Basic Food Storage: How Much? & What Kind?

How do you know how much food you need to store? What kinds of food should your family store? Those two questions are frequently asked and the answers vary according to each person’s family characteristics. We will help you to identify those for your family, placing you on the correct path; after all food storage is a cornerstone of preparedness.
Our bodies are capable of lasting a while without food by feeding on its self; draining your energy and brain power necessary to make it through a disaster. By adequately storing enough food for your family you can mitigate the struggle.
How do you calculate the amount of food you need to store?
It is the consensus of many experts that you need at least one year of food storage to sustain your family during a prolonged disaster.
In order to calculate the amount of food you have to store you need to calculate the number of calories each member of your family needs to consume to sustain their weight and activity levels. Using the B.M.R. (Basic Metabolic Rate) formula you will be able to calculate the calories for each person.
Here are the formulas you need:
• Adult women:
655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)
• Adult men:
66 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years)
• Girl:
655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years).
• Boy:
66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in year)
Once you have the figures from above use the multipliers below to find the activity level of each family member.
Sedentary (little to no exercise): multiply by 1.2
Light (exercise up to 3 times a week): multiply by 1.3 (1.375 for children)
Moderate (exercise 3 or more times a week): multiply by 1.4 (1.55 for children)
Heavy (exercise 5 or more times a week): multiply by 1.5 (1.725 for children)
With this information you can plan the proper amount of food to store.
What kind of food should your family store?
Every family should store a well balanced diet to sustain their bodies as best as possible; during a disaster your body needs proper nutrition even more do to the stress placed on it. Long self life food items are not part of most families’ diet, so I recommend introducing those food items into your meal plans. This has a couple of benefits, first an abrupt change in diet can cause gastrointestinal problems and 2nd it allows your family to become familiar with it.
• wheat
• legumes
• Grains (corn, millet, oats, buckwheat, etc.)
• dried and canned fruits and vegetables
• dried milk
• canned or dried meats
• honey
• salt
• oils (coconut and Olive)
• baking powder
• Multiple vitamin and mineral supplements and extra vitamin C
To truly survive you have to engage a self-reliant attitude by taking what you learn and adapting it to your family; no family’s needs are the same so it is important to make your food lists and amounts according to your families.

Remember the best time to learn your lesson about personal security, self-defense, and preparedness is before something happens. www.s90x.us