How many 27lb Costco mac&cheese buckets (89.99$) do i need to survive the next Bad Thing?

Just vacuum seal large bags of rice and beans? those should last just as long.

180 servings, divided by family-of-four, 3x a day, is only 15 days.

So I'd buy at least a dozen (6 months worth).

bulk buyer wrote:

180 servings, divided by family-of-four, 3x a day, is only 15 days.

So I'd buy at least a dozen (6 months worth).

Depends on how big your emergency bunker is. Rats like cheese too, but maybe the faux-cheese in this product makes it inedible to them. But how are you going to cook this stuff anyway, if the electricity/fire don't work?

There are 39,600 calories in the bucket. Given you want to stretch the food, consume maybe 1500 calories a day, that gives you 26 days of food for one person.

I assume 1500 calories of that stuff isnt very filling.

Weight loss apocalypse wrote:

There are 39,600 calories in the bucket. Given you want to stretch the food, consume maybe 1500 calories a day, that gives you 26 days of food for one person.

I assume 1500 calories of that stuff isnt very filling.

As s self-sustaining survivalist, this sounds great.

Yep, dried food sounds better than a complicated preparation process.

Don't think 6 months is long enough. Look at the people in Venezuela currently. I betcha they are rueing that they didn't stock up like this for the long haul.

If they say 2 decades of shelf-life, then that's the obvious limit. I'd say buying at least a decade's worth.

Don't think $3.33 per/lb is a good deal anyway, even for bidecadal survival supplies.

Costco has 25lb of rice for about $20, no? Wholesale you can get 50lb for even less than that.

First mistake in survivalism is assuming you'll be able to cook. You won't have electricity or gas. You won't have fresh water. Any available fuel for building fires will be used up by your neighbors within days.

Before long, if you are in an urban area, people will be desperately competing for supplies. Many if not most will leave as refugees, and those who remain will go through a short period of anarchy, followed by armed gangs competing for dominance. The winner will evolve into a militia that will control access to resources for you and everyone else in your neighborhood.

If you have a supply of 27 pound mac and cheese buckets, your local warlord will find a way to take it from you. If you're smart, you'll trade it away for weapons and a position of command within the militia. It will have military grade weapons that easily dominate the small non-auto weaponry of the regular citizens.

I probably rather die than eating this shite.

Complementary item wrote:

https://people.com/food/costco-7-pound-tub-nutella/

Nutella, particularly eaten by the jar, is a major food group for me. I don’t need an apocalypse to buy it by the tub.

Good stuff.

you are bad at survivalism if you don't account for water, fuel and such. we live on our own well. on a completely clean, well stocked lake. septic. 2x 220 gallon tanks of fuel in the garage. propane tank in the field. automated backup generator. 4 cords of wood and acres of private woods. wood burning stove in house along with fireplace. well armed. house not visible from road. experienced in the woods. large garden.

i think we will be ok.

Bad Wigins wrote:

First mistake in survivalism is assuming you'll be able to cook. You won't have electricity or gas. You won't have fresh water. Any available fuel for building fires will be used up by your neighbors within days.

I lived in the Ozarks 20 years ago. In the buildup to Y2K, there were a bunch of rich paranoid folks from the coasts who bought land there and built houses with wells and generators and big propane tanks... I'd bet those would still be available relatively cheap. Or maybe they held on to them and are restocking them.

you are bad at this if you don't account for that wrote:

you are bad at survivalism if you don't account for water, fuel and such. we live on our own well. on a completely clean, well stocked lake. septic. 2x 220 gallon tanks of fuel in the garage. propane tank in the field. automated backup generator. 4 cords of wood and acres of private woods. wood burning stove in house along with fireplace. well armed. house not visible from road. experienced in the woods. large garden.

i think we will be ok.

Your 440 gallon of fuel will be gone in a hurry if a couple of guys with some assault rifles show up.

Amaggedon is near wrote:

you are bad at this if you don't account for that wrote:

you are bad at survivalism if you don't account for water, fuel and such. we live on our own well. on a completely clean, well stocked lake. septic. 2x 220 gallon tanks of fuel in the garage. propane tank in the field. automated backup generator. 4 cords of wood and acres of private woods. wood burning stove in house along with fireplace. well armed. house not visible from road. experienced in the woods. large garden.

i think we will be ok.

Your 440 gallon of fuel will be gone in a hurry if a couple of guys with some assault rifles show up.

did you miss the "well armed" portion of the post? first rule, don't let guys with rifles know there is fuel here. second, have your own assault rifle.

not likely wrote:

Your 440 gallon of fuel will be gone in a hurry if a couple of guys with some assault rifles show up.

did you miss the "well armed" portion of the post? first rule, don't let guys with rifles know there is fuel here. second, have your own assault rifle.[/quote]

Nope I didn't miss that.

You are delusional if you think that " your well armedness" is protecting you for long.

Amaggedon is near wrote:

not likely wrote:

Your 440 gallon of fuel will be gone in a hurry if a couple of guys with some assault rifles show up.

did you miss the "well armed" portion of the post? first rule, don't let guys with rifles know there is fuel here. second, have your own assault rifle.

Nope I didn't miss that.

You are delusional if you think that " your well armedness" is protecting you for long.[/quote]

well thankfully its delusional for a us all if we think armed gangs of men are roaming the streets mad max style looking for fuel. my big issue today is deciding whats for dinner. i enjoy playing prepper as much as anyone but doesn't look too likely anytime soon...

Your 440 gallon of fuel will be gone in a hurry if a couple of guys with some assault rifles show up.

Don’t rely on your elaborate systems too much.

I must tell you that those who rely on power and water off-the-grid, are wrong. Use it while you have it, but plan for when you stop having it. You will not be able to get supplies for your systems.

Eventually, people will come for what you have.

This is no joke.

There could be a lot of people, even people you know. They will have watched what you have, or what they think you have, and sure as heck they have had time to plan, and decide. Among them, it is very likely that you could have met them in a nearby town, and even had some light chat. I know that some farms have been attacked after some intel has been collected.

The real problem comes afterwards.

It’s not like the movies. You repel the attack, the guys run leaving behind trails of blood and stuff. You still have to live THERE. Perhaps with women, elders, children, perhaps someone ill, injured or disabled – and now there are a good number of “neighbors” (the bad kind) all p***ed off and humiliated.

Because that is how the criminal thinks: if someone stops them, they FEEL humiliation. This makes them angry. This makes them even more dangerous. They have plenty of time to plan another attack, though.