# Co-op Food Cache



## BSCESC (Aug 1, 2011)

I am and emergency services coordinator for my student co-op here in Berkeley. Our co-op has 20 different houses with a combined population of 1200 people. We are making 4 food caches to feed our members during a disaster, most likely earthquake. What kinds of things should I store in our chaches, especially to keep the cost down and volume high. Also, how much food do I need per person per day?

Thank you!


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

BSCESC said:


> I am and emergency services coordinator for my student co-op here in Berkeley. Our co-op has 20 different houses with a combined population of 1200 people. We are making 4 food caches to feed our members during a disaster, most likely earthquake. What kinds of things should I store in our chaches, especially to keep the cost down and volume high. Also, how much food do I need per person per day?
> 
> Thank you!


wow, that's very ambitious! many parameters to consider with this topic for sure

if you have 20 houses, why not 20 caches? (IMO losing 5% of resources per 'hit' is a lot easier to cope with than 25%)

do you have a duration in mind? (a week, 2 weeks, a month?)

don't forget 1 gallon of potable water per person per day, minimum

loss of services means making *fire* to prepare rice/noodles/beans, do NOT throw out the water used to cook with, let it cool & reuse or drink it

each person (adult) having a 1 week BOB and being responsible for it might be a better option, preparedness is more about self-reliance/personal responsibility and less about 'collectivism' or hoping that 'someone else' planned well

awareness & education will serve your members better than 'stuff'

also, what about 1st aid/medical needs?

The Emergency Preparedness Center: FREE Online Food Storage Calculator


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

I am calculating an "average" of about 60 people per house - an average daily intake of food for males needs to equal about 3000 calories and for females needs to be slightly lower at 2500 calories. For someone to store that many calories per person for that many people, you would need to have something like a small warehouse to hold it all - an almost impossible task, but, it can still be done.

My recommendation would be more along the lines of what Blob suggested - instead of having just four places for the food to be stored (enough food for 300 people), setup more safe-zones for the food storage.

Peanut-butter and honey stores well, both have great calorie counts and then store crackers (instead of bread) to spread the PB-n-H on. 1200 people would get real tired of that quickly. Another great calorie food would be canned ham, canned tuna, canned salmon, mix with some sauces (MiracleWhip) and spread on crackers.

Case-lots of PowerBars (about 300 calorie per bar) might be needed to suppliment the energy needs of the masses, case-lots of powder'd Gatoraid stores well, powder'd icedtea stores well, and water can be stored in 10 gallon jugs and placed on coolers. A single 10 gallon jug would be needed per person just to drink for a week, how do you plan to store that much water?


Something that might be a better choice is to have the members of the co-op store their own food/drink based on averages, have a weekly inventory-count of the stocks to make sure that each member is doing their part equally.


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

What a great thing it is for young people to start preparing for an emergency.:beercheer:.
Water will be most important from what I've seen chasing hurricanes'Andrew,Hugo.It was water that was the most sought after and hardest to get in the beginig ,later on food was in short supply too.
Gatoraid[salt tablets are cheaper] or something to replace electrolites will be handy,possibly lifesaving if it involves hard labor and it usualy does.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Well, those buildings housing all that probably have huge hot water heaters, and that water is probably drinkable, and if not, it can be used for washing people and dishes.

Wow, what a lot of people to feed! My hat's off to you for that project!


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## BSCESC (Aug 1, 2011)

*Thank you*

Thank you all for your help.

In terms of water, we have big 50 gallon barrels which we change the water in every 1-2 years.

My predecessor and the management opted for centralized food caches to make them easier to maintain and because the individual houses weren't keeping on top of preparedness. Also, they wanted the food to be with the equipment caches we received from a fire department grant.

In terms of education, I have started a number of campaigns to increase awareness of these issues, especially since most people my age seem to have no idea what a disaster will do to them and the place they live. They seem to expect everyone else will deal with it. I'm making posters and trying to teach the house management during their training in the hope that they may take it back to their houses. Do you have any suggestions as to more awareness campaign items?

Thank you all again!


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Because you have so many people living in the buildings, maybe some kind of reminder that disaster can happen in many different ways.

I created a poster about preparing for fire (house, apartment, condo, forest, etc) a while back that is kind of specific to the Calgary region, but, with a little bit of work, you could take the ideas presented in it and work it for your particular situation.

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f39/document-how-prepare-fire-2940/

I also made a check-list of supplies that people should have available ... again, if it helps you help the members of your co-op, then it has done its job ..

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f39/document-check-list-supplies-3111/


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