Assuming that you’re not someone who skips to the last chapter to see how the story ends, pat yourself on the back for a job well done in completing the Countdown to Preparedness! I warned you at the outset that you were in for a workout, and you should feel very proud of yourself for making it to the end. Bravo!
If you’ve managed to purchase every item in the grocery lists in each lesson, here’s what you should have on hand right now.
• Canned vegetables, 156 cans
• Canned fruit, 104 cans
• Canned meat, 52 cans
• Canned soup, 52 cans
• Oatmeal, 6 canisters or boxes
• Canned chili or stew, 25 cans
• Gravy, 25 packages or jars
• Peanut butter, 5 jars
• Granola or protein bars, 11 boxes
• Jelly or fruit preserves, 5 jars
• Pasta sauce, 10 jars
• Salt, 3 canisters
• Baking mix, 5 boxes
• Ramen noodles, 11 boxes (132 packages)
• White rice, 17 pounds
• Instant coffee, 5 jars
• Dry soup, 10 packages
• Cornmeal, 3 bags
• Tea, 5 boxes
• Dry beans, 14 pounds
• Crackers, 5 boxes
• Pasta, 15 pounds
• Powdered milk, 5 boxes
• Instant potatoes, 2 boxes
• Flour, 10 pounds
• Sugar, 8 pounds
• Multivitamins, 2 bottles
• Honey, 2 jars
• Flavored drink mix, 3 canisters
• Cooking oil, 4 gallons
• Nuts, dried fruit, trail mix, 3 packages
Don’t forget several different types of treats for desserts and to help keep up morale!
The above should be plenty of food to keep an average family of four alive for three months without needing additional supplies. Coupled with garden produce, hunting, trapping, and/or fishing, this food pantry would go even further.
As for water, if you’ve set aside the amounts prescribed each and every week, rotating and replacing as needed, you should have at least fifty-two gallons of water set aside for each person, possibly even more if you’ve substituted cases of bottled water here and there. At a gallon of water per person per day, that’s enough to last almost two months. Add in what you can drain from your water heater (say, an average of thirty gallons), as well as collected rainwater or melted ice and snow, and you should be able to stretch the water supply to three months or so.
Let’s look at the Prepper Savings Account. Now, odds are good that you weren’t able to contribute the specified amount every single week. And, if you’ve been using this account as you should, dipping into it when you find needed supplies at great prices, you aren’t going to have much money left. All told, ideally you’ve contributed almost $700 to your account. That’s a large chunk of change that you can use to buy prepping supplies. But the hidden bonus is that you’ve developed a habit of coming up with an extra $10–$20 each week to set aside. That’s one habit that you want to stick with for quite some time to come.
Speaking of going forward, don’t stop now. Keep adding to your food and water storage as well as learning new prepping skills. While you should take a well-deserved break after completing the Countdown to Preparedness, you should also recognize that prepping is truly a lifestyle, and there’s no definite end point. Keep on keepin’ on!