personal rationing

assuming that , in the event of a disaster which leaves you with no access to food resuply for an unknown period - but you have a supplies cache to last XXX days [ at normal intake - for your activity rate and local climate ]

the question is - how would you administer your cache ?

1 - eat normal rations for XXX days - with the ` backup plan ` of attempting to gather more supplies during the time

advantages - you maintain your health at optimum levels for XXX days

disadvantages - if foraging fails you will face starvation rations at XXX +1 days


2 - ration yourself from day one - reducing your daily ration - cutting 50% off your daily ration will give you XXX times 1.5 days rations

advatages - you have rations for 150% of your

disadvantages - your rationed intake will impact your health - your stamina and mental faculties will deteriourate

3 - eat normally till a certain point - then impliment rationing

the most complex senario - at which point [ % of XXX ] do you impliment rationing - and what ration do you adopt ?

the advantages / disadvantages of this option are too complex

so - how would you manage your supplies ?

Some sort of rationing would begin immediately.

However, if wildlife was still present and I could still get water out of all the limestone in the area I would hunt and gather water first before I started rationing out my stock piles. I would save the stock piles for the days we did not find an animal to eat.

Well thought out rationing...yes.

Well...it makes total sense to me, to utilize the most perishable stock first. Should I use generator to keep freezers going for later use? Or, use those items to make goods that will last longer..ie dehydrate defrosted goods...cook things into longer lasting forms.

I would of course , start with stored goods in the date stored order of use. The goods I've already canned, I would save for later down the line, and bartering if needed.

Also would continue to forage in my immediate area for items that could augment existing stocks.

If it looked like whatever caused the crisis in the first place, was long term. I'd start hunting, and processing for long term needs.

Interesting thread....

reply to post by ignorant_ape


I think it depends.

If I have food and my neighbors don't I think I had better start looking skinner so it is not obvious that I have plenty to eat.

If I was planning on staying in place because of an epidemic or nuclear blast I think I would eat as normal as possible. I wouldn't want to become too weak to bug out if I needed to run.

If I had limited supplies I would ration what I had to make sure I had enough until I found more.

I wouldn't count on wild animals or a garden.

I would probably just fast for a few days as I gathered food for the future. I live up state NY so I could hunt and fish pretty easily.

reply to post by ignorant_ape


Immediate rationing for all adults! 1000 calories per day.

You'll be in prime shape on day 1, so its logical to ration then. Once a week or two passes you'll have a better idea of the seriousness of the situation and you can re-evaluate.

Kids still get plenty though! They need to grow and be strong and healthy.

From the way I seen people eat here in USA, reasonable to conclude most Americans would go crazy/on a murderous rampage without food, and are unable to ration/share no matter what, in the end. There's a food shortage, its only a matter of time even $$$ will not buy the last loaf of bread or can of beans.

Compared to in Asia where I see a whole family survive on nothing but cup of rice and some water day to day on end as the norm except on special days where they caught some fish etc

You might want to google and find a crash chart.

It will show you the level of deterioration over time without food and water.

You have to feed your brain in those situations where your on your own with no help or support.

For people actively producing .....full rations. People along for the ride 50% is fair for doing nothing but vegging.

Ive prepared enough food stores, plus the forestry around where i'm from will continuously provide me with food year around, that is unless they contaminate everything and its all killed off, before the herds of wild people stampede
Then I/we all have a serious problem.

I'm like a squirrel though, i'll gather hundreds of pounds of black walnuts and eat continuously

reply to post by ignorant_ape

Have a self resuppling food supply...what I mean by that is have....
12 chickens and 1-2 roosters that breed hens set aside..so the eggs hatch and you get more chickens, eat the unfertilized eggs and as you grow the amount of chicken, butcher a few along the way...always keeping a rooster to keep you with new chicks.
Do the same with 2-3 cows and 2-3 pigs.
You'll need about 8-10 acres of land for this, but with a garden and canning you will have 98% of what you need for food. Cows produce milk, make cheese, butter you get cream when you let the milk set for a few hours on top...ladel it off and make use of it.
If you let the animals reproduce you keep food plentful.
The things you'll need stocked are, canning supplies, seasonings and other misc. items for cooking and curing meats.
Its also great to do now, because it saves you thousands of dollars by having theses things now.
I had $1000 dollars total in a cow...sold 1/2 for $500 and kept the other half...I was out of freezer space....lol
It was 1400 lbs hide bones and guts..say 400 lbs aprox. So I had almost 1000 lbs of meat. 500 for me ...500 sold.
so for a dollar a pound I had steaks...rib eye,t bone...ect, burger, minute steack, roasts, beef tips...all for a dollar a pound...I figure with all that meat I saved an easy $1500...plus no chemicals in it...I know what it was fed, and everything it ate, plus I vac packed it, so it stays fresher longer.

If you cannot do this, then try to get to where you can, or have a friend from the country do it and sell you some for a lot less than a store...plus you can also can it...

One of the things I have been doing, is rationing now. Here's my working plan: Day one skip breakfast, drink an extra coffee to curb appetite, eat half portion at lunch, or just a "snack" size and drink plenty of water to fill up on. Eat normally or less than full plate for evening meal. Day two eat breakfast with one coffee. Have a coffee mid morning, work through lunch, keep busy, drink more water, afternoon snack of a piece of fruit and half slice bread. Snack is important, so during evening meal you don't overeat. Day three, breakfast, lunch, snack, no evening meal, late evening half fruit portion and granola bar, more water! I don't diet to loose weight, but I have gradually. It was a conscience choice to consider as economics began impacting my budget, that I really could save some food costs by modifying how much and how often I ate, and truly became aware I didn't need to consume so much food after all. Just because the clock and others appetites were scheduled I did not have to follow their lead. i found I can actually skip breakfast and lunch, and portion control evening meal, choose sensible snack, indulge sugar fixes up to 5 times a week. But all this was to experiment, could I condition my tummy for smaller portions and eating times, in anticipation of shtf conditions. In that respect, the economy has hit my wallet, I have lost 50 lbs in 2 years, just by adjusting slowing to leaner means. I have way plenty room to cut back more, and have started preserving, dehydrating, and already planning a much bigger container gardening.