What a long, strange year it has been!
Technically, the experiment ended the second week of September, but I kept on until the end of the month, though as you’ll see, I began loosening the constraints toward the end.
In any case, as promised, here’s the final monthly report, and in addition to that, I’ll be attaching a detailed accounting of how I plan to rebuild my pantry. Here’s how the month played out.
Daily Food Dairy for September 2019
Sun, 09.01.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 2 servings of strawberry oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | 1 serving of mango habanero chili | 540 |
| Dinner | Venison and veggies for dinner | 900 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 2100 |
Got the morning off to a good start with some pallet busting and taking delivery of my monthly trade goods, and then set about making two batches of ice cream. One chocolate and one vanilla. Straining my modest supply of ice, but it’s easy enough to get more.
Fed BMK on the porch and actually got him to come to the food bowl with me standing at the door. Of course, every time I moved, he threatened to bolt, so after a few minutes I let him eat in peace and got back to the writing. Pretty good day. Nothing spectacular, but a decent start. Put on a batch of mango habanero chili with venison added to it.
Mon, 09.02.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 2 servings of regular oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | 1 Serving of mango habanero chili and ice cream a bit later | 940 |
| Dinner | 2 PB&J’s | 480 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 2080 |
Yesterday set me up for success today. With all the cooking and ice cream making done, I was able to focus solely on the writing and had a pretty epic day of it. More like this please!
Tues, 09.03.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 2 servings of ho hum oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | 1 serving of mango habanero chili | 540 |
| Dinner | Leftover veggie stir fry with chicken | 700 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 2060 |
Another epic writing day but I’m kind of regretting my trade for the “regular” oatmeal. I don’t really like it, but I’ve got a ton of it, and I hate just letting it go to waste. Still…happy with the day’s progress and enjoying my ice cream!
Wed, 09.04.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Two more servings of blah oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | Eggieveggie Omelet | 500 |
| Dinner | Last two servings of mango habanero chili | 1080 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 2240 |
Three epic writing days in a row. I’m a human writing steamroller! I like the whole cooking for several days in advance thing, but doubt I’ll do it on a regular basis. I just don’t like spending time in the kitchen. LOL Anyway, onward!
Thurs, 09.05.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 2 servings of apple oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | Milkshake for lunch | 500 |
| Dinner | 2 pork chops, veggies, and toast and jelly for dessert | 1050 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 2210 |
Taking a break from the boring oatmeal. I’m trying to save my good, flavored freeze dried stuff for the weekends and chew through the nasty boring stuff but…my taste buds are rebelling. In any case, another super strong writing day and more tentative progress with making friends with BMK. I sat on the porch with a coffee and stayed there till he came up to the porch to eat. He did so after about half an hour, but only with great reluctance and the moment I shifted in the chair, he was gone. Still…calling that a win, and at least he’s not being as aggressive toward my three munchkins.
Fri, 09.06.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 2 servings of boring oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | 2 PB & J’s | 480 |
| Dinner | Fried Egg Sandwich (x2) | 360 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 1500 |
Really needing to rein in my calorie counts. Weight is moving in the wrong direction. Gonna try to watch that for the rest of the month.
Sat, 09.07.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Two servings of brown sugar maple oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | 2 grilled cheese and a can of tomato soup | 480 |
| Dinner | 2 x fried egg and pork sammiches | 520 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 1360 |
More halting progress with BMK and another incredibly strong writing day – which is turning into an incredibly strong writing week. According to the original timetable, tomorrow marks the end of the experiment, but I’m adding two weeks on to make up for the “cheat days” taken over the course of the year, which puts it close enough to month end that I might as well just run it out to the end of the month.
Will do that, but I can’t promise that I won’t play a little fast and loose with the rules toward the end. I’m still enjoying the experiment but…I kinda miss town. And the occasional restaurant outing. Anyway, that’s for later. For now, calling this another superbly successful day.
Sun, 09.08.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Two servings of brown sugar maple oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | 2 grilled cheese and tomato soup | 480 |
| Dinner | Steak and veggies | 900 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 2040 |
Weirdly cold today. Turned the heater on in the morning to knock the chill off the house but was fine the rest of the day without it. Wearing a sweatshirt tho. If this is any indication, it’s going to be a cold, hard winter.
Repackaged my chocolate ice cream and traded it to Mike’s kids for another dozen eggs and got a ton of good writing done. Didn’t see BMK at all. Hoping he’s okay. Poor guy.
Mon, 09.09.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Two servings of boring oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | 2 grilled cheese and tomato soup | 480 |
| Dinner | 2 servings of irish potato soup | 1080 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 2220 |
BMK’s back with a slight limp. Ate well and was super thirsty. Apparently he was on the run from something but wouldn’t let me get close enough to check that leg out. Oh well. Will keep him well fed and hopefully give him the strength to heal on his own. Good, but not great writing day. Kinda running out of steam. Made a batch of Irish potato soup with pork.
Tues, 09.10.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 2 servings of strawberry oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | 2 servings of apple oatmeal | 360 |
| Dinner | 2 grilled cheese and tomato soup | 480 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 1500 |
Okay – I think I’m officially getting sick. Just not feeling good at all. Weather continues to be unseasonably chilly but not so cold that I have to run the heaters except for in the morning. Taking it easy with the writing today and taking cold meds to try and head it off. Fed BMK again but didn’t try to socialize him further. Seems like we both need a bit of down time to heal. Freezing the Irish potato soup…will get back to it later.
Wed, 09.11.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Ice cream | 500 |
| Lunch | 2 servings of blah oatmeal | 360 |
| Dinner | 2 servings of blah oatmeal | 360 |
| Others | NO COFFEE | 0 |
| Total Calories | 1220 |
Yeah – sick. Ice cream for breakfast and I don’t care. No writing today. Not much of anything today except for feeding the cats and occasionally getting a little something to eat. Can’t really taste the food so just contented myself with blah oatmeal.
Thurs, 09.12.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Two servings of boring oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | Slept through lunch | 0 |
| Dinner | 2 servings of boring oatmeal | 360 |
| Others | Half Coffee | 150 |
| Total Calories | 870 |
Still feeling blah. Got out of bed long enough to feed the cats and occasionally put food in my belly and take meds but another largely nothing day.
Fri, 09.13.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 2 servings of boring oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | Ice cream and apple pie | 900 |
| Dinner | 2 servings of boring oatmeal | 360 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 1920 |
Okay! Feeling like I might live. Picked at the writing today but mostly took it easy. Still managed to get a surprising amount done. Ended the day feeling pretty good about the progress and got a visit from Mike’s kids, who brought over an apple pie to help me feel better. Mmmm…apple pie.
Sat, 09.14.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 2 servings of multi-grain cereal | 360 |
| Lunch | Apple pie and ice cream | 900 |
| Dinner | 2 servings of apple oatmeal | 360 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 1920 |
A middling day in terms of productivity. Slow and steady and continuing to recuperate. That little cold really knocked me on my butt. I did see BMK again and his limp is a bit better, so it looks like we’re tracking on the same basic course in terms of recovery.
Sun, 09.15.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Two servings of multi-grain cereal | 360 |
| Lunch | Pie and Ice cream! | 900 |
| Dinner | 2 PB&J’s | 480 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 2040 |
Pretty much back to normal. Back to a solid day of writing and the ship is back on an even keel. Still a bit on the cool side but it’s not too bad.
Mon, 09.16.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Two servings of boring oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | Can of beef stew | 640 |
| Dinner | Can of split pea soup, pie and ice cream later | 1260 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 2560 |
Another epic writing day. Literally did nothing else, all day. Major progress!
Tues, 09.17.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Two servings of boring oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | French toast | 640 |
| Dinner | Last of the pie and ice cream | 900 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 2200 |
Another fantastic writing day and more progress with BMK…actually got to pet him briefly when he snuck into the house. He was FREAKED but he let me pet him before scampering off to the “safety” of the great outdoors.
Wed, 09.18.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Two servings of apple oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | 2 PB&J | 480 |
| Dinner | 2 grilled cheese and tomato soup | 500 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 1940 |
Woke up early, fed the cats, including BMK, and sat down. Got up to eat and hit the bathroom occasionally. Otherwise, it was wall to wall writing till nearly midnight. Exhausted but another strong day and I feel like I need it to make up for the days I was sick.
Thurs, 09.19.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 2 servings of multi-grain cereal | 360 |
| Lunch | Skipped lunch | 0 |
| Dinner | 2 servings of apple oatmeal | 360 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 1020 |
Today was essentially a repeat of yesterday. Just an epic writing day with not much room for anything else.
Fri, 09.20.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Back to boring oatmeal (2 servings) | 360 |
| Lunch | 2 grilled cheese and a can of tomato soup | 500 |
| Dinner | 2 servings of strawberry oatmeal | 360 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 1520 |
Not quite as big a day on the writing front as the past few, but still pretty solid. I feel as though I’ve got a good rhythm going, even if it was interrupted by an unexpected illness. This month is shaping up to be an exceptional one!
Sat, 09.21.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Two servings of apple oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | Two servings of multi-grain cereal | 360 |
| Dinner | Steak and veggies | 900 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 1920 |
Rained all day today. Lost my internet connection a couple of times briefly but it didn’t really slow me down. BMK stayed on the porch all day and didn’t run off when I went out to top off his food and water bowl. I think it was a combination of the fact that he’s slowly getting used to me and that he didn’t want to get his magnificent fur coat soggy. Whatever the case, I’ll take it. He’ll make a good pet once he’s socialized.
Sun, 09.22.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 2 servings of multi-grain cereal | 360 |
| Lunch | Skipped lunch | 0 |
| Dinner | 2 grilled cheese and freeze dried tomato soup | 500 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 1160 |
Down to a light drizzle, but soggy all day. This time, BMK did scoot off the porch when I came to feed him but he didn’t go far. Watched him from the screen door which was enough protection that he felt safe to come back and eat. Then, back to the writing all day again. Today, by the way, is my birthday. I turned 51 today. It’s too soggy to go out and celebrate, but in the days ahead, I’ll make my way down to my favorite Mexican restaurant and celebrate!
Mon, 09.23.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Two servings of boring oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | Can of split pea soup | 360 |
| Dinner | 2 pb and j’s | 480 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 1500 |
Took part of the day off to relax and unwind but still managed to get a fair bit done. Needed to catch up on some housework and got a good bit of that in too. One of the beautiful things about living in a 950 square foot house is that house cleaning duties normally don’t soak up a ton of time. Rediscovered the Irish potato soup I froze when I started getting sick. Thawing it.
Tues, 09.24.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 2 servings of brown sugar and maple oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | 1 serving of Irish Potato soup | 540 |
| Dinner | 2 servings of Irish potato soup | 1080 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 2280 |
Finished off my Irish potato soup today. Glad I remembered it! And, a pretty solid writing day to boot!
Wed, 09.25.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 2 servings of strawberry oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | Eggs and Pancakes | 750 |
| Dinner | Skipped dinner | 0 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 1410 |
Woke up achy and sore. Not sure why. Feels like I ran a marathon. Did some stretching at several points during the day and spent my breaks on the heating pad. Dang – I have no idea what I did, but I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. Anyway, still managed to get stuff done, but wow the sore muscles.
Thurs, 09.26.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 2 servings of boring oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | Eggie/veggie omelette | 650 |
| Dinner | 2 grilled cheese and freeze dried tomato soup | 500 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 1810 |
Still aching but feeling better. And I still have no idea what the heck caused it. Not that it matters, so I’m not gonna devote a ton of time worrying about it. All that matters is that I have to deal with what’s in front of me. Sore muscles are in front of me and there’s no obvious cause for them.
If there was, I’d put that on the list of things not to do in the future. Since there’s not, I’ll just deal with it and move on. Decent writing day and more quality time with the heating pad. Making a new batch of vanilla ice cream, but will eat it sparingly.
Fri, 09.27.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 2 servings of strawberry oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | French toast! | 700 |
| Dinner | 2 servings of apple oatmeal and ice cream later | 860 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 2220 |
YAY! Got to pet the BMK again today (Big Mean Kitty, in case I haven’t said recently). He was uncomfortable but he tolerated it, thanks to the magic powers of fresh meat (cooked one of my venison steaks super rare and gave it to all the cats). I wanted some too but resisted the urge. And after the feeding, I managed to get a fair bit of writing done!
Sat, 09.28.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 2 servings of brown sugar and maple oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | Arby’s! | 1150 |
| Dinner | Milkshake for dinner | 500 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 2310 |
Since the experiment is over, I treated myself to lunch at Arby’s today and don’t feel the least bit guilty about it. Had a ginormous roast beef sammich with swiss cheese added and a large sweet tea. Feels weird to be eating fast food after such a long time eating a more restricted diet and got one of my cats (One Eyed Jack) a roast beef of his own – Jack just got the regular sized sandwich but he pigged out!).
Sun, 09.29.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Two servings of multi grain cereal | 360 |
| Lunch | A fajita quesadilla, chips and salsa and tea! | 1250 |
| Dinner | No dinner – still stuffed from lunch! | 0 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 1910 |
Mexican restaurant bound! Went down for a late birthday lunch today and really enjoyed re-entering society. LOL – it was a little strange and unsettling but had a fantastic lunch and lingered there long after it was over, just…enjoying being around people again. Then, I got my butt back up to the mountain top and got back to writing!
Mon, 09.30.2019
| Meal | Food Eaten | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Two servings of apple oatmeal | 360 |
| Lunch | 2 grilled cheese and freeze dried tomato soup | 500 |
| Dinner | Can of split pea soup | 360 |
| Others | Full Coffee | 300 |
| Total Calories | 1520 |
The last day of the month was a quiet one. I slept in. Read. Watched movies and wrote a bit later in the day but mostly focused on me. Reflecting over the journey of the past year and giving myself a pat on the back for a job pretty well done I think. I was tempted to go to town and grab a grease burger, but I thought I’d end the experiment formally by strictly adhering to the principles I started with, so I enjoyed the stuff I had here at the house and still managed to get a bit of good work done besides.
End of Month Summary
Not a bad month, despite a few days lost to illness and a couple of subpar performances due to general aches and pains, and I ended the month by enjoying a couple of in town outings and then getting back to what, by this point, has become much more familiar. The year, and the experiment is done and I feel better for having completed it. It was a long road, and a long journey and if you’ve been following these reports from the start, then you know that the year held more than a few surprises and missteps.
Even so, I came through it with flying colors and I learned a lot along the way. Before we get to the pantry rebuild specifics, here are my final stats:
Month End Stats
Weight: 338
BP: 123/84
(Lost a couple pounds between this month and last, but actually weigh five pounds more than when the experiment began! That clearly needs work, as my expectation was that I’d lose weight during the year. I blame my lack of willpower and easy access to homemade ice cream!)
Now, About Rebuilding The Pantry…
So – pretty early on in my experiment, I realized that my pantry in its original form had some… “issues.” There were definite shortcomings in my design. I’ve taken steps to remedy those weaknesses, and here’s my plan for rebuilding my stockpile for a year.
I’m not worried about stocking up for more than a year because my plan is to put seeds in the ground and start growing most of my own food. And of course, having learned the extreme value of trading, my main goal will be to build, develop and maintain those relationships NOW so that if something bad does happen, they’re already in place.
In any case, my main goal is to create a “set and forget” stash of food. I don’t want to have to cycle canned goods in and out, so I’m focused mainly on freeze dried stuff I can buy, put on a shelf somewhere and just forget about it. If I never need it – awesome! If I do…I’ve got it. It’s just there. Waiting.
I live alone, so this is my plan for me – one person for a year. In theory, all you’d have to do to modify this for your family is to multiply it out by however many people you’ve got in your household and you should be fine.
If you don’t like any aspect of my plan, feel free to tweak and change it to make it your own. My goal here is to give people a jumping off point and if you don’t want to have to think about it, you can just copy and paste this into your life and call it good.
BREAKFAST
I’m super impressed with most of the breakfast foods I ordered, so I’m going to stick with my Freeze Dried food company of choice where that’s concerned.
Ostensibly, each packet of food has ten breakfast servings in it, but in reality, that’s subsistence level calories, so I’m only counting it as five full servings per bag. Based on that, for a whole year, I’d need 73 bags of freeze-dried breakfast food, which I’m rounding up to 80. That gives me 400 servings of breakfast.
Now me, I like variety, so I’m going to get:
That gives me a different breakfast every weekday and I can duplicate stuff on the weekends or get creative. Either way, having taste-tested all of those and found them to my liking, that gives me a decent variety to play with.
Lunch/Dinner
Here, the lunches and dinners say that there are 5 servings to a bag, but again, that’s subsistence level calorie counts. Even so, rather than doubling up on the food in the bag, I’ve found it much better to add meat to it and bulk up the calorie counts in that way. I’ll handle my meat freezer and its contents separately, but in terms of the bags of food, I’m left with the same basic calculation. Each bag has five servings, but this is lunch and dinner so overall, for a year, I’m going to need 730 meals, 5 meals to a bag means that I’ll need 146 bags, but I’m actually reducing this to 120 bags ordered from Valley. I’m getting:
In addition to that, I’m ordering 100 boxed dinners from Thrive Life. I’m adding these because they’re more elaborate and generally better tasting than the stuff from Valley. These, I’ll keep on hand to use as special occasion meals and treats, and to give me more variety since there are only five dinner options on offer via the bags above.
This will give me the variance I want and need in my diet and the more elaborate meals will make things feel more normal in the event of a catastrophe. I haven’t made my specific selections here, but they’ve got so many that I’ll probably just grab a few of everything that looks like something I’d enjoy.
Fruits and Nuts
This was one of the big, glaring weaknesses in my original pantry design and as luck would have it, Thrive Life has an extensive collection of freeze dried fruits on offer. I want 300 servings, more or less evenly divided between:
In addition to that, I’m going to buy 100 bags of trail mix for nuts. Taken together with the fruits, that gives me more than a serving a day which gives me a few “extras” for treats.
Snacks!
I’m also buying 100 boxes of pop tarts and will use my food saver to freeze-dry 100 servings of M&M’s (plain and peanut) which will give me some sweet treats to further augment my fruit and nut stash.
Bread and Cheese
Personal Care/Hygiene Items
Pet Stuff
Coffee and Other Sundries
Freezer Contents
My meat freezer is huge, and I’ve got enough shelf space for 200 servings each of chicken, pork and beef, with a bit of room to spare, so I will catch meat on special and portion it out, again making use of my handy dandy food saver to shrink wrap each portion and date it, older stuff moved to the front. That process began today, just before I started writing this final report.
I’m also adding 120 bags of miscellaneous frozen veggies to the freezer (That’s about how many will comfortably fit on the door and in the big drawer at the bottom). Each bag, I’m counting as having two oversized servings of veggies. That’s not a full year, but I’m not overly concerned about that as my plan will be to grow my own to more than make up the difference.
Misc.
I’ve already got a big supply of rock salt for my ice cream maker, so I’ll also stock up on some flavoring extracts (vanilla, mint, etc., so I can make different kinds of ice cream, both for consumption and trade).
Finally, I’m investing in a case of peanut butter and jelly which I’ll just keep on the shelf for some quick, easy meals, and that rounds out my pantry rebuild!
My previous entry: Report 12 of 13
Check out My Year of Eating Like the World Ended – Report 1 to see how this year-long experiment began.