Preppers - How Much Food Is Enough

[JohnyMac]

I belong to three MAG's (Mutual Assistance Groups). I asked my home group when we met two Sunday's ago, "how much food is enough?"

The good news was that every household had at least one year on hand. One had two-years on hand. Then I asked, "how much do you have on hand when family & friends show up?" Well everybody got real interested in their dinner plates and you could hear a pin drop.

With a possible new pandemic arising in China, which I wrote about yesterday titled, Dr. Malone Reports New Pandemic Coming From China how much food do you thing is enough to have stored up for the dark times? Has anybody seen the empty shelves of late in the grocery stores?

This is an open honest discussion amongst all Unchainedpreppers subscribers. What do you think?

A few thoughts before your respond.

1) Your children/family think you are nuts for prepping. The SHTF and guess what, they will be showing up at your door.
     Sure you have boasted that you would not help them out because they have not done their part prepping. When they
     come to your door, you will let them in.
2) Add to #1 from above, friends and neighbors? I defiantly want my neighbors to not go hungry. Failure help out will get
    you dead. 
3) Folks living in rural areas will have less of an issue with this next threat than suburbia or urban settings but...hungry
    displaced peoples wandering the countryside looking for food. Heck in suburbia-land, your next meal is next door.

So, let's us put our heads together and come up with a consensus on - How much food is enough.

Let 'er rip! 

[Jackalope]

There are three major factors in determining how much food to store:
1. Finances.  How much food can you afford to purchase?  Unlike the Federal government, most of us don't have unlimited means to make purchases.
2. Availability of Supplies.  Connected to finances, if food stocks are not available, it doesn't matter how much money you have.
3. Storage Space.  Bulk food storage requires sufficient, safe storage space.  Food stocks can be ruined by vermin and pests, or it can be lost to raiders.

     For our family, we store as much as we can afford, that's our primary limiting factor.  So, we're always adding, no limit except funding.  We have at least a years supply, for us, our children/grandchildren and our four-legged security contractors.  We do think of our neighbors, but we also realize we can't feed the entire neighborhood.  You need to think about the family and friends who will be surviving with you, all others need to fend for themselves.  You also should be planning on growing some of your own food for long-term survival, that's why it's important to have a homestead.  So food is part of the equation, but food production equipment should also be factored in as well, i.e., seeds, fertilizers, hoes, rakes, rototiller, etc.

     Food can be the ultimate leverage.  Folks need to harden their hearts, you can't save everyone.

      :dancingBanana:I added the bananas, just because 

[Obh]

I'll bite (pun intended).

The Revelators recommends everyone have at least 3 months of food per person, so a family of 3 should have 9 months of food on hand. Food storage = physical space, which not everyone has. Poking around various prepping sites, this seems to be the normal recommendation.

When other shortages started popping up when COVID hit, we quickly realized that 3 months is honestly not that much. Certainly if everyone has only 3 months of food (even a years worth wouldn't have been enough) and they locked everything down until COVID ended, well most of us would have gone hungry or the big revolt would have started.

Regarding the 3 scenarios above - I'm in the 3rd boat. Most folks "know" that rural areas have food. They see a farm or homestead and automatically think food is available.

That being said, helping out the wanderer might do more harm than good. If you give them something, do they
4. Assume you have sufficient stores because you were able to give them some and continue to come back for more?
5. Do they just assume you were being nice and continue on their way?
6. Do they blab to the next person they see and suddenly you have a horde at your door demanding food/water?

I don't have the answers, but I always assume the worst and try to prepare for it. In my scenarios above, I assume 4 and 6 are the most likely and try to prepare for those threats. Of course I can always turn said people away and avoid the scenarios above, but maybe I'll need the manpower in the future (crops, homeSEC, etc).

Standing by for comments, I'm curious as well.

[Felix]

At this point, I still have to agree with Jackalope - there will have to be some heart-hardening.
  Preppers have stocked a lifeboat.   That boat, if overcrowded... swamps.   Might as well have not bothered with any boat in the first place if you aren't capable and willing to control numbers crowding the boat.    Any boat's captain is responsible for its passengers and crew.
The implications are horrific if carried to the extreme.
But the one who built and stocked the boat is not at fault for this.  Their responsibility is in making sure the boat stays afloat, saving what and who is practicable, not a charitable hope and wish list that would defeat the original purpose.
By this measure the question, "how much food is enough"?    Never enough.   Unless...
What would Jesus say?

[Sir John Honeybucket]

And then there is the question of how many others have been told by immediate family that 'oh our Nana & Papa have LOTS of food, and they live on a farm ...'.  Next thing , all the multi-generational welfare, unmarried who heard this nonsense show-up with their 3-7 kids and nineteen baby daddies each, because maybe our actual flesh & blood daughter felt sorry for them and/or ran their mouth. 

A>  No

B> Out there, they might die - here they absolutely will die.

C>  If they have gone 2 days without McDonalds, they are not 'starving' and are definately not in danger.  The only problem is that their mouth is 'bored'.


Sir John Honeybucket

[JohnyMac]

All great comments folks.

Obh and I had an earlier discussion on just this subject. We have both come to the conclusion as being part of the leadership of MAG's and like groups, "you can lead a horse to water but you can not make them drink".

What is enough? For MrsMac and I, due to PERSEC I will not say however, we have added a little extra for charity. How it will be doled out will be a challenge for sure to all the reasons that Jackalope, Obh, Felix, and Sir John wrote about.

Well what we have is clearly not enough as MrsMac and I, keep adding to the stash every time we go to the store. A can here or there adds up.

Now with that all written, what ever we have in our larder is not infinity. As mentioned by Jackalope, we have other ways of producing food. Chickens, hogs, vegetable garden, etcetera. If you have the space work on these also this coming year.

This is great stuff folks. Let's keep this thread rolling.   

[DMCakhunter]

We targeted shelf stable food for 1 year for 2 people at each location. Plus what we have in chest freezer, the fridge and pantry at each location should add another 3-4 months for us. If both my kids show up, we will be fine. No one else is invited. Main house is all electric, city water, septic, creek behind the property, lots of room, no woodstove = not ideal. Cabin is on a lake, well, septic, wood stove with wood, propane tank, room enough for 6 people plus our camper and 3 acres of woods - this is our go to place if no EMP involved. If we can travel, we will take food and supplies with us, nearly doubling our food.

I am short on dog food - thanks Jackalope for the reminder.

[JohnyMac]

I am short on dog and cat food. I use to stock up when I received 10% off coupons from Tractor Supply, however they have stopped coming. Typically, for the critters, I like to always have 3-months on hand so when I received the coupons I brought up our critter level to 6-months. This includes food for cat, dog, and chickens.

Food for the pigs comes from Wegman's.  We are on a pick up once every two weeks for grub passed exp. date - Veggies, bread, fruit, etc. We do have about 1-months supply of pig feed if needed.

Cows and steers get baled hay in the winter.

[Nemo]

Glad you have pigs.  They can assist in disposal discouragement of uninvited interlopers.

Nemo

[RB in GA]

I keep about three years worth in staples (rice, beans, potatoes) and probably a year and half's worth of frozen meat. A year's worth of canned goods. Add to that a good 2 years worth of MREs/Mountain House etc... Seeds too. Probably a year's worth of paper products, hygiene items, etc...
Is it enough? No, not close.
 
As a nurse I figure I'll be having a clinic, and that means feeding patients. Which means dipping into supplies. Hopefully, some kind of barter could be worked out, but I wouldn't turn away someone in need. or a t least one good turn deserving another. Charity might get me killed, but like was said, but being stingy definately will.

So, I add something every time I go to the grocery store- even if its only 10 bucks worth. My wife just shakes her head and says "Well, we'll at least eat when we're old".  I hope she's right and that's all it will be needed for.

[grizz]

I'll add another twist to the sceniero

Suppose you turn people away and then a natural disaster happens and you lose your food supply. Something along the lines of earthquake, fire, tornado, windstorm that drops a tree on your food supplies, flood or anything that could destroy your supply, and you are then forced to go out and look for food. How much understanding will you have for those that turn you away???

[Felix]

"Suppose you turn people away and then a natural disaster happens and you lose your food supply. Something along the lines of earthquake, fire, tornado, windstorm that drops a tree on your food supplies, flood or anything that could destroy your supply, and you are then forced to go out and look for food. How much understanding will you have for those that turn you away???"

Total understanding.
Doesn't change the calculus by much though.   Just a shuffling of whose feet wear the moccasins.

[JohnyMac]

It is always good to have a second place to store food. In my neck of the woods, a 10x10-foot storage space is ~$500- a year.

A trucker fr1end of ours owned and operated his own moving truck for Bekins. He had several 10x10-foot storage sheds located across the country. He stored truck tires, and other truck parts in them. Each storage shed had a motorcycle in it too.

Along with the above, each shed had clothing, food, camp stove, cot, etcetera in those sheds. At the time he told me about them, I really didn't pay much attention. Looking back, I wonder how many sheds he or other truckers have across the country.