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Post by ColcordMama on Mar 14, 2013 17:41:01 GMT -7
For this question, you'll need the current issue of Popular Mechanics magazine, the one with the "SURVIVE ANYTHING" headline on the cover. Turn to page 54 - 55 and look at the food stockpile photograph. There are 57 gallon jugs of water in the photo, plus bags of dry beans, peas and rice, instant coffee, boxes of pasta and nonfat dry milk powder. Now, here's the question: PM says what you see there is enough food and water for a family of four to survive on for one month. Quoting from the caption: "plus the water needed to cook it." So is there enough water in the photo? Five boxes of six gallons each, three single gallons on the second shelf up on the right, fourteen gallons on the top left shelf, eight gallons on the top right shelf. I count ten 1# bags of split peas, ten 1# bags of black beans, ten 1# bags of navy or lima beans, what looks like a 10# bag of white rice, six boxes (1#?) of pinto beans, at least eight boxes - maybe 16 - of 1# pasta. Is that enough water for drinking, preparing nonfat dry milk, boiling rice, beans, peas and pasta, and preparing instant coffee for a family of four?
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Post by thywar on Mar 14, 2013 18:24:19 GMT -7
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Post by ColcordMama on Mar 14, 2013 18:29:25 GMT -7
Thank you for the link! Now let's hear opinions on this stockpile.
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Post by Ceorlmann on Mar 14, 2013 18:34:43 GMT -7
Unless the water was severely and carefully rationed I don't think 57 gallons is anywhere near enough, especially if some is used for hygiene purposes. I know they excluded that factor, but it's still an important part for survival.
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Post by thywar on Mar 14, 2013 18:47:32 GMT -7
No! If you assume one gallon of water per day per person for drinking and hygiene and there are four people (lets say two are kids and make them into one adult = 3 adults) there isn't enough water. Three gallons a day times 30 days.. 90 gallons and there are (according to CCM) 57 gallons.. and that's before you cook anything.
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Post by dtucker on Mar 14, 2013 18:53:23 GMT -7
That is not enough water. Food prep takes more water than some people realize. Dry beans take alot even though you can use it in other food preps. I would be really nervous if this was all I had, especially for a family of 4 even with rationing.
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Post by Lawdog2705 on Mar 14, 2013 19:59:39 GMT -7
Definitely not enough water. At 4 gallons per day, 1 per person, X's 30 days = 120 gallons. That is just the normal daily need per person. At this rate, they will be eating dry beans or hoping they can find another way of cooking them! Maybe instead of popped corn, they can have popped beans!  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2013 20:04:36 GMT -7
Thing is, it says "plus the water needed to cook it" If you were VERY careful with rationing like cooking the pasta, reusing pasta water to soak beans, things like that, then this could possibly be enough. However, you will need other water for staying clean, drinking, sanitation, etc.
As for the food...If THAT was all you and your family had to eat for a month, someone is going to have children starving to death, or even the adults getting close to it since they are going to burn out REALLY fast on a diet of THAT alone. I think they have the right idea, but they need to stress changing things up a bit! Where is the peanut butter & jelly, where is the popcorn, where is the cans of fruit or veggies, where is the stuffing or pie filling? What about seasonings? There is a LOT that could be said about what is lacking here, and yes a BIG part of that is water. If you are talking drinking water alone, they would need a MINIMUM of 120 gallons at only 1 gallon per day per person. If you had the recommended amount of 5, well they would need 600 gallons for a month for drinking & everything else, ASIDE FROM EATING!
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Post by mrmike on Mar 14, 2013 20:28:48 GMT -7
Nope not hardly enough water. Figure a gallon of water per person per day for drinking, tooth brushing and a bed time hand washing at a minimum. 1 cup of rice takes 2 cups of water, so you need twice as much water as you have rice, just to cook
the rice alone. For the beans you would be hard pressed to make the beans on a gallon of water after soaking and boiling. These people are going to be out of water in a week, maybe two if they are lucky. Water goes so freaking quick its amazing.
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Post by ColcordMama on Mar 14, 2013 20:45:24 GMT -7
Thing is, it says "plus the water needed to cook it" If you were VERY careful with rationing like cooking the pasta, reusing pasta water to soak beans, things like that, then this could possibly be enough. However, you will need other water for staying clean, drinking, sanitation, etc. As for the food...If THAT was all you and your family had to eat for a month, someone is going to have children starving to death, or even the adults getting close to it since they are going to burn out REALLY fast on a diet of THAT alone. I think they have the right idea, but they need to stress changing things up a bit! Where is the peanut butter & jelly, where is the popcorn, where is the cans of fruit or veggies, where is the stuffing or pie filling? What about seasonings? There is a LOT that could be said about what is lacking here, and yes a BIG part of that is water. If you are talking drinking water alone, they would need a MINIMUM of 120 gallons at only 1 gallon per day per person. If you had the recommended amount of 5, well they would need 600 gallons for a month for drinking & everything else, ASIDE FROM EATING! Four big jars of Jif creamy peanut butter, five medium size jars of almond butter (but no bread or even flour to make bread), sixteen cans of cling peaches, five big jars of applesauce, eight cans of whole kernel corn, eight cans of peas, and 24 cans of black beans. STILL... I think this whole collection is sadly lacking on so many levels. First of course is water. Not nearly enough. Second, why all that oil? (To fry the Spam? Ick) Third, no pasta sauce or tomato sauce to make pasta sauce. Fourth, not much in the way of breakfast options. I guess breakfast is going to be rice with sugar and nonfat milk. Or a Hershey bar. This has to be one of the least useful stockpiles I've ever seen. Even the tribes on Survivor eat better than this. At least they have coconuts and crabs and fresh fish with their rice and beans. <snicker> |
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Post by mrmike on Mar 14, 2013 21:50:30 GMT -7
This is the start of some thing good. For a few bucks you could fill it out as a bare bones minimum. It seems to me they are simply calorie counting and thinking of water as drinking only.
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Post by swamprat1 on Mar 14, 2013 22:15:48 GMT -7
In the online article they state 78 gallons of water, which is still not enough. I would want 100 gallons minimum with that setup.
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Post by ColcordMama on Mar 14, 2013 22:53:35 GMT -7
This is the start of some thing good. For a few bucks you could fill it out as a bare bones minimum. It seems to me they are simply calorie counting and thinking of water as drinking only. Nope. The article says "plus the water needed to cook it."  |
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Post by Ceorlmann on Mar 14, 2013 23:44:07 GMT -7
I guess none of them have ever been truly dehydrated or famished before.
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Post by Cwi555 on Mar 15, 2013 0:12:28 GMT -7
An emphatic no would be my answer. There isn't enough drinking water there, much less enough to cook or clean with. Regarding the food itself, maybe for just 30 days, but the four people in question will have a mild case of malnourishment after the fact.
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