Have you ever looked in your cookbook and wondered how many cups of flour are in a bag? Or how many teaspoons of sugar are in a pound? The fact is cookbooks give measurement in volume and food is sold by weight. So how do we know if we have enough of any given food item? Check out this online conversion tool for weight to volume conversions.....
http://www.onlineconversion.com/weight_volume_cooking.htm
This is a great little tool!!
Having moved from a town home and in the process of transitioning to a much smaller apartment, space for storage is a definite consideration for me and my goal for prepping/self sustainability. I tried out the table on all purpose flour x pound to cubic foot measurement (Yes I know us Canadians are metric but I still think in imperial measurements)... a great gadget to aid in actual space required for dealing with potential storage issues. Thanks for posting this!
We calculated that a 34 pound bag of of basmati rice can have about 80 to 90 cups. One cup of rice between me and my girl when its cooked, it make enough for 2-3 meals each in a balanced meal, If its just a slab of meat with no other veggies then little more than one meal. 2 x 34 pound bags will have no problem to exceed the years plan, less with potatoes, squash, and other starches.
We just did that too except with a 25 lb. bag of rice. At 1 cup per day for two people, we got 60 cups from 25 lbs. and have been evolving breakfast ideas with the leftovers from yesterdays cup of rice. The house was a bloody mess when I was done measuring but it sure was a fun and informative exercise. 😆 Now the question is how best to store it? 1 cup portions, vaccume packed? 7cups? 1 month buckets? I like the idea of small packages because if something spoils it would be a small loss as opposed to having to give a 25 lb bag of rice to the chickens.
One month buckets would be my suggestion. Vacpack it and toss the bags into washed out ice cream containers (they stack nicely in my pantry here).
Denob, thanks for the link! I once measured out the stuff in my kitchen... what a mess! Now I know we need this much for this and that much for that, turn on my vacpack machine and fill em up as needed! With newer bags though, I try to keep them in the original packaging if I can... wit rice you can't, it goes bad/funky smelling quick. I also fear rodents so if the smell is gone and no crumbs about then the rodents stay out too! and that makes me happy!
I did vacpack my sugar in it's paper bag, just plopped the whole thing in the vacbag. It seems to be holding up well and this will prevent the paper bag from ripping open.
Link is bookmarked and awaiting shopping day 🙂
I converted it a bit different. I store all my food in seal able 5 gallon pails, or 18 and a bit liters. A 40 pound bag ( i checked this time) fills a 18 liter pail with about 4 liters extra. A cup is 240 ml or just about 4 cups per liter. 22 liters x 4 cups = 88 cups.
Bag to storage, the 5 gallon pails are great. Easy to stack, easy to move, and easy to pour from. Everything i have in the house and cabin is in pails, or large jars. I don't worry too much about water, mice, bugs, or mold. Simply put, if it does not come in its own water/pest resistant container, i put it in one. The pails are easy to open and rotate the food..
I converted it a bit different. I store all my food in seal able 5 gallon pails, or 18 and a bit liters. A 40 pound bag ( i checked this time) fills a 18 liter pail with about 4 liters extra. A cup is 240 ml or just about 4 cups per liter. 22 liters x 4 cups = 88 cups.
Bag to storage, the 5 gallon pails are great. Easy to stack, easy to move, and easy to pour from. Everything i have in the house and cabin is in pails, or large jars. I don't worry too much about water, mice, bugs, or mold. Simply put, if it does not come in its own water/pest resistant container, i put it in one. The pails are easy to open and rotate the food..
I hear you on the re-usable 5 gallon buckets. I vacuum seal smaller portions or use mylar bags and fill the buckets with them and put in at least a couple O2 absorbing packets. That way I don't crack the seal on a whole bucketful of something that I might not use in a hurry. I don't mind the lost bucket space as I have a fair amount of storage room.
The best part about the buckets is you can usually find the food grade ones for free by asking around at the bakery's, restaurants, grocery and super stores around town.
I'd like to attach one to a backpack frame. Might come in handy for carrying foraged edibles or live catches like fish or frogs in water.
There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life - Frank Zappa
Thanks for the link.
I have been doing it the old fashioned way by logging in a book as I do something to figure out my average per meal and then multiplying it out.
If your looking for 5 gallon buckets, the Bulk Barn sells used ones for $1.
"We 'Prep.' to live after a downfall, Not just to survive."