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How long could you survive on ONLY your pantry? - Page 3

post #41 of 98
4/13/08 at 6:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Thystle View Post
Yeah I am thinking with JUST the food in your house... no milk runs, no garden, no animals.

Just what you have in fridge, freezer and on shelves.
I'm not sure, but I'm guessing 6 months. We have a large deep freeze, a small deep freeze, a large pantry, and some basement storage. But if you let me garden, I could stretch it well past a year.

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post #42 of 98
4/13/08 at 6:15pm
Well we could probably survive for about 2 months, but after a few weeks it would be nothing but carbs and meat :
post #43 of 98
4/13/08 at 6:46pm

Probably about a week at the most...

I am on a strict budget right now and am not able to stockpile..We eat lean and bland now so I hope there isn't an emergency any time soon..And most of what I have now is dried beans,rice,potatos,some meat and dried cereal..We are out of milk and can't buy more till Friday so that wouldn't be the greatest..I also have a couple pounds of flour so I can make enough bread for a week or two or biscuits..Flour gravey over top..

Hoping to put a small garden in this year to help supplement our fresh veggies(which is basically none) and some berry bushes to make our own jam/have fresh berries..

Got me thinking about what I would do in an emegency though now..
post #44 of 98
4/13/08 at 7:00pm
A year, we have powdered milk and powdered eggs. We also have frozen eggs and eggs preserved for up to 6 months in a box in the basement as well as canned milk. We have a years supply of everything including paper products, toiletries, otc meds and cleaning supplies. We have lots of frozen veggies and canned and I've just planted some in containers in the basement, which I'll move outside once the weather is better.

I was laid off over two years ago from a high paying job. I later became ill and required major surgery and was in the hospital for two weeks. Last year dh lost his eyesight for a month and wasn't able to work. This is why we are so prepared.
post #45 of 98
4/13/08 at 7:57pm
If I continued to have a working oven/ stovetop and running water, quite a while (2 months maybe), if my kids and DH would actually eat what I put in front of them.

Without water we'd be in trouble. I had a small stash that I recently had to throw out because the bottles started leaking.
post #46 of 98
4/13/08 at 8:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SNRPMom View Post
Thystle Wrote:


If we're counting freezer, fridge and all shelves we could do a year. Dehydrated milk and eggs, frozen/dehydrated fruits and veggies, bottled garden produce. We might start getting limited in veggie variety by about 10 months in but it wouldn't be too bad.

Instead of Grocery game I PYP (it's free)...
what is PYP?
post #47 of 98
4/13/08 at 8:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Staceyy View Post
A year, we have powdered milk and powdered eggs. We also have frozen eggs and eggs preserved for up to 6 months in a box in the basement as well as canned milk. We have a years supply of everything including paper products, toiletries, otc meds and cleaning supplies. We have lots of frozen veggies and canned and I've just planted some in containers in the basement, which I'll move outside once the weather is better.

I was laid off over two years ago from a high paying job. I later became ill and required major surgery and was in the hospital for two weeks. Last year dh lost his eyesight for a month and wasn't able to work. This is why we are so prepared.
how do you freeze and/or preserve your eggs? are the preserved ones used the same as fresh eggs?
post #48 of 98
4/13/08 at 8:23pm
Right now? 2 months tops. Goal by August is to have 1 year worth of food put up, using a combination of shopping sales and bulk for canned and dry items + preserving our home grown stuff this summer.
post #49 of 98
4/13/08 at 8:27pm
I think probably about 6 months but there would be a lot of complaining about repetition, lol! I could stretch it out longer, especially if we were able to garden.
post #50 of 98
4/13/08 at 8:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zersha View Post
I sometimes envy those of you with 6-12mo of food stored up, but then I really don't like canned food very much, and don't eat meat, so filling our freezer with meat only helps my dh. The main canned things we use are tomato products, some beans, and some green beans.
I don't have that much stored; I'm guessing about 3mo, maybe longer if I'm lucky. But most of what I have stored is brown rice, oatmeal, dried beans, lentils, and baking supplies. And other grains like popcorn, millet, etc. (we are gluten-free and dairy-free). Also oil and maple syrup by the jug. I use canned tomatoes but not other canned things. Frozen fruit and veggies in winter. I have meat in my freezer right now, but that is cyclical depending on what is available.

Lentils and dried beans go a long way, and don't take up too much storage space. I don't like canned food, either.
post #51 of 98
4/13/08 at 9:08pm
Removed
post #52 of 98
4/13/08 at 9:14pm
One month in reasonable comfort, 2-3 with rationing.

I do lots of sale stocking up, however, I have been reluctant to stock up on things like canned or shelf stable milk that are more expensive, and we would be unlikely to use unless of emergency.
post #53 of 98
4/14/08 at 1:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1growingsprout View Post
I grocery game so we have about 6 mos of groceries stockpiled.
me too.
post #54 of 98
4/14/08 at 1:15am
2-3 months.
post #55 of 98
4/14/08 at 1:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by zersha View Post

I sometimes envy those of you with 6-12mo of food stored up, but then I really don't like canned food very much, and don't eat meat, so filling our freezer with meat only helps my dh. The main canned things we use are tomato products, some beans, and some green beans.
We don't eat much canned food either (most everything is fresh), but I figure that in a personal (prolonged unemployment) or community emergency (hyperinflation, some sort of crisis) we could adjust. Also, much of what we have stored now or plan to store is dry foods (fruits, oats, nuts grains, rice, pasta, legumes) and things like syrup and oil. We are trying to "store what we eat, eat what we store" so I did not/will not buy a lot of things we absolutely don't touch, like creamed spinach. We do have some stuff in storage we don't eat often, but eat a little- like mac and cheese, canned tuna, canned chicken. The main things I have either been canning or buying canned are broth, beans (for a power outage, canned can be eaten out of the can if needed), tomatoes, pickles, olives, roasted peppers, sweet potatoes/carrots, meats/tuna and green beans. We have a ways to go before 12 months on hand, but we will be there before the end of the summer if not sooner.
post #56 of 98
4/14/08 at 2:17am
I've been doing that since we are going away for Passover. I haven't shopped for more than milk / fruit / veg in a few weeks, and I could go another few if I had to, but we are out of almost all the grains and meat so it would be a lot of soy prepared stuff and frozen veggies
post #57 of 98
4/14/08 at 2:48am
One week.

I have a huge pantry of dried beans, legumes, rice and grains. I grind my own flour and cook from scratch. I have lots of meat in the freezer, tons of frozen fruits for smoothies.

Problem is, is that I buy a ton of fresh produce every week. We eat very simple, healthy foods that include a lot of fresh vegetables. Our growing season is very short, but we are putting a family garden in with another family this year. So in the summer growing months we could go longer. We are growing peas, corn to freeze, and tomatoes to process. Spinach to freeze. Onions, potatoes and carrots to cold store. Butternut squash to freeze, as well as sugar pumpkins to freeze. The goal is to grow enough produce to store for most of the winter so we don't rely so heavily on fresh produce.
post #58 of 98
4/14/08 at 7:50am
Now that I have cleaned my pantry, maybe less than a week. I did have about 3 weeks worth of food before, but I prefer to keep my pantry simple and only to have what I need. I think stockpiling "helps" to raise the price, so I don't do it.
(also - the most important thing - we live in a small one bedroom apartement, it's cluttered already, I don't feel like adding to that)
post #59 of 98
4/14/08 at 10:43am
On JUST our pantry (I actually have two pantries and additional dry storage in our basement), we'd be at around 6 months. If we can also add in our refrigerator and chest freezer, we're looking at about 9 months.

Our pantry food would be somewhat tedious since our proteins consist of canned chicken, canned fish (tuna, salmon), chicken & beef broth, beans, lentils, and nuts & seeds.
post #60 of 98
4/14/08 at 11:29am
We could probably go 3-4 weeks. The kids would be complaining though by the end. I really haven't been doing much in the way of stockpiling lately so we've been using what we have already.
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Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Natural Family Living › The Mindful Home › Frugality & Finances › How long could you survive on ONLY your pantry?