How much?

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  • dprimm

    Master
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    1   0   0
    Jan 13, 2013
    1,742
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    Just West of Indianapolis
    So as life continues, I start to wonder how much is enough. Ammo, I figure 1 million rounds per caliber should be sufficient. But what about food? Originally I wanted a years worth in hand. But storage realities, and trying to determine how much we go through blows my head apart.

    how much food is reasonable for the pantry? Other than meat, What is the guidance on how much to store? Mom grew up in post war Germany and they had to keep 30 day min on hand.
     

    Dan

    Plinker
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    0   0   0
    Jul 21, 2020
    20
    3
    Warsaw
    I guess it depends on how prepared you want to be and what kind of longevity goals you set for yourself. There’s definitely shortages of certain products at my local grocery store. Not saying that’s cause for alarm per se but we have always had it pretty easy here in the states. Supply chain interruptions could and will wreck a lot of people that don’t think ahead. I doubt things will get much worse than “oh crap I can’t buy hamburger this week” but ya never know. Probably be good to stockpile whatever you can while you can. And I don’t think there’s really a cap when it comes to prepping. There aren’t many folks I know of that are financially capable of over preparing so I’d say just get whatever you can. The more self sufficient you can be and the longer you can maintain that self sufficiency, the better.
     

    Wolfhound

    Hired Goon
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    45   0   0
    Apr 11, 2011
    3,966
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    Henry County
    Good advice given above.

    Food is way more important than ammo. Most of us preppers fall into the guns and ammo rabbit hole because it's cool and more fun. However, you may never need to fire your weapon in self defense. You will always have to eat. Every. Single. Day.

    I worry about people with guns and ammo out the wazoo but only two weeks of food on hand. Hunger can turn good people into bad people. Especially with children involved. Store as much food as you can. If you actually have a million rounds of ammo sell 950,000 rounds and buy more food and water storage. :twocents:
     

    ajeandy

    Master
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    43   0   0
    Oct 25, 2013
    2,005
    63
    S. Indianapolis
    In order for there to be a situation so bad where you cannot get food anywhere, you're probably going to need to be more worried about how fortified your "safe space" is and the quality of your air / access to clean water rather than how much food / ammo you have.

    I cannot imagine a plausible scenario where you do not have access to food for longer than 2 weeks - 1 month. If that situation occurs then there's a good chance we've either been hit by a nuke or an asteroid.

    Please feel free to provide alternative scenarios where you think the average able-bodied person with transportation wouldn't have access to food for over a month? There is currently an excess of food supply right now. There was a slight shortage once covid lockdown initially happened and everything was closed, but now they have so much meat they don't know what to do with it. 1st world problems.
     

    DoggyDaddy

    Grandmaster
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    73   0   1
    Aug 18, 2011
    102,094
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    Southside Indy
    In order for there to be a situation so bad where you cannot get food anywhere, you're probably going to need to be more worried about how fortified your "safe space" is and the quality of your air / access to clean water rather than how much food / ammo you have.

    I cannot imagine a plausible scenario where you do not have access to food for longer than 2 weeks - 1 month. If that situation occurs then there's a good chance we've either been hit by a nuke or an asteroid.

    Please feel free to provide alternative scenarios where you think the average able-bodied person with transportation wouldn't have access to food for over a month? There is currently an excess of food supply right now. There was a slight shortage once covid lockdown initially happened and everything was closed, but now they have so much meat they don't know what to do with it. 1st world problems.

    Clearly you haven't been grocery shopping lately. Kroger is still frequently all but sold out of bacon, and pork-based lunchmeats. I buy bacon when I see it, even if it means freezing it. It's gotten better than it was at the beginning of the Covid crap, but it's not back to normal by any means.
     

    maxwelhse

    Grandmaster
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    0   0   0
    Aug 21, 2018
    5,415
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    Michiana
    So as life continues, I start to wonder how much is enough. Ammo, I figure 1 million rounds per caliber should be sufficient.

    You planning to invade Michigan? I'm not even sure I could roughly calculate the space required for that many rounds for each of my calibers. I'm genuinely impressed if that wasn't a joke or exaggeration.

    As far as food, 'rona taught me that my regular everyday inventory is about 4-6 weeks without even worrying much about what I'd prefer to eat. I'd like to extend that out to about 12 weeks with long lasting shelf stable stuff.

    So, my personal answer is about 90 days. If the goose is fully cooked beyond 90 days, I'm probably not going to be the guy who survives it anyhow and would just be a supply donor for those that do, so, no point stock piling for them any deeper than that.
     

    dprimm

    Master
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    1   0   0
    Jan 13, 2013
    1,742
    83
    Just West of Indianapolis
    I'm genuinely impressed if that wasn't a joke or exaggeration.

    Oh, I have NOWHERE near 1 million rounds of ammo. Not even by a figment of a decimal. Alas, everyone asks how much ammo is enough. So why not 1 million rounds? A fellow can dream, right?

    I like the 4-6 weeks of not worrying about what I would prefer to eat. 12 weeks minimum with stable stuff.

    I don't worry about meat. THAT I have access to. Stuff on the foot does not rot. The rest is where I am trying to have enough ... but not go overboard.

    With China's rice crop being decimated, Australia being out of domestic rice in December, Vietnam not exporting ... rice supply will get tight. The stuff here will be shipped overseas, even if the consumers here want it (look into the pork exports by Smith when the US markets were being shorted).

    i don't know yet what other country's wheat production was like, except China's was nearly destroyed by a frost. Not sure if our wheat belt got everything in or not.

    I am not concerned about now til 2021. 2021 is what I am actually worried about. So trying to figure out how much to have while it can be had ... without going overboard is tough.
     

    bwframe

    Loneranger
    Site Supporter
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    93   0   0
    Feb 11, 2008
    38,170
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    Btown Rural
    More than storing or putting up, if serious about survival food supply, we should change our habits.

    Hobbies and recreation that puts food in the pantry cost little and enrich lives. Be it gardening, hunting, fishing to raising chickens and bunnies, a working knowledge of how is critical.

    Because you own a fishing rod, rifle or shovel, doesn't make you a harvester with any of these tools.

    Do you own and run your dehydrator, Foodsaver and canners every harvest season? Do you fill your freezers with every seasonal food opportunity?
     
    Last edited:

    ajeandy

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    43   0   0
    Oct 25, 2013
    2,005
    63
    S. Indianapolis
    Clearly you haven't been grocery shopping lately. Kroger is still frequently all but sold out of bacon, and pork-based lunchmeats. I buy bacon when I see it, even if it means freezing it. It's gotten better than it was at the beginning of the Covid crap, but it's not back to normal by any means.

    Clearly I have....3-4x a week. They have never been out of bacon/pork....

    Perhaps it’s just your store. I got ground chuck for $2 a lb and froze a bunch of it. They were trying to get rid of it...
     

    Wolfhound

    Hired Goon
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    45   0   0
    Apr 11, 2011
    3,966
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    Henry County
    In order for there to be a situation so bad where you cannot get food anywhere, you're probably going to need to be more worried about how fortified your "safe space" is and the quality of your air / access to clean water rather than how much food / ammo you have.

    I cannot imagine a plausible scenario where you do not have access to food for longer than 2 weeks - 1 month. If that situation occurs then there's a good chance we've either been hit by a nuke or an asteroid.

    Please feel free to provide alternative scenarios where you think the average able-bodied person with transportation wouldn't have access to food for over a month? There is currently an excess of food supply right now. There was a slight shortage once covid lockdown initially happened and everything was closed, but now they have so much meat they don't know what to do with it. 1st world problems.

    You don't see getting hit by nukes or an asteroid as a plausible scenario or you are dismissing them as not survivable? How about a tsunami on one of the coasts? A major earthquake that takes out highway and rail bridges in a wide area?
     

    kaveman

    Expert
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    19   0   0
    Sep 13, 2014
    853
    93
    La Porte
    I no longer believe there is such a thing as going 'overboard'. 7 billion people on the planet and worldwide crop failures have happened in the past and surely will happen again. I would assume that a 'normal' years harvest roughly approximates a 'normal' years consumption on a global scale. It costs money to store food so we generally grow only as much as we consume. Do you think there's a stored supply somewhere for 7 billion mouths in the event we should miss a growing season? I don't. What happens if we have a redo of 1816's 'year without a summer'?
     

    maxwelhse

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Aug 21, 2018
    5,415
    149
    Michiana
    Oh, I have NOWHERE near 1 million rounds of ammo. Not even by a figment of a decimal. Alas, everyone asks how much ammo is enough. So why not 1 million rounds? A fellow can dream, right?

    I like the 4-6 weeks of not worrying about what I would prefer to eat. 12 weeks minimum with stable stuff.

    I don't worry about meat. THAT I have access to. Stuff on the foot does not rot. The rest is where I am trying to have enough ... but not go overboard.

    With China's rice crop being decimated, Australia being out of domestic rice in December, Vietnam not exporting ... rice supply will get tight. The stuff here will be shipped overseas, even if the consumers here want it (look into the pork exports by Smith when the US markets were being shorted).

    i don't know yet what other country's wheat production was like, except China's was nearly destroyed by a frost. Not sure if our wheat belt got everything in or not.

    I am not concerned about now til 2021. 2021 is what I am actually worried about. So trying to figure out how much to have while it can be had ... without going overboard is tough.

    Oddly enough, one of the very few "legit" preps I've bought only for that end, is a few #10 cans of rice. I like rice and I'm venturing I could pretty much double my inventory of available days of food just by adding a cup or two of rice to each one of them. Now that I see they're on sale (as opposed to sold out for months), I may buy a couple more. I bought some of their instant soup mixes too, thinking that ricey soup could be a 2 days a week thing pretty easily without really offending my dietary desires. I'm not sure if any of it tastes good or is a good value, but it's food and I have it now. I may order some more of the stuff to actually open and eat to see what I like and what I don't.

    I need to expand my deep storage pantry, and plan to, but without committing a heap of space or money to the cause I pretty much doubled my available food timeline with only a couple of moves like that. I added a few #10s of green beans, a few big cans of chicken, etc to pull the 4-6 weeks out to 12-ish. I'd guess if I had to I could go another few weeks past that eating delicious meals like "handful of white flour w/side of olive oil", but I'd probably start rationing well before then if it was really looking that bad.

    What I'm lacking for the long haul is protein. I should probably get some beans, but those have other side effects...
     

    DoggyDaddy

    Grandmaster
    Site Supporter
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    73   0   1
    Aug 18, 2011
    102,094
    77
    Southside Indy
    Oddly enough, one of the very few "legit" preps I've bought only for that end, is a few #10 cans of rice. I like rice and I'm venturing I could pretty much double my inventory of available days of food just by adding a cup or two of rice to each one of them. Now that I see they're on sale (as opposed to sold out for months), I may buy a couple more. I bought some of their instant soup mixes too, thinking that ricey soup could be a 2 days a week thing pretty easily without really offending my dietary desires. I'm not sure if any of it tastes good or is a good value, but it's food and I have it now. I may order some more of the stuff to actually open and eat to see what I like and what I don't.

    I need to expand my deep storage pantry, and plan to, but without committing a heap of space or money to the cause I pretty much doubled my available food timeline with only a couple of moves like that. I added a few #10s of green beans, a few big cans of chicken, etc to pull the 4-6 weeks out to 12-ish. I'd guess if I had to I could go another few weeks past that eating delicious meals like "handful of white flour w/side of olive oil", but I'd probably start rationing well before then if it was really looking that bad.

    What I'm lacking for the long haul is protein. I should probably get some beans, but those have other side effects...

    Tried to rep you, but yadda yadda yadda.... Thanks for the rice link! I'm going to order some in the morning. Already put my wallet to bed. :):
     

    maxwelhse

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Aug 21, 2018
    5,415
    149
    Michiana
    Tried to rep you, but yadda yadda yadda.... Thanks for the rice link! I'm going to order some in the morning. Already put my wallet to bed. :):

    Happy I was of some use to somebody for once. ;)

    They just hooked me for a cool c-note once I saw that deal. Free shipping on orders of $99, so, they paid me to take the stuff. The one thing I'm the most curious about, and was by far the most expensive, is a #10 of butter powder. I've never even heard of butter powder before, but plain white rice already sounds better with it in there.
     

    dprimm

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    Jan 13, 2013
    1,742
    83
    Just West of Indianapolis
    More than storing or putting up, if serious about survival food supply, we should change our habits.

    Hobbies and recreation that puts food in the pantry cost little and enrich lives. Be it gardening, hunting, fishing to raising chickens and bunnies, a working knowledge of how is critical.

    Because you own a fishing rod, rifle or shovel, doesn't make you a harvester with any of these tools.

    Do you own and run your dehydrator food saver and canners every harvest season? Do you fill your freezers with every seasonal food opportunity?

    I am learning. Gardens did well this year. Goal is to double it next year. Need to do better fishing. learned to can this season.

    byt learning takes time and failures. Want to be prepared to get through those times.
     

    kaveman

    Expert
    Rating - 100%
    19   0   0
    Sep 13, 2014
    853
    93
    La Porte
    Guys, guys,.....rice stores REAL easy. And paying $0.50/lb for rice is extravagant. My average shopping around is closer to $0.35/lb and much of that is top grade 'fancy' rice. $2/lb because it's in a can? No way. And rice alone will practically kill you as it's nothing but carbs. Mixed with beans or peas for protein makes for a 'complete' food. Basic food, but you can put back as much as you want to keep you going for a dollar a day.
     

    ajeandy

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    43   0   0
    Oct 25, 2013
    2,005
    63
    S. Indianapolis
    You don't see getting hit by nukes or an asteroid as a plausible scenario or you are dismissing them as not survivable? How about a tsunami on one of the coasts? A major earthquake that takes out highway and rail bridges in a wide area?

    Possible? Yes.

    plausible? No.

    Nuclear war or major space rock isn’t something you can realistically prepare for. You’d need a bunker to shelter from radiation, food supply for years, and have to worry about radiation or the earth being blocked from the sun thanks to a polluted atmosphere.

    Chances of survival are minimal and it’s basically and end of the world as we know it scenario. I try to prepare for plausible scenarios...

    I’m Indiana.... tornado... civil unrest....earthquake... all more plausible than what I mentioned.
     

    maxwelhse

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Aug 21, 2018
    5,415
    149
    Michiana
    Guys, guys,.....rice stores REAL easy. And paying $0.50/lb for rice is extravagant. My average shopping around is closer to $0.35/lb and much of that is top grade 'fancy' rice. $2/lb because it's in a can? No way. And rice alone will practically kill you as it's nothing but carbs. Mixed with beans or peas for protein makes for a 'complete' food. Basic food, but you can put back as much as you want to keep you going for a dollar a day.

    I don't disagree with any of that, but sealed in a can with desiccant, farmed in the US, shipped to my door, and to never be worried about until I want it is worth $2/lb. I clicked a few buttons and now I have my rice game handled and stored in vermin/water/bomb proof packaging. This is radically superior to where I was 6 months ago, with no rice game at all. :)

    I'm fairly confident I didn't suggest just eating rice?
     
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