If a blizzard hit - how long could you last at home?

[highplains]

Just a quick question to everyone. We usually keep about a months worth of food in the pantry, and I personally get nervous if the freezer(s) get low, 2 generators (one for house and the other for cattle water heater, etc..
We have friends that think we're crazy for keeping that kind of stock, they keep at best 2 -3 days worth of food.

Am I crazy for wanting to keep a good supply of food and enough power & fuel for heat. Are the rest of you on my level of crazy- personally I think only keeping a couple days of food is crazy! Oh well I guess it's the difference between growing up during the cold war era and afterward.

Looking forward to the discussion!
highplains

[nduetime]

If we still had electricity we would be good for about 3-4 months minimum, and I am pretty sure I could double that. That is mainly because it is just now right after harvest time for us. later on in the winter it would be less of course. We do not have a fireplace or woodstove for alternative heat but do have a generator. (I wanted a fireplace but with a DH who is a fire inspector it is hard to win that argument)

[farmmaid]

We could live 6 months without going out our driveway...Joan

[ladycat]

LOL we would freeze to death, we are not prepared for blizzards here.

[edcopp]

Till spring, no problem

[hillsidedigger]

We have at least a month's worth of food here but its very unlikely that more than a 10 day freezing rain/snow event would occur here in the NC foothills.

Could do without electricity for awhile in the winter, just melt snow and ice for water.

An electrical disruption during a dry spell might be a problem, would have to drop 80' of rope and a bucket down the bored well for water.

[Spinner]

Originally Posted by farmmaid

We could live 6 months without going out our driveway...Joan

ditto

[thequeensblessing]

We'd last until spring easily. We have a year's supply of food, more if you consider our livestock. We have a wood stove with plenty of seasoned hardwood laid by in the woodshed. Our freezers would be fine without electricity in the winter, however, we also have generator power if it should suddenly warm up outside. We have battery powered and wind-up radios, oil lamps and candles, and lots of books and board games to get to know one another with again.

[Cygnet]

Blizzard?

Seriously, I live in Arizona and don't have to worry about blizzards. However, we do get some pretty significant flooding out here that can take out roads. In 96, this area was cut off for a fairly extended length of time because all the highways in the area were washed out. Flooding took out some bridges.

So I keep a couple month's worth of food on hand. THe longest I've been stuck so far is over a weekend and that was just because the #$@%#$ county doesn't grade dirt roads on the weekend and the (county maintained road) to my house had washed out to the point of being utterly impassable.

(Plus, I'm worried about pandemic flu, but that's another story.)

[Cyngbaeld]

Your friends are not overly bright IMHO. Why take chances with your and your family's lives by not having supplies on hand. Down right foolish of them!

At least once a year I get tired of stores and such and stop shopping for 3 or 4 months. Rotates the stock, doncha know! LOL Always stock up again before shelves are bare tho.

[Jim-mi]

another ditto

Highplains, Someday you will have the last chuckle to your *friends*............How can you live in the SD area and NOT have a substancial stash.

[Cabin Fever]

Originally Posted by farmmaid

We could live 6 months without going out our driveway...Joan

So could we....without electricity, solar power, batteries, or a generator.

[kesoaps]

I'll join the foolish 2-3 days crowd! Perhaps we could go longer...I'd sure like to go longer, but dh is really wierd about shopping every few days. It's an illness, lol! I've been getting good at putting some foods aside, though, and stocking up the freezer with some meats.

Our biggest issue is heat. DH was just given a wood stove (which I've been begging for), but who knows when he'll get around to putting it in.

[MELOC]

if it was really bad for weeks without electricity, i would probably drain the hot water heating system and use the other two woodstoves. the food would last for months.

this reminds me that i should get some emergency pvc plumbing supplies in the event of catastrophic freezing. i need a stash of 1/2 inch caps and some adhessive.

[mightybooboo]

I could outlast any storm and consequent damage keeping us homebound.

BooBoo

[Peacock]

A blizzard? The worst blizzards here never keep us housebound for more than a couple days at most, but just for grins, let's say the Mother of all Blizzards hits and we're stuck for a long time. Hm...

DH wouldn't last long. One day last winter we got so much snow we were literally trapped on our street and he went NUTS because he felt that he HAD to get to work. He's a mail carrier. OMG, all those people without their mail! It's TEOTWAWKI! He shoveled our driveway and a few feet up the road too. He was trying to organize our neighbors on the cul-de-sac into a Mass Shoveling Force figuring if they all worked together, they could plow the street by hand. Yes, I thought he was nuts. Enjoy the day off, for pete's sake!

I think we're good for a month without getting out, even without electricity, but we'd be in trouble within a day or so if the city water cut off. We have 2 wells but neither are functioning right now. 'Course in a blizzard we'd have snow to melt, so maybe that wouldn't be such a big issue.

After a few days we'd be doing without a lot of the foods everyone prefers to eat, but we do have enough provisions to last a month if we're creative and my son isn't quite so picky.

[Freeholder]

We have enough food on hand for about three months right now. I have some stored water, and could always melt and filter snow if I had to (have done it before, though I boiled the snow water rather than filtering it). We would, however, have a problem with heat. We have several oil lamps, and I have a little camping stove (burns twigs, which I could probably find, although we don't have any trees on our property big enough to get twigs from -- been planting fruit trees but they are all still small). But that's all, and our furnace is electric. This is an all-electric house. I've been trying to talk Grandma into getting a wood stove installed, but she won't do it (and it's her house). It worries me a bit -- I would never own a home of my own without a wood stove for back-up heat. And I'm surprised that Grandma doesn't want a stove -- she's always had one, and knows that they put out much better heat than anything else.

Kathleen

[montysky]

spring no problem, I am in agreement anyone in SD with 4 days is playing fast and loose.

[gilberte]

About six months here too. And no generator either.

[RLMS]

A year which includes generating enough electricity so we wouldn't notice.

Nothing would have to be modified.

Course by the end of that year we would be getting a little light on fuel and livestock.

And probably need a vacation.