As my name suggests, I guess you could say that I hoard food as my cupboards are always full, and I have a lot of them. I see it more as being prepared/ being a prepper.
This was great in covid because it meant that apart from the odd bit of fresh salad or something, we didn't need to do any food shopping for about 5-6 months. This was with 2A and 2DC (teens).
Apart from meaning we didn't add pressure onto a stretched system, it also meant that I was able to make up food parcels with toilet paper, hand gel, uht milk, homemade bread, tinned stiff, etc, for 2 families that we knew were struggling, eg, after losing work (eg, 0hr contract and place being shut).
I've always bulk bought non perishables such as toilet paper, toothpaste, wipes, toiletries, cleaning and laundry products as well as dry goods such as pasta, rice, flour (25kg sacks), tins, jars, etc.
I've done this on various scales for as long as I can remember, and generally have enough in for about a year's worth, eg, of toilet paper.
Outside of, and before covid, I'd replace 1 pack as it was used up, so when covid hit, we didn't need to buy any toilet paper for about 10 months.
It would've been a year, but I gave some of our supplies to others that were in need.
I have 4x 2m tall freezers plus 2 fridges, although 1 is mainly used for medications and drinks, unless it's Easter/Christmas, etc, when it has the extra/defrosting meat, etc, as well.
I also have a fully stocked pantry, that my DC joke is like a shop, which is a room 2mx3m with 2m high shelving all around the edges. It's where I store tins, cleaning products, baking stuff, and flour, etc.
I have about 12 of each item, built up over time and then just replaced as and when each one is used. I cook from scratch and menu plan, and everything is listed and used according to dates, etc.
When new stuff is added/ old items replaced, they're moved to the back of the shelf as it should be in a shop.
The Dc have now flown the nest, so it's usually just the 2 of us, although I invite and cook for family regularly, at least every month.
We bake our own sourdough bread, crumpets, pizza bases, English muffins, rolls, etc.
I'd say, with just the 2 of us now, we'd be able to live off the food we have in for about 10-12 months, although it would eventually get boring/ repetitive.
Pre/during covid, it would've probably been longer, but I've spent the last year or so scaling down our stores now there's generally only the 2 of us. I've always only bought things we like to eat, and now the dc aren't at home, I've naturally stopped buying the things I used to get for them, which in itself has reduced my stores.
I have things like dried egg yolks, whites, etc, plenty of spices, etc and we mostly buy our meat from the local butcher, where we'll buy half a pig or a whole lamb, etc, at a time, hence the 4 freezers.
At the moment, I'd say we have the equivalent of 1 lamb, ½ a pig, 15kgs chicken breasts, several ducks, 1 turkey, 2 kgs bacon, 2kgs sausages, about ¼-⅓ of a cow and several kilos of various fish, as well as lots of home prepped veggies and some fruit and batch cooked meals. Most of the meat has been frozen in portions of 2 or 4.
We have almost no food waste. Max 1 small tub per week and that's things like banana peels, used teabags, etc. I also keep a tub in 1 freezer for veggie peelings. Once full, I'll make soup from it.
We had very little money when the dc were young so I learnt to buy in bulk when things were on offer, and to adapt what we bought to what we could afford.
I guess it became a habit.
My health also isn't great, so it means it's useful if I'm having a bad time as I don't need to go out to the shops very often. Eg, this year I've only been shopping for perishable goods like salad and fruit, so I've only spent about £200 on groceries so far this year.