# How much is enough salt?



## Freyadog (Jan 27, 2010)

Was sitting here pondering the question. How much is enough salt? 

If the freezer(s) go out need to salt down meat
Make a brine if not salting down meat dry
For flavor
saline
neti pot
brushing your teeth
The uses are definitely too many to list but need some kind of a ballpark figure if we were not able to get any more salt.
When the SHTF and we are all out there in the dead of summer in sweltering heat doing what we have to do to survive we will sweat out a lot of salt.

The canned stuff on our shelves, with salt added, will not last forever.

200#, 300#?


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Be cheap ta buy, I have no idear right off hand how much I got, I buy two containers a week usually an store it. 

Be hard ta find in nature, so cheap an easy ta buy know saves expensive an hard ta get later.


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## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

There's no such thing as "too much salt". Heck, it's been used as currency in the past.


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

If you use this calculator (based on LDS) you plug in the number of family members you have and it will give you a general idea of how much you will need for 1 year. Multiply that by however many years you plan on being prepared for.

http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

mdprepper said:


> If you use this calculator (based on LDS) you plug in the number of family members you have and it will give you a general idea of how much you will need for 1 year. Multiply that by however many years you plan on being prepared for.
> 
> http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm


Well...I guess we're covered for salt. At 10# per year, we're good for 10-12 years.


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

I buy 4-5 rounds every time I go to the store. As long as you keep it dry, it keeps. But, it doesn't have to be just the iodized salt either. Plain salt is used in canning. You don't have to, but it does turn some veggies darker when canned.
I consider it as important as water. We need it. It's not an option. And I don't think you can get all you need from raw foods. I'm not sure tho. I haven't checked into it. I know that people don't need as much as they eat. I've been on a very low salt diet for well over 10 years, and you'd be amazed at what you can taste salt in now-a-days. It's everywhere and in everything. All the low fat stuff is much higher in salt because when they take the taste ( fat) out, they have to replace it with something(salt/ or sugar).


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Genevieve said:


> Plain salt is used in canning. You don't have to, but it does turn some veggies darker when canned.


It can also turn the water in your canned veggies cloudy. Doesn't really alter the taste but they aren't as aesthetically pleasing.


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## Riverdale (Oct 31, 2009)

ZoomZoom said:


> There's no such thing as "too much salt". Heck, it's been used as currency in the past.


It was part of a Roman soldier's pay 

We get (and use) 4 different salts.

Regular (iodized) salt for a little cooking.
Kosher salt for most of the cooking.
Sea salt for brining.
Canning salt for canning and kraut.

I know I 'could' use Kosher for canning and kraut, so I 'could' cut one of them out....


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

I use Kosher salt for everyday use. I have Iodized salt but I have not used it in 2 or 3 years. I am having a hard time finding canning salt at my regular grocery stores.

If you could only store one kind which would you choose? Why? What is the importance of using Iodized salt?


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

If I had to pick just one to store.. Good seasalt.. second choice.. canning salt but I do like my kosher salt too. 
I don't use Iodized salt as to me it leaves a bizarre flavor in things.
I think they started iodizing salt when people started living farther and farther from the coast lines where sea salt had natural iodines and because some areas do not have a lot of iodine in the soil so it can make the plants and such iodine low. I think you also need it for good function of thyroid and for preventing some birth defects.


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## boomer (Jul 13, 2011)

Enough iodine is the first defense against radiation.

Fortunately aqueous iodine will absorb through our skin and the absorption rate makes the dosage self regulating. We live mid continent and therefore use extra iodine even when using iodized salt.

It might be interesting to find the location of the nearest source of salt before deciding how much is needed for storage.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I have seen quite a few diffeent recommendations for quantities of salt needed and for the life of me I cant figure out where they get the amounts from. Someone who preserves their own garden foods obviously needs more than someone who just sprinkles a little on their food at meal time but, like has been stated, you can never have too much.

I have about 100 pounds and I plan to double that amount.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

boomer said:


> Enough iodine is the first defense against radiation.
> 
> Fortunately aqueous iodine will absorb through our skin and the absorption rate makes the dosage self regulating. We live mid continent and therefore use extra iodine even when using iodized salt.
> 
> It might be interesting to find the location of the nearest source of salt before deciding how much is needed for storage.


I live in a state that has huge salt mines in it... They are not being used like they used to but if TSHTF I'm sure that they will soon become the empire that they use to be... 
Not that anyone remembers but Detroit has huge salt deposits under it... and some geologist claim that there is more salt here and there under the state as we used to be a huge inland sea so many millions of years ago.
but it does not have iodine in it.. 
I am also going to go out on a limb and say that folks near the ocean will also start harvesting and trading seaweed as a means to up iodine in their diets(well if folks even think to worry about it) and it would be a huge trade item.
Sorry back to salt!


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

go to the nearest cow feed store and buy salt for about 10 dollars for 100 pounds, store it where it's dark and dry.


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## boomer (Jul 13, 2011)

Dry storage space is at a premium here.


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

*Salt at Sam's Club*

I bought a big heavy bag, 20 or 25 pounds at Sam's a couple years ago that I put in a 5 gallon bucket. It was less than $4.00 for that bag which is such a bargain. I haven't priced it lately.
I have several varieties of salt and several of those tubes.


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

Yea, you can get a 4# box of salt for .99 at Sam's here,which is a good price. But, I'll pay the extra just so that it's not "recorded" somewhere that I bought it. I'm paying like either .02 or .03 more when I buy it at the grocery store.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

lotsoflead said:


> go to the nearest cow feed store and buy salt for about 10 dollars for 100 pounds, store it where it's dark and dry.


Is that 100% salt or are their addatives? Since it is not marketed for human consumption, is their any way to know for sure that it is pure?

If I could be assured of I was not buying a bunch of animal steroids or the like, I'd go for it!


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## MsSage (Mar 3, 2012)

Salt blocks are only salt nothing else. Mineral blocks or Horse blocks have other things in them including fly control LOL. Have heard the fly control works if they eat the block and it takes a few weeks. As for "safe for humans" brush off the block and keep it clean and salt is salt.
As for salt I know I need alot more. I plan on alot more canning and pickling.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

MsSage said:


> Salt blocks are only salt nothing else. Mineral blocks or Horse blocks have other things in them including fly control LOL. Have heard the fly control works if they eat the block and it takes a few weeks. As for "safe for humans" brush off the block and keep it clean and salt is salt.
> As for salt I know I need alot more. I plan on alot more canning and pickling.


OK, I can live with that, when we were kids and would go camping, we would take a rock and break off a chunk of salt from the blocks and use it when we cooked our supper....I guess since I am here now and normal(for the most part), I can "Assume" there must not be anything in the blocks that's too dangerous anyway.


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## moreau (Apr 26, 2012)

You don't have to buy it in block form. It is available in 50# bags. I am not aware of any loose salt with additives. There might be some with minerals added. Growing up we added seperate mineral. Some of the cheaper salt would be dirty.


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## LilRedHen (Aug 28, 2011)

moreau said:


> You don't have to buy it in block form. It is available in 50# bags. I am not aware of any loose salt with additives. There might be some with minerals added. Growing up we added seperate mineral. Some of the cheaper salt would be dirty.


I buy mineral salt for my cows in 50lb bags, but you can buy plain salt at the feed store. Someone gave the Rooster a sack of plain salt once that had come from the feed store. I used it for two years in my canning.


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## torqx (Mar 30, 2012)

If rock salt is still just dirty salt every town garage has a salt shed with dump truck loads of the stuff may take some work to refine it a bit but good place to get it if need arises


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## LongRider (May 8, 2012)

Emerald said:


> I am also going to go out on a limb and say that folks near the ocean will also start harvesting and trading seaweed as a means to up iodine in their diets(well if folks even think to worry about it) and it would be a huge trade item.
> Sorry back to salt!


That's our plan but for personal consumption. Easiest way we have found to take salt from salt water is to hang a series of strings into a bucket of salt water.


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