I’ve seen a few folks mention go bags/bugout bags lately, as the situation in the US continues to decline. Seems like a good idea to ask y’all what should go in a go bag, and I can make a follow-up post with a list of ideas for folks who want to be prepared to leave if/when the time comes.
Cheaper is probably better, since the most vulnerable of us are likely to have the least resources available to plan for the future.
Canned foods are pretty heavy per calorie. I'm stashing a bunch of datrex and other 5-year lifeboat bars; not healthy, not tasty, but they're definitely dense. Or freeze dried camp food, but that's $$$
Yeah, dried beans would be way more efficient than canned. Yes, you'd need to soak them, but if you don't have access to clean water, food is the least of your worries.
I mean, at the "literally just trying to survive" point, you'd be hard pressed to beat fats. Peanut butter, or even just a straight up bottle of canola oil.
I think I remember reading that arctic explorers would sip straight oil in some cases. I can't think of anything more calorically dense than that, but if someone else can, speak up!! I'd really enjoy other ideas.
They needed the fat from oil to stave off "rabbit" starvation. Typically the small game available in the artic, and even most deciduous areas, is very lean; rabbit, squirrel, even deer don't have enough significant calories in body fat to keep folks alive. You can eat 2k kcal a day in protein and starve to death pretty quickly without fat. Something else that would be good to have would be a vitamin C supplement. You could survive for years with enough complete protein, fat and vitamin C, though without other micronutrients your health would deteriorate.