For how long could you live...

**sabrelvssammy** · 05-04-2012, 05:15 PM

Based on the food in your house now - be it stockpiles or just what is in the kitchen cabinets at the moment...

How long could you and your family sustain yourselves before running dry?

Pretend for a moment that you only had access to what was in the house, growing on your own land or within walking distance of your home. No neighbors, friends, etc to get anything from. Just you, your family, your pets and the land (and of course what you currently have in your cabinets, freezers, etc)...

You could grow items in a garden, raise livestock -chickens, forage for wild edibles, hunt, fish...whatever - but you can't buy seeds, bullets, worms for fishing... you can use what you already have, but you cannot replenish it with more. (Unless of course you know how to make bullets, or you salvage seeds from other plants)... If you don't have cows and chickens now - you still won't have cows and chickens in this scenario.

The world has dried up. No stores, no groceries, no cars, no gas...what you see is what you get. What you got is, well - what you got. Hint, Hint: what you know -would be pretty darn helpful at this point.

So if you live in the city, and you want to hunt, you would have to be able to walk as many miles as it took to get somewhere to make that happen. And when your bullets are all gone, you better be good with a bow or some big rocks.

So, how long....

Forever - you would just make things work?
A few years - and then that's it?
Two weeks - once the lone ketchup bottle in the fridge is empty?
One day - you don't even want to try and you all jump off a bridge?

I myself will have to take some time to reflect on this before I can comment (hey, it took all the available brainpower at the moment just to start the thread, okay...)

**Nana2two** · 05-04-2012, 11:06 PM

I would say 1 year for sure. I have 2 freezers, one full of meat and the other misc stuff. Butter,breads blanched froze veggies,I have 10 cases or corn, 10 cases of carrots,10 cases of green beans, 10 cases of potatos. 10 cases of kidney and chile beans.20 cases of tomato sauce. At least 20 pounds of dry beans. bulk flour and sugar. 20 boxes of dry milk. 60 cans of tuna. 200 boxes of pasta. I have around 200 misc sauce mix to make tacos, spagetti, casseroles.I have at least 60 blocks of frozen cheese.. 30 boxes of pancake mix. 30 bottles of syrup. 40 packages of sausage and 10 packs of bacon, 5 cases of different soups. 12 CONTANERS of oatmeal. 10 pounds of home made granola. huge jar of dry egg subsutute from the health food store, just add water.40 POUNDS OF TVP I Ordered bulk last year. stored in old coffee cans.i know i just added 5 cases of pinapple 5 cases of pears. I also have 10 cans of shortening, 5 pounds of yeast, ,a few jars of bp and bs.

**Contrary Housewife** · 05-04-2012, 11:07 PM

We could probably get through the summer with what is in the house and growing in the yard. But I'm not planning for armageddon, just the 5-10 days it takes FEMA and other emergency services to reach us after a killer tornado (which is a much more realistic scenario for us).

**brennasmom** · 05-05-2012, 12:52 AM

Wow, great question.

I am guessing a month but the meals would get pretty interesting. I do have a lot of rice and beans and pasta.

**zakity** · 05-05-2012, 12:59 AM

I have dinners planned out through the first few weeks of November. I also have a few extra on hand. Lunches and breakfasts would get interesting, but doable.

Um...yeah... About the bullet thing... DH reloads. We have tons of lead and primers and stuff. It keeps him busy and out of my hair. I call it a "mancraft".

**frugalwarrior2** · 05-05-2012, 01:12 AM

A year w/o a garden or hunting.

**Rosebudget1** · 05-05-2012, 07:04 AM

Not sure but we would be eating a lot of fish. I live within walking distance to the ocean and could fish with and eat mussels. Deer and turkeys run in my back yard. Wild berries. I would have fire wood but if we had no gas running the generator would not go for long.(so no freezer of fridge) So my answer I am not sure! We also have a well.

**monkeywrangler71** · 05-05-2012, 08:40 AM

Is there electricity in this scenario? Are all the other people dead or just not in a position to help? What is considered walking distance - am I supposed to be home every night? Am I allowed to use a human powered vehicle if I already own it?

**SwirlyThing** · 05-05-2012, 09:24 AM

I recently used up most of our storage because I didn't want to pack it up when we moved last week. So, there's not very much left in the house.... a couple of weeks probably.

After that, how well we do would depend on whether or not we're competing with everyone else in our area for the resources. If it's just us hunting and gathering, no problem. But if the entire population of the area is trying to hunt and gather to survive, then I suspect we'd all be in trouble.

Once we ran out of protein, DH would keep us in meat with squirrels, fish, whatever else he can bring home... he's a skilled hunter and fisherman. Small prey will come down with traps or even a sling shot.

It doesn't get very cold here and we can forage year round, and would be able to get by for quite some time on wild greens. Citrus fruits are plentiful here, both wild and in our own yard

Within 1/2 mile of here I can find willow bark, camphor and some other things for home-made pain killers.

Regardless of this, I would not survive indefinetely without access to commerically prepared medications.

**greekislandgirl** · 05-05-2012, 10:35 AM

Probably a year with what I have on hand now. We live in a city and I'm assuming I would have access to clean water and some sort of cooking source.

**melodys** · 05-05-2012, 12:09 PM

Right now less than a month. Have been eating the stockpile in anticipation of moving.

In my new home there is lots of room for a garden and there is a greenhouse and I plan on getting back into canning and getting a freezer so I anticipate that it will be significantly longer.

**known2him5** · 05-05-2012, 12:12 PM

Probably indefinitely. . . we already use heirloom seeds for the garden, have a small aquaponics set up, that we could enlarge, have chickens, rabbits, etc.

We know how to hunt, tan hides, spin various fibers (and some of our rabbits are angora), knit/crochet. . .

We have dried fruits and veggies on screens in our cars before, and could do it again if needed. . . .

The first year or so would be sparse, until we got enough seed ahead for larger plantings and until we got more proficient in some things that we only do occasionally now (figure on some loss the first few times do to human error in tanning, etc.)

**frugalfranny** · 05-05-2012, 12:29 PM

More than six months.......with healthy eating, after that it would depend on weather factors, and other things. Have seeds so would grow more things........and going into summer, this could be done.

But I "could eat" for a year, fairly easily, just not sure how healthy or how much of a rounded diet it would be. The first thing I would do is cut back on the "amt." that was being consumed.

**sabrelvssammy** · 05-05-2012, 12:32 PM

Originally Posted by monkeywrangler71

Is there electricity in this scenario? Are all the other people dead or just not in a position to help? What is considered walking distance - am I supposed to be home every night? Am I allowed to use a human powered vehicle if I already own it?

Wow- lots of questions.... okay-

Yes you have electricity & gas or whatever your house runs on. Don't worry about where it comes from - it's just there.

Yea, there are other people around- they just can't help you. And you can't help them.

No, you can go and be where ever you want, whenever you want. If you have to be gone for days and the family can make it without you, go for it.

Human powered, like a bike? Yea, if you can pedal it - you can use it. No cars or anything like that. Pretend they don't even exist anymore to keep things simple. If you have a horse or donkey- as long as they can carry you around you can ride them.

**alotofgooddeals** · 05-05-2012, 12:43 PM

I would do what it takes to make sure my kids are taken care off....

Originally Posted by known2him5

Probably indefinitely. . . we already use heirloom seeds for the garden, have a small aquaponics set up, that we could enlarge, have chickens, rabbits, etc.

We know how to hunt, tan hides, spin various fibers (and some of our rabbits are angora), knit/crochet. . .

We have dried fruits and veggies on screens in our cars before, and could do it again if needed. . . .

The first year or so would be sparse, until we got enough seed ahead for larger plantings and until we got more proficient in some things that we only do occasionally now (figure on some loss the first few times do to human error in tanning, etc.)