At 3-8 grams of salt a day each, 100 people eat 241 to 644 lbs a year, or 805 to 1,207 lbs if all of them do heavy labour at 10-15 grams, and curing 3,750 lbs of meat at 8 lbs of salt per 100 lbs takes another 300 lbs. The parent article’s headline of 1,500-3,000 lbs a year does not match its own budget table, which totals 1,040 to 1,870 lbs, so compute your own budget from your own people, animals and cure.
Part of Salt Production & Sourcing
A community salt ration is the weighed allowance of salt for each person, animal and use, set from a budget so the stock lasts until the next production season.
Build The Budget From The Bottom Up
People. The parent gives 3-8 grams a day for an adult, and 10-15 grams in heavy labour in hot weather. For 100 people over a year (365 days; 1 kg = 2.2046 lbs):
- 3 g × 365 × 100 = 109.5 kg = 241 lbs
- 8 g × 365 × 100 = 292 kg = 644 lbs
- heavy labour, 10 g: 365 kg = 805 lbs; 15 g: 547.5 kg = 1,207 lbs
Per person that is 2.4 to 6.4 lbs a year at ordinary intake.
Meat curing. The parent’s dry cure uses 8 lbs of salt per 100 lbs of meat. For the winter meat target of 3,750 lbs, 3,750 × 0.08 = 300 lbs. Per person: 300 ÷ 100 = 3.0 lbs (Rationing cured meat through winter).
Livestock. The parent gives 1-2 oz a day for cattle and horses and 0.3-0.5 oz for goats and sheep. Per animal per year: cattle or horse 22.8 to 45.6 lbs; goat or sheep 6.8 to 11.4 lbs (oz × 365 ÷ 16).
Hides. The parent gives 1 lb of salt per hide.
Cheese, pickling. The parent’s table lists cheese making and pickling and fermentation as their own lines; they depend on how much of each the community makes (Salt Brine Pickles is one such use).
The parent’s table does not match its headline. The monthly lines (40-60, 20-40, 5-10, 15-25, 5-15 and 5-10 lbs) sum to 90-160 lbs a month, and the annual lines (500-700, 200-500, 60-120, 180-300, 50-150, 50-100) sum to 1,040 to 1,870 lbs a year. The same article’s headline says 1,500-3,000 lbs (700-1,400 kg). The table is the working budget and I have used it; the headline is higher by 1.4 to 1.6 times at its two ends (1,500 ÷ 1,040 = 1.4; 3,000 ÷ 1,870 = 1.6). Until the parent is reconciled, plan on the larger number for the reserve.
Setting The Ration
Issue by weight and in a regular cycle (Storage & Distribution). A simple way to set household rations is the dietary figure per person times the household size, with a larger issue for those in heavy work in hot weather. Keep the meat-curing allowance as a separate, central issue in autumn, since the quantity is large and fixed by the weight of meat, and issue rough salt for stock and hides separately.
If supply is short, someone has to choose. The order below is a suggestion, not a rule from the parent: human diet and the meat cure first, because a failed cure is a food-safety problem as well as a loss; cheese and fermentation next; livestock next; hides last. Do not cut the cure below the safe minimum to save salt. A smaller batch of meat properly cured is safer than a larger batch under-salted (Dry cure ratios and rub formulas).
What You Need
- A head count, a livestock count, and the weight of meat to be cured
- A scale and ledger (Resource Ledgers)
- The salt budget on one sheet, updated each season
Method: Set The Year’s Rations
Step 1: Count people, animals, hides and meat.
Step 2: Multiply out each line and sum them.
Step 3: Compare with the stock and next season’s expected production.
Step 4: Set household rations by weight and a central cure issue.
Step 5: Re-check quarterly.
Common Mistakes
- Using the headline instead of building the sum.
- Giving everyone the heavy-labour ration.
- Cutting the cure salt to save the dietary ration.
- Issuing by volume.
Safety
Salt is a dose as well as a stock
Too much salt harms people, especially infants, whose kidneys cannot handle it: do not add salt to food for babies, and do not give salt tablets or salt water as a remedy except under informed advice. Heavy sweating raises need, but the parent’s 10-15 grams is for heavy labour in hot weather, not a general allowance. Stock fed salt must always have fresh water available, since salt without water poisons animals.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Salt as trade commodity — what to do with a surplus, or how to make up a shortfall
- Combine with: Ingredient Scaling Formulas — scaling kitchen quantities for a community