09:15 – The progressive attacks on Trump continue and accelerate on all fronts, as expected. Their problem is that Trump is not a member of the progressive team, so he has to be stopped at all costs. Ironic, considering that Trump is what would have been considered a moderate-to-liberal Democrat not all that long ago. Right now, the progs are pushing “cooperation”, which of course means convincing Trump to do things their way.
Email overnight from another newbie prepper, who’s concerned that Trump’s election means an increased likelihood of sustained violent civil unrest. I’ll call her Cassie, and she may well be right. Cassie reminds me a lot of Jen and Brittany, when they were just getting started. Cassie and her husband live in a rural area. They’re both in their mid- to late-20’s, and don’t have children or family living locally. She’s from out of the area. He’s an only child and his parents have retired to Florida. Cassie’s main focus at this point is food. They already have a 30-day supply of canned goods and dry staples, and Cassie would like to expand that significantly.
I suggested that Cassie follow the LDS recommendations for LTS food. Not the current ones, which were greatly reduced about 15 years ago, but the ones that the LDS Church revised greatly downward in 2002. The current recommendations provide only about 1,700 or 1,800 cal/day, which is enough to keep someone alive but constantly hungry. So I recommended the following amounts per person-month:
Grains – 30 pounds of pasta, rice, oats, cornmeal, etc. This provides roughly 50,000 calories, or about 1667 cal/day.
Beans – 5 pounds of dry beans. This provides another 8,000+ calories, or about 275 cal/day.
Oil – 2 pounds, or one quart/liter of vegetable oil, a small can of shortening, a jar of peanut butter, etc. This provides another 8,000+ calories, or about 275 cal/day.
Salt – about 12 ounces of iodized salt. No calories, but essential to life.
Multivitamins – 30 capsules, to replace vitamin deficiencies in LTS food, particularly after long storage.
All of this costs very little, and provides about 2,200 cal/day of complete nutrition. Once she’s accumulated as many person-months as she feels comfortable with, I recommended that Cassie begin adding cooking essentials (herbs and spices, bouillon, baking soda, baking powder, yeast, canned and/or dry milk, powdered eggs, butter, and cheese, etc.) as well as meal extenders (things to turn plain grains and beans into tasty meals; canned soups, stews, vegetables, etc.) Finally, I suggested she add as much canned meat as possible, which will be the most expensive part of her acquisitions.