Glen Tate - 299 Days - The Preparation

Grant popped his head into Manda’s room when Lisa was downstairs. “Hey, Manda,” he whispered, “next time we’re out at the cabin I’d like to show you something. Do you promise not to tell your mom?” Nothing drew people closer together than sharing a secret.

“Of course, Daddy,” she said back in a whisper. When she said “Daddy” sweetly, Grant could not say no to her. She knew it and used the word sparingly, only when she wanted something. She wanted to be in on a secret her mom didn’t know about. Grant knew he was getting played but he was OK with it. Dads are supposed to be that way.

The next Saturday, they went out to the cabin. Grant told Manda that they would be stopping at a store first. They went to Cash n’ Carry, the discount food supply store.

Manda had never been there. Suburban people shopped at the fancy grocery stores. As they pulled in to Cash n’ Carry, which was in a bad part of town, Manda asked, “Why we going here, Dad?”

“You’ll see,” Grant said. He wanted to make a big impression on her when she saw all the food stored out at the cabin for the first time. He wanted her first memory of what’s in the shed to be a big one. Going to Cash n’ Carry and getting more bulk food would add to that impression. Plus, he had some more money and needed to increase his food storage.

Grant got a big cart and started filling it up with food. “Hey, these are the garlic and herb mashed potatoes you like, right?” he asked Manda.

“Yeah,” Manda said. “Wow, they have everything here and in huge packages,” she said. Manda thought her dad was doing some grocery shopping in giant quantities. She had no idea where this food was really going.

“Dad,” Manda said, “could we hurry up with this grocery shopping because I’d rather spend as much time as possible out at the cabin.”

“We’re taking this out to the cabin. You’ll see.” Manda looked puzzled.

The whole cart of food, which was enough to feed the family for weeks on staples like mashed potatoes, pancakes, beans, and rice, came to a little less than $100. Grant put it in his car and they headed to the cabin. He could tell Manda was wondering what he was up to.

When they got to the cabin after the forty-minute ride, Grant got out and motioned for Manda to follow him to the shed.

“Do you know what’s in here?” he asked.

“Spiders?” she said.

“Something better,” Grant said.

“You know our conversations about how the U.S. is collapsing?”

Manda nodded. Her dad was being very serious.

“Do you get a little scared when you think about the stores being out of food?” he asked.

“Not really,” she said.

“What?” Grant said. “Why not?”

“Because I know you’ll take care of us,” she said with a shrug.

“Not sure how, but you will.” That was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him.

Grant was beaming. He unlocked the padlock on the door to the shed and said, “This is how.”

Inside the very clean shed were big plastic tubs. They were the big thirty-nine-quart jumbo storage containers they kept their Christmas decorations in. He opened up the nearest one and motioned for her to look inside. There were vacuum sealed packages of pasta, big cans of spaghetti sauce, tuna, sealed packages of mashed potatoes, oatmeal, hot chocolate mix, and a case of the canned chili Manda loved so much. He was smiling.

So was she. “Wow, Daddy, you are really taking care of us.”

Grant was so proud he couldn’t contain himself.

Finally! Someone understood him.

Grant started to explain how each tub had a number and then showed Manda the sheet of paper with the contents of each tub on it. Everything had an expiration date on it. For the things that were vacuum sealed and not in the original package, Grant wrote the expiration date or the “Best by” date in big numbers. Many things had no expiration date, which was even better.

He showed her the next tub. It had cases of canned refried beans, five pound bags of instant corn grits, bottles of maple syrup, gallon jugs of honey, biscuit mix, cornbread mix, and instant gravy mix. There were also No. 10 tins of canned fruit, more chili, and barbeque beans. A few cases of tuna fish and canned chicken were in there, too. There were also gallon jugs of cooking oil and big jars of peanut butter.

The tubs contained sugared drink mix because people will need the extra calories of sugared drinks and they were way cheaper than diet mixes. Grant even got Gatorade mix because dehydrated people would need electrolytes. He also had big containers of salt, spices, and flavorings. They were so cheap. A big restaurant-sized container of cinnamon for $4.00 would last for months of flavoring oatmeal, pancakes, and biscuits. He had sugar, too, both in bulk and in little packets. The little packets could be given out and would travel well; Costco had a 1000 sugar packets for $5.00.

Grant had fourteen tubs in the 10’ x 10’ shed. All the food in the tubs met Grant’s four criteria: It was storable for long periods of time, his family would eat it (after an adjustment period), it was cheap, and could be eaten without cooking, or with just heating water.

Manda asked, “Daddy, is there any brownie mix?” She loved brownies.

“Nope, dear,” Grant said. “Brownies need milk and eggs. Storing milk and eggs requires electricity to keep them cool.” Grant knew that he could store dried milk and eggs but thought that they wouldn’t make the brownies just right like fresh milk and eggs.

Besides, he was really trying to stretch his dollars to get just the staples, and lots of them.

Grant expected the resourceful people out at Pierce Point would be milking cows and raising chickens after a collapse, but that would take a few months, or maybe a year. The food in the shed was to get them through the beginning of a collapse until they could get some gardens and livestock going. It was to tide them over, not to feed them for years. Grant didn’t want to tell Manda this. He needed her to get the information about something as terrifying as a collapse in little bits, not all at once.

Grant also had five cases of MREs in the shed. He explained to Manda that these are Army meals, which she had seen in movies. Each case had 12 meals. Actually, one MRE was a full meal for a big guy like Grant when he was working hard. Each one had about 1,250 calories. One MRE could last a normal sized person who wasn’t working hard maybe a whole day. MREs were great for eating while in the field or moving. They were all in one container, ready to eat, and had everything required to eat them right there. They had an entrée that usually had some meat, a couple of side dishes, and a dessert. The crackers and tortillas were amazing. Most of the MREs came with cheese and jam packets. There were a few dozen side dishes and desserts: rice pilaf, clam chowder, BBQ beans, pineapple, fruit cobbler, Skittles, milkshake mix — the list went on. There was even cappuccino mix in some MREs.

Each part of the meal was in a separate package so they could be eaten separately, which was important in dangerous, on-the-go situations. They thought of everything when they invented MREs.

Despite their reputation, MREs tasted great. There were horror stories about the first generation ones, but modern MREs tasted pretty good. There were twenty-four different meals. A few weren’t great but the vast majority were. Grant usually ate an MRE when he went shooting because he needed to pack a lunch, and MREs were cheaper and healthier than drive-thrus. Plus, he got to try each meal this way. It was an adventure every time he tore open the package. Actually, he didn’t eat a whole MRE because it was too much for one meal. He would save leftover side dishes and desserts. He had several big Ziploc bags of them. They would last for years, which was maybe the best thing about MREs: They lasted about fifteen years if stored out of the heat. Grant’s MREs had been made within the past few years.