“...your 52-Week Food Storage Plan has enabled you to purchase and store for emergencies. You will have accumulated all of the following:
500 Pounds of Wheat
100 Pounds of Sugar
40 Pounds of Powdered Milk
12 Pounds of Salt
10 Pounds of Honey
5 Pounds of Peanut Butter
45 Cans of Tomato Soup
15 Cans of Cream of Mushroom Soup
24 Cans of Tuna
15 Cans of Cream of Chicken Soup
21 Boxes of Macaroni and Cheese
500 Aspirin
1000 Multi-Vitamins
6 Pounds of Yeast
6 Pounds of Shortening
12 Pounds of Macaroni
Here is the BEST NEWS of all: the nutritional value for all of this food is, believe it or not, a whopping 1,249,329 calories (give or take a few calories). And, based on a daily diet in which you and your spouse each consume 2000 calories, the food listed above can sustain the two of you for about 312 days. That’s the better part of a full year.”
1) How are you going to grind that wheat? You need to get a very high-quality grinder, preferably manual in case the electricity goes out. That’s going to be near $300.
2) Just 5 pounds of peanut butter? This is a very calorie-dense food that can really destroy the boredom of many apocalypse diets, and it is pretty cheap.
3) You need storage vessels (ideally 5-gallon sealed buckets) to hold all of this stuff. That also costs money.
4) How are you going to cook/bake this stuff if the electricity/gas go out? You need some kind of solar oven, or a stove with lots of extra gas/propane, or just a supply of sticks for a rocket stove. That all costs money, too.
5) 6 pounds of shortening isn’t going to go very far.
6) Water - you need that, too. Either you have to buy a LOT (like at least 1.5 gallons/day/person), or have a means of purifying lots of it, or a bit of both...and, yeah, that costs money.
7) 2,000 calories/day beats less, every time, but it isn’t enough - particularly if it is SHTF time and you’ll be outside doing gardening work, reinforcing your homestead/shelter and doing patrol work (with neighbors/friends - you have those, right?). Speaking of calories - get the tuna in OIL, not water. Lots of extra calories there.
8) What about some food for the random stranger or family that shows up? If you have something to offer, a day or so of food and water, they are far more likely to just go away with a thank you than to get pissed off in their desperation and try to steal your stuff and/or hurt you.
______________________
There are other quibbles that I have with this list...
...BUT...
nonetheless, someone who has all of this in their possession will be much, much better off than someone who tries to go to the store when the balloon goes up to stock up (with a few thousand other desperate people). I absolutely DO understand that this is just BASIC preps (and for a couple, not a family), and that there are bound to be holes and imperfections (the website had many negative comments about the sugar, for example). This is a START, and a not so bad one at that. If every family did this over the next year, then we wouldn’t have to worry that much about an EMP attack or solar storm wiping out the grid, or worry as much about a massive earthquake in Kali.
Me, I’d prefer to have a LOT of rice, beans and oats, along with pasta for carbs. That stuff is cheap, and lasts nearly forever if kept away from insects and rodents.
Don’t forget the dog food or cat food if you have a pet - otherwise, Rover or Fluffy is going to die, slowly (and, possibly, get eaten). Either that, or you will have to use your precious food for the animal(s).
Here’s another good website to look at: http://modernsurvivalonline.com/ and here is its article on basic survival preps for comparison: http://modernsurvivalonline.com/10-urgent-preps-you-need-to-do-asap/ (Note that the title references 10 urgent preps, but the article actually talks about 15). I am NOT associated with that blog at all - I just think that it is a pretty good site with lots of interesting articles.