Figure $45/week/person for non perishable food and supplies.
This requires drawing up a menu of 3 meals a day that is food you normally eat. A bucket of beans and rice is not going to work.
2 months is an absolute minimum, 6 months is workable. Water must be figured in as well for both nutrition and hygiene. Look at your water bill and see how much your household uses.
For most folks 2 or more years of stored food is nice, but unworkable from a storage, maintenance, and economic standpoint.
Is that true for people on a well, and not on city water?? What about access to creek water than can be made drinkable??
My menu varies, I can go from one menu to an entirely different one easily; I did it for 29 years when I had to. I’ll assume the water system works fine which in my town is a safe assumption. Again, I’m talking disaster not anarchy.
We have tried a lot of different options over the years.
we have tried a lot of things...bulk storage, etc.
Ultimately, what works best is you to keep on hand
the foods that you like to eat:
cans of tuna, chili, soup, beans, peanut butter, or whatever...
The one thing most people forget about is water.
“This requires drawing up a menu of 3 meals a day that is food you normally eat. A bucket of beans and rice is not going to work.”
It works for me. I have buckets of wheat berries, beans, rice, oats, popcorn, barley, milk and I think that’s it. I use those items regularly and like cooking from scratch, so I know what’s in the food. Beans combined with rice or wheat will make a perfect protein. With the wheat, I can make bread, pasta, biscuits, pancakes... all sorts of things. I have #10 cans of condiments and other things to reduce appetite fatigue.
This is the cheapest way to store food, plus the buckets of grains will outlast me. I can use them whether there’s a meltdown or I’m older and all is fine, so better use them up. They don’t take up that much room and cost me less than $1500 for two years worth for two people.
You can get food stored in other ways, but will pay through the nose. And store-bought items will only last a few years. They’ll likely last longer than their expiration date, but nowhere near a decade.
Lotsa water up here! My well is set up for hand pump operation also if the power goes down plus there is year round water coming down thru the property from way up top, above and below ground. (I have a few different filters/tabs/procedures for ‘cleaning’ that water if I ever need it). I have been prepping for quite a while and am pretty much set with wood/food/ammo/weapons/first aid and security etc. etc. etc. but there is always something to add!