For my list, I went through in my head everything in our house and how often we replace the consumables. I left out alcoholic beverages since that is such a big variable. My focus waned towards the end so I know I missed a lot, but for what I do have, the quantities are about right based on our history. Bear in mind I have to accomodate two grown daughters on occasion, so there's a bit of distortion in my estimate. However, I think that provides a decent buffer. You could replace a fair amount of my larder with ready made meals, like frozen dinners, shelf stable meals and such, but since I like to cook and can probably save a buck or two doing it myself and have a higher quality end product, I figure it's a wash. My list discounted forage and cultivation, so if you are going to garden, hunt, fish, or pick wild edibles, then that would relieve the burden of having to stock all your food up front, but the amounts should remain about the same either way, just the source would differ. For instance, I can pay someone $30 a gallon for huckleberries, or I can go pick them myself and if my time is worth $60 based on what I make at work, then the cost for the huckleberries would theoretically double, as it takes me about an hour to pick a gallon on average.

I also didn't bother to estimate hardware and maintenance consumables as I have accumulated so much of it I seldom have to buy any. Cans full of nails, screws, bolts, nuts, and various assorted items have filled half my garage over the past decade. This is a carry-over from the hoarding my grandparents did and taught me based on their life living through harder times.