to 5 to indefinite years Sugar or honey 60,35-100 INDEFINITE keep sugar dry and pest free Salt 6,1-12 INDEFINITE More needed for preserving By following books like Kearney's Nuclear War Survival Skills and Dickey's Passport to Survival, techniques for sprouting, gluten making, and wheat grass will supply vitamin C and a wide variety of dishes from these four items. These four will NOT make a good diet but one that will keep you alive. Minimum supplementation would be some vitamin and mineral pills and a source of fats and oils. Dickey recommends 40 additional foods that can be rotated or have a shelf life of 1, 3 to 5 years. The 40 + 4 yields a healthy diet of over 100 dishs that can be used for varied meals. The Kearney diet is basically the Morman 4 plus cooking oil (about 50 pounds) and beans (around 100 pounds). This provides essential oils and a much better amino acid balance. The ideal diet in terms of amino acid balance is meat. You can get the correct amino acid balance from grains the easiest by making "Cornell" bread. In any bread recipe substitute this mixture for each cup of wheat flour. 1 tablespoon of soy flour, 1 tablespoon of nonfat dry milk, and 1 teaspoon of wheat germ with the balance of the cup filled with wheat flour. For more information on Cornell bread read THE CORNELL BREAD BOOK-McCAY from Dover, or can be ordered from Jeanette B. McCay, 30 Lakeview Lane, Englewood, FL 33533. Fighting Chance recommendations: -------------------------------- As an alternative to the "Mormon 4", this is what the FIGHTING CHANCE newsletter recommends for a bare bones food supply for one year: 300 pounds of wheat (17% protein, 7% moisture, treated for insects) 100 pounds of corn 75 pounds of pinto beans 5 gallons of soy oil 10 pounds of iodized salt The above is available from Preparedness Products, 130 S. Redwood Rd., Bldg.F, North Salt Lake City,UT 84504, (801)292-3481 for $100 + freight if ordered in quantities of 20 or more or $132 + freight for single purchase (less salt, buy that locally and save the freight). This is shipped in sacks with the corn in a nitrogen filled enclosure. A better deal is the same + 20 pounds of soy beans but with everything packed in nitrogen filled plastic buckets for extremely long shelf life for another $66. A note on weevils getting into your storage food. If that happens just get a hot pan and some oil and fry them up. You will lose some of the carbohydrates to them but you will get some higher quality protein from them. Please note that freight costs per pound drop dramatically when you get above 500, 1000, 2000, etc. pounds. A good vitamin/mineral supplement should be added to this for better nutrition. One of the few places that has supplements designed for long-term storage is Colgan Institute, 565 Pearl St. Suite 301 La Jolla,CA 92037 (619)454-1696.