Shelf Discovery
What's on Your Shelves?
When hungry, look to your well-stocked shelves for satisfaction. Here are some suggestions for doomsday preppers and frugal shoppers alike. Purchasing mass quantities of edibles may save you from sudden disruptions in supply chains. Being prepared never hurts.
Stock up on Fritos
Few food items never spoil: Frito's represents the pinnacle of non-perishable snack foods that every prepper or attentive shopper should have on their shelf. Look for multiple flavors and various packaging configurations to break up the boredom of eating the same every day. Those inhabiting the bunker with you will greatly appreciate this delectable combination of corn, salt, and oil.
Start slowly by building a stockpile of original flavor Fritos, then branch out into the exotic offerings such as Barbecue, Chili Cheese, or Flamin' Hot. Predicting the tastes of everyone in your household proves problematic when apocalyptic pressures proliferate.
Stock up on Beans
Expect no assistance from the government as you scheme to get off the grid. Precious few government grants or legislation exist to help you stock the shelves. Plan to spend as little as possible to obtain as much as possible.
To that end, beans represent a pinnacle of frugality. The little things last virtually forever and provide nutrients that will be otherwise unavailable when society collapses. Numerous cans of beans should populate your survival shelves.
We favor a wide variety of beans rather than what might seem tasty for tomorrow's lunch. Lay in healthy stocks of baked, lima, string, mung, soy, pinto, black, azuki, garbanzo, kidney, and even lupins. Whatever you add to your shelves will eventually be eaten when your guests get hungry enough.
Lay in Gatorade
No array of supply shelving should be considered satisfactory without copious quantities of Gatorade. Sure, other brands of sweet and salty energy drinks may cost less but in the long run we all benefit from spending more on ourselves. We will surely thank ourselves when civilization shuts down and convenience stores begin closing early due to roaming hordes of uncivilized zombies with expired debit cards.
Without question Gatorade comes in a wide variety of flavors and associated colors. Research indicates that average humans do not tire of any particular flavor, but your shelves should be lined with a rainbow of varieties in order to accommodate unexpected guests from the bunker on the other side of the valley. Doomsday prepping is all about being prepared for any contingency.
Remember, you won't be able to pop through the local McDonald's drive-through for a massive plastic cup of Orange drink when governments fail and anarchy moves in next door. Your supplies of Gatorade will be all that stands between you and having to drink water.
Hoard Some Bulk Protein Food
Many of us sincerely observe that food involves getting dressed up and using a cloth napkin, but don't plan on fine dining when the power grid collapses. Leaving the secure bunker for something as simple as Fillet Mignon will be problematic. Expect society to rebuild itself with even better outlets for free-range chicken: until then you will need mass quantities of bulk food that provides basic nutrients as efficiently as possible.
Don't even ask what's in it. Just serve it to yourself with plastic utensils and get back to reinforcing the bomb-proof door that proved to be not as bomb-proof as the contractor promised. You won't be emotionally fulfilled but you will not be hungry.
It's OK to purchase box-shaped food under these circumstances. Food produced at right angles stacks easily and efficiently. Your shelves will thank you. These packages won't fall on your head when the bunker is assaulted by government troops under orders to relocate you to a FEMA reeducation camp.
Buy Some Bottled Spring Water
Pure clear mountain springs will be the stuff of legend when the world ends. You won't often be afforded the opportunity to hike down to the local aquifer and top off your bota.
Put your water in bottles, put those bottles on your supply shelves. Expect mass thirst to run rampant through the survival party. Everyone will want their own bottle in order to avoid zombie germs. Be sure to have individually packaged personal water conveyances.
A big jug or immense barrel of plain water may be efficient for cooking, but it doesn't inspire confidence when your crew still has fond memories of the way things were, before that pesky one-world government forced us out of our houses and into hidey holes. Don't ask us how we know.