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7K views 76 replies 31 participants last post by  Rural Buckeye Guy 
#1 ·
Should extended SHTF happen & your food supplies start running short.

Are you prepared to portion ration what remains?

Food for thought, anyway.

 
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#41 ·
Most of our long term supplies are in the form of staples -- cornmeal, wheat, beans, rice, sugar, etc. plus lard in the freezer and some spices and some freeze dried potatoes. I know what to do with staples and can make lard biscuits, corn bread, tortillas, soda bread, etc.

We would most likely ration our staples and try to supplement them as much as possible with small game and foraged food from day one ... not because we don't have the usual stockpile of food, but because we would want to try to stretch it out for as long as possible and we would be patrolling out in the wood anyway. If I could kill it with an air rifle, I would. (Air rifle is not entirely silent, but quiet enough that it won't give me away to someone the next valley over.)

We live in the middle of several hundred square miles of national forest and while I figure big game and cattle will be gone quickly, most people won't bother with small birds and rodents, few realize prickly pear pads are edible and virtually nobody knows manzanita berries are. There's also a nearly endless supply of crawdads and most people do not know how to catch them without a trap.

We also have goats and chickens and a decent sized garden that we would quickly expand.

Some days, we'd probably eat very well -- rabbit stew with garden veggies, grilled dove or quail with wild raspberry sauce, or several pounds of crawdad each. (Crawdads would be really valuable because of the fat content in the livers, too.) Others, we might have a small piece of cornbread three meals a day.

If the situation looked dire enough I'd probably even find out just what chapulines taste like ... every grasshopper caught is one less grasshopper in the garden, LOL.

I could stand to loose some weight anyway. *shrug*

Our ancestors ate the same way. If they did it, I could too.
 
#43 ·
If the situation looked dire enough I'd probably even find out just what chapulines taste like ... every grasshopper caught is one less grasshopper in the garden, LOL.

I could stand to loose some weight anyway. *shrug*

Our ancestors ate the same way. If they did it, I could too.
Egads, man. A can of tuna is less than a dollar. Buy one now so you don't have to eat grasshoppers. But, if you insist: https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/edible-insects-zebz1305znsp
 
#42 ·
Things that I can't grow or produce myself will be rationed. Most food items should not be a problem...chickens for eggs and meat; turkeys; goats for milk and meat; garden, orchard, and vineyard, for produce (to include olive trees, which will provide olive oil for cooking); once I get the aquaponics system set up again, there will also be fish, with other types of fish once the ponds are re-done; Cattle (for milk and meat) are in the works, as are swine; Once the beehives are back in operation, there will be honey. Also planning on adding sheep for meat and wool. We have a well to provide water for everything (out where I am, EVERYONE is on a well--there are no water, sewer, or gas lines out here.) Many of us in this area already have a barter system set up, so we can/will barter with each other to trade with each other for what one produces that another does not.
 
#45 ·
My point about chapulines is that there are sources of food out there that we may have to utilize in a real SHTF scenario that are ... non-traditional. No shortage of grasshoppers. Self-replicating potential food source. If it looks like the grid will be down for years, and starvation is a real possibility, it makes sense to ration and stretch out your food supplies by consuming those non-traditional food sources.

Everything is edible with enough hot sauce. Supposedly, they're tasty, though I've never quite had enough motivation to find out yet LOLOL.

I suspect the survivors of a major SHTF scenario will be the people willing to eat bark, bugs, every last bit of every animal killed, etc. You may have 500 cans of tuna stored, but what happens when that tuna runs out? It makes sense to me to save the tuna (and in my case, the majority of the staples I have stored) for winter (or early spring, which is really worse than winter for lack of food), and supplement them in summer and fall with whatever I can harvest, raise, or gather. And yes, I would definitely ration any preserved food.
 
#47 ·
Seems like many here are looking at rationing as a negative term, or as a means to slow starvation. I think rationing happens naturally when developing a plan for a long term stockpile, for determining how many days supply you have stockpiled, or when planning a dinner for x number of people.

For instance, when I cook rice I generally cook a cup at a time with 16 oz of water. Pasta, I cook a half a pound at a time. Meat is measured in ounces, 6-8 oz for husband, 4-5 oz for myself. A bowl of soup or stew takes a couple ladles full, multiply by how many bowls are usually eaten.

Rationing in general is based on a normal serving size. It's how we plan, shop, store, and cook food on a regular basis.

If we shoot for 18 months of full rations, that should cover everything except the most unlikely situations.
 
#54 ·
I have to already, If I cook 60 shrimp for dinner, I have to restrict everyone to three each and any left over can be rationed out to those that want more at one each until they are gone. I guess I'm going to have to do the same with broccoli, we made a batch of broccoli and cauliflower the other night and the broccoli was gone before the dish got around the table! That was fine with me since I prefer cauliflower, but some of the grand kids complained.

On a more serious note, I do think in a SHTF scenario that some sort of rationing would be prudent. Waste cannot be acceptable and gorging isn't even a good practice when there is plenty. Personally, I only eat two small meals a day unless I am more active, because I would gain more unneeded weight which I don't need. I'm struggling to keep under 200 but I would like to lose at least 10-15 pounds.
 
#55 ·
It's really tough to get by on less than 1000 calories (on average) per day and be fully mentally and physically alert.

My preps were already set up to ration for 2 people 1200 calories per day each for 90 days. After some postings here and some reevaluation of my preps I'm up to 1600 calories per day for the same 90 days.

This is a lot trickier than it looks and requires a hard look at the nutritional values of the food you have.

As an example.....Cup "o" Noodles....Ramen Noodles etc......about 300 empty calories per cup and 29 cents each. I spent about 3 hours in the soup isle of Walmart evaluating canned soups that take up the same physical space. $1.68/can on average but the meal is much more balanced nutritionally.

I also bought some Bear Creek soups that are slightly better nutritionally and about 1000 calories for the same physical space.

IMO its better to eat nutritionally balanced at 1600 calories per day than 2200 empty calories

HK
 
#56 ·
Something I incorporate into food storage (and by extension any sort of rationing) is multivitamins. Just the typical one per day type for adults. Yeah, I know they aren't a substitute for a proper diet. And yeah, they have a shelf life, but...

A couple of bottles per person has a shelf life longer than most people's actual food storage. During times of shortage diet, rationing, or unavailability of certain vitamin rich dietary sources, I feel that a daily multi-vitamin might be an edge. A thing to help you get through several months (or even a year or so) of limited food choices and generally poor diet. Especially so during winters.

After they expire, I toss 'em and buy new. Just like other useful items with only moderate shelf lives: liquid bleach, cooking oils, hydrogen peroxide, flour, peanut butter, etc.

In any event, if you can foresee a rationing situation... it's another inexpensive brick in your prepper wall.
 
#58 ·
You can feel free to disagree all you'd like, however, as I stated (not opinion but facts) the real experts DO tell you that you cannot SAFELY can butter (and some other things) at home, you best keep in mind, it's your life AND the lives of your family you're gambling with....many things you CAN safely can @ home and most of us here do just that, ignoring the real experts is a mistake you may well only make once, it's not worth the risk....

We also can meat regularly and at NO TIME did I even hint that was not safe, butter, bread, rice , pasta are NOT meat, and you clearly need to do MUCH more research , rather than making unsafe/very dangerous assumptions while ignoring the FACTS that were handed to you

BTW this has been discussed in great detail in the Food & Water forum, if you do a search there you'll see your wishing to disagree doesn't make opinion a fact... so as to not further derail this thread - since this thread is about "rationing food" and not why you can't home can butter (and other things) it would probably be best for you to start your own thread in the F&W section (be prepared to get really educated there)
 
#61 ·
I don't see rationing really saving anyone unless they have something on the other side of the lean time they are waiting for.

But I agree, the idea of being a hunter gatherer....at least until the dying time is over, is nuts. SHTF the first thing I am going to do is hunt the local deer to extinction because I have no doubt everyone else will be doing the same and hunting will vanish as an option until most of the people do. Before its over I don't think there will be a slow mouse or edible weed left on the continent.

Now, long term, after 99% of the population dies off and then a few years later after the animal population recovers, sure...hunting and gathering is going to be how that 1% make their living, but first you have to have a way to make it through that time, and wandering around looking for scraps and eating cactus sounds like the most dangerous way you could spend it.

I think its more likely you would end up getting shot by listing for gun shots and looking for scraps than it is you would find a meal left behind.

Heck, right now people compete for roadkill! SHTF hunters won't even leave a gut pile.
 
#62 ·
I don't see rationing really saving anyone unless they have something on the other side of the lean time they are waiting for.

But I agree, the idea of being a hunter gatherer....at least until the dying time is over, is nuts. SHTF the first thing I am going to do is hunt the local deer to extinction because I have no doubt everyone else will be doing the same and hunting will vanish as an option until most of the people do. Before its over I don't think there will be a slow mouse or edible weed left on the continent.

Now, long term, after 99% of the population dies off and then a few years later after the animal population recovers, sure...hunting and gathering is going to be how that 1% make their living, but first you have to have a way to make it through that time, and wandering around looking for scraps and eating cactus sounds like the most dangerous way you could spend it.

I think its more likely you would end up getting shot by listing for gun shots and looking for scraps than it is you would find a meal left behind.

Heck, right now people compete for roadkill! SHTF hunters won't even leave a gut pile.

Better yet (in my mind) is to protect and manage your game populations in the very same way you would your livestock, and focus instead on driving your poachers to extinction. Of course, that is more realistic in some regions than others.
 
#66 ·
I just mean to suggest treating the game species as the important renewable resource that it is.
Certainly, if it where possible. I just don't see myself having a large enough group to really hold down and defend a very large land area, at least not until after the first winter and reduction in the human population. Posting a 24 hour guard over hundreds or thousands of acres of woods just doesn't seem feasible without a small army.

Yeah, hunt the deer to extinction in your area; then once you're done eating them, gonna have to go out a lot further to find any.
Like I said, I don't think there will an edible animal left anywhere that people can get to soon after STHF. Everyone here has a gun, everyone hunts, I wouldn't bet on even squirrels lasting very long. If its not me taking the deer its going to be someone else.

People are going to empty the stores, then their pantries, then all the farm animals, then all the game, then they are going to start killing each other and only then will the population of 'poachers' drop to something a person could handle. I'm expecting America to be a desert as far as food is concerned for a year or two SHTF.
 
#68 ·
Yeah, our place too. The wild turkeys that roost in our yard and try to hump the kids in the spring are tame to the point that they might as well be domestic livestock (except we don't have to feed them). Like I said, it is obviously going to be different for each of us in our own distinct situations and regions- but the broader point still applies as food for thought: if possible, look to wild game populations as an important renewable resource (i.e. "ration" them). It doesn't even require wild land, pigeons (Eurasian Rock Dove) are an almost perfect food source that feed themselves all day, and return to their hutch every night- and there are millions of them to be found feral in just about every city in America.

You might not be able to protect hundreds of thousands of acres, but if you can't have sovereignty over a good 3-5 mile radius, you're going to be in trouble anyway.

 
#69 ·
Funny that no one mentioned to actually practice rationing. It is way harder than you think, and not everyone in a group will be able to tolerate rationing.

Go 3 days on water only. Or 1 week at 500 calories per day. See how cranky you get, how little energy you have. Then desperation sets in. Eventually, only the strongest will survive.
 
#71 ·
Pretty much no one alive in America has ever had to experience true involuntary hunger so every single bit of this discussion is speculative on both sides. But many millions have in recent history, and had to live as a part of a larger group that successfully rationed food. Surviving through harsh rationing is not even half as hard as starving to death or watching your wife and kids starve to death. Eventually, only the most resilient will survive.

FWIW I have been 3-days on water more than once, and several months on <1200 calories daily (gall stones). It sucks, I lost lots of weight, was occasionally cranky, but didn't massacre my family or friends over a pop tart.

I think the discussion might be helped if folks would do themselves the favor of thinking about considering breaking down and possibly contemplating about maybe eventually giving some thought to perhaps resigning to actually learning about some of this stuff as it has applied repeatedly throughout history.

Here's a good place to start, I've linked this already here I'm sure,

https://www.amazon.com/Savage-Conti...inent+europe+in+the+aftermath+of+world+war+ii
 
#70 ·
Then desperation sets in.
Yes. Part of the reason I don't see people staying in cities once the food runs out. I don't think anyone is scared enough of trees to literally starve to death rather than go looking for food.

It won't happen until at least a month into it and probably no further than 50 miles from the cities but 'zombie' swarms seem inevitable.

It also seems very likely local government will encourage it.
 
#72 ·
Your food storage should be seen as nothing more than an on-ramp to whatever is next...if you don't have enough put away to sustain your family at least one whole winter I believe you are not properly prepared.

During the hunting, growing, gathering and harvesting months my hope is that we are not dipping much into our food stores at all...I see that stuff as winter preps if at all possible.
 
#76 ·
The world, as we knew it, ended, remember? Your freezer isn't working. There's no electricity. But smoked venison is delicious
Ha, right, normalcy bias at work. They would go in the smoker then. Smoked anything is delicious.
 
#77 ·
I practiced rationing to one meal a day in undergrad so I had money for Pepsi, cable TV and gym fees for almost seven years. Most 20-somethings practice rationing to make ends meet. Besides, only an idiot doesn't ration food from day one or prep a huge garden for planting, if not already planted. Rule #1 for emergencies: react on day one to conserve, while your assets are still untouched. Taught my kids that & implemented it a couple times with them
 
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