Sprouting can be an excellent way to supplement that survival diet of grains, beans and rice; in fact, most of these grains can also be sprouted.

It's an easy, cheap and relatively headache free way to add some live green food to your diet, especially during periods of stress when you may be in a shelter.

What Do You Need?

1. Seeds that will germinate (grow); Some good types to start with are wheat, sunflower, almonds, lentils and mung beans. Store them in bug-proof containers in a cool, dark place.

2. Something to grow them in; this can be as easy as a canning jar with some cheesecloth or a screen over the top or you can also try growing them between 2 wet cotton towels or washcloths.

3. Water

How Do You Do It?

1. Rinse and clean your seeds

2. Soak them in water overnight in your jar (though for best results, this actually will vary with each seed)

3. Empty the rinse water and the rinse the seeds morning and evening for around 3 days or until suitable eating size

4. Keep them in a room-temperature, dark place between rinses

This is a pretty darn easy way to raise some food if you ask me.

And it will keep the kids busy if you are holed up for awhile.

Now of course with a family of four, you'll want to have around 15 or more canning jars filled with various types of seeds and use them on a rotational basis (start some new sprouts every day-then you'll always have some that are ready to eat).

Keep a 5 gallon plastic bucket filled with water and use it just for sprouting; you can use the same water for rinsing for a surprisingly long time; in fact many people drink their rinse water, but you can also use it for sanitation purposes when you think it has gotten to bad for rinsing.

Now, this discussion covered just the very basics. It can get quite detailed and involved with things like automatic drainage and automated watering systems, sprouting mixtures, specialized equipment, etc.

So get a good book on sprouting and take a closer look at this marvelous way of keeping yourself well-fed for pennies a day!

Some good books:

Sprouts The Miracle Food
by Steve Meyerowitz

The Sprout Garden: Revised Edition
by Mark Mathew Braunstein

The Sprouting Book
by Ann Wigmore

The Wheatgrass Book
by Ann Wigmore

Wheatgrass : Superfood for a New Millenium
by Li Smith, Richard Smith (Illustrator)

The Broccoli Sprouts Breakthrough: New Miracle Food for Cancer Prevention
by Deborah Mitchell

Nutritional Values of Sprouts and Wheatgrass
by Viktoras Kulvinskas

Sprouting for All Seasons : How and What to Sprout, Including Delicious, Easy-To-Prepare Recipes
by Bertha B. Larimore