Sustenance food is generally our long-term storage food. When most
people begin to panic about food shortages, they panic-buy sustenance
foods such as rice, pasta, and beans. Their panic focus is on the
bare-bones building blocks of meals that will quickly and cheaply fill a
belly. The next thing the panic buyers turned to was bread-making
ingredients--wheat, flour, yeast, and other baking essentials such as
sugar, baking powder, and baking soda as well as cooking oils.
Sustenance foods provide most of the carbohydrates and much of the protein, and some of the fat in our diet, as they have for millennia. Sustenance food is generally more difficult and labor-intensive to grow and requires much more land to do so. A postage-stamp-sized backyard in suburban America is not going to yield enough sustenance food to feed a family. Because these foods--grains, beans, oils, sugars, salt, and milk are labor- and land-intensive, they are the foods a family needs to store in abundance. They form the basis of a healthy diet. These foods alone can sustain individuals over the long-term. Some of these sustenance foods are short-term storage foods we can raise easily ourselves, like potatoes.
Complementary food is what we use to enrich the sustenance diet. In general, complementary food provides some carbohydrates and protein, but little in the way of fat. What it's most nutritionally valuable for is the vitamins and minerals, as well as variety in the diet. It will not sustain individuals for the long-term without a lot of effort and without at least a little acreage. Complementary food consists of the garden produce, canned, freeze-dried, dehydrated fruits, vegetables, and meats, herbs and spices. It includes the dairy, eggs, and meat we hope to raise or barter for. Some of these complementary foods can be long-term storage foods as well, particularly the freeze-dried options. Garden seeds packaged for long-term storage should also be part of the plan.
Some people get caught up in pursuing only one of these two aspects of food storage. They focus only on the sustenance foods because they are inexpensive and store well for decades. Others emphasize the complementary foods because they like eating fruits and vegetables and raising them in the garden. They're also sustainable and can be raised in the backyard, unlike the sustenance foods which require some serious acreage and labor.
When planning your food storage, it's important to keep both of these foods in mind. The goal will generally be to grow as much complementary food as possible each season so that the long-term sustenance stores are used as little as possible. There are strategies to increase garden yields, sprout grains and beans to yield more food and nutrition, and dehydrate to fit more food in less space.
At the same time, one should also be prepared for disasters, whether personal (like everyone in the family gets sick at once) or regional, like an earthquake just took out the power and water. In either of these situations, cooking from scratch is not desirable. Having some just-add-water or heat-and-eat foods should be part of every family's plans.
Sustenance foods provide most of the carbohydrates and much of the protein, and some of the fat in our diet, as they have for millennia. Sustenance food is generally more difficult and labor-intensive to grow and requires much more land to do so. A postage-stamp-sized backyard in suburban America is not going to yield enough sustenance food to feed a family. Because these foods--grains, beans, oils, sugars, salt, and milk are labor- and land-intensive, they are the foods a family needs to store in abundance. They form the basis of a healthy diet. These foods alone can sustain individuals over the long-term. Some of these sustenance foods are short-term storage foods we can raise easily ourselves, like potatoes.
Complementary food is what we use to enrich the sustenance diet. In general, complementary food provides some carbohydrates and protein, but little in the way of fat. What it's most nutritionally valuable for is the vitamins and minerals, as well as variety in the diet. It will not sustain individuals for the long-term without a lot of effort and without at least a little acreage. Complementary food consists of the garden produce, canned, freeze-dried, dehydrated fruits, vegetables, and meats, herbs and spices. It includes the dairy, eggs, and meat we hope to raise or barter for. Some of these complementary foods can be long-term storage foods as well, particularly the freeze-dried options. Garden seeds packaged for long-term storage should also be part of the plan.
Some people get caught up in pursuing only one of these two aspects of food storage. They focus only on the sustenance foods because they are inexpensive and store well for decades. Others emphasize the complementary foods because they like eating fruits and vegetables and raising them in the garden. They're also sustainable and can be raised in the backyard, unlike the sustenance foods which require some serious acreage and labor.
When planning your food storage, it's important to keep both of these foods in mind. The goal will generally be to grow as much complementary food as possible each season so that the long-term sustenance stores are used as little as possible. There are strategies to increase garden yields, sprout grains and beans to yield more food and nutrition, and dehydrate to fit more food in less space.
At the same time, one should also be prepared for disasters, whether personal (like everyone in the family gets sick at once) or regional, like an earthquake just took out the power and water. In either of these situations, cooking from scratch is not desirable. Having some just-add-water or heat-and-eat foods should be part of every family's plans.
05.22.20
If folks would eat their storage foods for a week more balance in storage would happen.
ReplyDeleteThe gardeners without rice, beans and cooking oil would be very hungry and the beans and rice crew would start gardens and add more spices.
I think most people would clue in after just 2-3 days.
DeleteAnd yet Jennifer, we both know too many folks that buy 25 year "Survival Food" or blindly buy whatever is recommended as cheap storage foods. YET never eat them in rotation to learn what they have and what they want and need.
DeleteSome folks (cough Wise foods, cough) are going to be disappointed at best.
Just like a long weekend with the main electrical breaker OFF you learn much from DOING it before SHTF.
We bought one of those survival food in a bucket things at Costco 20-25 years ago, and after having it for a year or two, Aaron wanted to try some things out. Man, were the portions tiny and the food unpalatable at best. We never made that mistake again.
DeleteWe have a couple of cases of Mountain House freeze-dried items that I won several years ago in two Survivalblog writing contests. Their food is definitely better than average, but as we've gotten older, Aaron finds that his body just can't tolerate the salt content. So those cases are being passed on to the boys. Same for the MREs that I won at the same time.
Aren't we grateful to have been preparing and learning as long as we have? Then again, the more you learn, the more you know that you don't know. I feel like I'm approaching idiot status.
I emphasize to people that "calories are king." The best choice is to stock up on basic staples, and then to move on to the complementary foods in order, first, to gather the means for survival as long as possible, and in order to avoid diet fatigue.
ReplyDeleteAfter eating beans and rice for the umpteenth time, survival may well begin to be "not all it's cracked up to be." Still, better to have 12 months of basic staples than six months of a varied gourmet menu.
Calories are very important, but nutrition is King. A pure beans and rice diet has plenty of calories but a few vitamin deficiencies.
ReplyDeleteNo real amount of Vit C for example and scurvy is a horrible PREVENTABLE disease that kills you by non-healing and sickness.
There is a good reason even in poor 3rd world countries that folks add things like peppers, salt, tomatoes and other veggies to that diet.
By sprouting wheat grain, a basic staple, you will have ready access to Vitamin C. Just add the sprouts to salads, sandwiches, etc.
DeleteBetter to have a year of basic staples than a month of Mountain House entrees. First, work on calories, then work on variety.
For any minor nutrition shortcomings with basic staples, simple vitamin pills should work very well.
But you have to have wheat that will actually sprout. A lot of wheat stored for the long term, even "properly," actually does not. So it's best to have a few options for addressing vitamin needs.
Delete