Ben - why do you want the bulk flouride? How does that melt zombies?

Definitely modern medicine. Our forefathers managed to get by pretty well without most of the items mentioned here, but medicine in the old days was often worse than the affliction, not to mention the constant ravages of smallpox and all of the various fevers that killed so many so young.

Greg

Without TV and the internet I'd have no social life.

Milk, and hence coffee. It's not something that can be effectively stockpiled, either.

Sure you can stockpile milk - just keep it in those big black and white fleshy containers until you need it.

If you don't mind sugar with your milk, milk is easy to stock pile. Just buy sweetened condensed milk. Its canned and not acidic so its about as bomb proof as a food can get.

Also, sweetened condensed milk is an all around good survival food. High in calories, about 1200 per a 14 ounce can. Its also dense in nutrition vitamins A and B, carbohydrates, protein and fat. Its also easier to digest then uncondensed milk.

Actually, coffee is relatively easy and cheap to stockpile. The trick is buying green coffee beans which will stay good for many years if stored properly. You can even buy canned (green) coffee beans if you don't want to deal with the hastle of vacuum sealing, etc. You just have to roast (popcorn maker, stovetop, etc.) and grind the beans before brewing a cup. But come to think of it, even normal canned (ground) coffee has a two year (unopened) shelf life. I'm also pretty sure packaged dry milk has a long shelf life and can be had just about anywhere. Nestle evaporated (not condensed) milk works well and has a good shelf life too. Evaporated milk is just milk with some of the water taken out. Being a big coffee drinker, having my daily black gold w/cream is a suvival necessity.

Actually, powdered milk is what we have on hand. As long as you have some water to go with it.

Thanks for the suggestions. The instant coffee itself isn't a problem for the timescales I plan for, but I've never found a powdered or tinned milk that tastes close enough to fresh milk. Since it's primarily a comfort food, taste is important.

My current approach is instant cappuccino sachets. It's not quite as good as fresh, but it's good enough that I put off buying milk knowing I've got something to drink. It's relatively expensive, though, and its shelf life is 6-12 months which is too short for me to consume a large stockpile normally. I keep a few week's supply anyway.

Most missed, coke classic, internet communication and the info available on it. As a side note on coffee, my dad is not a big coffee drinker but I am. On one of our get togethers in 2005 he offered to make coffee. He pulled a metal one pound can out of the cupboard, and proceeded to make one of the strongest pots of coffee I've ever tasted. The next morning I made coffee and found in the can a coupon for 50 cents off your next purchase of another one pound can. It had an expiration date of dec 31 1989! Ok, the taste wasn't great, but it WAS drinkable and ok. Not bad for being old enough to have it's drivers license LOL.

You might want to try shelf-stable milk (or cream) that comes in the 1/4 and 1L cartons. The brand I use (the only one I can find here in the US anyway) tastes about the same as refrigerated milk to me but of course YMMV. The only issue is that the shelf life is under 1 year I think.

http://www.shoporganic.com/product/organic_valley_whole_milk_uht/milk_products