It’s a calories math game. A typical adult needs an average of 2,000 kcal a day to maintain body weight. (More or less depending on age, sex, activity level.) You’ve got about 75,000 calories in that bag, so 37.5 days. Yes, you could stretch that out a bit… but only a bit. Add a 20k bag of beans and you’re closer to 2.5 months, but with more balanced nutrition.
Up to you… but if I were on a very tight budget the next things I would add would be vitamins, tomato powder, canned fruit/veggies and tuna in oil. In experiments, people living off just rice and beans got sick due to nutrient deficiencies.
Rice, beans, and multivitamins can get you through some bullshit. Add in a variety of spices to cook your beans different ways, some drink powder, and long-lasting candy... and you could get by for a long time without feeling TOO sick of your food options.
For me, I don't eat enough canned or freeze dried foods to stock a classic "prepper pantry" that would last several months. But, I do eat a lot of rice and I also use beans in a variety of dishes. Just makes sense to stock up on that stuff vs. food I'll never eat.
that is what you should be doing.
Honestly we have months worth of green beans, not because we eat them, but the dogs split a can every night- so keeping 100 or so in the pantry is not insane (they last years)- and the dogs will just be pissy if they do not get it since we need it to all survive.
they get the amount of kibble they are supposed to on the bag (based on what the vet told us to give them). They get a spoonful of wet food to add flavor, and a can of green beans dumped on top. The green beans is only with dinner.
One dog insists on covering it in water (making her dinner a soup). They are not large dogs (30 and 50 pounds respectively). So it is about 2/3 of a cup of food for each meal.
The perpetual instability dosen't just sit right with me. But I'm the hope for the best, prepare for the worst kinda person. I'm less scared of the Indians and more wary of the Taliban led Afganistan and the possible rise of terror attacks. I hope not tho. A single event can change things very quickly. Im not partaking in any conspiracies, just trying to be realistic.
You'll fit in well here. It's good perspective to see your, albiet terrible situation, as an example for those of us living in more stable areas.
This subreddit really does plan for the worst, well.
You can also survive on a whole lot less if you limit your activity and don't intend to push yourself. 2000 is the first world standard, 3000 is U.S/British recommendation for active individuals, but you can survive on as little as 1200 calories per day fine if you get outside of shock range
That was my thought process. I can really afford to lose weight (fat and muscle) which is better than just starving to death because I didn't keep some extra food in my house. Like someone already said here, 20 is better than 0. But I do need to add beans and multivitamins next. 1500 calories is not a bad way of not ending up in a body bag.
1200-1600 a day is the minimum I'd recommend to prevent starvation, but once you've met that you're within range for the long-term and you can plan for nutrition over calories
Anything less than 1200 calories a day is about on par with not eating at all, so if reach that point, it may be worth learning the scientific process of fasting and skipping meals so you can spread the food longer. 1600 or higher is the ideal if you can avoid starvation entirely since that will allow you to maintain a certain level of activity, then recover faster once resources become more available
The UN should actually have data collected for you to plan for diastor. At these lows, "none" is actually sometimes better than a little because your body will enter starvation mode before it actually starts to starve, and that will lower your calorie waste before it first becomes dangerous
You definitely need to make a little book and do the math for what you need to put away. You'll be fine for long periods of time of you stay above 1200 calories per day, you'll be able to avoid most suffering if you make sure you stay above 1600, and you'll do overall better if you make sure you have all the nutrient types you'll need first. You definitely can't survive off just rice for any meaningful period, but if you can add at least beans, you should be secure for at least a month and if you can add vegetables you'll be able to wait for relief for longer
Thanks for teaching me the golden 1600 number. I'll slowly add things along with the rice that makes it 1600 - 2000 calories per meal. To answer my own question, now I understand that rice alone won't be a good idea.
1600 isn't a precise number, but it's generally around what you can take in and feel alright. It won't make you feel full, but it should be above what you need to not feel physical pain
when i diet i go down to 1200 calories and drop about 5 pounds a week with heavy exersize. So 1500 is my per day storage target- since i know i can survive months on end at that level.
I agree with this and will add a lot of times ppl who stock up beans and rice forget that you need much water to cook it, and a heat source to boil the water. If no power you might need a fair amount of wood and fire starting sources as well.
I would personally store both items in
1 or 2 gallon mylar bags, with oxygen absorbers, heat sealed after packing, then placed in an airtight container such as a 5-6 gallon bucket with a sealing lid. Or, I’d buy from a supplier that specialized in long-term storage foods and sold them in #10 cans or plastic buckets.
If packaged and stored properly, they have an expected 20-30 year shelf life.
This is an excellent reference for emergency food storage: https://extension.usu.edu/preserve-the-harvest/files/Food-Storage-Booklet.pdf
But make sure you have a plan for water. If the water gets shut off. And you don’t have means to get water, having months of food is pretty irrelevant.
I do have a deep water bore with a working motor and also a broken hand pump. Plan is to get the hand pump fixed and the water issue will be permanently fixed for me and for those I can help as well.
Since you are prepping for potential war / conflicts in your area, I would suggest learning and practicing OPSEC up to an extent, especially considering your valuable water assets. I fully support you helping your neighbors, but keep in mind that if word travels around that you have some food stockpiled and the deep water bore, you may attract some bad attention. Protect yourself and your community, but always be aware of potential threats.
One thing to remember is that if things are already tight, you do still need to keep yourself healthy and feeling good now. So no skipping medical care or important things now "just in case."
Also, just in case - you do need a fair amount of water to cook rice. You should be able to cycle tap water in and out every few months from inexpensive containers.
I use it in breads, as part of a spice rub for chicken, in my turkey burger and meatloaf mixes as part of the seasoning, in chili and in some soups (like minestrone).
A prep food recipe I tried and liked is to add it and dried bell peppers and onions to rice for Spanish rice.
There are recipes online. I’ve experimented with it and found it to make decent ketchup, bbq sauce, pizza sauce, and pasta sauce. But in the everyday I mostly use it on the items in the first paragraph.
I personally have a lot of types of beans, lentils and peas - both so I don't get bored as I use them and because they each [have different nutrition profiles](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e4/52/9https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e4/52/96/e45296fcb8df4e3cbf5631be803200a2.jpg6/e45296fcb8df4e3cbf5631be803200a2.jpg). Some have higher protein, but others may be higher in other nutrients so I like to keep the variety.
I also have some bean mix, similar [to this stuff](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSEf9A8B_Cifglxi9BwJzNDHvRXc894TPJi0w&usqp=CAU), which I like to make into soup a few times a year, which is another option.
I don't think I have a favorite one to recommend.
As has been mentioned, add a similar sized bag of beans. Also, and I cannot stress this enough. get a bottle of hot sauce. When I first started prepping, I took a 2-week trip to the Great Sand Dunes and all I brought was 2000 calories a day of beans and rice. Sort of to test the theory.
I have to tell you, after a week, beans and rice is only a small step up from starving. on the third to the last day, I found in the glove box of the truck a few packets of taco bell hot sauce and it made all the difference in the world.
I meant more that if I had a choice all the countries in the world to be only eating rice in, Pakistan would probably be my number one. Biryani for breakfast lunch and tea doesn’t sound like much of a hardship…
Check out recipes for rice and beans. There’s lots of options, and with canned vegetables that’ll last years, you’ll have plenty of food and options. Add in some spices and an oil/fat option, and you’ll not just be surviving, you’ll be thriving.
You can make saffron rice and beans.
Cliantro lime rice and beans.
Onion, peas, and carrots, rice and beans.
Rice and beans seasoned with garlic, cumin, paprika, and oregano.
Don't quote me, but I believe there's somewhere between 350 and 380 calories per 100g of uncooked rice, and that varies depending on the variety and ripeness of the rice at harvest.
The average recommended caloric intake for an adult male is between 2100 and 2500 calories a day, and for an adult female it's between 1900 to 2000 calories a day.
Using that as a basis with an average of 365 calories per 100 kg of rice, an active adult male would need about 575g of uncooked rice per day (which would of course be cooked before consumption) to meet their caloric needs if all they were consuming were rice. An adult female would need about 543 g of uncooked rice to be prepared for their caloric needs.
A 20 kg bag of rice should therefore be able to provide calories an adult male for about 35 days and an adult female between 36 to 37 days.
Of course the potable water required to cook the rice would need to be available as well.
Rice alone would not meet nutritional needs and an individual eating only rice would start to experience health issues from malnutrition, but they wouldn't be starving.
Yes! As you and others have pointed out. I do need some vitamens and other sources of nutrients even if I add beans to the prep. So Next thing is to save up for beans and get those and then move on to canned food.
I can only do so much as a student in an unstable economy in a unstable country but will make sure to add a variety of nitritious food to my prep by the end of year.
Thanks for the detailed answer!
Have you tried your hand at growing plants? Tomatoes are pretty easy to grow most places and have nutrients, plus they’re tasty which will help with how boring rice and beans are.
Yes, the rice will keep you alive, but not healthy.
You should split between rice and get maybe some dried meats or pickled fruits and vegetables. The silly thing I was taught as a kid that always stuck with me is "The more colors in a meal, the healthier it is."
20 kg is better than 0 so go for it. But you wouldn't want to be only on rice, it's a supplement to other food. Also, if you rotate bags you'd have 0-20 kg at any given time if you wait till the end of the bag until you get a new one. Or 10-20 kg if you use 2 bags.
Some more enlightened people can talk about it's nutritional value and give estimates, but the bottom line is that survivalibility depends on the length of war, amount of eaters and amount of physical work, other foods and probably some other factors too.
People have given you the numbers on rice and suggested beans and tuna in oil. I'll just point out that rice takes a lot of time/fuel to cook, so if cooking time is an issue, you might be better off with eggs. I don't know your situation of course. And there are tricks involving thermoses for making rice easier to cook. But it's not the easiest food to deal with and it's definitely not a single food solution. (Nothing is.)
I don't know what SHTF you're thinking of, but in the US, whatever you're imagining just isn't very likely. It's good to have emergency water and food regardless, but don't beggar yourself trying to fix a problem that isn't likely to occur. Deal with whatever is occurring now, which sounds financial. Good luck.
I soak the beans for 16+ hours, red beans still take over 2 hours of cook time to get soft. I know there are other techniques, like stuffing the hot mix into a thermos for hours, but it's still not the lowest energy way to get a meal.
How many people are you feeding? What means do you have to cook said rice? How deep of a well are we talking about? Hand pumps are good for so many feet. Also, what other alternatives do you have as a good source? Dried beans? Local edible vegetation? Are you in a rural or urban environment? There’s a lot of variables here. The good news is you’re at least trying to make a plan so you’re ahead of the curve. I hope this helps you.
Add some beans, and you'll survive for a good while. You'll still want meat, vegetables, and fruit so the long term doesn't make you sick, tho
Assuming you aren't forced into a war and can minimize the amount of labor you have to do, the healthy can survive off about 1200 calories a day for a pretty long time. If you have family to take care of, you might want to try push your minimum more towards 1600 calories a day and will definitely want to pat more attention to vitamins
How much rice you need to store depends on your body size, metabolism, and how much rice you consume.
1 kg is 5 cups of uncooked rice.
A cup of uncooked rice makes 2 cups cooked rice. That amount of rice would last me for a whole day. So that would be 1 kg a week. My husband would likely consume 2 cups a day. My son 3 cups a day. So for them it would be half a week or less for 1 kg. 20 kg would last me 20 weeks. My husband 10 weeks, my son very fit adult maybe 7-8 weeks
Of course, ideally, you want to have foods other than rice. If you can find canned or frozen meats for protein, that will pair with rice the best. And this will conserve your rice stores as well.
Canned chicken, ham, or fish are very good options for protein. If you can’t afford those, eggs, or dry beans is your next best choice. Buy you have to soak and then boil these a long time which can used a lot of electricity or fuel. And you need to make sure you have onions and spices, seasonings to make the cooked boiled beans palatable.
Quite honestly, it’s best to find a variety of foods and purchase those when they are on a sale. I’ve noticed that regular processed grocery store purchased foods can sometimes be cheaper than ingredients. (Such as frozen perogies … $5 for a huge 5 kg bag!)
I couldn’t possibly make homemade perogies from scratch nearly as cheaply as they are selling for sale in a grocery store. It would probably cost me 5x more to make my own! So shop around for what deals are to be found in your local neighbourhood. Or ask local farmers. Neighbours.
Personally, I’ve never been much for storing only rice and beans. Due to food fatigue which is real. So try to add a bit of variety as you can afford to.
We eat much more potatoes and pasta, use flour for baking bread etc . So we store all of these. But we do store plenty of rice!
Costs can be kept low while building a nice variety. And possibly if you have potatoes, you can get those to sprout in spring and grow more potatoes if you have a place or a bit of land to grow them on. Sweet potatoes can be grown from potato slips and are the most calorie dense.
Rice will last for years and years if it is stored airtight, dry, dark and cool.
I wish you all the best! And I hope you got your well pump fixed! 👍
Thanks for the detailed answer! I totally forgot about pasta. I think I can find a good deal somewhere and buy a few pounds of that with the chilli sauce idea from another post here to keep the morale high. I don't think pasta will go bad if I store it in my kitchen. Thanks for the pasta and perogies idea!
Do you have a freezer or does your neighbor? If you freeze rice for a bit, it will kill bugs and make your rice last. And then you want a good storage with a lid that keeps new bugs out.
I did not know that. Good to know!
I do have a tight steel chest but usually, I put the whole bag in it and close the lid tight if the bag is being used.
20 kilos of rice is a great start. It is about 70,000 kilocalories.
High energy rations (strenuous travel, combat duty, heavy labor) tend to be about 4,000 kilocalories per day.
2,000 kcal per day is widely cited as the average requirement.
In times of famine or war, even as few as 500-1,000 kcal have been issued to soldiers (e.g., Eastern front of WWII).Half rations mean you have to conserve energy heavily: wear lots of clothes, sleep a lot, etc.
Quarter-rations will keep you alive much longer than zero rations. Heavily reduced caloric intake will quickly result in exhaustion, difficulty regulating body temperature, and weakened immune system.
Your 20kg of rice, therefore, should last approximately 35-70 days for one "average" adult on either full or half rations.
Recognizing the slim budget you are working with, consider adding cooking fat, beans, sugar, and lentils to your supplies as funds permit, as well as salt. Spices as a luxury expense. Cooking oil, tallow, ghee, or other fat is the most compact format to store calories (9/g).
Reused plastic soda or water bottles make good airtight containers.
For your water well, a self-filling well bucket would be less expensive than a hand pump. Its a long cylinder that fills from the bottom, you send it down the bore on a rope. I made one for my 6 inch (15cm) well bore out of 4 inch (10cm) PVC pipe. There are tutorials on Youtube.
Good place to start I would encourage you to keep budgeting to add a little extra to your pantry every paycheck.
Building a deep working pantry that you rotate and maintain regularly is one of the most important foundations for prepping along with financial health.
When I am "budgeting" calories for a collapse first get the total number of calories you have, then I look at how long it would last with different numbers of people and different calorie ranges per day, depending on how much labor you are doing the people in your group could need anywhere from 2000-3500 or more calories per day.
So I try and determine what thise ranges look like.
Genuine question - how do you prevent rice bugs from a huge bag of rice?
I find it easier to preserve rice when it's opened and I could add spices / chilli to prevent bugs. I'm toying the same idea as OP. Even if I keep it a new bag of rice in a dry, cool place, I always find some bugs.
I thought of this too but for the past 4 years I've been here, I have not had a single issue with rice bugs yet. And the idea of keeping the extra bag is to use it as a buffer that 1) There is always at least 20 kg of rice in my house rather than 0 and 2) to prevent them from going bad from any way i.e. humidity or bugs.
Its a solid start, more is always better but it will be worth doing. Rotate and Add to it as you can, a high protein bean will be a good next one to grab if possible, but rice will go a long way on its own
Everyone talks about rice but not lentils. Lentils and beans are so much more worthwhile in terms of size to calorie ratio. Dried lentils will last just as long but pack more nutrition.
Pakistani ~ forgive if I assume that “rice” is a staple for you~~ I’m half Mexican and it’s a staple for me, I’d double in case you need to trade a cup or so for another type of food❤️❤️❤️
Yes I make flour or corn tortillas ~ ❤️ try to store things that make a whole protein ~ for me that’s rice bean/ legume and a corn tortilla ~ I’m storing a little of just about everything curry cumin paprika garlic just grab those spices❤️❤️❤️ avoid boredom 🙏
It's a good start but make sure you store it properly. I just opened a bag of rice that I stored improperly in a mylar bag (not enough oxygen absorbers) for 6 months. It had a bad smell and yellow color.
Even eating nothing you can last a month on body fat and muscle. Any calories you can get will stretch that.
As said elsewhere, add a 20 kilo bag of beans and you can survive 3 months. (one person, and the key word is survive, not thrive)
Add some forage and hunting (not sure what that looks like in Pakistan) and you might make a year just using the rice and beans when you strike out.
Ye 20 kilo as pointed our by others is better than 0 but not enough. And yes, there is no hunting for the avg guy here. Guns are expensive other than 9mm ones and hunting is for the rich who come from abroad. I'll have to expand my preps.
licence for everything is for no less than 25 and then you have to pay a lot of bribe money to get it as well. It's truly a pain. And if I want to get an 1000 dollar AR or an M4, it costs here 3000 cause of taxes so only thing I can afford original is a US made glock and original mags. The other mags you have to leave few rounds empty cause they are that sht. I don't want a malfunctioning pos on me so it's original glock and a high quality M4 with US made barrel. Triggers and what not can be cheap so that brings the price down. More ppl should be armed but our gov is inept.
nope. That's wayyyy too far for my comfort and there is no guarantee for those weapons. Not if, When! I buy, I'll buy from Quetta or Peshawar from a tax paying dealer. There is one in Quetta who buys US made barrels and the rest of the gun (the plastic parts) is made in Pakistan. That'll be a good option. Maybe a restored AK but that too from a city trusted tax paying seller.
I would next work on adding lentils, beans, peanuts or peanut butter, canned ghee or seed oil, dried spices - turmeric, Chilli, garam masala, salt, pepper, onion & garlic powder, lime/lemon juice concentrate.
If you also have 6 wide mouthed glass jars, muslin or cheese cloth or porch screen and elastic bands, plus clean water, you can sprout mung beans, lentils and other pulses to have a supply of fresh greens
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vuZ8xK65JAw
Oatmeal is great too. And you can make energy bars with ghee, oatmeal & sugar/honey/dates/dried fruit/seeds/nuts, as well as having cooked oatmeal or overnight oats soaked in water.
Similar thoughts here. Family of 2 adults, 1 toddler, 1 hunting dog that can go get rabbits. This is my survival food box:
- 20 lbs rice bags x 2
- misc beans packs (chick peas, black gram beans, Bengal gram beans, green gram beans, kidney beans: each 5 lbs bag)
- Gram flour/corn starch, wheat floor (5 lbs bags)
- Spices: Turmeric powder, cumin seeds, red chili flakes, ground black pepper
- Salt
- Basic utensils
Total weight: 120lbs (cost: $150 in CA), lasts 3 months.
Buy lots of beans, curry and you should be set. Pakistan (at least the south to my knowledge) already eats a lot of rice. so rice is a good staple, but with a protein like Dal (lentils) and curry, you have a meal.
I try to always have dry goods on hand, rice, beans, pasta, powered milk, powdered potatoes, also canned foods, e.g., vegetables, fruit, fish, soup. I worry about not having enough water on hand though as I live in a small apartment in an arid, urban area. There is a lake across the street and I have multiple ways to filter and purify, but still worry about that. But yeah, I usually have around 20 lbs of rice and 20 pounds of dried beans. And a lot of pasta. And tinned stuff like tuna, beans, soup, etc. But I eat all that anyway, so no problem rotating it.
No…
… because when SHTF doesn’t happen and you don’t normally eat rice you just wasted $$. Instead slowly over time…
Deep Pantry:
- Buy more of what you eat now
- Eat what you buy
- Quit buying when you find you can’t eat a thing before it expires (which is quite different from Best By dates)
- The really hard, individualized part is making rotation simple, easy, automatic. Hint, think of flow - things should go in one side and out the other… which isn’t how most shelves are built
Pakistan and the developing world goes through the events we talk about all the time and rice being a staple shouldn't go to waste. Deep pantries are the way, but it's usually a first world thing where we can buy months' worth of food at a time, and it's already processed enough so it can last multiple years sitting in a pantry
Mmmm
If one suddenly buys 6 months of food then you’d have a similar surge of things expiring and need to be consumed or donated.
If one trickles up to having XX months then one can smooth out consumption / best by dates / expiration dates
Now long term stores, LTS, are usually bought that way but consumption can be spread out over years.
On that note …
Fastest, easiest, safest, cheapest (if you include your time), mouse-proof (10# can), boxed/stacking, dry, well-researched, quality, 30-year, LTS food is from LDS. Low-cost shipping. Stores open to the public… but limited hours. After finishing your Deep Pantry go to https://providentliving.churchofjesuschrist.org/food-storage.
22 kgs of rice is only 44 pounds, which should be used up by month two as a staple. Milled rice can last for decades, assuming you have a proper pantry, while whole grain rice should last 6 months with appropriate storage
I bought a pack of brown rice (it's vacuum packed in its cardboard box) a few days ago and it expires in September 2025, it's probably a two year expiration from the time of packaging.
Estimates place whole grain as expiring around the 6 month mark, but if it's sealed and properly dried, it will probably last almost as long as milled. It probably won't make you sick if it came from a major processor, and if it would the taste would stop you before you try eat it
In my stocks there are 90% only wholemeal products, i.e. unrefined, in addition to a greater vitamin intake they have more fibre.
But as far as I remember, even refined products from the same brand have vacuum packaging.
I'm in Europe, I don't know if vacuum packing isn't applied in supermarkets overseas (??)
Here even millet, quinoa and rice are always vacuum-packed in their cardboard boxes.
Vacuum sealing is a worldwide thing, and it's pretty much fail proofed in all of the first world as well as most of the 2nd world. I think it's pretty standard in the developing world too, but I'm not sure if it's as consistent in the developing countries and I might not hedge by bets past the recommended dates
Sometimes we look a lot at the duration over time and not the nutritional content.
In the event of a disaster, the amount of food available will be limited, avoiding vitamin deficiencies will be essential.
Beriberi from eating refined white rice rendered a portion of the Japanese army unfit for combat in the early 1900s.
Consuming only 100 g of rice per day a 20 kg bag will not last seven months, even if it were not vacuum packed it is a reasonable time.
If the 20 kg supply of rice is not rotated and consumed then the discussion on refined or brown rice may change.
Yeah. Iv pointed out they need beans and vegetables in other comments, and they acknowledged on their own comments they'll be trying to add vitamins
Their specifically preparing for short-term diastor and only trying to make sure they are lasting until relief starts
They should only need to last somewhere between 1 month and three. On a budget like they said they are on, they'll only need about 1600 calories per day
The rice would have to be a filling staple,the beans would have to fill the bulk of the protein and essential vitamin needs, and I'd hope they'd get vegetables to add the diversity needed for the full range of nutrients on needed while also keeping each meal appetizing enough to keep going
The developing world tends to buy its food on a day to day basis instead of the weekly/monthly basis we do here and buys less processed fresh goods instead of the stuff we get that holds 6-36 months. Even if they opted to buy 50lbs of whole grain rice instead of milled rice, it would be expiring multiple months after most of their day to day stocks
Yeah, but rice is the old equalvielent of our mashed potatoes and heavy canned stuff. If you don't have literally the world's best access to processed goods, it's a fine staple
I don't know if LDS is still cheaper after having to convert into USD, and the quality definitely won't reach par with the rice after beans/vegetables are thrown into the mix
I'd probably recommend LDS for purchase by our relief groups heading in when needed or for volume purchases by local groups in the area. I just don't know if deep pantry is realistic without our level of infrastructure and how much of our projection is being taken up right now
Deep pantry is the way to your first xx days / weeks of food. If you normally eat rice, and are planning to at some point buy another bag of rice and eat the one you have now (rotating) that is the way. Same with beans, and other stuff you eat.
Your short term food preps shouldn't be anything you buy and put on the shelf indefinitely, but, normal stuff you'll eat and rotate. (deep pantry). Once you have xx weeks covered with rotational / deep pantry stuff, then worry about storing shelf stable stuff.
FIFO means First In, First Out. Groceries (home and at stores), fashion, perishable products all use FIFO inventory control to make sure their inventory is the freshest possible.
Get a dozen or so cans of black beans, and two dozen cans of a beef stew or something and you’ll be good food wise. You need variety, pure starches from rice is bad health wise for you long term. You need meats and veggies even if it’s canned.
One of my all-time poor guy favorites is cheap canned beef fried in a wok then toss in some soy sauce and a pile of rice. Throw whatever vegetables you have in there. add them after the beef and soy sauce but before the rice. Add rice after the vegetables are cooked.
I could live on some variation of that for a pretty long time.
It’s a calories math game. A typical adult needs an average of 2,000 kcal a day to maintain body weight. (More or less depending on age, sex, activity level.) You’ve got about 75,000 calories in that bag, so 37.5 days. Yes, you could stretch that out a bit… but only a bit. Add a 20k bag of beans and you’re closer to 2.5 months, but with more balanced nutrition. Up to you… but if I were on a very tight budget the next things I would add would be vitamins, tomato powder, canned fruit/veggies and tuna in oil. In experiments, people living off just rice and beans got sick due to nutrient deficiencies.
Rice, beans, and multivitamins can get you through some bullshit. Add in a variety of spices to cook your beans different ways, some drink powder, and long-lasting candy... and you could get by for a long time without feeling TOO sick of your food options.
That's the plan. I just wanna survive in a horrible situation so that I don't die until any help arrives.
For me, I don't eat enough canned or freeze dried foods to stock a classic "prepper pantry" that would last several months. But, I do eat a lot of rice and I also use beans in a variety of dishes. Just makes sense to stock up on that stuff vs. food I'll never eat.
that is what you should be doing. Honestly we have months worth of green beans, not because we eat them, but the dogs split a can every night- so keeping 100 or so in the pantry is not insane (they last years)- and the dogs will just be pissy if they do not get it since we need it to all survive.
Please tell me about your dogs' diet? ~curious dog person over here
they get the amount of kibble they are supposed to on the bag (based on what the vet told us to give them). They get a spoonful of wet food to add flavor, and a can of green beans dumped on top. The green beans is only with dinner. One dog insists on covering it in water (making her dinner a soup). They are not large dogs (30 and 50 pounds respectively). So it is about 2/3 of a cup of food for each meal.
Cheap cooking oil it's amazing how many calories you can gain just from cooking oils.
Yep, plus you can freeze cooking oil and it stays good virtually indefinitely.
Do you freeze it in the glass container it comes in?
Probably need to freeze it in a plastic container to avoid it shattering.
Quinoa is good for a long period too.
Make sure to add fats (good for your brain, skin & tasty).
Oh my, are you anticipating some kind of war in the foreseeable future in your neck of the region?
The perpetual instability dosen't just sit right with me. But I'm the hope for the best, prepare for the worst kinda person. I'm less scared of the Indians and more wary of the Taliban led Afganistan and the possible rise of terror attacks. I hope not tho. A single event can change things very quickly. Im not partaking in any conspiracies, just trying to be realistic.
You'll fit in well here. It's good perspective to see your, albiet terrible situation, as an example for those of us living in more stable areas. This subreddit really does plan for the worst, well.
You can also survive on a whole lot less if you limit your activity and don't intend to push yourself. 2000 is the first world standard, 3000 is U.S/British recommendation for active individuals, but you can survive on as little as 1200 calories per day fine if you get outside of shock range
That was my thought process. I can really afford to lose weight (fat and muscle) which is better than just starving to death because I didn't keep some extra food in my house. Like someone already said here, 20 is better than 0. But I do need to add beans and multivitamins next. 1500 calories is not a bad way of not ending up in a body bag.
1200-1600 a day is the minimum I'd recommend to prevent starvation, but once you've met that you're within range for the long-term and you can plan for nutrition over calories Anything less than 1200 calories a day is about on par with not eating at all, so if reach that point, it may be worth learning the scientific process of fasting and skipping meals so you can spread the food longer. 1600 or higher is the ideal if you can avoid starvation entirely since that will allow you to maintain a certain level of activity, then recover faster once resources become more available
The UN should actually have data collected for you to plan for diastor. At these lows, "none" is actually sometimes better than a little because your body will enter starvation mode before it actually starts to starve, and that will lower your calorie waste before it first becomes dangerous You definitely need to make a little book and do the math for what you need to put away. You'll be fine for long periods of time of you stay above 1200 calories per day, you'll be able to avoid most suffering if you make sure you stay above 1600, and you'll do overall better if you make sure you have all the nutrient types you'll need first. You definitely can't survive off just rice for any meaningful period, but if you can add at least beans, you should be secure for at least a month and if you can add vegetables you'll be able to wait for relief for longer
Thanks for teaching me the golden 1600 number. I'll slowly add things along with the rice that makes it 1600 - 2000 calories per meal. To answer my own question, now I understand that rice alone won't be a good idea.
1600 isn't a precise number, but it's generally around what you can take in and feel alright. It won't make you feel full, but it should be above what you need to not feel physical pain
when i diet i go down to 1200 calories and drop about 5 pounds a week with heavy exersize. So 1500 is my per day storage target- since i know i can survive months on end at that level.
I agree with this and will add a lot of times ppl who stock up beans and rice forget that you need much water to cook it, and a heat source to boil the water. If no power you might need a fair amount of wood and fire starting sources as well.
How would you store the rice and beans? Somewhere cool and dark ? How long would they keep without using?
I would personally store both items in 1 or 2 gallon mylar bags, with oxygen absorbers, heat sealed after packing, then placed in an airtight container such as a 5-6 gallon bucket with a sealing lid. Or, I’d buy from a supplier that specialized in long-term storage foods and sold them in #10 cans or plastic buckets. If packaged and stored properly, they have an expected 20-30 year shelf life. This is an excellent reference for emergency food storage: https://extension.usu.edu/preserve-the-harvest/files/Food-Storage-Booklet.pdf
Good to know. Will work towards those now.
But make sure you have a plan for water. If the water gets shut off. And you don’t have means to get water, having months of food is pretty irrelevant.
I do have a deep water bore with a working motor and also a broken hand pump. Plan is to get the hand pump fixed and the water issue will be permanently fixed for me and for those I can help as well.
Since you are prepping for potential war / conflicts in your area, I would suggest learning and practicing OPSEC up to an extent, especially considering your valuable water assets. I fully support you helping your neighbors, but keep in mind that if word travels around that you have some food stockpiled and the deep water bore, you may attract some bad attention. Protect yourself and your community, but always be aware of potential threats.
One thing to remember is that if things are already tight, you do still need to keep yourself healthy and feeling good now. So no skipping medical care or important things now "just in case." Also, just in case - you do need a fair amount of water to cook rice. You should be able to cycle tap water in and out every few months from inexpensive containers.
What do you do with tomato powder?
I use it in breads, as part of a spice rub for chicken, in my turkey burger and meatloaf mixes as part of the seasoning, in chili and in some soups (like minestrone). A prep food recipe I tried and liked is to add it and dried bell peppers and onions to rice for Spanish rice. There are recipes online. I’ve experimented with it and found it to make decent ketchup, bbq sauce, pizza sauce, and pasta sauce. But in the everyday I mostly use it on the items in the first paragraph.
Wow, versatile. Seems like a great item for my basement shelves, thanks!
What beans do you recommend? I’m in the USA and have a large variety of dried beans to choose from Gordon’s restaurant supply.
I personally have a lot of types of beans, lentils and peas - both so I don't get bored as I use them and because they each [have different nutrition profiles](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e4/52/9https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e4/52/96/e45296fcb8df4e3cbf5631be803200a2.jpg6/e45296fcb8df4e3cbf5631be803200a2.jpg). Some have higher protein, but others may be higher in other nutrients so I like to keep the variety. I also have some bean mix, similar [to this stuff](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSEf9A8B_Cifglxi9BwJzNDHvRXc894TPJi0w&usqp=CAU), which I like to make into soup a few times a year, which is another option. I don't think I have a favorite one to recommend.
Thank you for the helpful links! I'll stock up on a large variety, and spices for sure.
As has been mentioned, add a similar sized bag of beans. Also, and I cannot stress this enough. get a bottle of hot sauce. When I first started prepping, I took a 2-week trip to the Great Sand Dunes and all I brought was 2000 calories a day of beans and rice. Sort of to test the theory. I have to tell you, after a week, beans and rice is only a small step up from starving. on the third to the last day, I found in the glove box of the truck a few packets of taco bell hot sauce and it made all the difference in the world.
Good point, but OP is in Pakistan. Got to have better flavouring options locally for rice than Taco Bell hot sauce…
Yeah, there's better than taco bell pretty much anywhere, but that's what I had. I personally prefer Cholula.
I meant more that if I had a choice all the countries in the world to be only eating rice in, Pakistan would probably be my number one. Biryani for breakfast lunch and tea doesn’t sound like much of a hardship…
>get a bottle of hot sauce It's fairly cheap so I'll get 2.
Check out recipes for rice and beans. There’s lots of options, and with canned vegetables that’ll last years, you’ll have plenty of food and options. Add in some spices and an oil/fat option, and you’ll not just be surviving, you’ll be thriving. You can make saffron rice and beans. Cliantro lime rice and beans. Onion, peas, and carrots, rice and beans. Rice and beans seasoned with garlic, cumin, paprika, and oregano.
For real! I lived on beans and rice for three months, I learned a lot about my spice rack lol.
Don't quote me, but I believe there's somewhere between 350 and 380 calories per 100g of uncooked rice, and that varies depending on the variety and ripeness of the rice at harvest. The average recommended caloric intake for an adult male is between 2100 and 2500 calories a day, and for an adult female it's between 1900 to 2000 calories a day. Using that as a basis with an average of 365 calories per 100 kg of rice, an active adult male would need about 575g of uncooked rice per day (which would of course be cooked before consumption) to meet their caloric needs if all they were consuming were rice. An adult female would need about 543 g of uncooked rice to be prepared for their caloric needs. A 20 kg bag of rice should therefore be able to provide calories an adult male for about 35 days and an adult female between 36 to 37 days. Of course the potable water required to cook the rice would need to be available as well. Rice alone would not meet nutritional needs and an individual eating only rice would start to experience health issues from malnutrition, but they wouldn't be starving.
Yes! As you and others have pointed out. I do need some vitamens and other sources of nutrients even if I add beans to the prep. So Next thing is to save up for beans and get those and then move on to canned food. I can only do so much as a student in an unstable economy in a unstable country but will make sure to add a variety of nitritious food to my prep by the end of year. Thanks for the detailed answer!
Have you tried your hand at growing plants? Tomatoes are pretty easy to grow most places and have nutrients, plus they’re tasty which will help with how boring rice and beans are.
Yes, the rice will keep you alive, but not healthy. You should split between rice and get maybe some dried meats or pickled fruits and vegetables. The silly thing I was taught as a kid that always stuck with me is "The more colors in a meal, the healthier it is."
Or dry beans. Beans + grains = complete protein. It does take a lot of fuel to cook beans though.
Add beans to the rice and you have a complete protein. Much healthier.
What kind of beans?
Any kegume. Pinto beans, black beans, broad beans, lima beans lentils, chickpeas. https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/ethnobotany/food/legumes.shtml
20 kg is better than 0 so go for it. But you wouldn't want to be only on rice, it's a supplement to other food. Also, if you rotate bags you'd have 0-20 kg at any given time if you wait till the end of the bag until you get a new one. Or 10-20 kg if you use 2 bags. Some more enlightened people can talk about it's nutritional value and give estimates, but the bottom line is that survivalibility depends on the length of war, amount of eaters and amount of physical work, other foods and probably some other factors too.
People have given you the numbers on rice and suggested beans and tuna in oil. I'll just point out that rice takes a lot of time/fuel to cook, so if cooking time is an issue, you might be better off with eggs. I don't know your situation of course. And there are tricks involving thermoses for making rice easier to cook. But it's not the easiest food to deal with and it's definitely not a single food solution. (Nothing is.) I don't know what SHTF you're thinking of, but in the US, whatever you're imagining just isn't very likely. It's good to have emergency water and food regardless, but don't beggar yourself trying to fix a problem that isn't likely to occur. Deal with whatever is occurring now, which sounds financial. Good luck.
They are in Pakistan
Pre soak the rice and beans and it takes much less fuel to cook.
I soak the beans for 16+ hours, red beans still take over 2 hours of cook time to get soft. I know there are other techniques, like stuffing the hot mix into a thermos for hours, but it's still not the lowest energy way to get a meal.
I've been considering getting a regular old pressure cooker. I have an instant pot but that needs power obviously.
How many people are you feeding? What means do you have to cook said rice? How deep of a well are we talking about? Hand pumps are good for so many feet. Also, what other alternatives do you have as a good source? Dried beans? Local edible vegetation? Are you in a rural or urban environment? There’s a lot of variables here. The good news is you’re at least trying to make a plan so you’re ahead of the curve. I hope this helps you.
Add some beans, and you'll survive for a good while. You'll still want meat, vegetables, and fruit so the long term doesn't make you sick, tho Assuming you aren't forced into a war and can minimize the amount of labor you have to do, the healthy can survive off about 1200 calories a day for a pretty long time. If you have family to take care of, you might want to try push your minimum more towards 1600 calories a day and will definitely want to pat more attention to vitamins
How much rice you need to store depends on your body size, metabolism, and how much rice you consume. 1 kg is 5 cups of uncooked rice. A cup of uncooked rice makes 2 cups cooked rice. That amount of rice would last me for a whole day. So that would be 1 kg a week. My husband would likely consume 2 cups a day. My son 3 cups a day. So for them it would be half a week or less for 1 kg. 20 kg would last me 20 weeks. My husband 10 weeks, my son very fit adult maybe 7-8 weeks Of course, ideally, you want to have foods other than rice. If you can find canned or frozen meats for protein, that will pair with rice the best. And this will conserve your rice stores as well. Canned chicken, ham, or fish are very good options for protein. If you can’t afford those, eggs, or dry beans is your next best choice. Buy you have to soak and then boil these a long time which can used a lot of electricity or fuel. And you need to make sure you have onions and spices, seasonings to make the cooked boiled beans palatable. Quite honestly, it’s best to find a variety of foods and purchase those when they are on a sale. I’ve noticed that regular processed grocery store purchased foods can sometimes be cheaper than ingredients. (Such as frozen perogies … $5 for a huge 5 kg bag!) I couldn’t possibly make homemade perogies from scratch nearly as cheaply as they are selling for sale in a grocery store. It would probably cost me 5x more to make my own! So shop around for what deals are to be found in your local neighbourhood. Or ask local farmers. Neighbours. Personally, I’ve never been much for storing only rice and beans. Due to food fatigue which is real. So try to add a bit of variety as you can afford to. We eat much more potatoes and pasta, use flour for baking bread etc . So we store all of these. But we do store plenty of rice! Costs can be kept low while building a nice variety. And possibly if you have potatoes, you can get those to sprout in spring and grow more potatoes if you have a place or a bit of land to grow them on. Sweet potatoes can be grown from potato slips and are the most calorie dense. Rice will last for years and years if it is stored airtight, dry, dark and cool. I wish you all the best! And I hope you got your well pump fixed! 👍
Thanks for the detailed answer! I totally forgot about pasta. I think I can find a good deal somewhere and buy a few pounds of that with the chilli sauce idea from another post here to keep the morale high. I don't think pasta will go bad if I store it in my kitchen. Thanks for the pasta and perogies idea!
Do you have a freezer or does your neighbor? If you freeze rice for a bit, it will kill bugs and make your rice last. And then you want a good storage with a lid that keeps new bugs out.
I did not know that. Good to know! I do have a tight steel chest but usually, I put the whole bag in it and close the lid tight if the bag is being used.
20 kilos of rice is a great start. It is about 70,000 kilocalories. High energy rations (strenuous travel, combat duty, heavy labor) tend to be about 4,000 kilocalories per day. 2,000 kcal per day is widely cited as the average requirement. In times of famine or war, even as few as 500-1,000 kcal have been issued to soldiers (e.g., Eastern front of WWII).Half rations mean you have to conserve energy heavily: wear lots of clothes, sleep a lot, etc. Quarter-rations will keep you alive much longer than zero rations. Heavily reduced caloric intake will quickly result in exhaustion, difficulty regulating body temperature, and weakened immune system. Your 20kg of rice, therefore, should last approximately 35-70 days for one "average" adult on either full or half rations. Recognizing the slim budget you are working with, consider adding cooking fat, beans, sugar, and lentils to your supplies as funds permit, as well as salt. Spices as a luxury expense. Cooking oil, tallow, ghee, or other fat is the most compact format to store calories (9/g). Reused plastic soda or water bottles make good airtight containers. For your water well, a self-filling well bucket would be less expensive than a hand pump. Its a long cylinder that fills from the bottom, you send it down the bore on a rope. I made one for my 6 inch (15cm) well bore out of 4 inch (10cm) PVC pipe. There are tutorials on Youtube.
Good place to start I would encourage you to keep budgeting to add a little extra to your pantry every paycheck. Building a deep working pantry that you rotate and maintain regularly is one of the most important foundations for prepping along with financial health. When I am "budgeting" calories for a collapse first get the total number of calories you have, then I look at how long it would last with different numbers of people and different calorie ranges per day, depending on how much labor you are doing the people in your group could need anywhere from 2000-3500 or more calories per day. So I try and determine what thise ranges look like.
OP I would add some kind of fat that’s shelf stable. Maybe coconut oil or even vegetable oil.
Good idea on the coconut oil- it goes well with the rice.
Add a similar size in beans and a bottle of multivitamins. That will ass some variation, protein, and essential nutrients.
You can store some sugar never rotten
Honey too
Yes, but if you store glucose, it is very cheap, and you can even use it to prepare injections in an emergency.
Genuine question - how do you prevent rice bugs from a huge bag of rice? I find it easier to preserve rice when it's opened and I could add spices / chilli to prevent bugs. I'm toying the same idea as OP. Even if I keep it a new bag of rice in a dry, cool place, I always find some bugs.
Freeze for at least 24 hrs...or bring it on vacation with you to the North Pole.
I thought of this too but for the past 4 years I've been here, I have not had a single issue with rice bugs yet. And the idea of keeping the extra bag is to use it as a buffer that 1) There is always at least 20 kg of rice in my house rather than 0 and 2) to prevent them from going bad from any way i.e. humidity or bugs.
1kg rice has approx 3600 calories. 3600 calories x 20kg / 2000 calories per day = ~36 days worth of calories.
Its a solid start, more is always better but it will be worth doing. Rotate and Add to it as you can, a high protein bean will be a good next one to grab if possible, but rice will go a long way on its own
Everyone talks about rice but not lentils. Lentils and beans are so much more worthwhile in terms of size to calorie ratio. Dried lentils will last just as long but pack more nutrition.
I'll see if I can get a good deal on Bulk lentils next time I visit the market.
Pakistani ~ forgive if I assume that “rice” is a staple for you~~ I’m half Mexican and it’s a staple for me, I’d double in case you need to trade a cup or so for another type of food❤️❤️❤️
Rice and wheat is a staple yes. Wheat more than rice. We eat everything with roti (bread) here.
Yes I make flour or corn tortillas ~ ❤️ try to store things that make a whole protein ~ for me that’s rice bean/ legume and a corn tortilla ~ I’m storing a little of just about everything curry cumin paprika garlic just grab those spices❤️❤️❤️ avoid boredom 🙏
You can't store flour over a year or so, but you can preserve non milled wheat much longer.
It's a good start but make sure you store it properly. I just opened a bag of rice that I stored improperly in a mylar bag (not enough oxygen absorbers) for 6 months. It had a bad smell and yellow color.
Even eating nothing you can last a month on body fat and muscle. Any calories you can get will stretch that. As said elsewhere, add a 20 kilo bag of beans and you can survive 3 months. (one person, and the key word is survive, not thrive) Add some forage and hunting (not sure what that looks like in Pakistan) and you might make a year just using the rice and beans when you strike out.
Ye 20 kilo as pointed our by others is better than 0 but not enough. And yes, there is no hunting for the avg guy here. Guns are expensive other than 9mm ones and hunting is for the rich who come from abroad. I'll have to expand my preps.
I wish I could send you a .22 rifle for hunting squirrels or birds.
♥
You live in the land of ak-47. Can you get one of those?
Not of age to get the licence. Age requirement is 25 here.
Wow that's crazy. Is it the same age requirement for pistols like a 9mm?
licence for everything is for no less than 25 and then you have to pay a lot of bribe money to get it as well. It's truly a pain. And if I want to get an 1000 dollar AR or an M4, it costs here 3000 cause of taxes so only thing I can afford original is a US made glock and original mags. The other mags you have to leave few rounds empty cause they are that sht. I don't want a malfunctioning pos on me so it's original glock and a high quality M4 with US made barrel. Triggers and what not can be cheap so that brings the price down. More ppl should be armed but our gov is inept.
I love my glock. It's probably my favorite to shoot.
Is it not possible to buy something made in Darra Adam Khel?
nope. That's wayyyy too far for my comfort and there is no guarantee for those weapons. Not if, When! I buy, I'll buy from Quetta or Peshawar from a tax paying dealer. There is one in Quetta who buys US made barrels and the rest of the gun (the plastic parts) is made in Pakistan. That'll be a good option. Maybe a restored AK but that too from a city trusted tax paying seller.
I would next work on adding lentils, beans, peanuts or peanut butter, canned ghee or seed oil, dried spices - turmeric, Chilli, garam masala, salt, pepper, onion & garlic powder, lime/lemon juice concentrate. If you also have 6 wide mouthed glass jars, muslin or cheese cloth or porch screen and elastic bands, plus clean water, you can sprout mung beans, lentils and other pulses to have a supply of fresh greens https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vuZ8xK65JAw
lentils, beans and pasta is on the buy next list. And we make desi ghee at home which is a huge blessing.
Oatmeal is great too. And you can make energy bars with ghee, oatmeal & sugar/honey/dates/dried fruit/seeds/nuts, as well as having cooked oatmeal or overnight oats soaked in water.
Similar thoughts here. Family of 2 adults, 1 toddler, 1 hunting dog that can go get rabbits. This is my survival food box: - 20 lbs rice bags x 2 - misc beans packs (chick peas, black gram beans, Bengal gram beans, green gram beans, kidney beans: each 5 lbs bag) - Gram flour/corn starch, wheat floor (5 lbs bags) - Spices: Turmeric powder, cumin seeds, red chili flakes, ground black pepper - Salt - Basic utensils Total weight: 120lbs (cost: $150 in CA), lasts 3 months.
Buy lots of beans, curry and you should be set. Pakistan (at least the south to my knowledge) already eats a lot of rice. so rice is a good staple, but with a protein like Dal (lentils) and curry, you have a meal.
Good for you for starting. 👍 That’s the hardest step. Keep trying, you’re doing great. Peace be with you.
Aw Thanks bro!
Girl but I appreciate it. Keep up the good work!
My apologies! Thanks anyway! :)
I try to always have dry goods on hand, rice, beans, pasta, powered milk, powdered potatoes, also canned foods, e.g., vegetables, fruit, fish, soup. I worry about not having enough water on hand though as I live in a small apartment in an arid, urban area. There is a lake across the street and I have multiple ways to filter and purify, but still worry about that. But yeah, I usually have around 20 lbs of rice and 20 pounds of dried beans. And a lot of pasta. And tinned stuff like tuna, beans, soup, etc. But I eat all that anyway, so no problem rotating it.
For those who don't know 20kg is approximately 4.4 bald eagles
[wtf is a km!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-3IV11_ZgA)
No… … because when SHTF doesn’t happen and you don’t normally eat rice you just wasted $$. Instead slowly over time… Deep Pantry: - Buy more of what you eat now - Eat what you buy - Quit buying when you find you can’t eat a thing before it expires (which is quite different from Best By dates) - The really hard, individualized part is making rotation simple, easy, automatic. Hint, think of flow - things should go in one side and out the other… which isn’t how most shelves are built
Understood! Will try my best to buy extra of whatever I buy from now on to slowly bulk up the pantry but it's gonna take some time for that.
Pakistan and the developing world goes through the events we talk about all the time and rice being a staple shouldn't go to waste. Deep pantries are the way, but it's usually a first world thing where we can buy months' worth of food at a time, and it's already processed enough so it can last multiple years sitting in a pantry
Mmmm If one suddenly buys 6 months of food then you’d have a similar surge of things expiring and need to be consumed or donated. If one trickles up to having XX months then one can smooth out consumption / best by dates / expiration dates Now long term stores, LTS, are usually bought that way but consumption can be spread out over years. On that note … Fastest, easiest, safest, cheapest (if you include your time), mouse-proof (10# can), boxed/stacking, dry, well-researched, quality, 30-year, LTS food is from LDS. Low-cost shipping. Stores open to the public… but limited hours. After finishing your Deep Pantry go to https://providentliving.churchofjesuschrist.org/food-storage.
22 kgs of rice is only 44 pounds, which should be used up by month two as a staple. Milled rice can last for decades, assuming you have a proper pantry, while whole grain rice should last 6 months with appropriate storage
I bought a pack of brown rice (it's vacuum packed in its cardboard box) a few days ago and it expires in September 2025, it's probably a two year expiration from the time of packaging.
Estimates place whole grain as expiring around the 6 month mark, but if it's sealed and properly dried, it will probably last almost as long as milled. It probably won't make you sick if it came from a major processor, and if it would the taste would stop you before you try eat it
In my stocks there are 90% only wholemeal products, i.e. unrefined, in addition to a greater vitamin intake they have more fibre. But as far as I remember, even refined products from the same brand have vacuum packaging. I'm in Europe, I don't know if vacuum packing isn't applied in supermarkets overseas (??) Here even millet, quinoa and rice are always vacuum-packed in their cardboard boxes.
Vacuum sealing is a worldwide thing, and it's pretty much fail proofed in all of the first world as well as most of the 2nd world. I think it's pretty standard in the developing world too, but I'm not sure if it's as consistent in the developing countries and I might not hedge by bets past the recommended dates
Sometimes we look a lot at the duration over time and not the nutritional content. In the event of a disaster, the amount of food available will be limited, avoiding vitamin deficiencies will be essential. Beriberi from eating refined white rice rendered a portion of the Japanese army unfit for combat in the early 1900s. Consuming only 100 g of rice per day a 20 kg bag will not last seven months, even if it were not vacuum packed it is a reasonable time. If the 20 kg supply of rice is not rotated and consumed then the discussion on refined or brown rice may change.
Yeah. Iv pointed out they need beans and vegetables in other comments, and they acknowledged on their own comments they'll be trying to add vitamins Their specifically preparing for short-term diastor and only trying to make sure they are lasting until relief starts
They should only need to last somewhere between 1 month and three. On a budget like they said they are on, they'll only need about 1600 calories per day The rice would have to be a filling staple,the beans would have to fill the bulk of the protein and essential vitamin needs, and I'd hope they'd get vegetables to add the diversity needed for the full range of nutrients on needed while also keeping each meal appetizing enough to keep going
You're talking to an American born and raised in the Arctic. I barely remember what fresh food tastes like 😆
The developing world tends to buy its food on a day to day basis instead of the weekly/monthly basis we do here and buys less processed fresh goods instead of the stuff we get that holds 6-36 months. Even if they opted to buy 50lbs of whole grain rice instead of milled rice, it would be expiring multiple months after most of their day to day stocks
A lot of first world countries do the same. It always struck me as huge timesink shopping every day or two.
Exactly That’s why Deep Pantry is always done before LTS
Yeah, but rice is the old equalvielent of our mashed potatoes and heavy canned stuff. If you don't have literally the world's best access to processed goods, it's a fine staple I don't know if LDS is still cheaper after having to convert into USD, and the quality definitely won't reach par with the rice after beans/vegetables are thrown into the mix
I'd probably recommend LDS for purchase by our relief groups heading in when needed or for volume purchases by local groups in the area. I just don't know if deep pantry is realistic without our level of infrastructure and how much of our projection is being taken up right now
Deep pantry is the way to your first xx days / weeks of food. If you normally eat rice, and are planning to at some point buy another bag of rice and eat the one you have now (rotating) that is the way. Same with beans, and other stuff you eat. Your short term food preps shouldn't be anything you buy and put on the shelf indefinitely, but, normal stuff you'll eat and rotate. (deep pantry). Once you have xx weeks covered with rotational / deep pantry stuff, then worry about storing shelf stable stuff.
FIFO means First In, First Out. Groceries (home and at stores), fashion, perishable products all use FIFO inventory control to make sure their inventory is the freshest possible.
Remember you need 2 cups of water for every cup of rice to cook it. And you need fire.
Get a dozen or so cans of black beans, and two dozen cans of a beef stew or something and you’ll be good food wise. You need variety, pure starches from rice is bad health wise for you long term. You need meats and veggies even if it’s canned.
Suggested serving of rice according to USDA 1/4 cup or 85 grams. That works out 235 servings for your 20kg bag.
I would suggest buying brown rice (unrefined) it will give you a higher vitamin intake. Read the story of Beri-Beri (it's a disease)
Brown rice does not store nearly as long as white rice due to it’s oil content.
But it's more nutritious. We are talking about storing 20 kg of rice, not a ton. 20kg can be consumed in a reasonable time.
I'll try to add 5 kg of brown rice if I get any good deal on it. That'll make total 25 kg which is plenty more than 0.
> Country is Pakistan You should have some canned beef. Don't ask why. Just buy and keep it.
One of my all-time poor guy favorites is cheap canned beef fried in a wok then toss in some soy sauce and a pile of rice. Throw whatever vegetables you have in there. add them after the beef and soy sauce but before the rice. Add rice after the vegetables are cooked. I could live on some variation of that for a pretty long time.