How much food do you have stored?

[Bear]

The Feds say 3 days. Lately some orgs (like my dept) says 3 weeks. I have heard there is still suppressed DHS guidance for 3 months.

How much have you prepared in terms of food?

[h_oder]

right now, I'd say that I'm at 3 months; if we watch things. I'd like to be much further along, but I add when/where I can.

One of the biggest hurdles is a DGI spouse. That is slowly changing (the fact that he finally agreed to get me some additional storage shelving in the basement is a sign) and now that we have purchased a grain mill, I can look into some more long-term stuff.

[ANDY1997]

If we pace ourselves maybe 3 months.

[Watchin]

Maybe a year or more if we aren't loaded down with unprepared family that has to be fed.

[SheWoff]

Couple of years, but that was how I was brought up too, so I'm used to having that much of a pantry. I was taught that you canned everything you could that you raised, just in case you had a bad year in the garden or hunting. That will help hold you over till the next season.

She

[AngelDance]

True homesteader here. Things we can grow or raise we have, but have stored things which would be difficult or impossible to get and cannot be grown or raised, like sugar, coffee, tea, True Lemon, salt etc. We have a dairy cow, sheep, chickens and garden every year; putting up what we grow and saving seeds from year to year. We have a spring, a springfed creek and live on a large lake, so water is not as problematic as it could be.

We should be okay indefinitely.

Angel

[ArmyOfFive4God]

Hi, I'm new here. I voted 6mos, but it's more like 6m-1year. Got a long way to go on some areas of preps, but we're pegging away the best we can.

[momof23goats]

we are also true homesteaders, so we are good to go.

[kelee877]

WE are good to go , few more fillin the gap items and we should set for a bit

[Bear]

Hi, I'm new here. I voted 6mos, but it's more like 6m-1year. Got a long way to go on some areas of preps, but we're pegging away the best we can.

Welcome to the Tree ArmyOfFive4God. This here be good people. :wink:

[momof23goats]

yes, welcome,armyoffive4God.you will like it here.

[Daryll in NW FLA]

Well, we have 6 months of stored food- also have pigs, chickens and ducks as well as several gardens and several acres of woods for fire wood. Could probably extend it out to 2 years if no unexpected company showed up. Daryll in NW FLA

[Doc1]

Easily one year+, but tools, skills and gardens to constantly reload the larder. Traps, snares, nets, spears, etc.

Stored food is great and necessary, but fresh food is a nice break, tastes better and is more nutritious.

Best regards
Doc

[momof23goats]

fresh food is nice, but up here in the frozen north, we have to can, and dry, and freeze our harvests. but i have a plenty, and fresh meat on the hoof, in the pasture.
and plenty of seeds, for a nice garden, for a couple of years.

[hisbluelady]

I've been lurking for a while, finally posting.

I voted 3 months; I think we could live pretty normally for that long as far as food goes. We might be able to keep alive for months or even a year, but the menu would be VERY boring!

I'm now working more on being sustainable...seeds, tools, information, equipment to keep going. For example, I have a canning kettle and lots of jars, I've canned some so I have a clue, have books and a friend/neighbor who cans everything that doesn't move so I can learn from her, but I need a pressure canner so I don't have to rely on the freezer (we lost 60 lbs of meat last month :cry:). Dh got some overtime so I'm going to buy one next time I go to Walmart. I'm also short on extra lids. They haven't gone on sale at all this year and money is short, so I just buy a box or two every time I go shopping.

[janetn]

Ive got some basics stored along with TP :D [you can never have to much TP] Were on 5 acres surrounded by federal land so we can grow raise forage and hunt alot of food. Canning freezing and dhydrating food is a way of life in my community. for the over 40 set anyway. Seems the younger folks dont see the need to have these skills :roll:

[momof23goats]

that is how you do it, just buy a couple of boxes every time you go to the store, and pretty son, they begin to mount up.

[Shuswap]

We have 6 months supply depending on who shows at dinner time, but have extended supply of wheat. No one knows until the SHTF how it will all turn out. Have several green houses locally and in the family. Trust our life skills will come into play.

Shuswap

[momof23goats]

If you have a green house, you can replenish your food, with out waiting for the snow to melt. and that is a good thing. you can also grow your salad, year around, which would be great.

[Possible Impact]

We have 1 year+ (6x17 Concrete Root Cellar)
It is difficult, but we will be giving away a large portion before our
move is complete.

The good news is that we will again be on a farm, and our category
will be "homesteader".

[bgraham]

Hi, everyone. I've been lurking for a while but this is my first post.

I voted 6 months based on our stored food but we also raise dairy goats, chickens and are planning on getting some pigs. We also raise a large garden so we could make it for a long time if we had to.

Beth

[JC Refuge]

My prep journey has taken some twists and turns over the years (about 30 years now). Five years ago or so, I was in such a comfortable place with my preps that I concluded I wanted to help others get prepped somehow. After all, if one's community is up a creek and in chaos, all the personal preps in the world aren't going to do you much good.

So me and mine started Safecastle with the goal of providing easy prep buying to those interested AND to help elevate awareness of the need to prep. It's been a good experience all along the way.

Today, I have at least a year's worth of personal food and preps in the bunker, and for us at least, that is the level that gives us the peace of mind we need.

And it feels pretty good too to be able be a bit of a prepping evangelist, if you will, locally and nationally.

Bottom line is--in any bad situation, our chances for success climb exponentially when we've got a community of folks working together rather than at odds with each other. THAT should be goal number one for all of us. Encourage community preparedness--via local government or just demonstrating behaviors within your neighborhood ... in conversations and in helping each other with everyday needs, developing good relationships. When push comes to shove--what's going to be more important ... a couple of cases of freeze-dried food hidden away in the basement, or a group of strong, trusted neighbors to help each other thru?

[momof23goats]

`we will have to work with our neighbors if possible. Now I have one set of neighbors, that just aren't nice. they steal from people, and do all kinds of things. sooooo, no one in this area know that I prep. Period. and that is the way it is going to stay.
there are like minded people in the area, that prep. but the closest one to me, is about 4 miles, now that might not seem far, however, when the fuel is high, or you just can't get it. that is along ways. for sure.

[Tundra Gypsy]

I've got lots of holes in my preps, but we could eat a lot of soup if needed. :D I don't have tea or coffee stored; nor enough TP. If a bird flu scenario happens, we all need to prep to stay home for a long time. that would mean storing different stuff. i.e. masks

[bv141a]

Food supplies demand vary significantly based on the outside temperatures. If temps are cold & there is no heat, food consumption rates can double.

(Serving sizes for meals are typically 2,000 KCals.)

Point is you may have only half the food you expect depending on your location/climate, ability to maintain a warm climate in your living space
and time of year you need to start to consuming food....

bv

[Summerthyme]

Food supplies demand vary significantly based on the outside temperatures. If temps are cold & there is no heat, food consumption rates can double.

(Serving sizes for meals are typically 2,000 KCals.)

Point is you may have only half the food you expect depending on your location/climate, ability to maintain a warm climate in your living space
and time of year you need to start to consuming food....

bv

Absolutely true, and a very good point.

The other variable is that most people have NO clue how much food you can consume if you are physically active, and again, if you are actually working hard for many hours in a day.

My husband, who is not a big man (5'6", around 145#... all muscle even in his 50's) has "cut back" over the years, and now only consumes around 3000 calories a day. Anything less, or a cold spell, or a few heavy days haying, etc... and he can drop 5# without thinking about it.

When we married, after a few months of cooking for him, I got curious about how much he really did eat...so I kept track for awhile. His average caloric consumption every day was between 5000 and 6000 calories! And he simply maintained weight and condition on that.

Does anyone think that after TSHTF we'll all be sitting around on our rears, worrying about gaining weight? Ha! (well, possibly under a couple of scenarios... bird flu or a nuke)

Summerthyme

[Rhealady]

We are set for 1-2 years but I am very worried about the extra mouths to feed, especially the young people. They are such heavy meat-carb processed food eaters it is going to be rough to get them to adjust to a diet long on garden veggies and short on stored meat. One of my sons friends, an MD's son won't eat the eggs from my free-range chickens. Might get some nasty bacteria. Everything comes from the store in his family and they live on 40 acres. That probably is the same for most farm families here. Don't grow for yourself. Gotta buy.

[teadrinker]

After reading Rhealady post about people living on 40 acres but buying all their food at stores reminded me of one of my nephews wives.

When she came to visit us we had all home raised food to eat and some fresh milk that a neighbor gave us. We asked her if she wanted some milk to drink and she said no thank you.

She said she only drinks the milk from the store...the kind that they mix up and put in bottles...we told that our milk is the same as what was at the store and she said no it wasn't because the stuff at the store was white liquid man made.....
She really believed that and no matter what any of us said it was what she believed.

Sorry for the thread drift....it just reminded me of this. :)

teadrinker

[Maximilian]

With my next shippment being sent I will have just over a years supply now.

Still buying though.

[momof23goats]

I have enough to make it, probably 2 years. and seeds, for planting 2 full years garden, the reason for that is this, you never know if one thing will make a good harvest, so i have enough seeds for s couple of years, and will be getting more, I want to have a plenty, for sure.
now that garden, needs to be watered, and cared for, so have a way to water it, and care for it, to get your best harvest.

[Falls_Tech]

For me it's just not a matter of how much. If I have to travel in bear country, freezdried in foil pouches is the way to go. If I travel by car in the winter, self contained Heater Meals are the way to go. If I have 10 minutes to evacuate, freezdried is what I'm grabbing first do to it's light weight. I'm always looking at worst case scenarios.

If the grocery stores ever run out of food, we're looking at mad max. Without good security/protection and knowing when to move out of harms way, that one year of food will end up being stolen by the bad guys.