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Introduction
Essential to any long term survival plan is access to a balanced diet. Not only should your source of food be clean, but also needs to fulfill the demanding needs of your daily tasks.

Food distribution is a vital component in all major modern cultures. Most significant urban centers demand large amounts of produce and foodstuffs to be constantly transported in to sustain such a large concentrated population. Refrigeration and humidity control are automated systems which are vital to preserve a large portion of these food resources. In a large scale epidemic disaster, these are systems which will likely fail. Damage to the available electrical grid and the effective dissolution of local governing bodies will lead to a total cessation of food supply to any urban area. As well, the total amount of resources available in your area will decrease due to decay.

An individual or group expecting to survive an indefinite amount of time in a large scale epidemic will require diligence, patience and knowledge. Effectively managing and rationing existing supplies will be essential in any scenario. In the event that such a disaster lasts longer than existing supplies allow, one must carefully consider how to acquire more. A number of options exist and are decisions that should be based on the circumstances of the situation, the individuals involved, and most importantly; the desire to live.

This article addresses food in all its forms. Please seek out [insert link] page for more details on managing clean water and other vital supplies such as medicine and weapons.

Sources of Food
It will likely be a challenge to sustain your own persons indefinitely in a worst-case collapse scenario. Deciding how to expend your limited time and labor to maintain a reasonable stock, and to still achieve vital defense and maintenance goals will be essential. To better investigate all plausible obstacles, we must assume a true worse-case scenario. Not all obstacles will necessarily present themselves depending on individual situation.

Stored Food - Maintaining a large stock of fresh and non-perishable foodstuffs is a smart move for any person under normal circumstances. This is one of the first steps of emergency preparedness. As demonstrated in many recent natural disasters, this can be a deciding factor for survival of the smallest regional disaster scenarios. (to be expanded)

Scavenging and Looting - (to be expanded)

Growing Food - (to be reorganized)

Hunting, Fishing and Foraging - (to be reorganized)

Feeding An Army and Yourself
(to be expanded)


You found your perfect location, no zombies are getting through your defenses, there could even be no zombies around for hundreds of miles, but there is still a major threat, starvation.

There are a couple of ways to avoid the whole starvation thing:
1) Store or raid for long shelf life foods
2) You live off the land, gathering nuts and berries
3) You grow your own food
4) You hunt your food
5) You have played enough RPG's to learn how to conjure food and water.
6) Watch the Survival Report on youtube for a how-to on food in a post-apocalyptic-world.

The key to having a good food stash in your basement is shelf life (at room temperature). Here is a list of items and some rough shelf lives.

Food that Lasts

• MRE's- Meals Ready-to-Eat- At 70º they will last around 8 years, at 80º 6 years, 95º 4 years. They cost anywhere from $6-$8 per full meal and are commonly sold in cases of 12 meals, costing about $65-85. Some entrees are very good, while some are not so good. My favorite is Chicken Parmesan Pasta. Home made MRE's are cheap, but don't last nearly as long. A MRE bag is basically a soft can with a sterile inside, a vacuum sealed plastic bag isn't...
  
  • PROS: LONG shelf life, durable, silent to carry/eat, tons of calories/fat, full nutritious meal (includes meat entree, a fruit/nut side dish, desert, napkin, matches, drink mix (coffee, orange stuff, etc), spoon, flame less heater, some contain beverages), compact, byproducts (plastic casing, cardboard casing, matches) can be used for other things.
  • CONS: Some taste bad, require water for heating (1/4c or so), often expensive compared to tinned goods.

• Canned goods- If stored in a cool, dry location, high acid foods such as tomatoes and other fruit will store up to 18 months; whereas, low acid foods such as meat and vegetables will last anywhere from 2 to 5 years.
  • PROS: Able to choose your exact meal, can be stored in an organized manner, has liquid in it
    
  • CONS: If you see a dent in the can, it's most likely gone bad. Limited variety can cause vitamin deficiencies, medium weight, makes noise easily, requires can opener
  • The UNGODLY- Hormel products: Spam, dried beef, and Dainty Moore stews just don't go bad...ever...really...like never...
    

• Dehydrated foods- You can find a 6 months supply of dehydrated food at Costco here. This 23 lbs bucket will last you and several other people 3-6 months, long enough for you to start planting your own crops.
• PROS: Able to choose your exact meal, can be stored in an organized manner, very compact, will last 20 years before going bad
• CONS: No water in the food

• Assorted foods
  • Twinkie- Stated shelf life of 25 days, but who bothers with the expiration date?
  • Emergency food bars- 5 year shelf life, full of calories, protein, and other goodies
  • Pasta/Beans/Rice- 2 year shelf life, can be used long after but won't taste as good. Modified rice such as One Minute Rice don't last as long.
    
  • Oatmeal- Lasts much longer than the expiration date says. 28 year oatmeal was found to still taste good and be nutritious
  • Honey and Wheat: these foods never go bad, and have an indefinite shelf life. Honey just wont go off, but you wont get a lot of the things you need from it. Thousand year old wheat has been found in the pyramids, and still sprouted. stock up now! Honey can be used for everything- from eating to antiseptic to curing headaches. In small doses it is a source of energy but eat enough and it is a mild sedative.
  • Pancake Mix- Just add water
    

Live off the land eating plants and animals

• Animals for food
  • Fishing- Learn how to do it before Z-Day, it will make things much easier...
    • Unless you have a stream flowing through your fortress, be very careful of Zack attacking you while fishing
    • Setting up fish traps can be very time consuming and will not yield good results if not well constructed. Consult a survival handbook on how to do this.
    • Limb fishing can be used if your base is near water. You basically cut some fishing line, tie it to a tree (securely), tie a hook to the other end, add weights, bait, and let it sit in the water. When/if a fish bites, the tree will keep it there. Check from once to 4 times a day depending on situation (how long bait stays on, time between bites, risk to check lines)
    • Use easy to find bait- while digging a hole for a latrine in your zombie base, collect all the worms and use them as bait. Start an earthworm bin to propagate and collect earthworm castings (poop) which plants will LOVE you for giving them. Check out vermicomposting.
      
  • Hunting
    
    • Use a gun/bow to shoot an animal. Gut out anything you won't eat before bringing it to your stronghold to avoid rotting waste.
      
    • Your gun noise will attract Zack like a 13 year old boy seeing a Playboy left on a sidewalk, be wary.
      
    • Zombies might be able to smell blood, bringing fresh kills to your base might mean mass zombie gathering.
    • Here is an analogy for fresh kills. You are the leopard, the tree is your base, the hyena are flies, the lion is a zombie or a hundred, except they won't go away.
      
    • Don't underestimate the nutrition of grubs. Information of edible insects can be found here.
• Trapping
  • Check out this site on traps and snares.
    
• Plants for food
  

• Wilderness Survival is a website with lots of information, and is based on the Army 21-76 field manual.
• Plants can supplement your diet but it is hard to rely completely of foraged edible plants

• Warning: Meat Might be Infected, eat with caution.
  

Growing your own food
I'm sure you all have imagined yourself growing all the food you need and living off the land, right? It takes planning, hard work, attention to quality, and lots of continuous learning. You might mess up your first crop or two, but everyone goes through that. If you keep at it, you will learn from your early mistakes and eventually grow some tasty food. A farming guide would be HUGE, so use google or some of the links on this page.

The food to be grown can be broken into a couple different categories: fruits, vegetables, grain, livestock. Once you have grown the food, you will need a place and method of storing it, plan ahead.

• Growing Vegetables and Fruits
  • The best vegetables to grow are ones that can sustain you throughout the whole year. You want to be able to have the fruits (or vegetables) of your labor around all year to feed you.
  • Explaining how to grow each type of vegetable/fruit would take about 150 pages, so check out this site on sustainable farming.
  • There are tons of good books out there on how to grow vegetables/fruits organically using stuff like chicken poop, compost piles, etc.
  • To make the food last almost forever turn them into preserves.
• Growing Grains/Field crops
  • Check out this website on how to grow assortedfield crops.
  • To make the food last almost forever turn them into preserves.
• Raising Livestock
  • Chickens: They can be fed anything from old bread to vegetable skins. They will produce eggs for you which are high in protein and many other things you need along with some of the best fertilizer you can get your hands on. A guide can be found here on raising chickens. If you are worried about noise,roosters will be a problem, but without a rooster, you won't have any fertile eggs. If you don't have a rooster, you might also have a hen that will stop laying eggs and act like a rooster, but at least it doesn't make the loud noise!
  • Goats: They can produce wool, milk, meat, and fertilizer. They are known to get sick a lot and have a high mortality rate compared to other farm animals. To make up for this, over the years the does will have an average breeding rate above 2 per doe. Goats eat a lot, simply put. Unless you are in a place where the goats can graze on wild vegetation, I wouldn't recommend having them. If someone knows more about raising goats, please add.
  • To make the food last almost forever turn them into preserves. (just kidding)
    

Cooking food

• Bread without instant yeast: If you have always wondered how people 5000 years ago made bread without yeast in a package, here is one way. Grind grains into a flour, mix with water and let stand for 8-10 hours. Letting the flour-water mixture sit will let "wild yest" start to grow in the mixture causing it to be a leavening agent (makes bread rise). After you have the starter mix, mix in more flour, water, and salt to make the dough. You can follow the principles in this video about no-knead bread and substitute "wild yeast" for regular yeast. I'll try making bread like this in a couple days when I have time.
• Feel free to add more!
  

More to come, lots to be revised. Make corrections/ideas in the comments please.


Shelf-life of foods:
Many people seem to think EVERYTHING will expire eventually, but here are the real use-by dates:

Use within six months
Powdered milk
Dried fruit
Dry, crisp crackers (in package)
Potatoes
Use within one year
Canned or packaged meats and condensed vegetable soups
Tuna
Canned fruits, fruit juices and vegetables
Ready to eat cereals and uncooked instant cereals (in package)
Peanut butter
Jelly
Hard candy and canned nuts
Vitamin C and other vitamins as recommended on labels

May be stored indefinately:
Wheat
Vegetable oils
Dried corn
Baking powder
Soybeans
Instant coffee, tea and cocoa
Salt, pepper, etc.
Soft drinks
White rice
Bouillon products
Dry pastas
Dry mixes (cake, pancake, bisquick, etc.)
Dehydrated foods (soups, noodles)