“There is nearly zero down side to stock piling food items that can survive for 5 , 10 or (If you buy from survival retailers) 25 years.”
Other than the expense of packaged survival foods I agree. But if one does a bit of research and learns a few skills our grandparents took for granted you can easily put back a years worth of more without spending a fortune.
Learn how to can. For the price of 15 days worth of dehydrated food you can buy yourself a high quality pressure canner and cases of jars, lids, and bands. With that you can put back as much of your own high quality food as you wish.
We got our 17 quart All American Canner second hand off Craigslist. $100. That thing will last you a lifetime and beyond if properly cared for.
Buy a dehydrator. Once again we found an Excalibur 5 tray on Craigslist for $50. It makes excellent jerkies and dried fruit. These will last months stored properly.
The commercial survival foods have their place. But they’re expensive and require lots of water. Home canned beef stew, however, does not. And we are eating stuff we canned two years ago. The flavor isn’t lost and all we have to do is heat it up.
Add in rice, beans, and dried pasta and you’ll be able to feed yourself and your family for months if not years. You’ll know what’s in it because you made it. No preservatives, artificial flavors or colors, just real food.
Does it take some time and effort? Yep. Sure does.
Will you learn a valuable skill? Damned straight you will.
As to ammunition; if you haven’t already learned to reload and laid in components in quantity then it’s pretty much too late. I’ve been obtaining primers, powder, and projectiles in quantity for years. Bought it cheap and stacked it deep so to speak.
I’ve got a single stage RCBS for the match grade stuff. A buddy has a Dillon Progressive for cranking out quantity. Between us we have enough powder to give our local Fire Chief a serious case of the vapors. LOL
Just my opinion. As always YMMV.
L
many have. Although for the the last 3 years primers and powder have gotten expensive when you could find them at all. This is why I encourage people to build their firearms collection around a very few popular calibers. I stick with 9mm, 5.56 and 308, along with shotgun.
Good advice ;-)
Don’t forget seeds and gardening tools!
Gardening is a skill that takes practice to develop, and it sometimes takes a few tries to find the best varieties for your location and gardening style. If you don’t know how to save seeds, get a book on the subject.
Even if nothing happens, growing your own food is rewarding in ways that are hard to describe.