But the frugality of a well-stocked pantry is undeniable. If you go through 50 cans of tuna in a year and its shelf life is about four years, why not buy 100+ cans when it’s selling at a blow-out price of 50 cents a can? Two weeks ago, by combining coupons and sale price and Register Rewards, I bought 10-40 oz. jars of Best Foods mayo (about an 8-10 month supply at our house) at 70 cents a jar. Compared to the regular store price of $3.59 for a 32 oz jar, or the usual sale price of $2.49, you are buying something at 75-85% savings, besides saving the time and inconvenience of running out of what you need.

By keeping a price book and knowing what our usage patterns are of stockable items, we can easily save 50% or more on a good part of our grocery budget, and “shop from the basement” instead of the grocery store. You can think of the preparedness issue as a bonus or totally irrelevant, and still a well-stocked food pantry will be a good idea.

Every family should have a plan as to how they will reconnect after a disaster. If a disaster occurs, how will you find each other?

Every community has many locations that are already designated as places to go after a disaster. Know where your closest location is.

For people who don’t ever consider a disaster — and I don’t spend much time thinking about it, even though I am prepared for at least a week — if you are near a highway or, especially, a railroad track, you probably have NO idea how much hazardous materials pass every day. It boggles the mind.

It’s fine to be prepared for emergency, but I don’t see any point in stockpiling more than a week’s worth of food, water, and emergency supplies. Your advice about gold was solid.

They should have ALL of those things before they throw money into food stocks or other ‘end of the world’ preparations.

It’s always good to be prepared, for those of you who don’t consider this to be a “frugal use of..mental energy”…Remember the Story of the Grasshopper and the Ant…

That, and better check to see if the pilot light has gone out on the “Flame of Intelligence”

The analysis is similar for a lot of high yield vegetables like beans, peppers, squash, eggplant, “greens,” etc.

Of course, if you really want a big return for your dollar, you can plant fruit and nut trees. A two-year old dwarf fruit tree will cost you $15. Unless it’s a citrus tree, it will take a year or two to start producing, but once it does, you’ll get about 50 pounds of fruit a year, and all you have to do is give the tree a good watering every two or three weeks.

Now, you won’t save money growning things like carrots or potatoes, and you won’t save money if you use the fancy $30 tomato cages you see in gardening catalogues. But many of the “expenses” you mentioned aren’t really expensive or even necessary. You don’t need fertilizer, and if you want to amend your soild, most counties have composting programs where you can buy a cubic yard of compost for something like $15.

Gardening isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but if you don’t mind the work, you can definitely cut your grocery bill, and you’ll almost certainly have better tasting fruits and vegetables.

I think the best preparation is to be knowledgeable and on good terms with your neighbors. Take some first aid training, learn mechanics, discover local flora and fauna. It can be fun and post-apocolypsically appropriate (said with tongue only slightly in cheek).

I have also dehydrated ground beef, and frozen veggies as well as pre-cooked stew. These items are obviously more time intensive, and have to be re-hydrated before consumption.

To Shevy – I live in southern Saskatchewan, and the only natural disaster we ever have here is tornadoes. The longest my power has ever been out is about 6 hours. I recognize the need to prepare for potential disasters, but some locations need more preparation than others, and it is possible Rosa is in a location where there is little risk.

Best investments in dehydrated food are things you use regularly–oatmeal, grits, pasta, couscous and bulgur which require little cooking and, therefore, little fuel. For emergency beans, I’d recommend lentils, since they take almost no time to cook. Put up plenty of herbs and spices–you’ll need them.

If you’ve ever tasted MRE’s, you’ll cry for our servicemen and women. Don’t waste your money.

A great book: The Long Emergency, by Kunstler. Talks about the societal reorganization back to a “village” state in the event of a true gas crisis, as opposed to the gas inconveniences we have experienced so far.