Joined: 22 Mar 2008 Posts: 117 Location: Kansas City, MO
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:18 am Post subject: Cheap, nutritious, home-made emergency food
In the spirit of being a) poor, b) dissatisfied with commercial trail mixes and power bars, and c) not able to leave well enough alone, I have developed my own trail mix. It is cheap, healthy, yummy, and goes a little somethin' like this:
2 parts puffed millet
1 part puffed brown rice
1 part puffed corn
1 part dried fruit (your choice)
1 part sesame chips
1 part raw sunflower kernels
1 part candied peanuts
One half-liter of this stuff holds me over until about 4 pm on a 2000 calorie diet and could be a whole day's worth of food on my current triple digit diet if I could have a glass of fiber drink too. If you shop at health food stores for the grains, sunflower seeds, and sesame chips and the dollar store for the fruit and peanuts, you can get the materials for at least 2 5-gallon buckets' worth for less than $100. Even rounding conservatively, that makes my breakfast and half of lunch cost about $2.50, and it's probably closer to $2.00. So far, I have yet to have any of it go bad or spoil if you seal it in a 5 gallon bucket and plunk in a tea-ball with a couple packs of dessicant in it.
This is also a complete protien 2 or 3 times over, has plenty of carbs to keep you up and about, and it has enough fat to stave off squirrel starvation. Unlike some trail mixes, it has no constipation issues, nor does it lead to excessive dehydration. In theory, this could be eaten indefinately with proper vitamin support. Not that I advocate that or plan on it during any portion of an emergency other than the initial get home period.
Currently, I keep a 5 gallon bucket that will be soon filled and sealed with dessicant once I get around to making a batch. If you keep it in the corner, you have a lot of ready-to-eat food in an easy, out of the way storage spot.
Can you guys see anything about this that would preclude it from being suitable to a bug out scenario? Constructive criticism is more than welcome.
Sounds good!! About how many servings per bucket(assuming 2000 calories needed per day)? This could really stretch your preps budget. _________________ "If this ain't a mess, it'l do 'till one shows up"
Joined: 22 Mar 2008 Posts: 117 Location: Kansas City, MO
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:47 am Post subject:
On 2k calories a day, I'ld say it's about 20-30 days for one person. If you're hunkering down and pretty much just sitting around, you could cut back to 1000 calories and get a 1.5-2 months out of it.
Great!! I wonder if it would be cheaper if you could find the ingredients at Costco or Sam's Club?? I'm going to check that out. _________________ "If this ain't a mess, it'l do 'till one shows up"
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