survival....a survey.

I saw a survey about 18 months ago, I think it was American but it could apply to Britain just as easily, people were asked in a serious event how long they could survive, these are some of their answers: 55% of people have less than 3 DAYS worth of food. 21% said they would survive for less than 1 WEEK. 28% said they would survive for less than 2 weeks. 75% said they would be DEAD within 2 months.

a reply to: bigpaul
I think these numbers are a bit off,but then agian,what do they consider a days worth of food? If I rationed my food that I have today,I could live a month.If I eat 3 meals a day,a week or so.

a reply to: blkcwbyhat it depends what work you are doing, if you are sitting down doing nothing you don't need much food, but if you are chopping wood or digging a trench then you'll need the calories. as far as the survey goes I think when it said 3 days food it meant the typical consumption of the western diet i.e. 3 meals a day.

Many are so convinced of their safety, they shop day to day, never thinking or planning for such an event. They are so unimaginative or poorly informed, they don't realize that all it takes is a rock from space to send an entire country or the whole planet in to a tailspin.When/if the time comes, they'll sit and wait for rescue by people who aren't coming.

a reply to: DAVID64 exactly right, check out my new post "9 meals from anarchy".

a reply to: bigpaul

If we rationed the food we have in our cupboard, we would probably get a month or so out of it, but I would not be sitting around on my arse waiting for someone to come along and save us. I would be building planters on our balcony to grow foodstuffs in, gathering materials which would come in useful daily, and I would be doing the majority of the work too, because I only ever eat one meal a day.

This means that I am already used to getting things done on one meal a day, therefore would be best suited to striding out to meet the needs of my people by foraging, scavenging, meeting with folk who have things to trade, not to mention designing and building tools and infrastructural installations, like the planters I mentioned, as well as rainwater collectors, purification systems, filters, and the like.

I am pretty handy with a toolkit, and I can bodge up there with the best of them. I think me and mine would be alright for quite a while if push came to shove really. I have always longed for a simpler existence than the one we live in, where forms and figures are not important, only gumption, brains, and brass balls.

a reply to: bigpaul

I cannot say - because its not how much food I have or such that worries me its " unkowables " like :

being murdered

needing medical treatment I cannot self administer or source

avalanche , rock fall , lightning strike or other natural event

that I feel are the most likely cause of my demise

a reply to: ignorant_ape that is true, but we do the best we can until it is "our time", I'm not giving up without a fight and will do everything I can to survive until that time.

I need to get five more gallons of real gas and another twenty five pounds of bread flour and we will be fine for a couple of months. I should also change the water in the bottles and the five gallon container we have so it is fresher. I do that about every three months. For the toilet, we can melt snow. That reminds me, I need to drain the fifty gallon barrel of water soon

I'm already in a financial hell hole which means I'm living off what I have in the cupboards. But I have electricity so luckily I have meat stocked in freezer (mostly yellow ticket reduced items) and bags of frozen veg. If I didn't have electric then that would seriously reduce my options as I couldn't cook pasta/rice etc. I think I have about 9 tins in the cupboard left...

I think most people don't realize how far you can stretch food till you really have to though.

Biggest problem would be if temperatures plummeted for a long time as I can't put too much on gas meter (Annoying houses don't have fire places anymore!) And if we can't use the roads because of snow/ice we couldn't get to family either.
So keeping my paranoid eyes on Bardarbunga volcano(64 magnitude 5+ eq's since aug 16th but not erupted yet ) and the holuhraun eruption (biggest eruption(lava) since 18th century and a huge amount of S02 released so far.

I've got food and supplies for two months for just me- but if there were a food shortage, I'd be leaving at least half of that behind to get out of the city.
Sadly, I'd be going to a family members place- and he's got less food than I do on hand, and five mouths- I'd make six. I suspect what I brought for food plus what they have could keep us all going for a month- but it'd be taxing on those of us who were using that time to prepare longer term food sources.

I believe that easily 50% of the people here don't have enough food for a week- which means five days in, you're going to start seeing roaming gangs of hungry people- and they'll be getting desperate.

Unfortunately, where I'd be going is not far enough away from the city to avoid the roaming hunger gangs forever.
I imagine by the time they got that far out, they'd be armed and organized, too.

"The Road", anyone?

depends if there is any fuel, if the power is down I don't see many people sucking on a tube to syphon it, so that means their walking, which means they are refugee's, you can plot lines of suspected refugee drift on a map I did that a few years ago, sure people can walk here from a city but few will actually make it, for one they have to come over or around a huge boggy moorland-our national park-and also there are plenty of others places they have to come through first and be "taken out" long before they get anywhere near here, a few might eventually make it but a few we can deal with.

I will admit I have almost nothing. If a SHTF scenario happened a day or two after payday I would have some groceries.
I don't have room for stocking food stuffs. Hopefully that will change soon as I have been waiting for a particular house to come onto the market.

Personally I think that most people who feel they can just run into the wilds and survive will perish. I could get more squirrels in town than I ever could in the forest.

Luckily for me I'm less than a 1/2 mile from the Mississippi, no big industry for 75ish miles upstream and huge grain elevators around here, when you catch the fish there bellies are filled with corn....mmm mm yummy!!

So river for meat grain elevators and barges for grains.

originally posted by: tinner07
I will admit I have almost nothing. If a SHTF scenario happened a day or two after payday I would have some groceries.
I don't have room for stocking food stuffs. Hopefully that will change soon as I have been waiting for a particular house to come onto the market.

Personally I think that most people who feel they can just run into the wilds and survive will perish. I could get more squirrels in town than I ever could in the forest.

You'll do ok.

I'll stock up on grains and seeds, easy to carry and growing food plots...my meat will come from whoever tries to steal my stuff. water might be a problem. could always hold someone hostage for some water and stuff.

If you live in a metropolis or urban sprawl the stores have three days food on the shelf. See Katrina aftermath. Remember all the refrigerants pushed out on porches because they spoiled overnight?

Looters were fighting over the last bottled water the next day. Think about that.

If after three days someone has food everyone else will want some. Especially if you are cooking something and the smell is drifting down wind.

Think about that.

Plan on lots of food stuff in cans that you eat cold.

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Amazingly enough, when stuff runs short people seem to get along more than I ever thought they would. Being all hungry, thirsty and out of gas together has a way of bringing out the best in each other.

Well, given that it is just at the end of the majority growing season here, I am well stocked with food. Just added another five quarts of veggies from the garden to the freezer last night---turnips and turnip greens. Still have greens, beets and carrots that will, with any luck, last the winter.
My guesstimate is that if it were just the two of us, we could hold out until Spring easily with the two freezers and a full pantry. This isn't a result of us suddenly becoming "preppers", it is the way the folks in our area do things. Even if we don't grow all our own food, we take advantage of the local Farmers' Market to buy in bulk locally produced food and preserve it for later. It's not rocket science, it's just plain, old-fashioned common sense.

a reply to: bigpaul

The body goes into ketosis after not eating for three days or so. It becomes very efficient and you can survive longer on less food because your body starts using fat instead of carbohydrates as it's main fuel source, including the brain. I am on a ketogenic diet and I eat most days about two cans of kippers and some canned grean beans. I have tons of energy and I am not too thin. You do not need three meals a day to survive. The body will start to use food more efficiently if you aren't eating a lot. You poop less etc...

There will be the majority of people that will die in situations like these because they don't have the self control to ration and use their body in a way that makes food last longer. One of the easiest and cheapest foods to stock up on is lard(or coconut oil), pinto beans, and some multi-vitamins for good measure. While not savory, you could last awhile on those items.

originally posted by: intrptr









Amazingly enough, when stuff runs short people seem to get along more than I ever thought they would. Being all hungry, thirsty and out of gas together has a way of bringing out the best in each other.

or the worst!! personally I'm not going to bet my life on it, everyone in an event is suspect until I know better....trust no one and don't turn your back, you might live longer.