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Well, we've all seen those impressive cargo manifests listing the tons and tons of provisions stowed away aboard the Titanic. And while they're impressive, they sure seem a little meaningless to those of us who plod along down to the local supermarket to do our shopping by the bag full.
So let's try and compute the Titanic's larder into more personal terms. Terms we can all understand. If you want to invite a friend along, divide the following figures by two:
First off, for your main course, there were 75,000 pounds of Fresh Meat aboard (that's 34,000 kilos). Well, assuming that was all beef (which it wasn't) that's more than enough to give you two Big Macs for lunch, every single day, for the next 308 years... Or enough to give everyone in Yonkers, N.Y. one free burger each...
Don't eat beef? Don’t worry, if you prefer fish, there’s plenty available: The Titanic carried 11,000 pounds of Fresh Fish (5,000 kilos) and that's enough to give you a Burger King Big Fish each day for the next 112 years. Why, that's one for every man, woman and child in Atlantic City, N.J.
And will there be Fries with that? With 40 tons of Potatoes at hand you can make one pile of those golden slices. If you really love your potatoes, they're enough to give you good a feed of fries once a day for the next 130 years... Or to feed everyone in League City, Texas
Like a side order of Green Peas with your meal? With aTon of Fresh Green Peas on board you can give everyone in Larkspur, Colorado, an eight ounce box each of Birdseye peas or eat one yourself - every day for over the next 13 years - and you'd sure get tired of peas if you ate that much...
In the produce department, the 7,000 Heads of Lettuce on board are more than enough to make you a hefty salad every single day for the next 77 years... Or to give each citizen of Mount Vernon, Washington a salad with their dinner.
Coffee or tea? With one ton of Coffee on board there's enough to give everyone in Cedar City, Utah their morning coffee break or to last you (at three cups a day) 100 years. While, if you prefer tea, with the equivalent of 96,000 Tea Bags on board, they would last you for 87 years if you used 3, two-cup tea bags each and every day...
One Lump or Two? With 10,000 pounds of Sugar (4500 kilos) on the manifest, you have enough for 1,100,000 cubes of sugar. Assuming you prefer two lumps with your coffee, that's enough for over 500,000 cups of coffee - and I'm not even going to try and compute how long that is going to last you...
As for the Cream, you'll have plenty of that to add to your coffee: There are 360 gallons of cream (1400 l) on board and that, no matter how you compute it, is one tank full of cream - enough to give all the citizens of Mililani Town, Hawaii a pint.
Now some people like Bread with their meal. If you're one of them, the 250 Barrels of Flour (22,000kilos) on board are enough to make some 60,000 loaves of bread. And that, if you eat half a loaf a day, should last you for 360 years, or enough to give everyone in Des Plaines, Illinois one loaf each.
As for the Eggs, you might as well save them for breakfast. The 35,000 Fresh Eggs on board (about 3000 dozen), are more than enough to give the good citizens of Fairbanks, Alaska a breakfast egg apiece or to serve you two eggs, sunny side up every day for the next 48 years.
Like a slice of Ham or Bacon to go with your eggs? The Titanic carried 7,500 pounds of Bacon and Ham (3,400 kilos) - and that's enough to last you, as a breakfast side dish, for the next 200 years...
Continuing with breakfast... the 13,000 Grapefruit on board will give you enough for half a grapefruit every morning until the year 2069 (71 years) or everyone in Natchitoches, Louisiana half each for tomorrow's breakfast...
As for the 4 tons of Cereals on board they are enough to provide you with 10,000 boxes of Kellogg's Special K and you can figure out how long that will last you...
And for the Fresh Milk to go with that Special K, you have 1,500 gallons of it - that's 6,800 liters - at your disposal. Enough to give you, at half a cup (125 ml) a serving, milk for the next 240 years... Or enough to give everyone in Fayetteville, Tennessee their morning quart of 2%....
Finally to finish off your Titanic meal how about some Wine and Ice Cream? The Titanic's wine manifest boasted 1,500 Bottles of Wine to choose from which, if you limit yourself to a single glass after dinner, should be more than enough to last you for the next 16˝ years.
As for the Ice Cream, we know there were 1750 quarts (1,591 liters) of that sweet confection on board and that, depending how much you eat with your meal, should last you for at least 20 years... or give everyone in Mesa, Arizona an ice cream cone apiece.
Now, for a change, why don't you drag out the calculator and do some figuring? Other items from the Titanic's provision list include: more than one ton of tomatoes; 1 ton of sausages; 5 tons of rice and dried beans; 10 tons of fresh poultry; 36,000 oranges; ˝ ton of jam and marmalade; more than 2 tons of butter; 16,000 lemons; 8,000 cigars...
But, before you grab that calculator, one last item:
"An apple a day,” they say, “keeps the doctor away."
Well, if that's true, you’ll have enough on hand to last the next 98 years which, if you last that long, will certainly have kept the doctor at bay...
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