Phaydra,

I have purchased my mayo and salad dressing in individual packets that require no refrigeration. I buy mine by the case from Cash-n-Carry.

Check out any restaurant food supply stores in your area that also cater to the public.

You can also purchase them on line.

The calculator is really good, or so it seems to me, but the water is a bit off. Thank you for it.

You need to plan on 1 gallon for drinking, and at least a gallon for cleaning per person and that is on the low end.

You can get by with drinking a couple of quarts a day for awhile, but in time it will take a toll on you. If you reduce water consumption you must reduce protein intake. It takes more water to process protein. Also if you reduce water consumption very much even for a short time, you risk major damage to your organs. There most likely won't be a hospital around to rehydrate you and fix the damage.

Same with cleaning, you can lessen that, but you start risking disease and contamination problems if you do. Keep yourself as clean as possible in survival situations, and do the very best you can in other situations. A scratch can become infected and kill you. Dirty clothes do not keep you as warm as clean ones. If you get a wound through dirty clothes, your chances of a deadly infection goes way up.

You can live longer without food then you normally can without water. Water helps the body remove waste, and toxins. It also helps you stay cool in hot areas. Ask anyone who has spent time in desert, they will tell you, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

I have found that the Mormons have some good food calculators also, you may want to compare the two.

Also keep in mind, if your lounging around, 1200 calories will keep you alive, if your doing moderate work you need 2000 a day and if your doing very hard work you will need around 4000 as a rule of thumb.

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thanks for clearing that up

d80bill wrote:Phaydra,

I have purchased my mayo and salad dressing in individual packets that require no refrigeration. I buy mine by the case from Cash-n-Carry.

Check out any restaurant food supply stores in your area that also cater to the public.

You can also purchase them on line.

I've thought about doing that but I wonder about the safety? Also can you imajine making potato salad by squeezing 50 packets?

The safety of the individual packets? All mayo is at room temp on the grocery shelves until open. That is when you need to refrigerate.
If you are worried about an open container then buy the smaller jars to use in your potato salad so you don't have any left over to refrigerate.

I try and buy everything as small as I can. But I've scoped out a few very well hidden areas in the creek running near my house where I could easily submerge and hide a cooler and the creek runs about 38 degrees year round.

[quote="d80bill"]The safety of the individual packets? All mayo is at room temp on the grocery shelves until open. That is when you need to refrigerate.
quote]

I already know about the fact that you have to refridg mayo and dressings after opening. The concern I have is that mayo and dressing packets are not meant for long term storage but for immiediate use by food joints. So the manufacturars are not looking at their product sitting on a shelf for years before use. This is not how the product is intended for use. And therefore they are not going to put money in a better package that is more resistent to wear and tear. My husband worked for a food processor and you can believe me when I say these guys cut corners where ever they can. You would not believe some of the things my husband saw at work. And all of it is in the hope of making more money.

Dont get me wrong, they never did anything dangerous to the public. But thats more because in the long run it would cost them lots of money in law suits. And hey, I dont mind them making money. I just dont have illusions when it comes to a company choosing profits over a higher quality packaging for something that isnt meant to require it.

Food poisening is a very bad thing in a SHTF situation. Anyone who has had real food poisening can tell you that it is no joke. It is not like a little stomach flu. And if you are having to be in tip top condition to deal with threats and have little access to I.V. fluids and medical care you want to be as carefull as possible with long term stored foods. Especially fats as they go rancid very quickly.

Just my two cents!

Long Term storage for mayo? Thats not going to happen no matter how you package it. I can buy a case of 500 packets of mayo for around $10. I use it some for lunches and what not. When it gets to the end of the suggested use by date, I toss it out and get another case. Mayo is not in my pantry for long term storage. Its not even there for mid range storage. Its there for about 6 months and thats it. I use it up or toss it out and replenish the stock. Same goes with salad dressing.

Well then d80 if six months is the limit I guess that making your own or going without is the only option in a long emergency. Homemade mayo tastes much better anyways!

I rarely eat mayo or salad dressing now, not sure it will be a big priority after SHTF, but I do need oils and fats like everyone else.
I stock up on virgin olive oil, and vegitable oils for cooking, mostly. I also keep canned shortening on hand for long term storage. These items store well, can be kepts for 18 months to 2 years in a closet and are great at providing the fats and oils we all need. They are also things I use normally to cook with.
You can go with the really expensive shortening flakes, butter powder, canned butter and clarified canned butter which last a very long time (about 5 years or more), but are expensive and may not be in everyone's price range.
In hard times, read that as times of food shortages, people will tell you getting the needed fats are one of the hardest things. Many meats have no or very little fat and fats in hard times translates into calories and energy, especially in winter (thats why some old timers in alaska used to eat lard when dog sledding between long distances).
While most people I know are on low fat diets now, if they had to do hard labor, they would have no staying power and would have to eat a lot more bulk of food to get the same calories.
Olive oils are healthy for you as are some vegitable oils. They are also very tastey.