I normally would have at least two or three months worth. A month or so in the freezer and a month or so in the pantry. But today I don't think I have two weeks worth, not counting the dozen chickens. Most of the stores around here have about two days worth of food to feed everyone on the Olympic Pennsula WA. I have two freezers but if there is no food supply I don't think there will be power which is why I have three generators and enough gas on hand to keep them cold for about a week maybe two. Some folks I know have a year or more stashed away.

If I ran out of food and the stores were empty I'll tell ya what. I've got a 30-30 and love to deer hunt!

Without refrigeration I'd last about two days. I like my food fresh and my beer cold.
I was without power after hurricane Wilma for a while. Thank God for the Red Cross. They kept me in ice. Food wasn't an issue. For that I was prepared and the local stores were doing OK.
It wasn't my first storm and probably won't be the last.

__________________
Dum vivo cano

Well as much fish as i can get and as many deer, dogs, cats, and anything else that could be eaten. But all depends on the situation and duration.

__________________
Aim small miss small

The idea of "living off the land" is a common fallacy. I don't know where you live, but here in GA, with about a million deer and about 9-10 million people, the deer ain't going to last long. You can starve to death on deer, anyhow.

I am only about two generations removed from farmers who lived mostly on what they produced. I do some of that kind of farming just for fun. We freeze most of our vegetables, but they could be canned just as easily. I know how to cure meat. I know how to dry peas and butter beans to keep them without refrigeration. We can grow turnip greens and collard greens here in South Georgia about 10 months of the year.

My point is, if there are food shortages for whatever reason, hunting isn't going to be a viable way to live. Subsistence agriculture is viable, especially in our climate.

__________________
Georgia On My Mind

So do lots of other folks.

__________________
Chad

You may have a valid point but I'd give it my best shot.

There is a river and couple of small creeks with fish in them, lot of deer elk and if it came down to survival instincts a lot of cattle , sheep etc. I live in the forest so there is a lot of fire wood available. We rendezvous black powder a lot , so can start a fire with flint and steel. We have all the camping supplies to last a long while. The only thing we would miss is fresh milk ( I had to milk cows growing up and will never do it again) and mabe some of the luxuarys , but could survive for the long haul if the ammo held out.

id have the neighbours over for dinner.. heheh

I have deer and fish around me..... if push comes to shove, I also have neighbors.

__________________
Don't look, reload and shoot!

cheetos and spam dont need refrigeration and are easy to store.

This is my plan:

If a food shortage lasted very long I would be in trouble as I live in the city. I also think there would be an all out war for food. I don't want to even think about that. Don

__________________
"Don't worry be happy"

Where I live food wouldn't be a problem...lots of small game, as well as deer and big horn sheep. What is a concern living in the desert is the lack of water. I live 20 miles from the Colorado river, so if there was also no gas that would make it too far to walk.

I could last until dinner. Where did that dog go?

__________________
Dennis
He's got a gun!

Having a farm with a 3 acre pond (water source) -- in South Louisiana --
crawfish, crabs, shrimp (catch with a cast net), fish, lots of game birds,
and a very nice garden plus fruit trees -- would lose a little weight but would not starve.

A long time... I have a few fat neighbors

Read the book, ONE SECOND AFTER.

Changed the way that I looked at a lot of things.

Especially medicine reserves.

In the book, small and large game were quickly decimated.

Those that had food put by quickly had to defend it against those that did not.

I witnessed how feral people got during a 10-day icestorm/power outage. I can not imagine what it would look like if it went on for 30-60-90 days.

__________________
Life Member NRA Since 1985

Jimmy John's delivers. I'd be fine.

__________________
Now That's Bullet Maintenance!

The wife and I have been storing alot of canned goods and water. I have a stream with fresh water and some fish nearby although that wouldn't be something I would put stock in. I bought a canning kit and have started looking into putting some vegetables and meat away. I am also buying a smoker and plan on making alot of venison jerky.
The problem is that if suddenly something bad happens you will see panic on a scale none of us can ever be prepared for. Here in the country alot of us can handle ourselves but imagine what will happen when your neighbors' suddenly can't feed themselves, they will be knocking on your door asking for handouts. Imagine what the cities will be like? It will be the 1992 LA riots in every city, all at once, and when the survivors flee the cities they will spread out and devour (literally) everything in their path, it will be like a horde of locusts. Most people think they can survive on nothing, but only a few people can really eat darn near anything, most are guys with military training who know what they can eat without getting sick or dying. I watched my uncle who was in the Marines eat a few ants one day and I thought I was going to lose it right there (I was very young) but as he said, when you are hungry enough you will eat anything. The worst time of year will be the winter when there is nothing growing and animals are seldom seen. I hope I never have to see it myself but I think we might see something like it in our lifetime.

__________________
Vaya con Dios

I looked at some land to buy here in the Ozarks a few years back.

The elderly couple that owned it said that during the depression they let about two dozen travelers overwinter in their woods.

She told me that the travelers lived on wild onion soup and sassafras roots for two months until the weather allowed them to move on west.

I don't think that the current generation could do this for one day let alone two months.

__________________
Life Member NRA Since 1985

I'm a city boy, when I run out of the food at the house if Jimmy John's or Papa Johns isn't delivering I'm just S.O.L.

Tuesday...

__________________
Eccentric old coot

"Hunger is the best sauce." Cervantes

Chew on that!

__________________
Isaiah 55:8-9
Phil. 4:13

I hear people taste like chicken.
DW

__________________
"NUTS"

On a large scale it would be really scary.

__________________
Aim small miss small

The problem would be in the cities. Rural America would be fine until the people come out of the cities and tried and take what they have.

Real problem is this country only has about a 3 week supply of food for the entire county's population. Due to the global economy and food coming from all sources around the world, America is on a "Just in Time" supply chain of food. Grocery stores only have what is on the shelves. The supply is stored in large warehouses for the area and delivered as required based on the store inventory requirements. You cut off the supply to an area or the country, and in 3 weeks, that inviting the neighbors over may become a reality. Some estimates place the supply as low as 3 days per person.

Having enough ammo makes it easier to get or keep what you need. The medicine would be a real problem. Most folks only have a maximum of a 30 day supply.

I live in the city, that means cats are easy as people think they can let them roam free. Dogs are much better protected, but I have seen (o)possims and lots of lizards. I'd eat people too, but that would be illegal and I never do anything illegal. It's also morally wrong so I couldn't live with myself. Oh yeah, I forgot I was hungry, I'd eat people.

__________________
Hold on. SWAT's at my door.

Well, I have to tell ya...I'm as dumb as a fence post so I'm gonna have to look up what Mayan is. Joe.

More like pork......I'm good for about 3 months, 6 weeks if we are feeding the grandkids......

__________________
Even older, even crankier....

I've heard from creditable sources that people taste a lot like Spam.

As long as the coffee & whiskey holds out.....


Su Amigo,
Dave

__________________
"IN GOD WE TRUST"

I read it. It is very poorly written (that guy has a Phd?) but the basic premise of a breakdown in the supply/delivery chain is believable. I have read that the effects of an EMP attack might have been a little overstated.

One of the most interesting ideas mentioned in the book, actually just barely mentioned in passing, was that the powers that were after the collapse, supposedly a bunch of good guys, considered livestock owned by farmers to be community property. Sort of an "it ain't right for these folks to have all these cows when people are starving" mentality. Baloney. My cows (and goats and chickens and pigs, etc.) are mine.

__________________
Georgia On My Mind

The premise of "if food was no longer available" requires a little more thought.

You have to ask yourself, "why is food no longer available". War? Revolution? Natural Disaster? Economic Meltdown? Government Coup/Takeover? Mass Technological Failure or Sabotage (or EMP attack)

Pretty much these are all known as SHTF scenarios.

I can say this, if anything like an EMP hits where the power grid and electronics fail, society is done. If you live in a major city, you will die. Period. You will die sitting in your home/apartment "waiting it out", you will die trying to fend for yourself or you will die trying to leave the city. Armed gangs will pretty much instantly take over, killing the men, taking possession of the decent looking females and looting. Law enforcement and the military will take care of themselves first, not the people they were formerly paid to serve. They will become just another armed gang. Highways will be killing fields.

If you live in the "flatland" country (think midwest or deep south farmland), you will survive for a while, until your farm is taken over by a well armed gang. The biggest fallacy of "living off the land" is water. Farming needs water, fertilizer, insecticide. You wont have any of that. How many farms have hand pumps or windmills anymore. Also your tractor will soon run out of gas. Unless you have lots of kids or a really big extended family, it may be hard to grow enough food to live.

I think honestly the best place to live would be the deep mountains of Appalachia. It is remote enough and intimidating enough that most people would not want to venture there, especially if you are on high land. You will have the ability to hunt / farm / fish, have ample water, lots of wood, cover.

You may laugh, but honestly some of these movies like Mad Max, 28 days later and even the walking dead (the escape from the city part) are fairly accurate. Society, order and law will break down so quickly as people become desperate.

I live in Florida and there is virtually no hope for me, I am about 9 hours away from the mountains (about 450 miles of 75mph interstate) and would have to pass through a couple major cities. That aint happening in a SHTF scenario. There are some pretty rural parts of FL, but the gangs of armed thugs would find me sooner or later.

Kinda like the "Spread the wealth" philosophy of the Benito O administration.

__________________
Eccentric old coot

If you are worried about it get some Pounces brand cat treats. They make good bait.

Well, just to be real about it. All of this doomsday scenario is just a bunch of hoodoo. Name any place where this has happened. It's going to happen in a lot of places before it happens here. And like anywhere else that's had great disasters, the good in people comes out when people need it most. Just hope that Ray Nagin isn't running the show.

__________________
Wayne
Torn & Frayed

At my size? Months, at least. I have fresh water on the property and a purification system so water isn't a problem. I don't believe in generators except for short-term useage to keep the refridgerator running during a weather emergency. Seriously though, medication is the limiting factor. As I lose weight, my blood pressure meds will become increasingly moot but I have a metabolic disorder (hypothyroidism) that must be medicated daily. I have enough of both meds to see me through the enforced weight loss and for a few months of Synthroid "but after that, I don't know". The timing of the loss of the supply chain is key. If it occurs anytime but the late winter/early spring, there won't be time to put in a garden. Not a lot of truck farming is done in this area so vegetables and fruits will be in short supply. Meat on the hoof is available in the woods and pastures. Those chubby neighbors are looking increasingly tasty.

Russ

North Korea, the Balkans, Argentina a few years ago, all of Europe in 1945-1948, New Orleans after Katrina. Just wait until the financial system collapses and you'll wonder why you didn't prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. Plant a garden and get a rifle and learn how to shoot it. Maybe it will never happen. Maybe it will. Maybe something in between will happen and you'll be glad for the little extra you'll have.

Russ

I don't believe a collapse of society or of the economic system will cause food supply disruptions.

Food supply disruptions will cause the collapse of the economic system and the rest of society.

Ug 99 is a devastating wheat disease. Several articles I have read over the last few years say it isn't an if proposition, but when it gets to the US.
Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat

If a scenario such as the Southern Corn Leaf Blight in the early 70s happened now, I daresay that widespread panic would take place.
Untitled

__________________
Georgia On My Mind

As long as there were neighbors to eat.

I think that the best chance we have to see a SHTF scenario, and I do hope that I am wrong, is if Barry O loses the election. I think that if he gets beaten in the election that we could very well see something like the L.A. riots but in several locations at the same time. I mean think about it, how many times have cities had riots over simply winning a championship. Look at parts of Florida with the Trayvon Martin shooting, that whole area is a tinderbox. The L.A. riots themselves, Katrina, I mean darn it there was nearly a riot over $200 sneakers in Georgia! I think if Barry O loses there will be some violence and we don't know what to expect of the Occupy movement either.

__________________
Vaya con Dios

You missed Europe in 1347

__________________
Even older, even crankier....

Ray Nagin's performance was, to be tactful, dismal -- I would use a pejorative but don't want to get dinged. I was in New Orleans on military duty for Katrina from Sunday afternoon as the storm approached NOLA until 2 weeks after -- I saw the best of human behavior and the worst of human behavior. I was at the Superdome on duty and the Convention Center --
helping stabilize the situation, rescue folks and keep the peace -- never dreamed that I would end up in a history book, but my efforts/observations in New Orleans during Katrina are recounted in Douglas Brinkley's "The Great Deluge" which was a NY Times bestseller -- it is worth reading for anyone who has posted to this thread who wonders what it would be like to be part of a massive natural diaster -- the hunt for food, water, security, etc -- a riveting read. The book starts out with how the New Orleans SPCA moved all of it's shelter pets to Houston on the Wed-Thursday before the storm hit, contrasting that with Nagin (the corrollary here is of Nero fiddling while Rome burned) who did not order the evacuation of people from New Orleans until late Saturday -- you will enjoy this book. And if you send me your copy, I'll autograph my picture that is in the book.

I have a case of beer and half a can of Cheese Whiz. I'm ready for anything.

As long as the ammo holds out...

Hell's Fire...Boys, this here thread ain't got one single picture!!!


I'm heading fur them thar hills....




Su Amigo,
Dave

__________________
"IN GOD WE TRUST"

I have a rotor tiller and a 45-70. I also have fishing some fishing skills. There are two creeks by the house for water, and I have neighbors who will team up for food production and security.

I bet a food shortage would soon solve the feral hog problem!

Well, the Black Death would be a whole 'nuther experience too. But I think if things crashed to the point that large batches of people were going hungry, pestilence might soon follow.

On the other hand, when you think of things going "really, really bad" like Berlin falling in April,1945 (really, really bad if you were there, and German, and especially female) and yet a lot of people survived it, I mean, how much worse can it be?

Some things you aren't going to survive, it doesn't matter how many guns or how much ammo or food you have. The window where having an extra hundred rounds of ammo over a normal safe-full, or an extra few days of food over a normal well-stocked pantry is really going to make the difference is probably a pretty slim one.

If things are really bad, you're not going to have enough probably. Also, luck will become more important than prior-planning for many people. Not everyone, perhaps, but many. Nobody likes that reality, but often just being far enough away from the epi-center makes all the difference in the World.