Straw Poll. How much food do you have in reserve? How well do you stock rotate?

[jennyjj01]

I harp on about how much I value the idea of an 'extended pantry'. What's in your 'extended pantry'?
By which I mean, how long could you reasonably bug-in without ANY retail food shopping. *
<1 month ?
>3 months ?
>6 months ?
>12 Months ?

*Maybe you expect limited shopping would still be viable.
Do you even agree about the value of storing extra food?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of your extended pantry?

I'll start
>6 Months of austerity level sustenance for two, with some obvious compromises such as having to substitute canned foods, crackers and corned beef for the more regular diet

Strengths :
Cheap.
Plenty of cleaning products and toiletries.
Some comfort foods and ample variety.
Aligned to (my) regular diet.

Weaknesses :
Cheap.
Some of the food would not be popular with MrJJ
Lots of Value range cans and produce.
Stock rotation has been neglected, so lots of cans past BBE.
Reliant on Freezers. First line reserves.
Currently Short on Flour, sugar and dairy.
Weak in sustainability. Few seeds and little growing/foraging/hunting skills.
Weak on cooking facilities.
Not very accessible.

[GillyBee]

We have enough to provide extra calories for several months but it is really hard to match stored food with family eating habits/demands.

I learned a lot during the pandemic when we did a huge bulk buy from a catering firm and then found out just how much oil/lentils etc we really use in a year. Some I am still finishing up now

I keep several kilos of dried whole milk but Mr GB is a milk snob. Not just fresh but organic, preferably unhomogenised and lots of it. If we cant get fresh milk, there will be some unhappy people here.
I have a small amount of edibles in the garden and know how to forage for a few wild greens - but getting anyone to eat them is another matter. It might be different if the supermarket wasn't so close by. We get through far more fresh veg than I could ever grow in this small garden.

I do bulk buy staples in the form of Buckwheat flour, porridge oats, rice, coffee, dried onion, dried milk, whey protein/pea protein, dried fruit, cashew nuts, red lentils. Mostly my preps fall into 2 groups - regular bulk buys that we use all the time and stuff bought a while ago that we dont much like eating which will sit there until I decide it is not fit to use and will have to clear it out- like the tinned ham which no-one will eat.

I have never expected to sit out any very long lasting apocalypse. The preps have always been more of a short/medium term cusion to whatever else is available.

[jennyjj01]

... it is really hard to match stored food with family eating habits/demands...

Exactly this. I'd be fine eating TVP, Lentils, Home made seitan, flatbreads and anything. else I can make with flour. MrJJ OTOH, would expect to have first dibs at the powdered mash, tinned ready meals etc. He'd even baulk at the out of date tins. Life's full of disappointments.

We don't know what food shocks might happen. Our reserves buy some time.
.

[pseudonym]

Had over 12 months for myself and 6 for my Father. following a change in my health I lost 8 months worth that went to the food banks and with the death of my Father, another 6 months followed.

I now stock military MREs and have a 6 month supply, my prescription meds I have a years worth.

[jennyjj01]

Had over 12 months for myself and 6 for my Father. following a change in my health I lost 8 months worth that went to the food banks and with the death of my Father, another 6 months followed.

I now stock military MREs and have a 6 month supply, my prescription meds I have a years worth.

I remember you posting about having to give your food away. Do you rotate/replenish your MREs into regular diet or are they just an insurance policy renewed every year or so?

[korolev]

Probably got about two months worth of food of decreasing appeal.

We did have more but we had a lot of building work done and used a lot up to free-up storage space; since the works we have limited storage (more living space) but I've not got round to replenishing stocks.

[pseudonym]

I remember you posting about having to give your food away. Do you rotate/replenish your MREs into regular diet or are they just an insurance policy renewed every year or so?

I rotate and replenish as I go, I also use them when I wild camp/hike.

I am not guaranteed to get the MREs that I like as all Military's are improving/adjusting their Rations, so when I find a meal I like I bulk buy in boxes of 20.

https://preppersshop.co.uk/military-arm ... -408-c.asp

Not sponsored, and I wait until they have a sale on

[GeraldTheBonzai]

At a pinch we could go 3+ months based on reserves.
What we don't have, and I need to fix, is drinkable fluids reserves.

[izzy_mack]

if it's just the two of us, several months although that would include some pretty weird meals. If { and I suspect I would) I have to help other family members a lot less than that. It would also depend on the time of year and what food we had in the garden and what wild food was available and if we managed to keep it from being stolen.

also have a small 2 ring and little oven calor gas cooker and bottles of gas and can cook on the top of the log burner.
Weak point would be dairy produce and flour. maybe need to give that some thought.

[Arzosah]

Izzy's post is what I'd write, more or less, though I'm bad at growing and harvesting. I'd run out of water first, I've been slowly increasing stocks, but its difficult. Sorting the garden would also mean sorting the water butts, which would be nice.