That's a good point, although by buying $250 of food I don't anticipate eating in the regular rotation of my pantry, I'm going against my basic principle of eat what you buy, buy what you eat. I bought specifically these pails of rice and oats for ease of prep (fewer calories expended) and caloric intake, not for day to day eating. I thought of getting some pails of wheat - I grind my own wheat and make breads and doughs almost every week, but baking after an EMP event may not be easy or even safe to do. Anyway, that's the sort of What If thinking I was hoping to partially address with my impulse buy. I admit, I'm not fully prepared for an EMP event (and I think I'm ok with that).

We don't have a huge garden area or terribly long growing season here, but its been hugely productive after 8 years of soil enhancing with compost, coffee grounds etc, and its a lot of fun to tend. With bountiful Eastern Washington providing our tomatoes potatoes onions and fruits of all kinds, we've focused on core things like basil which is growing great guns this year - also its far easier to put this up and store, but it doesn't produce very many calories. I think I'll continue to buy most of my pantry in cans which we use on a regular basis, but look at starting canning operations next spring. Aside from making jams we haven't canned any produce.