How long does the food from my long-term stockpile need to last?
“I don’t know how much food I should prepare…”
“How long is a long-term emergency?”
“I have to manage my short-term and long-term stockpiles separately, right?”
It’s sad but true. We have to know that even our long-term stockpile will be gone one day. It’s just a finite food store, and if we don’t produce anything new, it will eventually run out. This is a fact. The long-term stockpile is a buffer between emergency and post-emergency reconstruction. But what if the emergency continues? A prolonged crisis could go on, in theory, forever. We can not see the future. With that in mind, what is your plan?
In order to figure out how much food to get for our long-term stockpile, we have to factor in the extent of our self-sufficiency. I hope, if there is a long-term emergency, we will use the food from our stockpile to survive the transition back to normal. Going back to normal??? How long will that take?? It will be difficult to guess how long any given crisis will last. And the unspoken assumption here is that things will eventually go back to normal. What happens if things never do go back to normal? We don’t know how much or when our government will help us, or when other countries will be able to provide support. In desperate times, how much can you count on others? Personally, I don’t want to wait for help. If help does come, I’ll consider myself lucky; but if it doesn’t come… 
The questions you need to try to answer are: how much time do you need to transition to full self-sufficiency, and what knowledge and skills do you need in order to survive without your stockpile. Valuable survival skills include farming, food gathering, hunting, fishing, and food preservation. Do you know how many months it takes to grow spinach? Imagine being able to grow fresh spinach in a long-term emergency. Imagine what that would do for your security, prospects, and outlook.
The long-term stockpile will help you during the transition period until you get your life back to a new normal.
Acquire as much knowledge as you can now, to help yourself to live self-sufficiently. And while you’re developing your skills, prepare food for your long-term stockpile. The long-term stockpile will help you during the transition period until you get your life back to a new normal. Can you estimate how long you will need to go back to a new normal? The answer to that question will help you figure out how much food you need for your long-term stockpile.
Knowledge is power.
See you next time.