Thought some might find the following useful:
If you're in an apartment/city setting and want to grow at least some fresh food, you might try these:
www.earthbox.com
I have a couple of them, last year I grew tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers in them. For tomatoes, I actually prefer the "tomato success kit" available from
www.gardeners.com. I bought tomatoes at the grocery two weeks ago; had fresh ones off the vines in the earthbox and success kit right through January!
There is a neat website to check coins for their melt value, see
www.coinflation.com
Also, I've provided this "list" to several folks here (and elsewhere). I put it together for a friend of mine from a book called
Making the Best of Basics. This is grocery store food. I've read that in stress times, it's actually better for your family if you try to keep them on as close to their normal diet as possible. Anyway...here it is. And if you can, get a copy of that book - it's really useful for planning what to buy and how much to buy.
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Some general storage info from "Making the Best of Basics" that I thought might help with your planning. I've found that a LOT of products do not list their "expiration date" anymore. This book gives the general "use by" for ... damn near everything, lol.
I'm only doing the most common grocery store stuff because that's easiest to get.
Estimated shelf life for various stuff in months:
Commercial ground cornmeal: 60
Commercial ground wheat flour: 6 - 12 (if you buy the wheat berries and grind it yourself, the berries themselves have an indefinite storage life)
White enriched rice: 24 - 48
noodles (mac/lasagna/spag) 18 - 24
oatmeal 12
Nonfat instant powdered milk 24 - 48
dehydrated butter 60 - 96
dehydrated cheese 60 - 96
buttermilk powder 24 - 36
non dairy creamer 24 - 36
dehydrated eggs 60 - 96
evaporated milk 24 - 36
condensed sweetened milk 24 - 36
white, brown, powdered sugar indefinite
corn and maple syrup indefinite
iodized, pickling, ice cream salt indefinite
vegetable shortening 12
liquid vegetable oil 12 - 24
olive oil 12 - 24
baking soda 18 - 24
baking powder 6 - 9
baking chips 18 - 24
cocoa powder 18 - 24
cornstarch 12 - 24
arrowroot 12 - 24
hominy/hominy grits 12
ready to eat dry cereal (corn, rice, shredded wheat) 12
Fruit, canned - all EXCEPT citrus 12 - 18; citrus 6 - 12
Fruit cocktail 12 - 18
Dried potatoes 36 - 48
Dried beans: 60+
Canned veggies:
Beans (green/pinto/kidney/red/yellow/peas) 24 - 36
Beets 12 - 24
Carrots 24 - 36
Corn (whole kernel or creamed) 24 - 36
Potatoes 24 - 36
Canned soups/chili 24 - 36
Canned spag/sauce 12 - 24
Peanut butter 12 -24
unshelled raw nuts 12 - 24
roasted canned shelled nuts 12 - 24
crackers 6 - 12
graham crackers 12 - 24
black pepper indefinite
vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce indefinite
flavorings/extracts 12 - 24
Mixed Italian, Mexican blended herbs 12 - 18
Jerky 6 - 9
canned corned beef 12 - 24
canned deviled meats, vienna sausage 12 - 24
canned chicken/turkey 12 - 24
canned shrimp/tuna/mackerel/halibut 12 - 24
canned salmon/sardines 24 - 36
canned and bottled fruit juices, all 12 - 24
cake mixes 12 - 24
candy bars 12
Chips 12 - 18
Pudding mixes 24 - 36