If you have a survival garden, kudos! But I have a question: Are you growing high-calorie foods? It occurred to me that a simple backyard garden isn't going to sustain your family very long if you're growing typical vegetables like cucumbers, radishes and tomatoes.
Although healthy and nutritious, those foods are very low calorie and really only work as part of a larger meal. If you want to get a substantial amount of calories from your garden during a long-term disaster, take a look at this food calorie chart.
Using Microsoft Excel I made a chart with a list of all the most common nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables that a person might be able to grow. Then I visited NutritionData.Self.com and looked up the data for the raw, uncooked version of each food. I entered the calories, fat, protein, carbohydrates, and fiber per 100 grams into the chart. Finally, I sorted the chart by calories so I could easily see which foods have the most calories.
Of course, some foods are easier to grow than others, and some plants yield more edible food than others. Still, I think this food calorie chart will help people prioritize when deciding which foods they want to grow. I've found it interesting to sort by fat, protein and carbs as well. Nuts have the most fat, beans have the most protein and carbs, but fruits and vegetables have the most vitamins. You should take all these things into account when planning your survival garden.
If you want your own copy of the chart that you can add to and sort, click here. I also encourage you to share the picture below with other survivalists, particularly those interested in gardening. It will be shame when people with gardens full of lettuce, squash and spinach are going hungry.
