New Preppers guidelines

Questions come in from what I consider normal average people
that are now beginning to realizing they need to become better
 prepared in other words, New Preppers.

Where would I start?
By educating yourself with a few good informative books.
Discuss what is needed physically and mentally with others
that have been doing this for awhile.

There are lots of different food lists
One that I recommend to cross check your other list ideas is:

http://www.yourfamilyark.org/foodstoragecalculator.htm

As we know, everyone has different likes and dislikes. So common
sense tells us to double what we really like, and leave out what
 we hate.

The basics can be reduced to these categories
Water
Grains
beans
vegetables
sugars
fats and oils
starches
cooking essentials
dry milk products

Old survival books from the 60's told us to have
250 lbs of assorted grains in our shelter
75 lbs of beans
65 lbs of sweeteners
2 gal. of cooking oils
2 lbs of baking powder
2 lbs of baking soda
10 lbs of salt
2 lbs of yeast

That was what each adult needed to help them survive off the
land for a year. We have become more spoiled or sophisticated
since then.

As I said earlier, we know what we like to cook with or eat
and our stockpile should reflect those likes. For example
I like to cook with cream of mushroom soup. So if I had only
one can of this soup to cook with in a weeks time,
I would need 52 cans of cream of mushroom soup.
Simple calculations. I like to cook with Rotel so there is
another minimum of 52 cans.
How often do you want to eat green beans, or carrots?

Our food calculations branches out if we plan on catching fish
 for food. Or hunting deer for food.
Then comes fishing tackle and hunting equipment into our food plans.
You shouldn't calculate that without including your first
aide kits and should you have double the
recommended amount in case something bad happens
or you need to have things to trade
with other survivalists.

Consider those good books and think outside the box
while your options are still all available.
Toilet paper, tooth paste, all the different types of soaps
What are you prepared to do without?
What are you prepared to keep on hand?

How often are you willing to live off your stocked up supplies
and not go to the store for a week? Make your own bread?
Don't wait until you must survive on your skills to work with
your skills and improve your skills. The time is now people.

Thoughts from the Oklahoma Survivalist Network yahoo group

Gloria Youngdeer