What I Learned Living off a 30 Day Emergency Supply of Food

I made it!!!

I seriously thought I was going to wake up this morning and down a slice of the Godiva chocolate cheesecake that’s been hiding in my freezer since Father’s day. But you want to know what I ate for my first meal after eating packaged food for 30 days straight?

Looks like my tastes have grown a bit simpler over the last 30 days. But I’m not going to lie. I loved Every. Single. Bite. Who knew a banana could taste as good as chocolate cake? I can’t believe I just typed that sentence without flinching. Clearly these past 30 days have changed me. In more ways than one.

My goal was simple: to see what it would be like to live off a basic food storage kit for 30 days. I had no ulterior motives; I just wanted to see if I could eat what was in the box for 30 days. Sometimes I like to experience things or challenge myself in ways some people might think is odd. To me, I just see it as a fun experiment. Might be a bored housewife thing. Might be a quirk in my personality. Either way, I was actually oddly excited to try this. I was curious about so much.

Living off a 30 Day Supply of Dehydrated Food

• How bad, or GOOD would the food be?
• Would eating food out of a pouch for 30 days wear me down?
• Would I go crazy and start seeing flying cows?
• Would I break and run to Starbucks for a venti earl grey tea with 2 sugars and an inch of milk?
• Could I bake treat after treat for my family and REALLY not touch even a crumb?

Willpower people…. it was all about WILLPOWER.

Let’s just say I was pleasantly surprised that I LOVED the food. Had I not, this experiment might have taken a more drastic turn and I’m not sure I would have survived. But the food was actually really good. Eating out of a pouch didn’t bother me and there was enough variety in the basic food storage kit {that was meant to be supplemented with beans, rice and other pantry items} I did not get bored of eating the food.

I didn’t see flying cows, I didn’t make a run for Starbucks, and I was able to bake and participate in family functions without it being awkward. {This may be because my family knows I’m a little off my rocker though and I am always up to something a little crazy}. 😉

They were pretty supportive, as were all of you. That really did help. You guys took an interest in my crazy plan. I got encouraging comments everyday and emails from readers like this one:

Do you think this will change the “regular” food you eat next week? What about tea? If you feel better and look better, is this kind of a kick start to look at what you eat and drink and whether you want it anymore? I am wondering if you will find the regular food and tea aren’t as important anymore.

I thought you were going to give in last week, but I was hoping you wouldn’t because you’d come so far. You’re on the homestretch – way to go!

~Janet

Tea – before this challenge, there were days when I would drink up to 20 cups of tea a day. It was comforting, had sugar in it and I guess when you’ve done something for so long, drinking ridiculous amounts of tea each day just becomes a habit. Now that the challenge is over I plan to drink tea only occasionally, as a special treat.

As far as my overall eating habits, I learned I don’t need to snack as often as I thought {and I don’t need caffeine!}. That was a habit that was accidentally broken during this process. Want to know something else accidental that happened? I lost some weight.

The first morning of my Living off a 30 Day Emergency Supply challenge I decided to weigh myself. I wasn’t going to, but my curiosity got the best of me {and so many of you asked me too}. I decided to go ahead and track my progress as the month went on. This challenge of mine was NOT about losing weight. It was about what it would be like to eat pre-packaged survival food for 30 days.

I want to start by saying I don’t believe in diets. I think they are stupid and I don’t think they work in the long-term. We all know what you decide to put into your mouth everyday dictates how you feel and look, but the bottom line is everyone’s bodies are different.

I didn’t even want to post the scale pictures in the first place because sharing how much I weigh is {extremely} awkward and at the end of the day… it really doesn’t matter. It’s just a number.

But here goes…

I typically weigh more during the winter and early spring months because I am working outside less and because I generally pig out {like everyone else does} around the holidays.

My entire adult life I had basically been the same weight since I graduated high school {128 pounds}. However, over the last 3 years I have put on few extra pounds. Mainly because I spend a great deal of my time sitting in front of the computer talking to you people all day. 😉 Some people refer to it as “blogger’s butt.”

Before I had a blog, I was always busy running here and there and never really stopped moving. But whatever. People get older, they gain a few pounds… that’s normal. I really didn’t care and it wasn’t an issue for me. I was healthy and happy with my size. And anyway, who doesn’t want to be the plump grandma who goes to bingo twice a week and makes delicious cookies and cakes for their grandkids when they are 82? I know I do.

Again, this was not about losing weight. It was simply about seeing if I could survive on a basic food kit supplemented with rice and beans. That was it.

Losing weight was never my goal, but it happened.

If I could go back in time I would have taken the Premium Kit Valley Food Storage offered me after they got wind of my crazy experiment. {The premium kit has EVERYTHING 1 person needs for 30 Days – 205 servings of food}. I used the 30 Value Kit which was intended to be supplemented with things you already had in your food storage and rice and beans.

Because I jumped into this feet first without doing my research beforehand and then stuck to my guns about it because I am an idiot, I did lose weight. I added rice and beans but nothing else. Valley Food Storage is not a substitute for Weight Watchers, nor do they try to be. They are trying to ensure you are all set in the unlikely event of a Zombie Apocalypse {or some other more realistic natural disaster that is way less fun to say than zombie apocalypse}. But there is something to be said about a rigid calorie schedule and consistent food intake: you lose weight.

I think the hardest part of the first week was getting over being hungry. I wanted to eat cake or cookies or bake a pie and eat the entire thing for breakfast.

I am a BIG TIME snacker and could put any grazing cow to shame. I eat most of my food on the go {with the exception of dinner} and I missed being able to grab a treat whenever I felt like it.

Don’t get me wrong. The food from Valley Food Storage was delicious and I totally recommend their products. In fact, I plan to order their Premium Kit and stick it in our pantry in case of an emergency {I mean c’mon, the stuff is tasty and it has a 25 year shelf life}. But committing to eating that and only that when I wanted to grab a granola bar on the go was pretty tough at first.

But by the time day 14 had rolled around, I had ran a 5K, resumed normal daily activities and gardening duties {with the exception of my daily hour long walk with Lucy}. Even though I was still a little hungry at times, I was chugging right along and my energy levels were great. I did sneak in a few afternoon naps and drank lots of water to stay hydrated. 

Something to note which I did not realize until later: I was not wearing the same pajamas in the day 21 photo as I wore in the day 7 and 14 photos. I was wearing running shorts and a tank top which are much lighter than the flannel pajama bottoms and a long sleeve shirt. 

The dramatic weight loss got me thinking though. If I was losing almost a half a pound a day on 1,000-1,200 calories a day, how many calories a day was I eating before I started this challenge?

CLEARLY it was more than the recommended daily allowance for my height and weight {you can check yours here if you want}. Apparently 118 to 159 lbs is a healthy weight range for my height.

My calorie needs have got to be more than the suggested 1650 – 1850 calories per day, wouldn’t you think? I’ve never really counted calories before so I don’t even know how many I would normally consume. But really, how much does an average dog walking, full-time gardener need?

Speaking of dogs…

I took Lucy to the vet to get her nails done yesterday {she gets them clipped about once a month} and they weighed her. I kid you not, LUCY GAINED 4 POUNDS in the last 30 days.

FOUR POUNDS!!!

How did it happen? Well, before I started my 30 day challenge I was taking her for an hour long walk each day. Sure, she came home exhausted, but that was the point, right? During the challenge though I didn’t want to burn all my calories walking Lucy for an hour everyday, so I had her play in the backyard most of the time instead {the kids did take her for short walks each day}. Well holy crackers people… apparently Lucy needs her one hour of exercise every day.

That was just one of the many things I learned over the course of the last 30 days. Here are a few others:

What I Learned Living off a 30 Day Emergency Supply of Food

1. I don’t want to eat rice and beans again for a very long time.

2. We are all stronger than we think we are, and willpower is an amazing tool.

3. I feel better than I have in a very long time.

4. A treat is really not a treat if you eat one every.single.day.

5. I function better WITHOUT caffeine.

6.  My skin has never been better thanks to the 10 bottles of water I drank every day.

7. Valley Food Storage Products rock! I highly recommend them.

8. No matter how big your emergency food storage kit is, you need to supplement it with a few sweets.

9. Lucy needs exercise.

10. Challenging yourself and jumping outside your comfort zone is pretty awesome.

Valley Food Storage sent me their Value One Month Food Supply Kit to try out and review. When they did this, I had no idea this challenge would be born {they didn’t either, and like I mentioned earlier, they freaked out a bit worrying I was going to become skin and bones because I wasn’t using the kit as it was intended- with other foods supplementing it}. Because let’s be honest, who gets a big fat box of food storage pouches and thinks, “Hmmm. Looks like dinner {and breakfast and lunch} for the next 30 days,” when they have a stocked fridge and a pantry full of yummy food.

No one. That’s who says that.

But I did. And it actually turned out to be a pretty fun experiment. Lost a little weight. Learned a thing or two about myself and my eating habits. Broke my caffeine addiction. So all in all, I’d say it was a pretty successful 30 days.

~Mavis