# How long could you last with your food?



## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

It is possible that this topic or a similar topic has been posted here before. 

The one year's supply of food and water is the classic goal that is talked about. I am wondering how many people are good for a longer period? And how long are you going to be good if you and your family alone are eating your food?


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## ComputerGuy (Dec 10, 2010)

Probably 1 year so far. Plus raising chickens, gardening, rabbits, and turkeys, hopefully longer


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

We have a year's supply of food and water for the four people we're prepping for. Now there's a baby on the way and we're totally unprepared for that. We're buying baby clothes at thrift shops from newborn to a year old. Still need a year's worth of disposable diapers, baby wipes, formula, and a ton of other things. My stepson's wife has a heart-shaped uterus. The doctor told her she might have a breech birth and require a C-section. She's due in late October. I hope the collapse doesn't happen before that.

We're also prepping for our two cats and my stepson and wife's two cats. We have about 250 cans of cat food but want to increase that to 360 cans. The cans are small. They're meant to be supplemental nutrition for the cats. We also have a good 150 pounds or more of dry food. I have to add up how much we have and try to figure out how much more we will need.


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## mojo4 (Feb 19, 2012)

Bill feed the cats veggie based food. The cats taste better on a veggie diet! Cat gumbo, lemon cat, cat pot pie, roasted cat.....umm that's as far as my cookbook goes and then I can't translate any more!


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## PrepN4Good (Dec 23, 2011)

mojo4 said:


> Bill feed the cats veggie based food. The cats taste better on a veggie diet! Cat gumbo, lemon cat, cat pot pie, roasted cat.....umm that's as far as my cookbook goes and then I can't translate any more!


:lolsmash: (uh...not so much)


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## tac803 (Nov 21, 2010)

mojo4 said:


> Bill feed the cats veggie based food. The cats taste better on a veggie diet! Cat gumbo, lemon cat, cat pot pie, roasted cat.....umm that's as far as my cookbook goes and then I can't translate any more!


Umm....


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## missDaniMF (Jul 9, 2012)

BillS have you considered cloth dipes and wipes? In time of need they're much more practical and cost effective.


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## missDaniMF (Jul 9, 2012)

Also good to know where the nearest midwife is locally, they're very experienced in breach births most of the time. In fact around me most doctors won't even attempt breach births, they automatically recommend c-sections, midwives deliver breach much more often than most Drs


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Years, with the garden going each year and with local resources...indefinitely.l


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

Hittin about 6 months now.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

missDaniMF said:


> BillS have you considered cloth dipes and wipes? *In time of need they're much more practical and cost effective.*


Not to mention the logistical nightmare of storing that many packages. And then where do you dispose of all those used diapers if there is no regular trash collection?

But to answer the question, we're in the 1 year area for most things.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I vote for the new diapers that are water resistant diaper holders that velcro on baby and then you replace the soiled cotton diaper inside. 
Keep a few disposables for traveling tho.. that way if you are in a hurry then you could just change and go. not have to worry about dealing with diaper mess.
The same material that you make the diaper holders with you can also make feminine pad holders too.. so that you have a washable liner to keep your delicate dainties clean and have many pads that are also washable. 
The pool shock would come in mighty handy for cleaning the diapers and feminine pads. Not to forget potty cloths. 
I know that most men folks think.. Apocalypse-food/ammo =life... Us delicate flowers think.. humm Apocalypse-food/ammo/comfort=living.. 

Oh and on the matter of the OT I probably could stretch it to about a year for 5 adults and two children.. but I have the means and knowledge to add to that a lot.. my garden is smaller this year but in and I have enuf seeds and ways to preserve my harvest for at least two years or more.(seeds can be re-saved from each year, but I often save enuf of each kind each year to start them the next year in case of crop failure.) and know of thousands of plants (well okay maybe only a few hundred )and other things that are edible.


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

Eat the children before they hit the teen years... trust me on that 

We're several months, but most of our canning and stores is more for quality rather than pure long term prepping.


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## d_saum (Jan 17, 2012)

I'm probably at several months. I'm about start purchasing more though since I am now back working again and have some disposable income. I have food, but know I am seriously lacking in other areas! I need to shore up my stores there asap!


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

partdeux said:


> Eat the children before they hit the teen years... trust me on that


True that! The "terrible 2's" were a walk in the park compared to the terrible teens. :surrender:


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## machinist (Jul 4, 2012)

I dunno. It's a hard question. We never tried it, but best guess would be a couple years. It might not be exactly what we WANTED to eat, but it would be healthy food. For instance, I'm not real big on certain fish, but if it's in the freezer and it's all I have... 

We do pretty well store what we eat and eat what we store. There are just afew things that found their way into the pantry that I'm not wild about. On the plus side, we have barrels of wheat, and I do LOVE whole wheat pancakes with sorghum molasses. I could eat that for breakfast for a l-o-n-g time and be happy about it. :2thumb: Got barrels of corn, too, and I do love cornbread. 

If we pushed that sort of thing, we could stretch it a lot farther. I mean without doing any trading, or leaving the place to go fishing, or anything like that, but using what we have and what we grow. Wife and I are both old, retirement age, so we don't eat much. That helps.


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## FrankW (Mar 10, 2012)

about 4 weeks


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## ilovetigger (Aug 10, 2011)

partdeux said:


> Eat the children before they hit the teen years... trust me on that
> 
> We're several months, but most of our canning and stores is more for quality rather than pure long term prepping.


But working hard to try to get 2 years ahead on canned goods. 2 years was suggested in case of poor crops.


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## bacpacker (Jul 15, 2011)

Preserved goods, both store bought and home processed some where around a year to two. Plus we have a good size garden with a bunch of seed so we could grow for a long time. This year the garden isn't as large as normal, but we'll still put up a lot out of it. 

I have also stored wheat and corn in bulk. Next up is oats and bulk rice. I've been considering using 55 gallon barrels with a diver made up to create 5 compartments. I'll figure out a good ratio to use up a barrel all together and put in wheat, corn, oats, rice, and beans, use a good amount of dry nitrogen and seal it up. Keep it cool and dark they should last for years. Some what varied and good nutrients.


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## stayingthegame (Mar 22, 2011)

as to the birth after the shtf find a paramedic. they are trained to handle births.


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

Year and a half of FD foods at 3 meals a day, 3 months of store bough canned goods which I rotate through. With a successful garden I could stretch it for 3 years or more. Sundries I am good for two years on most things, some things more. Dog food a solid year, supplementing with the garden could stretch it to two.

I planned for a year but stocked a bit more for barter with the neighbors. They are preparing for the rapture so no food needed there. Wait, wasn’t the rapture supposed to be last year on May 21?


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## mojo4 (Feb 19, 2012)

We have about 18 to 24 months put away now. Lots of good nutritious food too. I will most definitely eat healthier after SHTF than I do now, unless the local fast food joints stay open!! BTW, does anyone recommend a seed company for non GMO seeds? I have a big garden but not sure if the seeds can reproduce or not and I really don't want to risk saving seeds that can't spawn new life!


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

Bakers Creek, Totally Tomatoes, Johnnies Seeds to name a few I use.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I can second Baker Creek seeds(rareseeds.com) they test most of their seeds for GMO contamination.
I also used to hang out on their forums and there is a huge amount of seed trading that goes on there.. 
from one years worth of good saved heirlooms seeds, I spent about $30 in postage and traded my three seed kinds with about 17 different people and got back more seed than I knew what to do with.. 
I started with Opalka tomatoes/purple podded pole beans/green zebra tomatoes. that is all I had saved up from the first year of growing heirlooms. 
I ended up with many favorite things from those trades.. most of it great a few just okay. but loved it.. $30bucks was my garden/seed/plant money for the year. if I had only used it for seeds I may have gotten 10 packs of seeds or even 3 flats of plants.. I ended up with over 70 different seed types.. from tomatoes to corn to peppers and more beans than I'd seen and cowpeas and broomcorn and cotton and squashes of all types.


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## 101airborne (Jan 29, 2010)

Davarm said:


> Years, with the garden going each year and with local resources...indefinitely.l


Same here. If we have to count solely on our stores we'd be good for about 18 months now. We could ration and strech to about 20-21 months. BUT add the fruit trees, berry bushes/plants, foraging, we could last indefinetly as well.


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## prairie (Jun 11, 2011)

My food preps are somewhat uneven and I know I have holes in some areas. I easily have enough rice/wheat/beans for at least a year. Other staples maybe 6 months, meat probably 4 months. On another survival forum there was a very interesting and informative thread of someone who lost his job and they went through their food preps in a year. He listed everything they ate and he commented how you eat more than you think. After looking at his list I could definitely see the holes in my preps and that mine wasn't going to stretch nearly as long as I thought.


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