I hope this still rates as preparedness and not whacko TEOTWAWKI territory - I was spooked by reading some reports on the impact of an EMP, so I invested ~$250 in several hundred pounds of 'superpails' of rice and oats to supplement my food stores. This is really, really long term storage, such that if I go the rest of my life without opening and eating from the pails, my semi-panicked fully paranoid $250 investment will cost me $10 per year. I love rice and I love oats, but I am not likely to dip into these pails by themselves - they are there for eating if *everything* is off for the next while and society is literally starving and trying to make ends meet. A garden will be good after an EMP event, but will require 24x7 perimeter security from food poachers, which maybe I won't have. So I'm hedging my bets with a bulk purchase.

I don't usually dwell on things like EMPs or any other event that might, for instance, shut off access to equipped.org forever - far more likely I'll continue to experience smaller more manageable disasters. Dollar for dollar and hour for hour I'll still get more value, exercise and have more fun from our garden than pails of grains sitting in a cool dry place. This rates as an impulse buy, but I actually feel pretty good about it too based on the scientific research into EMP capabilities - although I am still negotiating with my wife on where I should actually keep this.

Total time on this food project: 2 minutes for ordering, a week for shipping, a half hour putting the pails in storage. Complete.

So in the end, one less thing...

FWIW I bought from beprepared.com, a reliable vendor at a reasonable price. I like the ~50 lb superpails because they come appropriately packaged for long term storage (oxygen absorbers, mylar bags etc). No relation to or compensation from the vendor etc.