Banking for Today's Family

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Food Banking for Today's Family

The idea for a family food bank stems from the basic desire most people have to be "self-sufficient." People have always attempted to provide for the future. Preparing and preserving food during the summer for use during the winter is common even today. For some families, food storage is just a week-to-week proposition, while for others it means having a complete year's supply.
Prepare for disaster or economic crisis and be self sufficient with a family food reserve
We developed the concept of "Food Insurance in a Can" because many people are interested in maintaining a stable food reserve that requires little or no rotation (like money in the bank). Our idea was tested by exposing it to large groups of people at various conferences. Even though there were no adequate programs available at the time, the reaction to food insurance was overwhelmingly positive.
Prepare for disaster or economic crisis and be self sufficient with a family food reserve
Before inventing Sam Andy's Unit System of food storage, we investigated other food storage programs and reviewed all available literature. Of the food storage programs, none was so carefully documented as the "Food Supply for Fallout Shelters" by the Western Utilization Research and Development Division of the Agricultural Research Service in the United States Department of Agriculture. The research was conducted for the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization. 7,9
Reserve your food bank now. Planning disaster and Economic crisis food reserve makes you self sufficient
Another avenue we investigated was the tremendous background and experience of the bakery and restaurant supply trades. Because this group is so concerned with flavor and food stability, even without refrigeration, their research and experience became an excellent guide.
Prepare for disaster or economic crisis and be self sufficient with a family food reserve
The storage problems and solutions of schools, hospitals, hotels, etc. were also studied to glean any information that might be useful. Although we evaluated other commercial, church, and individual food storage programs, the available data was meager, extremely inconsistent, and not backed by any evident scientific research.
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Do you have a need for a family food bank?

Of course you must answer this question based on discussions with your family members about your family's needs. But current world conditions surely indicate a need for all of us to be "shelf-sufficient." For example, the following list is just a sampling of current events that are affecting international food supplies:

Natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, storms, fires, etc.
International emergencies (Bosnia-Hercogovinam, Somalia, Iraq, South Africa, China, etc.)
Continuing world monetary crises
World population explosion
Global inflation
Shortages, strikes, riots, and educational disorders
Tenuous food supply lines (in some cases less than a week's supply of commercial food is available to the public)
No adequate local, state, or national food storage programs
World famine, crop shortages, drought, insects, etc.
Continuing environmental pollution
Job insecurity or temporary unemployment

For what period of time should your food bank be planned?

Because this is a personal decision for each family, we base our family food bank time reference on three- month intervals. Families then have the power to adjust Sam Andy's food storage system for a longer or shorter period to suit their individual family desires.
Reserve your food bank now. Planning disaster and Economic crisis food reserve makes you self sufficient
The Office of Civil Preparedness suggests a 14-day period. In the event of nuclear warfare, this two-week period coincides with the necessary pin-down time to minimize the effect of radioactive fallout. But this does not allow for time needed to repair damage and get the tenuous food supply line moving again. Each segment of the food industry would have to repair its damage before food could be available; transportation damage would also have to be repaired. Given this knowledge, we recommend planning a food bank based on at least a three-month, preferably a one-year, supply of low moisture foods.

What amount of food will be needed?

The amount of food needed is a difficult question for which to find good answers. We discovered reliable data but in widely different units of measure, different serving sizes, or listed as "as purchased" weight, or as "portions commonly used", etc. We also found considerable variation in the amounts suggested. Research and other scientifically-oriented groups suggested from 1.1 to 1.8 lbs. of food per person per meal to meet their nutritional standards. Other groups showed even wider differences, such as "per person per year" criteria. For example: wheat, 96 - 200 lbs.; beans, 55 - 96 lbs.; rice, 0 - 66 lbs.; etc. All of the groups ignored a balanced nutritional program. Some programs were so far afield as to suggest just one commodity, 330 lbs. of wheat, as the sole diet for a year. None gave a uniform means of determining amounts to use. 12-585, 11-146

Because none of the literature we surveyed actually showed any scientific approach to feeding families on a test basis in order to determine amounts of foods eaten, we decided to establish that point first.
Reserve your food bank now. Planning disaster and Economic crisis food reserve makes you self sufficient
A family of eight with a good age spread became our test family: a father and mother, girls 18 and 15, boys 17, 12, 10 and 7. The largest meal of the day for this family was the evening meal. The family was generally all present. The food served for this meal was weighed at various intervals during a six-month period. It was found that the amount of food consumed (exclusive of the beverages) averaged less than 12 oz. per person per meal. During that period of time no member of the family had any significant weight loss. Servings were then standardized at 3 oz. (approximately 1/2 cup) portions, with four 3 oz. portions as an average amount per person per meal.

Next, we chose a reference family of five as a guide for establishing the unit for nutritional requirements. A family, rather than an individual, was chosen as a reference so that "average" needs could be more carefully computed. To use just one individual, of any age, as the reference person would lead to gross dietary imbalance if used to compute the needs for a whole family, particularly for extended periods of time.

Having established the uniform serving as a 3 oz. (about 1/2 cup) portion and the number of servings needed per person as four, the total number of servings needed per person per day, or per reference family per day, per week or per quarter, can be readily computed. One person using four servings per meal would need 12 servings (4 times 3 meals) per day. The reference family would need, therefore, 60 servings (5 times 12 servings) per day, 420 servings per week (7 times 60 servings), and 5,460 servings (420 times 13 weeks) per 13-week quarter.

The amount needed to feed the reference family for three months would then be 5,460 servings.

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