It would be wise to start growing your own food now. Just in case the food supply chain is broken. Don’t depend on the food supply. This pandemic is going to last a LONG TIME! I’m not saying stockpile large quantities of food, (though you should have enough to last 3 months at least. Just saying get some seeds (not much leave some for others), use your produce at home to grow more as well. Use your garage, shed, build a hoop house greenhouse outside learn how to can and preserve your food if you don’t know how already. You can grow year round INDOORS if you use LED grow lights and solar and batteries to power you lighting.
Food is going to be your number one priority after water and shelter. Shelter in place. Stay put and prepare for the long haul.
Make food water and shelter part of your long term security plan. Because without it you’re dead. Not trying to be melodramatic, just trying to get you to realize this pandemic is going to last longer than you think it will. If it doesn’t, then at least you have extra food.
Grow veggies, berries, and fruits, and raise chickens and pigs.
Pigs grow to 250 lbs in 6 months (you can harvest earlier if you need to). Get 1 pig per person. That’s about 200 pounds of MEAT in your freezer per pig!
Have at least 2 chickens per person in your family that you want to feed, then DOUBLE that number if you plan on eating the chickens. The chickens are for egg production, each chicken will produce about 1 egg per day. but if you want to eat chickens you’ll need at least 1 chicken week you plan on being self sufficient. Yes you can breed the chickens, a few roosters running around will keep you in fertilized eggs and you can hatch the chicks in a makeshift incubator. (we should all know how to do this for our own food supply).
Get about 100 pounds of corn for feed (it’s relatively inexpensive if you buy from a feed store in bulk), you can ration it to feed the chickens for a good long while. Let the chickens roam your yard to supplement their diet with bugs and worms so it doesn’t cost you as much to feed them. Build a chicken tractor if you’re worried they’ll run or fly away. Look up “chicken tractor” if you don’t know what it is. Also lookup “hoop house greenhouse”. They are VERY EASY and cheap to build greenhouse.
You can grow veggies from the veggies you already have in your fridge and sitting on your counter. God get some potatoes for planting. Grow lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, squash, corn, and green beans. Look up THE 2 SISTERS (corn, green beans and squash) and plant in this way.
Get some LED grow lights, solar panels, and deep cycle batteries for storing energy. A small 500W to 1000W wind turbine will charge your batteries 24/7.
Buy a 50 pound bag of rice and beans and put that to the side in a cool dry place as a backup food supply.
Get a pressure cooker, mason jars, lids and rings, and some large cooking pots to cook down large quantities of food and can and preserve the food you grow.
This is just what I could think of off the top of my head. I’d be doing all this right now if I had the cash to do it. Long term you need food and water and shelter. That’s it. Communications and electricity is also very important.
I’ll try to add more as I think of things that can help you and your family survive this pandemic. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Hope this helps!
