In today’s video, we’re going to talk about how much food, water, and essential supplies a person needs to survive a year after disaster strikes. And I hope it gives you a new appreciation for just how much stuff people consume. And how much you are going to need to ride out the beginning of the end of days. Let’s get to it. It’s important to remember that the numbers that we’re discussing in this video are just estimates. And it’s going to vary somewhat on the basis of your individual needs. For the sake of keeping things simple, all of the numbers that we’re about to provide you are for one person.

The average person. How many calories do you need to survive in a year? To put it in the simplest of terms, the average person needs around 1 million calories per year in order to survive. Now that might sound like a massive number, but when you break it down, it’s somewhere between 2500 and 2800 calories per day. And that’s because it’s very likely that after disaster strikes, you’re going to be doing far more physical tasks, like working in a garden and maybe even killing zombies. Macronutrients is a word for carbs, fats, and proteins. Of this 1 million calories, the macronutrient breakdown is as follows.

40% carbs, 30% fats, and 30% proteins. That means you’ll need approximately 100 kilograms of carbohydrates, 75 kilograms of protein, and 35 kilograms of fat to get you through the year. These are just optimal percentages, so don’t get too hung up on the details. So let’s say you wanted to stockpile 100 kilograms of carbohydrates for a year. What might that look like? How about 40 kilograms of rice, 20 kilograms of pasta, maybe 20 kilograms of flour? How about 10 kilograms of canned fruit, 5 kilograms of honey, and 5 kilograms of sugar? That’s going to total 100 kilograms of carbohydrates.

But it’s important to remember that just because you have 100 kilograms of something doesn’t mean there’s 100 kilograms of carbohydrates in said thing. In fact, if we look at rice, for example, it’s about 80 kilograms of carbohydrates per 100 kilograms of rice. So this is why we want to over-prepare and just shoot to have 1 million calories just to be safe. So what about protein? To err on the side of caution, I would recommend shooting for 75 kilograms of protein per year. Now, for the average person, this 75 kilogram target is much higher than what’s recommended.

But that is because you’re likely going to be doing a lot of backbreaking work in the apocalypse. And to make sure that you repair your body and stay healthy, you’re going to need extra protein. So what does 75 kilograms of protein actually look like? 25 kilograms of beans, 20 kilograms of whey protein, 5 kilograms of beef jerky, 15 kilograms of canned meats, and 5 kilograms of canned tuna. Yes, I know, mercury poisoning, but we’re just trying to survive here. What about fats? A person needs approximately 35 kilograms of fat to survive a year. What might that look like? How about this? 10 kilograms of olive oil, 10 kilograms of butter, or maybe even cheese.

How about 10 kilograms of peanut butter, or nuts, and 5 kilograms of canola oil. Now, let’s say you had a homestead and you wanted to raise your own animals in order to survive. How many animals would you need to survive for a year? Here’s a starting point. You’re probably going to need one dairy cow for milk and one beef cow for meat. But if you want to do this sustainably long-term, you’re going to need more animals because they’re going to have to breed. Now, in terms of chicken, you’re going to need three hens to provide you with a steady source of eggs.

And you’re going to need 12 chickens and at least one rooster if you want a constant supply of meat. Altogether, we’re talking about two cows and 16 chickens to get you through the year. Now, what about gardening? Let’s just say you wanted to get all of your food from a famine food like potatoes. You’re going to need roughly 550 kilograms of potatoes per year to keep you alive. That equals around 150 potato plants. Now, that might seem like a lot, but you can actually grow that in a 400 square foot garden. Now, besides the essentials, don’t forget to stock up on those comfort items.

You’re going to need coffee. If you want to be able to ride out one year of the end of days with your beloved cup of joe, you’re going to need at least 15 kilograms of coffee. Or if you’re me, probably 150 kilograms. The normal roasted coffee beans will last for a year. But if you want something that’s going to last longer, you can go with instant coffee that’s actually freeze dried and will last down near forever. Or you can store unroasted green coffee beans and they’ll last a long time. I would also recommend storing at least 10 kilograms of salt.

It’s very cheap and its uses extend far beyond just flavoring food. Now, if you plan on getting pregnant after the apocalypse, don’t forget that the baby’s got to eat too. You’re going to want to have at least 35 kilograms of baby formula on hand just in case of an emergency. Now, what about pets? For perspective, the average 50 pound dog requires 500 grams of food per day. That means you’re going to need at least 185 kilograms of dog food per year. For cats, it’s 25 kilograms of dried food per year. Now, what about water? When times are good, the average North American uses around 40,000 gallons of water per year.

That breaks down to a little over 100 gallons of water per day. Good luck storing that. But let’s get real. When the crap hits the fan, you’re not going to be taking 15 minute showers and watering your grass. In fact, FEMA only recommends one gallon of water per person per day. But FEMA is usually talking about short term disasters and we’re talking about a year. One gallon of water is not going to make for a comfortable existence. So let’s break down how much water you would really need to not be white knuckling it in the apocalypse.

So in terms of hygiene, you can make a simple solar shower set up and only use one gallon of water a day to clean yourself. Now sure, it’s only going to allow you to pre-soap, lather and rinse yourself off, but we’re talking apocalypse. No frills here. You’ll also want to set aside water for other tasks like cleaning items, washing clothes and doing dishes. Knowing all this then, here’s what you’re going to need. One gallon per day for drinking, one gallon for hygiene and one gallon for cleaning. That’s a total of three gallons per day. That means you need about 730 gallons of water per year.

Now how are you going to store all that water? You can get yourself 1355 gallon drums. But let’s face it, that might be a little overkill. There has to be an easier way. I would recommend that you just go and get yourself three 270 gallon IBC tanks. You could probably find these on Craigslist used for 100 bucks a pop. With those three tanks, you are set for a year. Now while it is always a good idea to have as much pre-treated water on hand as possible, it’s also important that you have a way to purify that water just in case.

For that you’re going to need the following. 1.5 kilograms of pool shock which will allow you to make bleach to purify your water. Or one gravity filtration system like this Pro 1 unit that should last one person one year. Now what about watering all those crops we were talking about? Irrigation is something that people often overlook. Now if you are a prepper or a homesteader, expect to use a lot of water for irrigation. Now let’s say you wanted a massive garden like 4000 square feet. Just to make sure that you could grow all the food you needed for the apocalypse.

Now gardens generally need one inch of water per week. For a 20 week growing season, you’re going to need about 50,000 gallons of water. Now let me think. In order to store that much water, we’re going to need 180 IBC tanks. There’s got to be an easier way. Oh yeah, that’s right. It comes from Mother Nature. Most of your water is going to come from the sky. However, you might have to do things like rain catchment. You may have to get a well. Or you may have to pump water from a nearby pond or creek. It’s obviously not practical to store 50,000 gallons of water.

Unless of course, you have a swimming pool. Clothing and textiles. When it comes to clothing in a disaster situation, your only goal is survival. So here’s what you’re going to want to stock up on. Two pairs of hiking shoes. You’ll be surprised how fast shoes can get run down when you’re using them every day. One good pair of rubber boots. One rain jacket and one winter jacket. Five shirts, preferably polypropylene shirts. They’ll last a lot longer and they’re easy to clean. Four pairs of lightweight tactical pants with zip up pockets. One hazmat suit for chemical, biological and radiological threats.

One gas mask with at least a dozen filters. 20 pairs of underwear, not cotton. Make sure it’s a polypropylene or antimicrobial brand. You can actually get silver lined antimicrobial underwear, but we’re going to save that for another video. At least 20 pairs of non-cotton socks, preferably merino wool. Now blankets and sleeping bags may seem like a silly thing to stock up on. But they won’t when you’re freezing your butt off in the dead of winter inside your house. The more extra blankets you have in your home, the better. I would recommend storing at least two wool blankets above and beyond the blankets that you already have in your home.

These can be used for other purposes as well. Stocking up on medicine is going to be something that is highly personalized. If you have prescriptions for chronic ailments that are essential for your health, you’ll absolutely want to get a 12 month supply of those. There are companies that will allow you to do this hassle-free, and I’ll post links in the description below. Beyond that, you’ll want to stockpile some other general medical supplies. You’ll want to get a few large containers of multivitamins, a well-stocked advanced first aid kit, a box of potassium iodide tablets to prevent acute radiation sickness in the off chance that there’s a nuclear war, and an emergency supply of antibiotics.

Maintaining good hygiene in a disaster scenario isn’t just beneficial for your health, it can also help you maintain allies. But hey, if your strategy is to weaponize your stench to keep people away, disregard this advice. To ensure a year’s worth of good hygiene, stock up on the following. 15 bars of soap, 5 tubes of toothpaste, 3 toothbrushes, 15 boxes of feminine hygiene products, 1 to 2 containers of laundry detergent, 100 rolls of toilet paper. We all know how much people love their toilet paper in this society. And if you’re a mother that’s expecting, you might want to consider stocking up on diapers.

You’ll probably need about 2,000 to get through the year. Or you can just do it the old-fashioned way and cut up some bed sheets, hence the laundry detergent. You can also use sunlight, but I’ll let you figure that out on your own. What about tools and equipment? Here are some things that you’re going to want to have on hand. You’re going to need a way to light fires. That can come in the form of boxes of matches, lighters, or fire steels. You’re going to need a couple larger hand saws on hand with extra blades for wood harvesting.

At least one chainsaw with three extra chains. You’re going to need at least 1,000 rounds of miscellaneous ammunition. But let’s face it, you can never have enough ammo. Consider having about 300 different types of shotgun shells, 300 larger bore hunting calibers, and maybe 400 defense rounds like 7.62×39, .223, or .556. Now, what about vehicle maintenance? Having a well-maintained vehicle in the apocalypse can give you a serious advantage. Make sure you have enough spare parts, fluids, and tools on hand for essential repairs and maintenance. Consider having the following on hand. At least three 5-liter canisters of engine oil, two 5-liter canisters of transmission fluid, one container of brake fluid, and three canisters of windshield washer fluid.

Don’t forget to have an extra battery for your vehicle just in case. What are some other items you might need that we’ve yet to classify thus far? You’re going to need 100 batteries, 10 rolls of duct tape. If you live where I live, 10 cans of bug spray, 10 pounds of rat poison, at least 300 disposable plates and cutlery, 100 garbage bags. Those with gardens might want to consider storing 1 to 3 gallons of insecticide. You are one pestilence away from a famine, 500 tea light candles, and 5 flashlights of various sizes and output powers.

What about energy? Refrigeration, heating, communication, lighting, transportation, all of these things are going to require energy. I would advise that you diversify your energy resources. When times are good, the average North American consumes 11,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. However, most of this electricity is wasted on things that aren’t really essential for survival. A simple number to shoot for for the minimal amount of electricity that you’re going to need to survive a year is 1,000 kilowatt hours. This is going to be enough to power a small fridge and your basic electronics.

So if you are harvesting electricity through the sun with solar panels, the average solar panel has between 250 and 400 watts of power. This will generate somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 to 3 kilowatt hours per day. When paired with the right battery and inverter, this should be sufficient to provide you with a 1,000 kilowatt hour minimum energy that you need per year. Thus, at a bare minimum, you’ll want at least 1 to 2 kilowatt hours of solar panels and an ample battery storage and inverter. Now in terms of the battery, a simple 3 to 7 kilowatt hour battery pack should be sufficient to get you through the year.

If you’re not sure what I’m referring to, check out the link in the description below. So let’s just say you wanted to power your entire home in the current state that it is today and not cut down on any of your electrical demands. In that case, you’re going to require 5 to 20 kilowatt hours of solar panels and about 50 to 100 kilowatt hours of battery storage. So what about different types of fuel? What is the best one to store? For your run-of-the-mill, 5,000 watt gas generator, you’re going to consume about 0.5 gallons of fuel for every hour of use.

That’s a lot. But let’s face it, in an apocalypse scenario, you’re not running that thing 24-7. If you were to say, use your gas power generator for only 4 hours a day, that’s going to add up to around 730 gallons of gasoline. In order to do that, you would need 14 55-gallon steel drums of gasoline or 140 jerry cans. That’s an incredible safety hazard, and I would not advise doing that. So let’s scrap the idea of gasoline and let’s get ourselves a diesel generator instead. A 5,000 watt diesel generator only consumes 0.25 gallons of fuel for every hour of use, and it’s safer to store.

Now in terms of using gasoline for travel, the average person uses around 480 gallons of gasoline to get themselves through their 12,000 miles of travel per year. Let’s face it, in SHDF, you probably ain’t going very far. So just try to store as much gasoline as you safely can. Now, if you’re a rural prepper and you’re planning to use farm equipment, like tractors or excavators or skid steers, this is something that you’re going to have to factor into your diesel storage. I would recommend striving for 216-gallon tanks. Now what about biodiesel? In every zombie movie, they eventually have to start making biodiesel.

After SHDF, all the gasoline in diesel is eventually going to run out or expire. So if you want to keep driving around in those diesel vehicles, you’ll have to start making your own fuel. Generally speaking, you can get about 50 gallons of biodiesel per acre of crop, whether it’s soybeans or sunflower seeds. But that’s an immense amount of work to plant, cultivate and harvest all of that crop, and it will take time and resources away from essential tasks like growing food. And of course, it takes diesel to make diesel. So I wouldn’t plan on making any biodiesel until you’ve established a larger post-collapse community and have those discretionary resources to burn.

What about propane for heating and energy generation? It lasts pretty much indefinitely, but it’s very volatile. If you’re just using propane for heating, you’re going to need around 147 gallons of this stuff to last a year, and that’s only heating your home for eight hours a day. Maybe just get a few 20-pound propane canisters. You know, like the ones that they use for barbecues, have a few of those on hand just in case. Get yourself a small propane-powered space heater like a heat hog, and you should be good to go. Now, what about firewood? In a long-term winter disaster scenario, firewood is probably going to be one of the number one renewable forms of energy around.

The amount of firewood that you’re going to need to survive one year is going to depend on factors such as where you live, the type of wood that you’re using, the type of wood stove that you’re using, and the space that you’re trying to heat. As a rough estimate, to heat 1,000 square feet of space for one winter, it’s probably going to take you three to five cords of wood. You can harvest 1.5 cords of wood per acre of forest and never have to worry about depleting that resource. This means that you would need roughly 5 to 10 acres of forested land in order to sustain yourself indefinitely if you’re using wood as your primary heat source.

That’s a breakdown of everything you are going to need to survive for one year. Now, I would recommend not stressing yourself out or breaking the bank to do this all at once. It’s taken people like myself many years to achieve this level of preparedness. I hope you found this video useful. Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe if you enjoyed the video. Thanks for watching. CanadianPrepper out. The best way to support this channel is to support yourself by gearing up at CanadianPreparedness.com where you’ll find high-quality survival gear at the best prices, no junk, and no gimmicks.

Use discount code preppinggear for 10% off. Don’t forget the strong survive, but the prepared thrive. Stay safe. [tr:trw].

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