How much do you actually have?

[FeralUnicorn]

Ok, I know it will be personal to each person dependant on a variety of things i.e how many you have in your family, how many weeks your prepping for etc

But how many of each product do you actually have? At the moment I have 8 each of the tins we eat, I have 3 bags of flour of each although I did have a lot more pre lockdown, I’m still finding it hard to come by with online shops plus I also keep 3 kg of pasta 2kg spaghetti and a huge tub of rice.

Also how many weeks are you prepping for? I was going for 6-8 weeks in the end, is this enough?

Sorry for all the questions, I’ve always kept at least a few weeks of prep but am just looking at going that bit further but not too sure where to start so have a lot of questions

Oh and we’re a family of 7 :)

[spottygymbag]

First off let me say there are many people here more knowledgeable the myself on prepping so I defer to them!
I have based my approach around meals required rather number of individual items. I worked out a basic meal plan and then have been prepping to cover that. So I might have 6 tins of lentils but what are they being used for and how far will it go/how many meals will it result in. We have a mixture of cooked meals on the list as well pre-made in case we do get sick and aren't in a position to cook but still need to provide for DS and DD.
I also used this approach for things like paracetamol- maximum dose/24hrs per person for how many days?
We are a family of 4 including DD3 and DS4months.
We're in a different part of the world and just seeing our second wave start to pick up so I had everything out this week to review and will be restocking/filling in the gaps to cover 4weeks. This is down to our limited space/storage.
After our first experience I have increased frozen and tinned fruit as lack of fruit was a driver for our supermarket trips.
Taking the advice of posters here I got in a stash of activities/toys/books to break out for DD and it was an absolute lifesaver. This time round I have included a couple of things forDH and myself as well as refining the kids stuff to minimal mess, self directed activities that she can complete with little guidance from us as we are both working from home.
Good luck with your prepping!

[sexesam]

I Agree with spotty, it's about meals more than numbers. For 7 adults I would use probably 2 tins of beans for a side but if I was doing beans on toast I would probably use 5. I assume that some of those 7 are small but sometimes small people eat more than big people. When it comes to beans that's certainly true in my house! Personally I feel positively under stocked with less than 12 tins of beans because we go through 2 or 3 a week normally. On the other hand we don't really eat much pasta but I keep a couple of bags in just in case, but wouldn't be worried about replacing a newly opened bag as high priority.
I'm sorry I know you wanted something a bit more definite but every family's needs are different.

[spottygymbag]

Following that line, if we were locked down for two weeks I would need 14 dinners made up of 14 kid portions and 28 adult portions.
My standard bolognese makes about 4adult portions and 4 kid portions using the one batch of ingredients so I would only need another 10 child portions and 24 adult portions.

[HeronLanyon]

At the end of uk travel lockdown I had to run down frozen food stocks in a fridge freezer for a couple of weeks before I was going to be travelling to relative for some time.
I was eating pretty ‘freely’ but I was astounded at how quickly I got through what I had thought was easily enough butter/cheese for 3 or even 4 weeks !

So I know I need to restock a little more.

[Knotaknitter]

It's also to do with how hard things were to replace. I use a lot of coconut milk but it appears no-one else does locally because there was always some in the shops. I need less of those than I thought but I couldn't get hold of dried cannellini beans so I need more of those than I expected. We use a lot of flour, I bought a sack of plain and a sack of strong flour and I've just ordered another sack of strong flour.

My huge tub of rice turned out to not be huge enough, I eat brown rice and it vanished from Aldi for weeks. I didn't run out but came close. I now have a huge tub and four bags on the shelf.

[MintyCedric]

I'm only just starting to build my supplies up again but have a list comprising storecupboard, freezer (second freezer being delivered next week), pets, toiletries and household items.

I want to have a minimum of a month's supplies in for me, DD and the cats.

@Knotaknitter (hello waves) I've just bought a box of dried coconut milk powder to add to my stocks which is handy for me as with just two of us can make up what I need as I go along.

[JeSuisPoulet]

Only 2 of us here. Have about 15 bags of pasta (various), 3 marmites (already unavailable online!?), 2 marmalades, 5 jams, about 20 tins of beans/soups, maybe 10 tinned veg/potatoes, 3 bags plain/sr flour, fermipan yeast. 3 bread maker kit flours, x3 tomato and garlic purees, large packs of nori and multipacks of mini cheddars and biscuits, about 30 tins of tuna/mackerel and 4 boxes of 24 weetabix. Freezer (we have 2 large freezers) has crumpets/milk/cheese/broccoli/carrots/cabbage/fish/beef/chicken and about 20 batch cooked meals for 2. I also have about 12 1lt cartons of UHT milk, sack of Yorkshire tea bags, large tub of Azera coffee, powdered egg and a tin of powdered milk. Also obligatory 18 pack loo roll
Am hopeful that would last us 3 months.

[JeSuisPoulet]

Forgot tinned tomatoes (12) stock pots (1 pck of each) and cous cous (4 small bags). Oh and ghee to replace butter once that runs out (3 in fridge).

[Knotaknitter]

I'm cooking for one with coconut milk as DS won't touch it, my stock was for me and me alone. The surprise was that he came home from Uni before Easter and never went back so the coconut milk is untouched. Should I ever get to the end of it I will replace it with dried because then I'm not storing tins of mostly water.

I've also recently bought full fat dried milk and semi skimmed dried milk, if I only use it for cooking then it saves the good stuff for my tea if we're back in a situation where I'm trying to avoid shopping. I've tried evaporated milk but for me it's not worth the shelf space.

[caringcarer]

4 adults and one 14 year old. I have a 10kg bag of plain flour and another of SR. 3 bags of strong plane. 2 tins of yeast. 6 jars of coffee and 3 X 180 boxes of T bags. 4 jars of hot chocolate powder. 6 large antibacterial hand gel, 6 liquid hand wash, 6 boxes of washing tablets for clothes and 5 fabric softener. 4 jam, 4 marmite, 6 passata, 5 tomato puree, 48 tins tomatoes, 12 soup, 12 baked beans, 2 boxes icing sugar, 4 bags of caster sugar, 6 tins corned beef, 6 meetballs, 6 salmon, 4 tuna, 4 gravy granules. A large freezer full of joints of meat, burgers, chicken breasts, bacon, ham joints and frozen veg. A smaller freezer with fruit pies, portions of Bolognese and lasagne, 2 chicken and leak pies, frozen apple, raspberries, 2 X loads of bread and 6 large blocks of cheese12 long life milk, 200 paracetamol, 4 cough medicine, 4 boxes of tissues, 6 boxes of lem sip. 6 Cartons of custard, 6 tins rice pudding. 8 bottles of shampoo and conditioner. 2 X 5 kg bags of penne pasta, 6 packets of brown spaghetti, 10 vac packed tortellini, 2 X 5kg bags of spirelli pasta. 3 boxes of cerial, 4 X 24 rolls of loo paper. A lot of other stuff too. I have made one large part of conservatory into s storage pantry and have bought plastic shelving to store on. Loads of kitchen sprays and bathroom sprays too.

[CrunchyCarrot]

Just two of us to cater for, however we both eat very differently, plus I have dietary requirements which complicates matters a good deal! We both eat rice and lentils so have 2 kg red lentils, 2 kg brown rice, and for DP I have 1 kg pasta. I bought 5 kg white flour and 5 kg wholemeal flour for baking (will top that up again nearer to year's end). Also have smaller bags of chickpea, tapioca, potato and coconut flours, brown sugar, preserving sugar, etc.

I try to have plenty of tinned food, I have a variety of tinned tomatoes, baked beans and tinned meals (about 20 of each), then lesser amounts of tinned soups (around 10). I bought a range of Knorr's powdered soups (not too bad in a crisis!) from Amazon, I've plenty of tinned beans like red kidney, butter, etc and loads of tins of tuna (about 20) and similarly sardines. I keep adding in tinned fruit as I can get it. Tinned veg seem light on the ground and I'm glad I got plenty of broad beans, peas, carrots, sweetcorn at the beginning of this year.

I have 3 large jars of coconut oil, always have extra bottles in of olive oil, vinegar, sunflower oil, ghee. Also curry pastes, herbs and spices, jars of olives, pickles. Several jars of raspberry and redcurrant jams that I made earlier in the year. Will be making more soon from the current crops. Stock cubes, 3 jars of coffee, 2 large packs of teabags, several boxes of chamomile and jasmine teas. Several tins of powdered milk, and a few cartons of UHT. About 1 kg of dried soup veg mix, and a couple of packets of dried onions.

I've lots of boxes of tissues, kitchen and toilet roll, most of which is in the loft. Extras of washing supplies.

The freezer is stuffed full of frozen meats, fish, veg and things like berries just picked this year and cheese, butter, some bread.

Plus add to that a big box of medical supplies. I still don't feel like we have enough put by of everything as I know how quickly it can deplete, but currently trying to improve shelving capacity! I have a dehydrator and really need to do more drying of veg, since that's light and easy to store.

[HeronLanyon]

One thing I realised during lockdown was that food was incredibly important. Because of this I ended up cooking and eating more than usual. Quite a bit more. We were having proper sit down meals with table set etc etc. I eat out a lot usually and so doing this every meal at home was really unusual.
Anyway - result was I ate a lot more. My stocks (during one period of ‘just in case’ full isolation for 14 days went down far more quickly than I had any idea they would.
I either need to lay in about double OR have something else which takes centre stage and allows me to eat more normally.

[StuntEgg]

Occasionally I feel I've perhaps overdone things. There are three of us, two very hungry teenagers, and I plan by portions.

Like others, I have learned from the lockdown/panic-buying shortages and seen how much food my teens go through when at home 24/7, so have doubled my requirements, as I'd rather have too much than too little. My basics are now:

50kg pasta in various shapes
30kg rice, various types
125 tins chopped tomatoes
100 tins of soup
60 cans of tinned fish, mostly tuna
50l olive oil
1000 teabags
75kg bread flour
yeast for 100 loaves
25 large tins potatoes
various other tinned veg.

Plus lots of other ingredients too, but that should be enough for the basics. Or is it? (That's when I usually think, "I'll get another 5kg of pasta, just in case...")

[MarshmallowManiac]

OMG 50kg pasta Egg, well I have no chance then, I have a DH, two teens and two in twenties and myself. Best get back down to the shops

[TiddleTaddleTat]

I haven't got as much as I would like.
At the moment, roughly:
Food cupboard (garage)
6 tins each of kidney, butter, cannellini, and black beans
4 tins baked beans
8 tins chopped tomatoes
Several tins chicken curry , chilli con carne, spiced beans etc
About 4kg rice
About 4kg GF pasta
About 2kg red lentils
About a litre olive oil
Various random olives, sundried tomatoes, anchovies, tuna , sardines
Few extra jars mixed herbs, oregano, cumin, garam masala
Few bars chocolate, sweets, individual packets of crisps, some nuts
Few jars of jam, marmalade, honey, almond butter


In the freezers:
About 5kg beef as mince, shin, stewing pieces
1 whole chicken
500g chicken breasts
Bag of chips
Couple of chicken curries (homemade), ditto beef bolognese
5 portions grated cheddar
4 portions grated cheese
1kg butter in portions
Peas, spinach, cauliflower, edamame beans, 2 large bags mixed berries


Household-wise
2 bottles bleach
2 x 24 toilet paper
Kitchen roll
2 kitchen sprays,
3 x packs non bio washing capsules
130 dishwasher tabs
Rinse aid
Dishwasher salt

[TiddleTaddleTat]

We've been trying to gradually add extras over the past year at least but lockdown caused a huge dent in our preps. Then finances have made it difficult to add more than adding on a few extra items each week, I feel like we are currently working on having just one or two extra of each item we use. I don't think it would last us more than a month at an absolute maximum (family of 3)

[MarshmallowManiac]

I do not have too much at the moment, but I would like to build up to a reasonable level. I have a few bags of pasta, spaghetti, and rice. I have received 4 £10 coupons off a Sainsburys shop which I have used to build up my stash, so in effect it didn't cost me any extra. I have a few tins of beans, and veg, tuna, corned beef, and couscous. I also bought an extra freezer which I am trying to stock up with meat and veg at the moment. I have also received a £5 voucher off a £25 shop in Lidl just by downloading the Lidl plus app recommended by a lady on here. I spent that £5 on extra cereals. I am also trying to buy extra every week and I pick a certain theme (also recommended by people on MN), last week was breakfast, this week is carbs, and so on. When I do it like this I feel I realise more what stock I have. There are 6 of us (all young and old adults) so I feel I need quite a lot. Don't forget snacks too, they cheer you up when life is challenging good luck everyone

[FeralUnicorn]

Thanks for all the replies

Wow to some of the replies, I thought I had made a good start at prepping but looking at some I haven’t even started yet lol

I’ve made a lot more Cupboard room now so am going to gradually add to my stash of tins. I’ve also just got my chest freezer running after 2 years of it sitting there Now it’s choosing what to fill it with!

We’ve also been berry picking recently and have made a few jars of jam to add, am going to add a few more as berry’s are free at the moment!!

We have been growing stuff this year too which I’m hoping to add to next year, I’m going to buy seeds next month just in case and have also put my name down for an allotment, that won’t be till next year though so won’t help for a second wave over winter!

I’m aiming to have 3 months supply in, am probably at a month at the moment though.
Thanks again for the replies, they have helped with ideas :)

[CoffeeAndWhisky]

I find it helps to do the math first, e.g. if I want to have enough in for 2 weeks, I make a meal plan for it in my head and then buy the ingredients I would need for those meals.

It helps if people don't mind to eat certain things every day. For example, DH is a really picky eater but could eat soup with freshly baked bread every day for the rest of his life and would not mind. I aim to have enough in for about 1 month and have 30 cans of his favourite soup and enough flour/bread mix to make fresh bread for 30 days, and that is lunch sorted. Breakfast can be the rest of the bread with jam, eggs, whatever is in the house. I also have enough pasta and passata in to make dinners for 30 days, which I can add frozen veg or meat to, to mix things up.

If we actually had to live that way for a month, it would not be super exciting but we also wouldn't hate it so much that either of us would refuse to eat. To me, it is things we eat anyway and might as well have decent stocks of. I never assumed that the shelves would be completely cleared in a crisis, only that supplies would be patchy, which was the case with covid around here. So we are still using our 1-month supply 6 month into lockdown, which is longer than I would have expected.

Something else that helps is to switch a lot of things to re-usable items, at which point "how many/much" becomes a very different question. For example, we have around 100 hankies (cheeky wipe flannels are great for price-to-quality ratio), which means our supply of "tissues" or "kitchen roll" is endless as long as we have enough washing powder in.

[MarshmallowManiac]

Have you any tips for making jam FeralUnicorn* as never have made it before, would like to make Blackberry and apple as have quite a few blackberries near us.

[FeralUnicorn]

@MarshmallowManiac I just use the recipe from the bbc good food site. The only things I do differently is I purée the blackberries first as we prefer the jam to be smoother rather than still have whole berries in. I also don’t bother soaking the jam in the sugar overnight because as they’re puréed it really doesn’t take long for them to soak it up :)

[MarshmallowManiac]

Thanks FeralUnicorn would like to try it this week, will let you know how I get on

[Gingerninja4]

I have at least 3 months of food in and could stretch it to 6 . just built up over time and now use and replace
Have more of dome stuff than others so not loads of Pasta but always have at sack 15kg of rice in barrel sometimes less as obviousy eating and unopened one in cupboard
Wash stuff cleaning probably 3 months

[Knotaknitter]

I've just worked out how many portions there are in a kilo of rice and I know now why it was that I went through rice much faster than I expected back in March. There were two of us at home rather than one and we eat rice maybe five times a week. The couple of kilos I had on the shelf were nowhere near enough. When I just picked a bag up with the shopping and it was always there I never had to think about how much I used in a week.

This summer has been an eye opener in many ways.