shtf stress, working hard, figure on 4 lbs of food per day, if cold, 5 lbs.

[denign]

so a 5 gallon bucket is just a couple of week's worth of food, at best, for one person. It takes quite a few 55 gallon drums of food to last one man for a year of heavy duty survival type of living. As in 6-7 of them. And they have to be buried, and they have to be either metal drums, or wrapped in several layers of rat wire. and the burial means that they have to be 35 gallon drums (1/3rd more of them) inside of 55 gal drums, so that they don't rust out so quickly. This also requires that both drums be inside plastic drum linerrs. The holes must be lined with several inches of gravel, so that moisture and the freeze/thaw cycle don't crack open your drums.

 

[denign]

I settled for a 6 month supply, bured 1 drum of food

and one drum of supplies. the others (35 gallon type) are up on pallets in my storage, not far from the edge of town. I figure to use my mountain bike, walking along side of it) to get the drums to a place where I can cover them with brush, in one night. Then, next few night, haul them to the cache area and bury them, one by one. With the drum only half full, it's feasible to carry it the bike's seat area, walking alongside of it, with the front wheel locked in alignment with the frame. That's how the Viet Cong hauled their supplies. Then, of course, haul out the bags that were left behind. IF enemies are not present at the storage, that is! :-)

Having the concealed "lids' ready where each hole will be is a help, as is having already picked the spots to put them of course. Digging and hiding the "signs" has to be done at night, without showing a light. Until shtf, dogs and bears will be a real problem regarding buried food. They will dig it up/reveal it to men. I walk past my one buried food drum, once per month, just to look for signs of digging. Setting up a proper cache is a huge pita, which is why almost nobody does it. deep burial and/or concrete caps over the drums add tremendously to the work and to the risk of being noticed during the burials.

I went with grains, legumes, honey, salt, multivitamin and mineral tabs, and Crisco. If shtf, transfats will be the least of my worrries, and a can of crisco makes a candle that burns for days. :-) put multiple wicks into that can, and you can cook/boil water with it. Open fires might well be very dangerous, with all the noise of chopping, being seen moving, and leaving all that "sign" that you aint far away. Paraffin is my fuel of choice, actually. It runs a bit over $1 per lb on the Net.