All these items are great to have handy. We should try to build our food storage with items that we know we will eat. At Shelf Reliance we say "eat what you store and store what you eat" This is very important because times may be difficult enough without having to adjust to food that we do not normally eat.

It is also good to keep some psychological goodies too, like jelly beans and other candy or little treats like chocolate that can help to lift our spirit and morals.

As a Consultant with SR I can tell you that THRIVE FOODS are really great for the taste buds, great for storage and have up to 25 year shelf life.
http://thepantryshelf.shelfreliance.com/thepantryshelf

One thing to be wary of is diet fatigue. You should keep in mind that you will need treats, spices, canned meats and fish, and the list goes on. You will need to vary your diet with different flavors and textures. It has been shown that in time with a repetative diet people will stop eating even with food available. As well you will need MUCH more water than 45 gallons. Just some thoughts. As snow said you should have foods on hand that you already like to eat... so long as they are storable. It is a good idea once in a while to use your staples to cook meals so you know what you can do with them. And to cook them with the stove you will be using in a worse case scenario. Look for recipies that use what you are storing and print them off into a cook book.

Almost a pound of grain per person per day? I find that very hard to believe unless there is a human feedlot somewhere. I'll also agree with the skimpy water supply that come out to just under 1 pint per day. That would cause a slow dehydration death in the first month or perhaps two months.

The thing not mentioned at all is veggies. Even the most "meat and potatoes" type will admit that half your plate should be vegetables(even if they don't practice it).
Grains and beans are easy to get and store. About the only long term FD stuff I'm buying is veggies and protein sources but I'm also a pretty good cook and can improvise what I have into decent fare.

I don't think you should be going with any lists you find out there.
They may be good (or may be not so good, BTW) as a reference, but ultimately you would want to build your own menu, consisting of what you know you and your family will it; then "reverse-engineer" it into the ingredients with long shelf life; then calculate how many of those you need - for 72 hours, for a week, a month, half a year, a year, a decade... Depending on how long you're planning to survive on that food 😉
Optionally, in your calculations take these into consideration:
- Some extras, in case you may find some friends or family joining you in a crisis, without bringing in their own supplies.
- Some extras, to barter (although this is a tricky one: in a WROL situation you don't necessarily want anyone to know that you've got enough food stored).
- Rationing: you may want to start rationing the portions to be smaller than your everyday diet consumption, to make them last longer.

Don't forget:
- Practice preparing every item on your menu from your stored ingredients, with the tools you're planning to rely upon.
- Make sure you've got enough tools to make the meals with the grid down, and limited or no propane / natural gas supply.
- Also, if you store grains, and plan on making flour out of them, have a grinder 😉

Dandyprat did say first off that this was bare minimum - I agree. Everyone is looking for a starting point and this is a good one. Most people use their heads and think through what they will actually eat - that is also a good thing - but it can't be said often enough! You need to look at calories and vitamins and minerals too. Eat your veggies! Any start is better than NO start!

Admin note: Although I realise some of you are consultants for Thrive Food Storage - there are actually quite a few of you on the boards - please post your business link in the business links area instead of including them to your posts. You can find that board here: http://internationalpreppersnetwork.net/viewforum.php?f=82 If in doubt you can read our new code of conduct thread here: http://internationalpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=2356

Now back to discussing how much food storage we actually need - a topic near and dear to my heart! 😀