long term food cache

[ronnie]

If (when) zombie raptors suddenly appear and attack, it is quite likely that we will be trapped in our homes. I am curious as to how long it is possible to survive on a preprepared cache of food, preventing the need to raid for supplies. It could be possible to survive for a surprising amount of time without many important vitamins, but if you are in a post apocalyptic society, you would probably have quite an active lifestyle, and so would need to remain moderately well nourished. Nowadays there is quite a variety of food available that lasts a long time, especially canned food. Perhaps it is possible to survive almost indefinitely without resorting to living off sacks of grain and multivitamin tablets, what would you stock up on?

[Morphing Ball]

I think there's already a thread covering raptors/zombies. In any case, I won't be staying in my home. I would want to go somewhere higher and more secure, because my house only has one storey and lots of fenestration that the zombies can break through.

[Nightshade]

I'll ask my son-in-law. He's the one with the Zombies Survival Guide.

[scrt_rbt_agnt]

there must be some sort of time limit on how long nourishing foods would last. sure, some foods may be able to last forever, but finding something you can actually survive healthy on seems like it could be a challenge. vitamin pills almost seem like a must.

[Zohar]

Canned food is supposed to last for around three years. Also there's that army stuff that is supposed to be fine to eat for a lot longer (maybe even decades, not sure). I think a bigger problem would be water.

[EdgarJPublius]

I'll ask my son-in-law. He's the one with the Zombies Survival Guide.

Multi-vitamins are an important part of any well stocked Armageddon-pantry, they'll keep you alive and relatively healthy even on an unbalanced diet otherwise lacking essential nutrients.

In an environment where zombie raptors could attack at any moment, it's important to keep your energy up with carbs and calories, forget everything you ever learned about 'health food' the name of the game is 'survival', not 'getting buns of steel'. pasta's are a great source of carbs, last forever without needing special storage and can be easily prepared with little in the way of amenities, ramen 'bricks' (any college student should be familiar) can be had for cheap, stack well for storage and usually come with flavor packets that can help keep a monotonous diet at bay.

For fruits and vegetables, you will probably have to rely at least partially on canned foods, but don't forget dehydrated fruits/vegetables, stored properly they'll last forever and make a tasty snack, it'll be cheaper to dry your own than to buy predried, so keep that in mind.
Meats are a similar story, spam will outlast cockroaches, but only keep it as a last resort, even in the survival game it doesn't have much to offer, and the same goes for most other canned meats. Dried meat (think Jerky!) is relatively good for you, and usually much better tasting, and like fruits and vegetables, it's not only cheaper to dry your own, but it's better for you and tastes better.
If you wan't fresh meat, I'd suggest chickens, they're relatively easy to keep, and provide eggs as well as meat.
For fresh fruit's and vegetables, you can try a green-house, but those aren't exactly raptor-proof, try finding some greens that you can grow indoors, perhaps with a sunlamp or something, it will be extra effort, but probably worth it.

variety is important, eating the same things over and over again can cause nutrient deficiencies and a monotonous diet may induce you to skip some crucial meals and can even lead to clinical depression.

Army Rations are a possibility, but an expensive one, and are often geared towards much higher caloric needs than simple survival (even zombie-raptor survival) so if you use them, they should be for emergencies, not for every meal.

Water is easy, you can have rain storage reservoirs installed easily, and almost all commercial reservoirs come with long lasting filters. keep iodine tablets and bleach for emergencies, but boiling water is preferred. (for bleach, use five drops of 10% bleach per litre of clear water and let stand covered for 15 minutes, then uncover to remove chlorine flavor)

You can also find a variety of high endurance, cheap filters developed for use in third world countries which can purify hundreds of gallons of even brackish water before needing to be replaced.

Your Mileage May Vary.

[evilbeanfiend]

in the case of zombies you eat brains braaaaiiiiiiiins, problem resolved

[Bakemaster]

My dilemma here is, how do I sustain the delicious cycle without resorting to distinctly undelicious Easy Cheese (and this breaking the cycle anyway)? I assume we are without refrigeration; after all, the first thing the raptors will do is cut the power lines.

[Kawa]

*sigh* I will be without meats in the Zombipocalypse/Raptorpocalypse/what have you, due to my poultry allergy. ;_;

[EdgarJPublius]

you can still store Jerky, its not even that hard to make good jerky, but you can buy it otherwise.