ENSURE YOU’LL HAVE THE CALORIES YOUR FAMILY NEEDS IN A CRISIS

sf#FOOD

BY JIM COBB

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When was the last time you were really hungry? Midnight refrigerator raids don’t qualify. We’re talking about the belt buckle getting dangerously close to meeting your spine type of starving. In a true emer gency, one of the first concerns is typically food. While in a technical sense our bodies can usually survive for at least a couple of weeks without consuming calories, few people would relish being a t est case to see how long they can really last.

In addition to the physical issues that come about when our bodies st art to consume themselves in earnest, such as dizziness and fatigue, there are some psychological and personality changes that occur. Think back to the last time your significant other wasn’t just hungry but hangry. Now, imagine that being the norm rather than the exception, and there isn’t a candy bar in sight.

Planning for emergency food needs requires a multipronged approach. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, as they say.

1.0 WHERE TO BEGIN

Every journey has a st arting point. You need to know where you are before you can plan how to get to where you want to be. Take a long, hard look at the food you have in your home right now. How long could you feed your family if you were unable to resupply? Perhaps just as important, how long before meals become a truly bizarre mix of things like instant mashed potatoes, pickle relish, and canned pineapple. If it is anything less than a few weeks, you have some work to do.

In modern-day America, many urban and suburban dwellers are completely detached from the method of processing livestock for food. If they get to the point at which they to need to kill and prepare game in a survival situation, they might be in trouble..

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Using herbs grown on the patio can enhance a boring meal.

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1.1 Planning for Actual Needs

Something to consider as you move forward with your plans is that there is a di­ erence between eating to survive and eating for fun. Americans tend to lean much more toward the latter. That’s all well and good when stores and restaurants are open. When you’re fi ve days into a massive regional blackout, not so much. That said, most of us can probably survive on far less than we actually consume daily.