All servings aren't created equal...

How many servings per person should you store? Well a can of Spaghetti-Os says it will feed two people.... but my kids can kill a can in a sitting.  When you eat, how many "servings" do you really eat?  Do you know how many calories you'd need in a day if the whole world goes sideways?  Don't let an emergency food provider sell you on the idea of one serving per person.  When you're buying remember:

• Men/teenagers usually will need 2 servings
• Women 1.5 servings
• Children under seven 1 serving

Someone who is really working (physical labor) needs more than an office worker sitting all day.  My grandfather often talked about a "working man's meal" ...  those folks working hard physically need 5000 to 6000 calories a day to have the energy to work.  So if the whole world goes sideways and your planning on splitting wood, gardening, raising chickens, walking instead of driving....   you will need MORE food than you do right now in modern society.  It also needs to be higher QUALITY calories...  A box of Twinkies while tasty, doesn't have the needed nutrition. Focus on protein.  Do you have a year of protein stored?  No?  Figure out how much meat you THINK you need and add more. Remember to always do the math.  We use 2 pounds of chicken per meal for our group.  If I was going to have half our supper meals as chicken, I'd need 2 LB x 7 meals x 26 weeks or 364 pounds of chicken. The other half of our protein will be turkey and various cuts of beef .  You need a personal plan on your family's protein.... that's your homework for the week.

Even though I won't be pressure canning all our meat, I will keep enough jars on hand so if our freezer goes out and we lose the backup generator I will have the ability to can whatever is in the freezers so I won't loose our protein.

Once you start obtaining your protein you'll want to store it a couple of different ways here are some ideas:

• Can it at home (requires pressure canner and glass jars)
• Freeze it raw (Use a Vac sealer to protect your investment)
• Cook some of it, then freeze it already cooked

If the whole world goes sideways having a year's supply of protein stored gives you time to find an alternate source of meat while not worrying about your family starving.