I'm trying to plan for a 6 month to a year supply cutoff but due to job layoff not a major earth change as I work in IT so a job layoff is a realistic possibility. I've started by trying to make sure I have anything non-perishable items such as paper plates and silverware so I could cut down on water used for washing dishes. Buying food in bulk like rice will not help for 6 months because after eating it every day for a month you will be sick of it <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />. Start by printing an empty calendar and put it somewhere in your kitchen, then as you eat each meal, write it down. This helps in two ways, one you can look back and make sure you didn't eat the same meal just 5 days ago, .i.e. start to give variety in meals so you don't get tired of something. With just my wife and I in the house it gets difficult just to think of enough meals to go a couple weeks without repeating or getting tired of something. Take the filled up calendar and sit down and look at the meals and see what can keep and for how long. Estimate how much of each thing you need then, for example if you eat green beans average of three times a month then you know you probably need 18-20 cans of green beans to make it those 6 months. There will be meals on that calendar that consist of items that won't last 6 months so you know if something were to happen you then know what to finish up first and what can be left for later and what will have to be eliminated. If you get to the point where you can actually keep a few months worth of food in stock during normal times then you can actually think about having a supply for a scenario.
The hard part is 6 months of water, 1 gallon per person per day is 182 gallons of water per person for 6 months. Better start buying those quart bottles of water now <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I think the saying goes... Store what you Eat and Eat what you Store. Buying rice, beans, pasta in bulk can save you as these will store long term. Places like Emergency Essentials are great for information and their sales can be worth while.
If you have Grocery Outlet near you, that's the place to shop.

I'm not experienced enough to actually help, but I can offer moral support. I don't think you are a nut for wanting to stash some food. Or maybe your are. At least you aren't a dangerous nut for wanting to stash food. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for the fantastic replies. In case you are interested here is where I got the idea of the pole shift happening:

I read a book called A New Beginning I: Handbook for Joyous Survival. The book is a written by a woman who is channelling. It is not a book about the survival like this website but they have one chapter on the realignment of the earth chapter 11. It says that the earth slowly gets out of alignment over time. And about every 26,000 years it realigns itself on its axis (of rotation).

Here is an excerpt from the chapter that you may appreciate:

"You may feel that you should make preparations for those you know who will not make preparation for themselves, and while it is a generous intention and satisfying in many ways, it is not a practical plan. As you are storing enough for yourself and for your family for 365 days, it will not be a major expense, and will not require a large amount of storage space, and you will be extremely happy that you have made that preparation."
"However if 365 of your friends or neighbors who have not made preparation join you on the first day, you will all do well for that one day, but there will be much hardship as you are all met with short supply for the rest of the year."
p.79

On another note:
Anyone know how long MRE's will stay good?

MindsEye

Channelling? You mean like, flipping the remote quickly?

I built up a year's supply prior to Y2K (no excessive laughing please) by shopping the discount/sale sections at my local grocery stores. Also, buying specials... canned vegis- 4/1.00... buy the limit, mac-n-cheese- 2/1.00...buy the limit, etc. Basicly, I bought two or three times the food I needed for the week, and put most of it away. It takes a while to build your stock this way, but it doesn't take long, and you start feeling a bit of comfort when looking at your "stash". For those of you who chuckled at the Y2K refference, I've managed to pretty much keep the stock in tact by using up the old (date everything) and replacing it with new, and in the mean time, I'm eating at last year's prices, also, if something happens to my paycheck (how secure is YOUR job), I'm good to go as far as food's concerned for quite a while. Some may see it as paranoia, I call it common sense.
As far as the water issue goes, it will keep in sealed containers quite a while, but it's a good idea to rotate that stock as well. In the past, I've used two-liter, clear, pop bottles, stacked on their side, against one wall of the basement, but have since gone to an out-side cistern and filter system... no need to rotate.
Good luck with your cache, and might I suggest you check out "Backwoods Home" magazine, I think you'll find it an interesting/informative/enjoyable read (no affilliation, just a satisfied reader).

Troy

IIRC Gravity is the pull of one body on another, it isn't related to the spin of the body. We will have gravity if the earth stops spinning.

Also, we MAY have one side light and one side dark all the time, but in this case it would be a case of the earth still rotating, but the rotation would take 365 days.

If the earth completely stopped spinning, we would have day time become 6 months long, and night being the same length.

The OGRE

To be honest I cannot think of anything (currently known or even seriously speculated about by science) that could cause the Earths rotation to stop in a short period of time that would not wipe out life on Earth. The forces involved are just vast. No amount of preparation could possibly be of any use unless you have your own spaceship.

Having a years supply of food available is however a good idea for any number of other scenarios though

Woohoo! I'm glad I don't have to worry about floating out in to space! Would have been mighty uncomfortable! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

No, that would mean it is still spinning at one turn per year around its own axis.