this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2025
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That's cool and all, but where do I put all this shit. I live in a 3 room 60m² apartment with my family of four because of the insane rent. I literally do not have space to hord anything.
That sucks, I've been there. I recommend dry, cheap, bulk rice and beans. They are the best in terms of calories per dollar that you can store for a long time. Powdered peanut butter is good too. We used to cook two cups of rice and one cup of beans together in a rice cooker with three cups of water and then season it with whatever cheap dollar store spices we had. Very filling meal. The peanut butter is dessert.
That's really good advice actually, thanks. And under the bed like the other guy said isn't impossible either.
I would suggest storing some extra water too—It’s likely more important than food—and the good thing is it’s often cheap!
Survival situation, you can easily get away with 1800 kcal/day. 4 people, 3 days = 21600 kcal.
Rice, mostly starch, around 3600 kcal / kg. So 6 kg for three days. That's 12 western or 0.6 Asian packs. Its like half a cement bag in volume.
Or you can get bulk ramen. A box of ramen has around the same size as that rice above, its 30x360 = 10800 kcal. So needs a bit more space but you can eat it raw!
Most bang for the weight/volume is fat though! Fat stores 7 kcal/g, protein and carbs just 4. And the tastiest way is nuts! So peanut butter for example. Or Snickers. You can also put peanut butter on raw ramen. Get a bag of chips too, you can use them as fire starters!
Don't forget other stuff though:
Just did the math... a 64oz jar of peanut butter is enough survival calories for 6.75 people for a day. Or, one person, for 6.75 days.
i'm surprised to learn that they sell bottles of peanut butter that large and disappointment that costco doesn't.
Under the bed?
thats for the dildos and an old box of cables
If you cannot stote 3 days worth of food, my first investment would be a single fridge. Because it can totally hold that much.
Electricity isn't a given during an emergency tho. I think the focus is on non perishables
It might not be nutritionally optimal or particularly appetising but like 9 cans of tinned meal of your choice will get you through that kind of period and won't take a lot of space.
Oh, I was just mocking the claim that they can't store 3 days worth of food.
Unless of course they are like 6 people on 60 m², in which case I want to sincerely apologise
Sorry but I don’t think you understand that there are people out there that don’t have the spare change to buy an extra fridge, bottle of water, and 20 packets of noodles.
These shouldn't be "extra" really. It should be food you eat already, so it's basically "Keep your pantry stocked" level of "preparing".
And I get it, money is tight. 3 minutes without air 3 hours without shelter 3 days without water 3 weeks without food
Start with water. You can upcycle 2L soda bottles (Rinse them, and don't think about using upcycled milk jugs). And honestly, most Americans are storing 5 days+ of calories right on their bodies.
After water, buy 1 or two extra canned goods each shopping trip. Or a bag of rice. Or a box of Ramen.
It just sounds like ideal world stuff.
Do people generally not have space to keep 7 days of groceries on hand?
I mean, I get some folks are houseless which obvs, they can't do this...
But I am hard pressed to figure how someone can't buy an extra canned good on a shopping trip? That's literally 0.79. 2l bottles of soda aren't things people.buy from time to time? Can't harvest them from recycle buns?
I think a lot of this is looking at the end result, and seeing it to be impossible, because they are trying to eat the elephant in one bit, rather than just one bite at a time...
And, if you leave it closed, it's good for 2 days. If you have ice, you can prolong that. If in the NE, you're biggest concern is power outages during winter, in which case, you can put it outside, between October and May.
Good info to have, is all.
Well, there's a few, creative ways to do that.
ie, instead of a bed frame, stack canned goods under your box spring.
For water, get Water Bricks, and use them instead of milk crates to build shelving.
Just some ideas.
That said, 72 hrs is like a week of groceries per person, and 14 gallons per person. 14 gallons of water per person sounds like a lot, but you can get creative there with the water carboys stored in "shelving" that supports your TV, for example. Or, Water Bricks like I suggested before.
TIL that water bricks are a thing and now i feel cheated lol
I mean, fwiw, I i don't suggest buying them first.... I prefer upcycling 2L soda bottles :)
They are more portable, easier to handle, and not a huge loss when they break.
but then i couldn't build water brick castles and furniture out of them. lol
Could you find room for a 20L water can or two? Many are "stackable". That will be more important than a big food cache. The main point isn't "doomsday prep" its for anyone who is able to hold out for a few days. That gives emergency services the space to rescue the truly desperate first.
You're not trying hard enough. My wife's family in Hong Kong have a flat half that size with 6 people and all their stuff.
Grandma doesn't throw anything away and she is amazing at storage management.
That is not a reasonable living condition. I can't pretend that it's normal to live like that. A person deserves way more than 15m^2 of space.
No one said it should be normal or is reasonable. They're just saying it's possible, which it is.
Adapt and conquer.