Calories are calories, but you need fats and proteins to keep your body going. Especially in cold climates, fats are fundamentally necessary (your body generates internal heat to break them down — when I used to backpack in the mountains in winter my food was 50% fats and 50% carbs, with the fats consumed right before bed with hot water - it was the difference between sleeping comfortably or freezing to death).
Thankfully carbs are really cheap and easy - a 50lb bag or rice is like, $25 at a warehouse club, and you can get pasta for about $0.75/lb there too. If just starting out I’d get a 50lb bag of rice, 25-50lbs of pasta and then focus on a variety of canned or frozen meats, beans (canned and dry for ease of use vs when you have time to soak the day before). Also things like chunky soup (concentrate on the highest calorie non-cream soups), chef boyardi, chili, retried beans, baked beans, etc are effective ways of getting a bunch of fats and proteins. Also protein powder, shelf-stable milk and drink mixes, spices, oils, etc.
I’d caution you to prioritize things you eat regularly now or could imagine eating frequently, since you need to cycle through them to have it be of any value, just restock as it is available.
A handy trick is just buy 2 or 3 more than you need when you shop, and pick up a couple of replacements when you think of something running low and it adds up pretty quickly. Also helps make sure you’re only buying stuff you actually will use.
Calories are calories, but you need fats and proteins to keep your body going. Especially in cold climates, fats are fundamentally necessary (your body generates internal heat to break them down — when I used to backpack in the mountains in winter my food was 50% fats and 50% carbs, with the fats consumed right before bed with hot water - it was the difference between sleeping comfortably or freezing to death).
Thankfully carbs are really cheap and easy - a 50lb bag or rice is like, $25 at a warehouse club, and you can get pasta for about $0.75/lb there too. If just starting out I’d get a 50lb bag of rice, 25-50lbs of pasta and then focus on a variety of canned or frozen meats, beans (canned and dry for ease of use vs when you have time to soak the day before). Also things like chunky soup (concentrate on the highest calorie non-cream soups), chef boyardi, chili, retried beans, baked beans, etc are effective ways of getting a bunch of fats and proteins. Also protein powder, shelf-stable milk and drink mixes, spices, oils, etc.
I’d caution you to prioritize things you eat regularly now or could imagine eating frequently, since you need to cycle through them to have it be of any value, just restock as it is available.
A handy trick is just buy 2 or 3 more than you need when you shop, and pick up a couple of replacements when you think of something running low and it adds up pretty quickly. Also helps make sure you’re only buying stuff you actually will use.
FYI: It's not as simple as "calories are calories".
More carbs means more of those calories are stored as fat which is harder to burn off again.
If you eat entirely carbs but keep at 2K calories a day, you will gain weight.
Also, carbs make you hungry like salt makes you thirsty.
100% true, but if we’re discussing survival during a “shit has hit the fan” situation, wouldn’t adding body fat be a plus?