Edge of the Apocalypse
Chapter 4: 3 Types of Food

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: 3 Types of Food

Yu Dong had studied food science and engineering, and there was a simple rule of thumb in his field.

The closer a material is to the upstream of production, the cheaper it is; the further it is to the downstream, the more expensive the product becomes.

Take a grain of rice. As raw rice, it might cost two yuan a pound. Steam it into cooked rice, and they’ll sell it to you for double the price. Grind it into a paste to make rice noodle rolls, and the price will double again.

But from a nutritional standpoint, as long as you consume the same amount of rice, the energy intake is the same.

So, if you want to get the most bang for your buck, start at the source.

Based on this theory, Yu Dong roughly divided his shopping list into three categories:

Category One: Unprocessed foods that provide basic nutrition, like rice, flour, millet, soybeans, oil, and so on. They are cheap, easy to store, and would be the primary food source after the apocalypse. This was about spending the least money for the greatest effect. They would be his main food supply, so he had to buy a lot.

Category Two: Processed, ready-to-eat foods, such as instant noodles, crackers, chocolate, and canned meats, vegetables, and fruits. These would be difficult to get in the apocalypse. They tasted good and were nutritious, so even if they were a bit more expensive, he had to buy and hoard some.

Category Three: Indulgent, highly processed foods, like self-heating hot pots, beef jerky, pork jerky, cola, sunflower seeds, and various other snacks. Eating these or not wouldn’t affect his nutritional intake; they were purely for satisfying cravings and boosting morale. If he had money left over, he’d buy some to add variety.

Of course, above these three categories, there was one true necessity: the source of life!

"How much is your water?"

Yu Dong had arrived at a water delivery station in the Haiyang Agricultural and Sideline Products Wholesale Market.

The place was filled with large blue jugs, the kind you see on water coolers in offices.

"We have purified water, mineral water, and mountain spring water. The prices are different. Which one do you want?"

"The cheapest one."

"Purified water. The 18.9-liter jugs are 10 yuan each. If you don’t have an empty jug, there’s a 50-yuan deposit per jug."

"The deposit is that much?"

"It’s standard. When you don’t want it anymore, you can get the deposit back anytime."

Yu Dong frowned slightly. Ten yuan a jug was reasonable, but a 50-yuan deposit was unacceptable. That made it 60 yuan for a single jug of water, which was too expensive.

"Do you have any bottled water that doesn’t require a deposit?"

"Then you can buy this pre-packaged Nongfu Spring water. It’s also 18.9 liters, 25 yuan a jug. The jugs are single-use and aren’t collected."

While not cheap, this price was at least acceptable.

Besides, from Yu Dong’s perspective, this type of pre-packaged Nongfu Spring water, with its non-reusable jugs, would have a better seal and could be stored for much longer than the refilled water jugs.

"Alright, I’ll take the Nongfu Spring. I’m buying a lot, so give me a discount."

"How many do you want?"

Yu Dong took out his phone and did a quick calculation.

An adult’s total daily water intake is about 3.0 to 3.5 liters. Some water might be lost during cooking, so he rounded it up to 4 liters a day.

If he were to isolate himself for three years without going out, he would need to drink at least 4,380 liters of water, which was equivalent to 232 jugs.

"I’ll take 300 jugs. I want the ones with the latest production date."

Even with a little waste, this amount of water would be enough for three years.

Yu Dong now had three apartments to store supplies. If he stacked everything carefully, the space constraints wouldn’t be too bad, but any more than this would be a problem. He still had many other things to hoard.

After some haggling, Yu Dong bought 300 large jugs of Nongfu Spring water for 23 yuan each, for a total of 6,900 yuan.

"Alright! We can deliver it for you right now. Where to?"

"Xiangti Bay Community. Um... wait for my call. I still need to buy some other things. We can have everything delivered together."

That was more or less enough drinking water, and he had even included a buffer.

But the delivery...

Yu Dong remembered what the security guard had said when he first entered the Xiangti Bay Community.

No vehicles were allowed on the surface roads in Xiangti Bay Community; they all had to use the underground parking garage. And to enter the garage, you had to register with property management.

’Besides all this water, I’ll have several other large deliveries coming in. It’ll be easy to attract the attention of the property management... I need to find an excuse to get them out of the way.’

After a moment of thought, Yu Dong dialed the number for Sister Zhang at property management.

"Sister Zhang, a few of us need to move some things into the community. We’ve called for a few trucks to transport our stuff... Mhmm, yes, that’s right. Okay, great. Then please let the security guards know."

Sister Zhang was very enthusiastic toward this "big client" and promised to have the guards open the gate for him.

With that sorted out, Yu Dong headed deeper into the market. With the water taken care of, it was time to get the Category One foods.

’The basic nutrients the human body needs are divided into five major categories: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, dietary fiber, and vitamins.’

’Among them, carbohydrates make up about 60% of daily nutritional intake... and they’re also the easiest and cheapest nutrient to obtain.’

Yu Dong walked around the market and, based on his own food preferences, bought 800 pounds of Northeastern rice, 100 pounds of millet, 100 pounds of flour, 100 pounds of dried noodles, and 100 pounds of instant oatmeal, spending 3,190 yuan.

This combination of 1,200 pounds of staple foods would be his main source of carbohydrates for the next three years, enough for him to eat until he was full every single day.

As for why he bought so much rice... anyone who’s had Northeastern rice knows what’s up. That stuff is just incredibly satisfying.

It was easy to store, easy to cook, high in calories, and delicious.

For such a large transaction, the vendor naturally offered delivery service. They arranged for workers to load everything onto a truck, and Yu Dong glanced at the vehicle.

’Even though this stuff takes up far less space than 300 jugs of water, it will still need a lot of room. And to keep it dry, it must be stored separately from the water... Space allocation is also an issue. The food should be enough to eat, but I can’t pursue limitless hoarding.’

’Next up are protein and fat. Survival bloggers all recommend one thing: soybeans.’

40% protein, 20% fat, 30% carbs, plus abundant dietary fiber and vitamins.

Not only could they be made into soy milk, tofu, and soy sauce, but they could even be sprouted.

Crucially, they had an exceptionally long shelf life. They would be perfectly fine even after two or three years.

’Soybeans are like a gift from the heavens for a post-apocalyptic world.’

’I have to buy more.’

Yu Dong bought 500 pounds of soybeans on the spot. It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford more—soybeans were very cheap, costing only 1,500 yuan—but this was enough to last him until he was sick of them.

After all, he wasn’t a great cook, so he’d probably just be boiling the beans most of the time.

Yu Dong then went to buy 60 liters of lard and vegetable oil to supplement his intake of animal and plant-based fats, spending 1,260 yuan.

’The trickiest part is actually maintaining an adequate intake of dietary fiber and vitamins. Fresh vegetables don’t keep, and they’ll all be gone after a while... ’

Yu Dong settled for the next best thing, buying 100 pounds of assorted dried goods from the market: wood ear mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, kelp, nori, dried bamboo shoots, dried mustard greens, and more, for a total of 2,000 yuan.

Finally, he bought 50 pounds of salt and 50 pounds of white sugar, as well as various seasonings like soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, and honey, for a total of 1,300 yuan.

’That’s basically it for the Category One basic unprocessed foods.’

Yu Dong quickly scanned his shopping list and noticed that the protein content in his basic food supply was a bit low. Protein was key for building muscle. He would have plenty of free time in the apocalypse and would definitely need to work out to handle any potential crises.

’Most of the protein in our daily diet comes from meat, eggs, and milk. After the apocalypse, the supply of meat and eggs will almost instantly cease, and they will rot quickly once the power goes out. That... only leaves dairy products as an option.’

’UHT milk.’

The stuff had a shelf life of up to a year, and if stored properly, it was still drinkable even after a year.

A while back, a lot of marketing accounts on TikTok claimed that for milk to last so long, "it must be full of sketchy chemicals and additives," attracting a crowd of intrigued onlookers.

It made one of Yu Dong’s seniors, who was studying dairy engineering, laugh in frustration. He went on a rampage in the comments, posting long-winded essays to explain the science, and even made a video specifically to explain UHT milk.

He talked all about UHT sterilization, aseptic packaging materials, and aseptic filling... only to get a one-line reply in the comments:

"Be my guest and drink it, then."

It pissed his senior off so much he uninstalled TikTok right then and there.

Yu Dong drank this stuff regularly, mainly because it was cheap.

Imported from Australia, 10 yuan for 1 liter, with a one-year shelf life.

It was even cheaper to buy this stuff online. Yu Dong made a mental note to do a big online shopping haul at night when he had free time.

So far, Yu Dong had spent a total of 16,150 yuan on Category One basic supplies.

Remaining balance: 81,850 yuan.

’Not bad, about what I budgeted. The basic supplies cost the least, using 20% of my money to cover 80% of my food needs for the next three years.’

’Now it’s time to buy Category Two: processed, ready-to-eat foods.’