Sometimes finances were a little tight when I was finishing up grad school. Those preps I had really came in handy!
We have completely rotated our non-freeze-dried preps about 2-3 times since 2008. We are self-employed and our cash flow and total income have been volatile for over 3 years.
We have experienced life without the grid and it is much better to be able to generate a little electricity than to have none at all. Twice we would have lost everything if we couldn’t have run pumps during a heavy rainy period that resulted in ground water rises. We aren’t in a flood plain, but we had a flood and a septic tank back up that the plumber said was *impossible*. It was the result of series of improbable incidents all happening at once, but it happened and it was miserable.