My Shopping List for a Year's Supply of Food

We have 93 pints less of home-canned food than when this picture was taken about 2 months ago (not all of the 350+ pints of food show up n the picture).  Yikes! At this rate, we'll be about out by the time new food is available in the garden in the late spring!  I guess that works out, but still!  Guess we need to be eating more out of the freezer (or canning the stuff in the freezer), since, even though we won't go hungry either way, frozen food isn't being counted for food storage purposes.

A couple weeks ago, I posted a list of what it would take for my family to have a year's supply of food.  Today, I went through everything (shelf stable) I had on hand to see how I was sitting with regard to hitting that goal.  Boy, was I disappointed!  We could go maybe a month with what I have here if we couldn't use anything from the fridge or freezer!  Ugh!  On the plus side, I do have a lot of stuff frozen as well, so I probably could can up a bunch of that, either as single ingredients or as soups, rather than buying a lot of stuff.  I also probably could collect more nuts and things this summer rather than buying most of those, although I know I will want to buy some too, since a lot of the nuts I enjoy are not ones that can be randomly found in Michigan (pecans and Brazil nuts come to mind: my two favorites).  I also will be keeping this list in mind as I plan the garden for the year,  In other positives, I discovered that I have a good supply of a few things, like yeast, and have nearly as much as I need for a number of other items.  The remaining numbers are huge though!  Here is my current "shopping list" of what I still need to acquire, although, obviously, unless I won the lottery or something (but first I'd have to play!), I won't be getting this all at once!  Quantities listed are minimums, especially those things involving chocolate.

Wheat, grains, grains flour & beans = 1680 lbs            

            ? barley

22 lbs cornmeal

            60 lbs whole wheat flour

            113 lbs rice

            86 lbs pasta

            118 lbs granola & oatmeal

            60 lbs cold cereal

            193 lbs dried beans

Powdered milk, dairy products, & eggs=512 lbs

            257 lb milk, non-instant powdered

            51 lbs butter, dehydrated

            64 lbs minimum

            16 cans evaporated milk

            Yogurt starter

            Cheese cultures

Sweeteners: honey, sugar, and syrup=240 lbs

            180 lbs honey

            33 lbs maple syrup

            1 lb molasses

            21 lbs white sugar

Cooking catalysts: salt, oil, leavening

            11 lbs salt

            10 lbs baking soda

            26 gal vegetable oil

            13 gallons olive oil

Canned/dried fruits, Veggies, & Soups=6479 servings

            2744 servings canned fruits

500 lbs potatoes

-          65 lbs dried potatoes

-          Canned potatoes, white or sweet

-          247 lbs fresh white potatoes

-          60 lbs sweet potatoes

2505 servings canned veggies

-          Green beans

-          Kidney beans

-          Beets

-          Carrots

-          Corn, cut

-          Corn, creamed

-          Spinach

-          Peas

-          Tomato paste

641 servings soup

257 servings conveniences (Spaghetti-Os, box mac & cheese, etc)

Kitchen stables: condiments & seasonings

            Olives

            2-5 jars mayonnaise/salad dressing

            11 lb chocolate chips (minimum)

            3 lbs cocoa powder

            1 lb cornstarch

            10 lbs dry gelatin

            33 jars peanut butter

            50 lbs nuts & seeds

            16 boxes saltines

            2 bottles soy sauce

            1 bottle steak sauce

            1 bottle Worchestershire sauce

            3 gallons apple cider vinegar

            10 gallons white vinegar

            Herbs/spices (1 each):

-          Garlic powder, Dry mustard, Onion powder, Parsley, Black pepper, White pepper, Cayenne pepper, Rosemary, Cumin, Nutmeg, Chili powder, Thyme, Bay leaves, Oregano, Cinnamon, Cloves, Majoram, Ginger, Turmeric, Basil, Allspice, Sage,Paprika

Almond extract

Vanilla beans

Meat & seafood=1788 servings

            Canned venison

            Jerky

            Canned poultry

            Luncheon meats(?)

            Canned seafood

Pleasure foods, etc=5084 servings

            Tasty beverages=1877 servings

-          Juice

-          Herbal tea

-          Soft drinks

-          Hot chocolate

-          Coffee

Snackies=1923 servings

-          Candy

-          Tortilla chips

-          Potato chips

-          Pretzels

-          Snack crackers

-          Pudding, shelf stable

Feeding My Family Makes me a Terrorist?

According to Senator Rand Paul (and rampant internet rumor), "someone who has more than seven days of food in their house can be considered a potential terrorist."  Because of this, a lot of people have expressed concern that I might be considered a possible terrorist because I am (quite publicly) trying to get a year's supply of food stored for my family's use.  Am I worried?  No.

First off, I don't think someone that was amassing a supply of food for nefarious purposes would be so open and public about it.  Secondly, all one has to do is look at my background to see why I might be doing a little stockplin'.  And, no, I'm not talking about my white, middle-class, good girl, nice college educated background, although that probably wouldn't hurt.  I'm talking about my adult life where things haven't gone so well, despite that quality, yet strangely worthless, college education.  The adult life where there have been times that I've had $5 or less to feed my family for a month and relied heavily on foraging, since I didn't know how to garden yet and didn't have a good place to do it in our apartment.  Or the aspect of the adult life where we had to live with my husband's mom for seven years before we could get a place of our own.  The adult life where my husband was injured on the job and couldn't work for nearly a year, then let go from that job about a year and a half later.  In other words, we've struggled.  A lot.  Money is constantly uncertain and, for many of these times, food was very uncertain as well.  These are the reasons I learned to forage, to garden, and to cook so darn well.  No, I'm not sitting around feeling sorry for me or my family, I'm just explaining why, other than terrorism, someone might gather an extensive supply of food while they have the means to do so.

While stories like that of my family may not be that uncommon (or maybe it is, since I think a lot of people would have just given up by now instead of keep getting back up for more), there are bunches of other reasons I can think of that someone may amass enough food to last months or even years:

• Gardeners: while many may see us as a sick bunch with our dedication to making green things grow, we like our homegrown goodies and try to make them last, so we preserve them, if we can, to last through the off season
• Canners: also a twisted group of souls (which of course, I wouldn't say unless I was part of this group), we love the sound of the pop when a jar seals and the corresponding pop when it is opened.  Because of this goofy obsession (if you don't think it is goofy, just look at the expression on a canner's face when either pop sounds), we want to make the fun last throughout the year.
• Hunters: without this group, there would be a lot more starving beasties and more car/deer collisions throughout the year, but I don't know of any family that can eat an entire deer in a week or less.
• Extreme couponers:   a group considered by many to be at least slightly crazy, but not dangerous (unless maybe you get in their way of a deal), they get stuff when the stars, or at least the sales and coupons, align right.  Since that doesn't happen for every item every week, they get the mass quantities when they can.
• Mormons: it's a religious imperative to have a year's supply of food.  I'm not sure why, because I've never really looked into their beliefs, just the great lists of what one should have for such a supply, but I'm fairly certain Mormons are not known for terrorist activities.
• Elderly people: anyone that lived through the Great Depression or WWII is likely to have tendencies to get the goods when they can (I remember seeing my grandma's pantry after she moved on, with its approximate bagillion cans, especially kidney beans.  She had about a googolplex cans of kidney beans for some reason).  Even as this generation dies off, their influence continues on with younger people that learned from them.
• People who live in the country: Gas is expensive.  When the nearest store is in a neighborhood far, far away, it doesn't make sense to get groceries every few days or even every week.  Limiting the trips to the store can save a lot of money.
• People who only get paid every couple weeks or even less often:  if you get paid less often than once a week, but are living paycheck to paycheck, sometimes that money can seem to evaporate pretty quickly!  Many, many people will buy their groceries for the entire payperiod, at least the bulk of them, in one trip, so they don't end up short on food at the same time as they are short on funds.
• People who live in disaster prone areas: I don't know how many stories I've heard in my life, usually from people in hurricane prone areas, of the stores being closed for at least a week, sometimes as long as a month, after a storm.  If you only have a week of food at a time, you'd have to wait until the last minute before the storm hits in order to have enough food to possibly be okay until the supply chain reopens.
• Anyone that listens to the CDC: the CDC recommends a minimum two week supply of food be maintained in the home.  From their website: "Even though it is unlikely that an emergency would cut off your food supplies for two weeks, consider maintaining a supply that will last that long."  FEMA and the American Red Cross concur, strangely enough using the exact same language in this document on emergency preparedness.  While I'm sure there are some people that would disagree, I'm pretty sure the US government wouldn't consider the CDC, FEMA, or the Red Cross to be organizations engaged in or encouraging terrorist activity.

So whether your reasons be religious like the Mormons, following the government's own recommendations, practical like the people who buy groceries when they get paid, or common-sensical, like elderly people or people in hurricane or winter weather zones,  or other one of the other crazy reasons I listed, I really think, if the only "suspicious" activity one is engaged in is having a larger than average supply of food on hand, you probably don't have anything to worry about.  Come to think of it, I bet when you consider all these different groups, having more than a week of food in your house is probably downright normal!

How long could you go without buying food, if you needed to?  Do you fall into one or more of the categories I mentioned if you do have more than a week's worth, or do you have reasons I may not have thought of?

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This post is part of Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways #10.