Appetite Fatigue From Inadequate Survival Food Storage

See that picture above? A plain bowl of white rice. What if that’s all you had to eat, day after day. Talk about appetite fatigue! Imagine that the worst has happened, and it has finally hit the fan. You’re now eating off your food preps. The supply chains of distribution have been all but non-existent and all of the stores have long since been looted and emptied of their goods.

You’re lying low and you’re staying alive off your own food storage of rice and beans. The thing is, what if the bulk of your food preparedness are mostly the dry staple products such as rice and beans. Day after day. Week after week. You only had a few weeks’ worth of other food varieties and they’re long gone now. All you have left are the buckets of rice and beans that you stored for a long-term disaster.

Imagine the appetite / food fatigue from eating just that, in order to survive…

Yes, it’s very important to first acquire a food storage of staple products such as rice, beans, wheat, etc. to provide adequate food calories for an amount of time that you’re comfortable with. Then afterwards begin to build up a food storage of other items – especially following the principle of “buy what you eat, and eat what you store”.

[ Read: Food Storage List For 1 Year ]

Having said that, for those of you who have food storage for long-term emergency preparedness, how many of you have actually thought about literally having to source your daily food needs from ONLY your storage for longer than just a few weeks?

If your long-term food storage consists mostly and only of the basics such as rice, beans, and wheat, and if you ever had to rely solely on your food storage supply, it won’t be long until appetite fatigue sets in making it difficult to eat the same foods for a long duration.

Appetite fatigue can even become bad enough that some people will begin to resist and may even simply refuse to eat…

Diversify Your Food Groups

The answer is to diversify your food storage. When planning your food storage inventory, not only is it important to plan for bulk ‘staples’ for food calories and nutritional health, but it is very important to plan a diversified storage of food groups that will raise the spirits of those who are forced to eat only from this supply day after day, week after week, month after month.

Plan on a variety of foods, and those foods that will store well.

Also, almost equally important, be sure that you have acquired plenty of spices, condiments, and all that sort of stuff that compliments your food!

Here are a few ideas and suggestions to offset appetite fatigue:

Vegetables

While vegetables are not calorie dense, they should be an important addition to your food storage for their nutritional value and variety. Home-canned, store-canned, dehydrated or freeze-dried are alternative ways to store them. Speaking of vegetables – you better plan on successfully being able to grow your own. Think about vegetable calories (e.g. potatoes, corn…).

[ Read: Gardening Calories List of Vegetables From A Survival Context ]

Fruits

Fruits. Again, canned, dehydrated, freeze-dried, and grow your own. Whatever foods you can grow yourself (anything at all) is what you should ultimately strive for… Self-sustaining sources. For example, trees or other plants that bear fruit every year.

Spice, Herbs, Condiments, Seasonings

Spices, herbs, and condiments will be a tremendous asset to offset the bland humdrum of repeatedly eating the same foods. This may be the most important ‘non-staple’ food category because it can be used to compliment any and all other foods to significantly enhance and alter flavor for your pallet. Many spices do not go ‘bad’ (except for ground oily spices after a while). But spices and herbs will lose their potency over time. This is why whenever possible I purchase the seeds of various spices and then grind them when I’m ready to use them while using an ordinary hand spice grinder.

Comfort Foods

Comfort foods like chocolate, candy, and sweets will bring significant pleasure to a dull and repetitive food routine. For example a #10 can of chocolate powder will essentially store forever. Honey will last forever. Hard candy won’t go bad. Use your imagination.

Think about your favorite ‘treat’ foods and either store them back or get the ingredients to make them yourself.

The thought process of food balance and variety is more important than you may think. In today’s modern world, we are accustomed to the immense variety of food choices, flavors, and variety at our fingertips in grocery stores.

A few more ideas of food supplies to offset appetite fatigue, other than the basic food storage ‘staples’.

Mustard
Ketchup
Soy sauce
Tamari sauce
BBQ sauce
Hot sauce
Worcestershire
Spices (all types)
Chocolate (hard, powdered, and syrup)
Hard candy
Jams and Jellies
Coffee
Tea
Cocoa
Sugary drink mixes (powdered)
Peanut butter
Stew
Chili
Meats (canned or jarred)
Spaghetti sauce
VEGETABLES (all types)
FRUITS (all types)
Soup mixes
Broth cubes or powder
Powdered Milk, Butter, Eggs
Honey
Pancake – Bisquick mix
Maple syrup
Molasses
Vinegars
Ciders
Raisins
Salsa
Relish
Tomato paste and sauce
Juices
Popcorn
Powdered Potato Flakes
Pudding mixes
Jello mixes
TVP – meat flavors

Hopefully this short list may inspire a few ideas for your food storage beyond the basics and beyond what you may already have.