Ok, I don't post very often, but this one I figured I would...

As for the $5/week.... I don't think so...you need to be ready to spend a little more. However, my own little alteration to that plan should be doable by most people...I don't break it out by weekly expenditure, but anyone can figure that out....

I also include some "comfort" items....sorry if it doesn't format quite right....

NUMBER ITEM PACKING QTY
1 Antacid bottles 3
2 Aspirin bottles 2
3 Beef Soup can 25
4 Black Pepper can 3
5 Brown Sugar lbs 20
6 Carrots can 50
7 Chicken Soup can 25
8 Chili can 50
9 Cocoa Mix box 10
10 Corn can 25
11 Dry Juice Mix box 12
12 Flour lbs 200
13 Green Beans can 25
14 Honey lbs 20
16 Mac & cheese box 50
17 Multivitamins (100 ct) bottles 6
18 Peanut Butter lbs 20
19 Powdered Eggs lbs 25
20 Powdered Milk lbs 100
21 Quick Oats lbs 25
22 Rice lbs 200
23 Salt lbs 10
24 Sugar lbs 100
25 Tomato Soup can 25
26 Tuna can 100
27 Vegetable Soup can 25
28 Yeast lbs 2



Buy the ?family? size cans
2 cans soup/week
1 can chili/week
2 cans vegetables/week
1 Mac & cheese/week
2 can tuna/week
1 lb milk/week drink
1 lb milk/week cook
4 lbs flour/week cook
4 lb rice/week
1/2 lb egg/week
1/2 lb oats/week

Everything else is "comfort" food, adjunct or seasoning
Vitiamins only need to be taken 3 times a week.
Ration things like vegetables over the week.
Learn to make bread or biscuts.
Supplement with anything "found"
Are you going to be living it up? No. Are you going to starve? Probably not. But more variety than the original posting would have given and easier to use (no grinder needed) <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

I saw something similar to this (might have been the same site, I don't recall) last year and decided to use the idea for my own, less far reaching plan. I wanted to have supplies for a little over a month and set about making specific purchases each week. I also wanted to have a certain amount of emergency cash on hand - so started putting away a certain amount (even a few dollars) earch week. This sounds exceeding simple - but saving for me and planning purchases over a period of time is a challenge for me. I'm very impulive. This worked out very well.

White flour stored in food grade buckets in a relatively cool area keeps a lot longer than I would have thought. Used some last winter that was 3 years old with some baking powder that was over 5 years old to make quick bread that tasted just fine. As cheap as white flour & rice are I'm not really that worried about using it up. If I throw it out after 5 years then that will be a good thing.

Much nicer menu. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I noticed a lot of pasta- make sure you save your pasta water when you drain it. At the very least, it is grey water, but if you have a slow simmering soup around, add it to there. The starch in the water is a good thing.

Speaking of pasta, you can save money and space buying in bulk. I buy several different kinds of pasta, for example organic whole wheat penne, in 10 pound boxes for less than $15-20 at wholesale. They're sealed in plastic bags inside the boxes and their shelf life is probably as close to forever as anything. A small family can easily go through a box in few weeks, so there's no need to worry about an open box going bad(although it probably wouldn't anyway). If you like mac and cheese, you can buy bulk cheese powder in sealed 1 lb. mylar bags, though I don't know what their shelf life is.

Rice is a great grain to store, but even better are quinoa and amaranth. These unique grains(actually seeds but considered a cereal grain) are delicious and have complete proteins, far more nutritous than most other grains. If you're conserned about grinding wheat, sacks of flour should last a few years if stored properly. I reccomend buckwheat in addition to whole wheat, as buckwheat is also a complete protein and quite tasty. Most health food stores will let you purchase bulk food at a slight discount.

I also buy organic almond and cashew butter(peanut just doesn't compare) in 9 pound buckets for an insanely low price, they can last years and are a very nutritious food. However my freinds and I eat a lot of nut butter, for most peaople this may not be as practical. I don't want to post the details of where I get these because not too many people know about it, but if anyone in New York is interested I can give you the details.

Cheese powder stores like milk powder, FYI. At least the King Aurther Bakery stuff does. So does thier butter-flavor powder.