How long could you go without going to the grocery store?

**my4littlebuffaloes** · 05-23-2007, 08:50 AM

As in some sort of disaster has hit, snowstorm, illness, terrorist attact, etc - how long could you feed your family? Do you have plans in place in case something happens?

To answer my own questions I could probably feed my family decently for about 1 month, then we could come up with something to eat, but it wouldn't be balanced or probably filling for maybe another 2 months. This is not necessarily because of some plan I have, but to take advantage of sales and not have to pay full price, you have to stock up on things when they are on sale. therefore you generally end up with a surplus of many items at various times. This is what I have.

As for plans, I am feeling as if I should have more of something in place.

So how about y'all?

**danni** · 05-23-2007, 10:26 AM

I don't have any plans in place either, but I could feed us for about 2 months.

**redhead68** · 05-23-2007, 11:13 AM

I keep a more extensive stockpile in the winter than in the spring and summer when it's easy to get to the grocery or grab something out of the garden. I think I have a couple of weeks of food right now and the requisite 12 gallons of water for a family of four. (BTW, if you are ever in the situation of not having access to running water, remember that you can drain your water heater for a quick 40 gallons if there's no threat of contamination.) I might be able to stretch to three weeks of meals, but it would be a boring menu.

**kabin63** · 05-23-2007, 11:26 AM

I don't have a plan in place, but I know that I could feed us for at least a month. If I didn't have access to running water, I am fortunate that my neighbor has a functioning wind mill that draws water from 200+ feet below. In fact she told me that is one of the reasons they put the wind mill up. Then they could help the neighbors who needed water. I also know I could go to her and get eggs from her chickens if I needed to.

**tigo** · 05-23-2007, 11:31 AM

We have been following the plan in the Emergancy Preparedness Guide we got with our Backwoods Home subscription. There are also great articles on their website on this as well. We are working on having kits for our cars and restocking the provisions at home. To me, it makes it one less thing to have to worry about. When we went under a boil water order a few weeks ago, we didn't have to worry too much. We just used some of the bottle water we had on hand and had a large pot of boiled water on the stove.

**Backtoreality** · 05-23-2007, 12:11 PM

It depends on who is at home. For just me & DH probably 2-3 months. But with DS & DD at home probably just 1 month. You did get me thinking about building up my store on bottled water and powdered milk!

**pqb57** · 05-23-2007, 12:37 PM

I don't have a plan and we could last between 1 and 2 months.

**Dancing Lotus** · 05-23-2007, 12:43 PM

I coud last about a month but it would get weird after about three weeks. I have a stockpile but its kinda hit or miss. Im short on things like veggies and canned meats. I think its smart to keep things like canned hams on hand.

**fuzzybunny** · 05-23-2007, 12:48 PM

Well, I am single and shop for a month at a time, but I also have 20 or 30 pounds of cheap rice and several quarts of dried beans so I could hold out for some 2 or 3 months I think with careful rationing. However; if the situation was such that I was truly looking at needing to survive on only what I had stored for that lenght of time it would mean something catestrophic had happened... you know endtimes, revolution type stuff and I wouldn't sit tight for it.

I live in a few blocks from downtown Portland Oregon and I know that it wouldn't take long before all hell broke loose and things would get dangerous quickly. I'm urban now but come from mountain folk so I would go spam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typed double quick... pack my multi-day backpack, grab the gun and head for the woods. My dad lives down in the south of oregon on a self sufficient gold claim (solar panels, water pump... the whole 9 yards). I would hit the pacific crest trail and walk my butt to his house... take me three weeks but I suspect I would be safer way out in the woods with a Vietnam vet than around other people in such a situation.

Christine

**Radish4ever** · 05-23-2007, 01:00 PM

If we had electricity and my fridge and freezers were still working, we could probably go 2-3 months or more. Our pantry and freezers have a good supply of food in there and if it were truly an emergency, we'd probably all be going on smaller portion diets anyway!

**lullaby80** · 05-23-2007, 01:09 PM

We'd only have enough food for a couple of weeks.

**cebsme** · 05-23-2007, 01:46 PM

I gotta say about 4 months. Only because we do a lot of hiking and camping so i have a lot of freeze dried foods, and cooking supplies for camping. I also tend to stock up on food that can be eaten cooked or uncooked. We also have water tablets for making water drinkable.

**justpeachy92** · 05-23-2007, 02:27 PM

Our emergency food kit has enough food that can be eaten without cooking, and water to last about 2 weeks. Included in this kit is cash, because when electric goes out the atms don't work, and even though you can still pump gas, the stores end up doing the old cigar box to take payments. Before we got into the emergency kit we would be eating up what is in the fridge/freezer before it had a chance to go bad, this I could cook on the grill or an open fire if need be, and like we have done in the past these meals would be shared with neighbors just to avoid waste. There is probably 1-2 months of food in the pantry also, might not be the most nutritous(sp) meals, but we wouldn't starve. The emergency kit in the van is just a rubbermaid tote with 3 days worth of food and water for my family, some first aid stuff and more cash.

**Persimmon Lace** · 05-23-2007, 02:32 PM

3 months give or take, then it would depend on the time of year. If it is spring/summer/fall, we could forage for fresh greens if need be. I have about 52 gallons of water right now that has to be gone through this summer. Last year I used it to water the gardens during the drought.