How much food do we need?

[Virge]

I've had several people ask how to calculate the amount of food to
have on hand.
For my Challenge, I'm growing/preserving the lion's share of our food
for the year. That means that in June I start with asparagus, and
work my way through to tomatoes, etc. in September. This year I've
put up over 100 jars already, and still have all the tomato products,
plus saurkraut, peaches, apples, and plums to go...probably about
another 200-250 jars.

Canning is time-consuming, for sure....but it's really good, healthy
food, and you have the knowledge of where it came from. Canning is
NOT difficult! A few fairly inexpensive pieces of equipment...most
important of which is the Ball Canning Guide. Jars are a big
investment when you first start...but hit every yard sale you come
across, and you might be able to get some good bargains.

The best rule-of-thumb for creating an appropriately-stocked larder is
to make a list of the foods you like to eat, both for warmer-weather
fare and winter. Estimate how many times a month you usually eat
these foods. And figure on putting up (or purchasing) that quantity.
For tomatoes: put up many more than you think you'll use...you'll use
them!

If you're a meat-eater, you might consume 4-6 ounces of meat a day, or
about 50 ounces/person (hopefully that's a max!) every week. That's
about 3 pounds. So you'll eat maybe 150#/year/person. That's how
much meat you might want to freeze/can.

We have 2 people in our family, and I just froze/canned 24 chickens
(from Malvitz's on C....very juicy, tasty, all-natural birds). A
total of about 128#, including bones. That should provide about two
chicken meals a week for us.

We also purchased 116# of beek (from Scott Franda, also on County C),
and two turkeys from Mindy Overbeck.

All this, and extra Italian sausage, ring bologna, etc., from
Marchants will get us through nicely for the year, with plenty of
opportunities to cook for friends and family as well.

The during the late fall/early winter there are the root crops. Plant
them now, and you can harvest well into January, if you put a thick
layer of straw over them before the heavy frosts come in.

Hope this helps.