Spending $250 on food hardly strikes me as paranoid. I can blow that in 15 minutes at the supermarket.

At my house, you'll often find many months of foodstuffs in cold storage. My garden stores alone account for several hundred pounds of potatoes, carrots, beets, squash, onions, etc. This is the reality of living in a cold climate. My parents and grandparents did the same thing. Prudent and practical, and darn handy too.

My 2c.