dixierider wrote:I think anyone living on the gulf coast should be prepared to take care of themselves from 3 days to 2 weeks with out any outside help, and I'm not talking about eating spam and beenie weenies for 2 weeks, with a little effort of buying double what you normally buy when it's on sale and adding it to your pantry rotation, buying another bottle of propane for the gas grill, little things add up..
All good stuff there. Few of us have the resources to do as much as we'd like, but it doesn't take much to pick up two cans of vegetables every time you need one. Don't overlook real basics when you're just getting started. For example, 50# each of beans and rice won't set you back an arm and a leg, doesn't take much room to store, and will make a lot of meals. It will add up quicker than you think.
Be creative with storage, and you'll find you have lots more room than you think. Just as an example, I have several large bookshelves. The space BEHIND the books is filled with food items! Doesn't hurt to be a little deceptive, either. Several old boxes in the corner of a storeroom with labels like "books", "old toys", "save for garage sale" etc. will be more likely to survive a burglary/scavenging raid/whatever than clearly labelled cases of MREs or shrink-wrapped flats of canned goods.