09:40 – Many preppers work on tight budgets, so I’m writing a large section right now in the Getting Started Chapter about Prepping on a Budget. It assumes a prepping budget of $50 per week, although that can be moved up or down according to individual circumstances.
The top priority is to begin accumulating empty 2 liter soft drink bottles from family, friends, and neighbors. These are used to store both water and food for the long term. The next priority is to get 60 of those bottles filled with water for each family member. That provides about 30 gallons of drinking water per person, or a month’s supply.
The next eight weeks is spent accumulating a basic food supply, which can be done in weekly $50 shopping trips or, more practically for most people, a monthly $200 Costco or Sam’s Club run. In fact, if you have an SUV or pickup, you could do one $400 run to Costco or Sam’s Club and get the whole eight weeks’ purchases all at once.
Week 1:
General purpose white wheat flour, Gold Medal, 50 lb.
Granulated white sugar, Domino’s, 50 lb.
Beans, dry, 10 lb.
Salt, iodized table, Morton’s, 12 lb.
Week 2:
Rice, white, 100 lb.
Bouillon, beef, Knorr, 2 lb.
Bouillon, chicken, Knorr, 2 lb.
Shortening, Crisco, butter flavor, 3 lb. can
Week 3:
Milk, instant non-fat dry, Carnation, 4.4 lb. (2 kilos)
Oil, olive, Kirkland, 3 liter bottle
Shortening, Crisco, butter flavor, 3 lb. can
Chili powder, 20 oz.
Yeast, Fleischmann’s Instant Dry, 1 lb. bag
Week 4:
Oats, Quaker Quick, 10 lb.
Cornstarch, Argo, 2 lb.
Pancake syrup, Mrs. Butterworth’s, gallon
Garlic powder, 20 oz.
Onion powder, 20 oz.
Cinnamon, ground, 20 oz.
Vanilla extract, pint
Pepper, black, ground, 20 oz.
Week 5:
General purpose white wheat flour, Gold Medal, 50 lb.
Granulated white sugar, Domino’s, 25 lb.
Rice, white, 50 lb.
Yeast, Fleischmann’s Instant Dry, 1 lb. bag
Week 6:
Milk, instant non-fat dry, Carnation, 4.4 lb. (2 kilos)
Milk, evaporated, Carnation, case of 24 12-ounce cans
Beans, dry, 10 lb.
Week 7:
Oil, olive, Kirkland, 3 liter bottle
Oats, Quaker Quick, 10 lb.
Beans, dry, 40 lb.
Week 8:
Milk, instant non-fat dry, Carnation, 8.8 lb. (4 kilos)
Shortening, Crisco, butter flavor, three 3 lb. cans
The interesting thing is that after eight weeks and $400.25 you have a full one year supply of food for one adult. Not very interesting food, it’s true, but all of the nutrition necessary–calories, carbohydrates, protein, and lipids. No fruits, vegetables, or meats, but those can be added incrementally once you have the iron rations taken care of.