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I'll let my few loyal readers mull over this advice. Do you see any problems? First off, if you are looking for foods on a budget, you want high calorie vs. dollar amount. (calories/dollar)
Here is a way better list that I've assembled. The best food choice, hands down, is flour at 4464 calories per dollar. The LDS list wheat berries as a primary grain to store...NO WONDER! You can easily make Navajo fry bread with just flour, salt, and water. Soda bread only uses a little bit of baking soda and no yeast. You could also bake sour dough bread without having to store yeast.
My personal favorite item is sugar at 2854 calories per dollar. Protect from moisture and you have a food storage item that will last indefinitely, relatively hard to manufacture, highly desirable as a trade item, and goes great in coffee. Sugar was actually the first item to be rationed during World War II (Spring 1942) and no sugar could be legally purchased without ration stamps until 1947.
Next on my list is rice at 2320 calories per dollar. I'd also recommend storing Kikkoman Soy Sauce, and the Walmart website sells powdered soy sauce. (LINK TO SOY SAUCE POWDER) Having a ton of rice, but no soy sauce would really irritate me after a while.
Let's not forget plain oats at 2148 calories per dollar. The oats make a quick and easy breakfast to go with that tea brick that I did an article about...
The cheap Ramen noodles and pasta come in at 1949 and 1600 calories per dollar, respectively.
So, here you have my top 5 list for budget foods to store. This is not a complete nutritional profile, so I'll add a few more items to help round out the nutritional side of things.
1. Prenatal Vitamins which tend to be cheaper and better profiles.
2. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (1245 calories per dollar) and can be stored in a deep freeze for extra longevity. Besides, fried squirrel and rabbit with that flour, salt and pepper makes a great meal. (Be sure to check out the Lard and Crisco comments below)
3. Salt. A no-brainer preferably with iodine if you don't live along the coast. Also, can be used as a salt lick for hunting local game.
4. Green Coffee Beans
5. Lots of spices that can't be grown locally. Here's my list: nutmeg, cinnamon, black pepper, turmeric, mustard seed (homemade mustard), cocoa powder, and chili powder.
6. (hat tip to Monsoon Matriarch) Refried Beans from the LDS for a quick food to make a complete protein with the rice.
7. (Vicki is on point with two overlooked fats) Lard ran $1.99 for 2110 calories per dollar, Crisco ran 1982 calories per dollar, and olive oil ran 1284 calories per dollar. Purely empirical, lard is the best choice. I checked today, and the lard had a best buy date of Feb 2019 (I'm impressed).
Interesting links:
My tea brick article
Soy sauce powder link for Walmart
IFSBULK. A wholesale supplier and GREAT prices.
APN article that I hate.
Sweet Maria: Coffee supplier
As always, comments are encouraged, and make my day a little brighter.
Keep Right On Prepping - K
