13:08 – I just started doing an initial inventory on the food we have stored in the basement. Until now, I’ve just been buying stuff and sticking it on the shelves in the basement, without any attempt to organize or inventory it. My goal was to get us, as quickly as possible, to a one-year supply of food for Barbara and me. (Or more likely, as I’ve said, a 3-month supply for the two of us and six relatives/friends, or a one-month supply for the two of us and 22 relatives/friends/neighbors.)
With roughly 1,200 pounds of stored food, we’re at the point now where the two of us could eat reasonably well for a year. The mix needs to be tweaked somewhat. For example, we need more spaghetti sauce, fruits, meats, and several other items, as well as more dehydrated/freeze-dried stuff like butter powder, cheese powder, and so on. And I’m going to add more staples–various types of flour, white rice, brown rice, egg noodles, white sugar, confectioner’s sugar, brown sugar, corn meal, etc.–but those we’ll pack ourselves in gallon foil-laminate Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. Doing it that way is cheap–about half the price of buying the stuff in #10 cans at the LDS Home Storage Center, which is itself much cheaper than any other source for staples in #10 cans–and the staples will remain usable indefinitely.