How much do you store

I am scratching my head here.... How much food does one person put back to last a year. I went to the LDS site and that wasnt really helpful for me...

I am talking home canning,reserves, freezer stuff.... beef pork chicken and sundries... My reason for moving toward selfsufficency is I am going to be collecting Social security in a few years. If its still there... Whole other topic. My sole income unless I win the lottery... LOL.

I want enough to last at least a year... How do I start figuring that all out?

Aside from writing down EVERYTHING I consume for a year....

Yes I have livestock.... No I cant do a garden.

deb

I know that was discussed on another site. I will see if I can find that post to share.

I can't access that site right now.

One thing you can do is go to Sams or Costco and buy 50# bags of beans and rice. Seal it in Food Saver bags, stack in buckets and clamp the lid on. You might want to drop in a few oxygen absorbers. Beans and rice, properly stored will last for years. At the rate of inflation, you are making an investment. The LDS centers also have wheat, which stores for a long time. Get a grain mill and mill as needed. Buy whole corn and mill as needed. I go to the doughnut shop and get the buckets with lids for $2, some are squared and stack well. Whole grains will last years, properly stored. Sugar also stores well and is useful in making jelly and jams. You would want to do this for those years you are depending on social security and prices of food have nowhere to go but up.

Keep a food diary of what you eat for a month. Then multiply by 12. Throw in some extra just for grins. Don't forget soaps, toilet paper (after all who really wants to use corncobs?? )

After going back and reading your post, it seems like you might be a bit overwhelmed by the task before you. It is a big undertaking. But think on this......

How do you eat an elephant?? One bite at a time.

In my mind, it would come down to how many people are you planning to store for, and in what capacity? The occasional company over for dinner is usually no big deal. Even if they are unexpected, at least around here, there will be something for everyone. You might not be overstuffed, but you will eat. Is there the possibility of others coming to stay with you for an extended period of time? That could change things also. There are many factors, different for everyone, to consider. You will want to make sure and keep things like canning lids, etc. on your list as well. If you had to can the stuff in the freezer due to no power, you want to have the things on hand to do that.

Kind of falls back on my post about emergency prepardness. An emergency can be anything, long or short term. For me, it all rolls into the same thing. Living as prepared as you can on a daily basis will make things seem not as extreme when something does hit.

Storing whole grains, etc is fine, as long as you use them regularly. Suddenly switching to a whole wheat diet will deplete your TP supply pretty quick, as well as make for a miserable time for a while. Store what you use, use what you store. Rotation is critical.

The only way you are going to find out what you need for a year is to pay attention and note what and how much you consume in a month's time, then times that by 12. That will give you a rough estimate, barring seasonal diet changes, of what you may need for a year's sustenance.

Or weekly x 52...whatever way suits your style.

No good going on lists made by someone else because everyone has a different culture/eating habits that is their norm and they most likely will not eat from a generic list of items as readily as they would if eating from what they prefer.

We tweak it a little every year, but for us we just had a good hard think about what/how much/when we eat things and jumped in. It took a couple of years to get the basics right, now we're just cruising each year based on past years.

Don't make it too complicated, a lot of the online resources make it seem hard but deep down you know what you and your family need to get by and be comfy.

I'm still working on what all we eat in a year. I've been trying to to figure it out for several years.

One way I heard of that sounded pretty good is to start with 30 cans of soup per person (store bought or home canned). You now have at least 1 hot meal a day for a month. Add 6 pounds of rice per person and you have a more substantial meal by cooking 1/2 cup of rice to add to the soup. Now add a second meal by getting 6 pounds of oatmeal per person. You now have 2 hot meals a day for 1 month. Now do the same for the second month, etc. You can flesh it out by foraging, adding canned or dried fruits, veggies and meats, oils, spices and herbs etc later if you want, but this plan gives you a basic pantry of long-shelflife foods.