Food Rations Individual pages in this section 1-Water Barrels 2-Food Rations 3-Sanitation Kits 4-Medical Kits 5-Radiation Kits and Instruments Back to Shelter Supplies Main Back to Civil Defense Museum Main		Fallout shelter food supplies came in the form of crackers, biscuits, bulgar wafers and carbohydrate supplement (hard candy). The shelter program goal was to stock 10,000 calories total per shelteree for the designated 2 week shelter stay. That amounted to a 700 calorie per day food supply to each shelteree. I got this photo from a writer at Memphis Magazine. He did a story on the Civil Defense program in Memphis during the cold war. Click here to see the back issue of the magazine that the story appeared in. Memphis Magazine Feb 2001. This picture is from a Memphis newspaper that is no longer in buisness. The men in the photo are Memphis Civil Defense Officials. I gather from their attire that this photo was taken in the 70's. The guy on the right about to taste the cracker seems unsure of what he is about to do. I love the look on the guy's face up on the supply stack. I would like to thank the University of Memphis Library for letting me use this classic photo! This picture is from the Red Cross book "Emergency Mass Feeding". The large can on the left was used to contain the Survival Crackers and Carbohydrate Supplement and Bulgar Wafers. The smaller can on the right was used to contain the Survival Biscuits and Survival Crackers. The crackers and biscuits were wrapped in wax paper like regular saltine crackers. See the table below to see how the rations were supposed to be issued in the shelters. This table is from the OCD publication SM-16.1 "Shelter Management Textbook" Date July 1967. Table VIII. Issue of single pieces per serving.* (approx 125 calories) (Issue one of the six portions below) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Crackers or biscuits/from 5 gal can----------------6 2. Crackers or biscuits/from 2.5 gal can--------------4 3. Wafers/from 5 gal can-------------------------------1.5 4. Crackers or biscuits/from 5 gal can----------------4 along with carbohydrate supp(candy)-----------------2 5. Crackers or biscuits/from 2.5 gal can--------------3 along with carbohydrate supp.(candy)-----------------2 6. Wafers/from 5 gal can---------------------------------1 along with carbohydrate supp---------------------------2 ------------------------------------------------------------------- *based on an issue of 6 servings per day. Carbohydrate Supplement Here are a couple of photos of the carbohydrate supplement. This hard candy is still good today if the cans are still sealed. Carbohydrate Supplement pieces were made about the size of a piece of bubble gum. I got an email from a Emergency Management director a while back and he said the red dye in the carb. supp. is most likely the same stuff that was banned because it caused cancer. This makes sense to me. These things were made in the early 1960s before the dye was banned. Carbohydrate Supplement Can With Top Open Here are a couple of photos of a can of carbohydrate supplement with the top open. These photos were sent to me by Platte County Emergency Management. October 1976 Dallas Morning News Article About Destruction Of Cracker Rations NEW! Click image to see article. Here is a copy of a article in the October 29, 1976 edition of the Dallas Morning News. The article covers the notice that the Dallas CD office received from the DCPA instructing them to destroy the ceral based rations in fallout shelters due to the rations becoming rancid. I've never seen the actual notice from the DCPA. More info see below... Excerpt from DCPA Civil Preparedness Guide 1-19 July 1978 I found the paragraph below in the DCPA CPG 1-19 and found it interesting. It mentions the DCPA circular issued in September 1976 concerning fallout shelter supplies. Needless to say DCPA Circular 76-2 is one item I would really like to find. This paragraph doesn't mention the shelter water containers so I'm curious to know if the circular authorized disposal of them as well. II. BACKGROUND The stocking of fallout shelters began in the early 1960's when DCPA procured 165,000 tons of shelter food. The food and other supplies were granted to the States and localities, and placed in approximately 100,000 fallout shelters around the United States during the period 1962-1970. In 1969, it was decided not to renew efforts for Federal stocking when it became obvious that Congress would no longer appropriate funds for shelter supplies. In 1976, as the result of laboratory and other tests, it was established that there was a high probability that most of the cereal-based rations stored in fallout shelters had became rancid. In view of these facts, DCPA Circular 76-2, Shelter Supplies, dated September 29, 1976, was promulgated which provided the status on the cereal-based food and medicines in shelters. It authorized these stocks to be disposed of but recommended usable supplies in the medical and sanitation kits to be retained in the shelters. To download the complete CPG 1-19 DCPA click here DCPA CPG 1-19 in Adobe Acrobat format. Survival Ration Cracker Case This is the more common case of fallout shelter crackers. Or at least it's the type of case I have come across most often. This type of case has 2-20 pound cans of crackers in it. The weight varied a few pounds with wafers and biscuits. This type of case loaded with 2 cans of carbohydrate supplement weighed in at 70 pounds. This case measures 19.5" long, 14" high and 10" deep. The crackers, biscuits and wafers were supposed to have been removed from the shelters in the 1970's. Thousands of cases were never removed and just left in place to be thrown away over the years and some are still in place to this day. Click the photo to see larger version. Two Types Of Food Storage Cans Here are current photos of the 2 types of food storage cans seen in the top photo. Click each photo to see larger versions. Click thumbnails to see large photos. Here is another type of cracker can case. I have never seen a case of crackers like this in person. It holds 6 of the smaller 2.5 gallon cracker cans. Note the date of 2-63. I can't remember where I got this photo. If the photographer sees this page please let me know and I will credit you for the photo. Huge Fallout Shelter Cracker Stockpile And Protective Covers These photos of an absolutely huge stockpile of fallout shelter crackers were sent to me in early 2008. The photos were taken in late 2007 in the subbasement of a large municipal building. Other than the amazing number of cracker cases seen here, of particular interest is that most of these cracker cases have protective covers on them. The dark cardboard boxes with the yellow labels are the cracker cases with the protective covers. Protective coverings were available for shelter supplies stored in adverse conditions. Fiberboard overpack boxes were available for food cases and the large Medical Kit C boxes. The protective coverings for water containers and sanitation kits were plastic bag covers and plastic sheeting was used to cover whole stacks of supplies. The plastic sheeting can be seen still covering some of the supplies in the upper right photo and lower left photo.