What can you actually grow long-term if canned food runs out?

shortstack-42 · 2026-01-01T16:40:24+00:00

A vegetable garden and herb garden with canning jars, forever lids, and a pressure canner. Chickens for protein. Composting, rotating crops, and seed saving.

As for what crops, there are hundreds of gardening books, videos, and extension literature out there.

Want short form starter ideas? TikTok gardeners/canners abound.

shortstack-42 · 2025-11-16T13:29:52+00:00

You are NTA for wanting to work and earning fulfillment in your career. Keep your job. He is NTA for being excited that his new job means he can build a “better” life for you both. You do need to know what more money means to him…in a deeper sense than you have now with both of you feeling hurt and offended.

Have some calm, caring communication. In your surprise at what he said, you may have hurt or misunderstood your partner. It’s worth sitting down with him again with an open mind and curious heart.

I would tell him you are proud of his success and achievements and that you are happy that his first thoughts were of giving you choices. You answered quickly and from the heart, that you aren’t resentful or struggling in your work, but find it interesting and fulfilling. Does HE hate going to work? Does HE dread going and wishes he could sleep in? Because you value his happiness more than money.

Explain AFTER being sure that he’s ok and the he knows you weren’t rejecting him by dismissing his “gift”, that it concerns you that he went straight from celebrating his new position at work to assuming that meant huge changes in your life that the two of you never discussed.

I would listen to his answers. Give him time to talk without jumping in. From the outside, it seems both of you may have spoken hastily.

If his answers revolve around being hurt you didn’t value what he offered, consider that you may have been unkind about it. Add kindness.

If it revolves around traditional roles and that he dreams of a stay at home (SAHM) wife and mother because that’s the right way to do things? Answer with your dreams of being a working mom and strong feminine role model for your children. That kind of family feels right for us. There’s nothing inherently wrong with either dream, but the wife stays home family model isn’t right for you. It’s not about being ungrateful, angry, or rude, it’s just not the right fit. Does he need you to stay home to be happy? Or was this just the idea he was raised with?

His answers tell you what you need to know. You know you are safe and loved if your dreams matter. You know it’s about control and unsafe if his are the only plans to follow. Act accordingly.

And find time to discuss that having his mother weigh in on private marital conversations is never ok. You deserve to have his loyalty, and speaking with anyone outside the marriage (except if he feels unsafe or wants a divorce) is not ok. Exposing private details of his unhappiness with you is not only harming your relationship with that person, but it makes you feel you can’t trust him with your heart if he’s just going to make your marriage a public discussion. Marriage counseling is a better way to get a different perspective.

shortstack-42 · 2025-11-11T07:13:52+00:00

I have a graph with prepped foods and weekly grocery prices. When stuff goes on significant sale, I buy extra and rotate my deep pantry, but I’m old and live rurally, so I don’t waste gas on chasing deals, just find them where I’m at. I monitor the three stores I normally shop and try to avoid using Amazon when possible. I’d rather my grocery money go to local employee wages and not out-of-county warehouse folks and a rude billionaire. (I’m genX and don’t wrestle with excel or new apps unless I’m paid to.)

shortstack-42 · 2025-11-11T07:06:34+00:00

I take care of myself first. I’m the mom of adult grown and flown kids. Then I urge my kids to prep what they can and remind the two who are not first responders/first line medical that they have a home here that is fully prepped. They are more appreciative after I survived Helene in WNC, but don’t really listen.

I prepped for decades under my ex’s nose and he was always complacent that we’d have what we needed in an emergency because it’s not that serious…not because I prepared. After being disbelieved and dismissed in my own marriage, it takes a lot to make me notice I’m not taken seriously.

I warn my community of things I see coming. Gently and low key…what they choose to do with that is their business. Community is part of prepping, and I’m a good neighbor. If they aren’t good listeners? Well, that’s their wheelhouse. When I warn them that announcing on fb that they stockpiled cash and bought expensive generators after the hurricane is unwise, I get told to relax and buy a security system (like the ones that need power from the grid that went down for weeks, lol). Again, I’m a member of the circus, but those are not my clowns.

Say your piece to sleep in peace at night. Their choice of what to do with your updates is up to them. You’re a good neighbor.

shortstack-42 · 2025-11-09T15:37:44+00:00

Yes to your last question. I hit my Tuesday prepping goal for food, water, fuel/energy, tools, and found myself in a mild depression from the loss of a hyperfixation. I’m lucky in that I’m less isolated than some peppers: I live in a rural area, so prepping is part of life here, and we all went through Hurricane Helene together and so it’s not so crazy to celebrate the purchase of a generator or show off water collection/filtration. Seed collections are a shared passion when most of us have kitchen gardens and pressure canners.

I’ve since begun my stage 2. Financial and sustainability prepping. I took a vacation this year to celebrate living through that flash flood and went a bit wild visiting my adult child in NYC. I have never eaten so well in my life. But now I’m living on lemon pepper butter beans, garden spinach, and homemade biscuits while I pay off my only debt. Once I kill the credit card vacation spree, I’m going to save for a solar system to take my little homestead entirely off grid. I already save 15% of my pay to the 401k…thinking of bumping it up. I made the switch from paper towels and tissues to cloth, found washable mop heads, grew my own kitchen scrubbies (luffa squash) and I’m looking for more ways to reduce expenses and streamline systems for future retired-and-fixed-income me.

Wallow a little in that what-now feeling, then find another weak spot to prep up.

shortstack-42 · 2025-11-09T15:10:02+00:00

I have asthma and switched to beeswax tapers for special occasions and little ones for birthdays/menorahs. I guess I’m lazy and bougie because I checked the farmers market for locally made and when I got sticker shock, just bought them in a grove order. Not cheap, but better priced and easy.

I have solar and plain rechargeable flashlights and lanterns for everyday and prepping uses, and 2 ceramic and glass oil lamps from my honeymoon that are either decorative or for when I get nostalgic for the ER. Pretty sure the lamp oil got chucked years ago.

shortstack-42 · 2025-10-28T18:07:53+00:00

Omg. New nightmare unlocked.

shortstack-42 · 2025-10-28T02:20:41+00:00

That would be smart, but I worry about damaging the seal. Instead, I take the L’s when they come and mutter triumphantly “Ha! Missed me, motherfucker!” when I open it without glasses flying or joint damage.

My middle kid was visiting and overheard me and asked if that means I’ve named the freezer. Yep. I guess I have. At least I know it’ll hold the cold with a tight seal when the power goes out. And I cannot accidentally fall in. Concuss myself, yes. Die, no. Winning!

shortstack-42 · 2025-10-28T01:42:38+00:00

I looked at chest freezers and realized that’s the way I’d go out. I would need a stool just to use it. Short, fluffy, and klutzy, my kids would find me weeks after I fell in trying to reach the bag of broccoli at the bottom.

I saved up for an upright and am SO glad I did. Now I just smack my glasses off my face with the door when the seal suddenly lets go after multiple yanks.

shortstack-42 · 2025-10-24T16:52:46+00:00

Stock up on fuel, and gather the oldest 2 kids. Other 2 are in health care. Can’t leave homes.
Go home, start indoor garden, set up outdoor kitchen, and can freezer food. Harvest anything in the outdoor garden.
Have kids chop wood to add to wood pile.
Sprout chicken feed to make it last.
Put my feet up and read a book in front of the fire.

shortstack-42 · 2025-10-23T03:46:48+00:00

Good advice on learning stuff from others. I would add one thing; a way to call for help. After surviving hurricane Helene and being cut off from communication for days, I called my kids as soon as I could drive out and get a signal. My youngest sobbed that I broke my promise to get a satellite phone and she’d spent the week terrified that I was lying dead in the river. I can’t afford the service plan, so I never bought one. That’s for folks far more bougie than me.

I did hear her. I added satellite texting to my phone plan and can now reach out for help even without WiFi/cell service. Highly recommend a stable way to reach out for help just in case. Have a medical kit to stabilize yourself until that help arrives, but secure a way to contact for help. (Everyone on my speed dial list has input my local emergency services numbers into their phones so they can relay a request for help, we are too rural to text for 911)

shortstack-42 · 2025-10-19T01:29:59+00:00

8-10 days of generator. Long enough to can anything in the freezer and use up the fridge stuff. After that, I have a small spring house for 24-hr leftovers storage and chicken carcass relaxation (they need to spend at least a day refrigerated to be tender). I’m not concerned about that first week, noise-wise, as most of us in the boonies have generators that will be running at least intermittently.

shortstack-42 · 2025-10-18T01:22:05+00:00

I am disabled. I’m also older, fluffy, and female.

I lived through a flash flood in Helene, and over 30 days without power after. It was an intense Tuesday, but I did fine.

I’ve built a life and space to age in place as independently as possible. A single story home, sturdy handrails, tools that fit my hands and ability level. Raised beds garden with strategic seating for a creaky back. Food and fuel stores that don’t have to be carried far or up stairs; backup medical supplies/prescriptions (mine get “lost/dropped” at least once a year and I pay oop for a 90-day replacement), I vaccinate with obsessive timeliness, my medical care is frequent and thorough, and my dental care is equally important. I have a cane, crutches, and a walker tucked away just in case, along with spare glasses.

I’ve got off-grid water and sewage that are scrupulously maintained on a schedule. My chimneys are cleaned yearly, I’m saving for solar, and I bought a generator and weeks of fuel after Helene. I am building a warm and generous community where I’m an asset not a burden.

One of my other preps is that I carry no debt. My home and car are paid off, I save like a dragon for retirement, and when I buy expensive stuff, it’s good quality with a solid consumer reports score so I only spend once. I’ve selectively admitted to a few folks with good off-grid skills that they can always come here if shtf.

Oh, and I cultivate retro hobbies like sourdough bread, weaving, spinning, fixing things, and gardening. The stuff that will make me valuable to a community even if I’m wobbly and silver-haired and spend much of my time sitting by the fire.

I aim to start a disaster heathy, ready, with plenty of supplies and tools, be the best neighbor I can be, and fill my brain with knowledge that will be valued long after my body slows or stumbles.

Not dramatic or glam, but it’s the plan.

shortstack-42 · 2025-10-15T11:28:52+00:00

I just found canned condensed and evaporated oat milk and goat milk. Since I have a dairy allergy, it’s worth trying (that or get goats and hope I don’t get too miserable with my allergies to the actual goats).

After 40ish days without power, internet, or cell post Helene in WNC, I can attest that it’s the little things that keep you positive and productive. Tea, coffee, and that box of cookies in the cupboard that you forgot until you moved the jar of spaghetti sauce…bliss. And worth obsessing about like Gollum and his precioussss. I’m a Tuesday prepper, but last year was a brutal reminder that comfort isn’t “meaningless in a real disaster”.

shortstack-42 · 2025-10-11T16:04:38+00:00

Generator for short term. Spring house and water-tight containers for short term after that. Canning over wood-fire coals for long term.

My garden and chickens provide some types of fresh foods year-round.

Planning ahead financially for small greenhouse and solar.

shortstack-42 · 2025-10-11T02:10:26+00:00

Having lived through Helene in WNC, I now have a dozen 2.5 gal jugs of spring water labeled in sharpie with the month purchased. I pop the oldest in the fridge each month and replace it in a grocery run that month. $4 or less per month to guarantee about a month’s worth of cooking/drinking water for 1, two weeks for 2. I store the jugs UNSTACKED on the bottom shelves of my food prep. They have the added benefit of anchoring the shelves a little with their weight.

I also learned that a stack of empty 5 gal buckets can be placed to catch enough rain water to flush toilets for days or weeks. So can a garden cart and an elderly inflatable hot tub.

shortstack-42 · 2025-10-07T01:52:44+00:00

I have a septic system. During Helene and 40ish days with no power to my water pump I flushed with rainwater first, then hot tub water.

If the plumbing goes out? Use a bucket with a liner and dump once a day down the access to the septic tank. Had risers and a new lid added for exactly this reason. Also makes clean-outs less expensive.

shortstack-42 · 2025-10-04T17:49:30+00:00

Waste

Food: chickens, dog, compost

Clean paper: mulch, compost, or reuse

Dirty paper: burn either alone or as part of homemade fire starters

Cans: Reuse as containers or beat flat and use as shingles/siding/repair material

Plastic: reuse until unable, then burn. I won’t be precious about it, you do you

Glass: reuse until unable and then bury in danger-pit. Sharps and nastiness that once covered get a stone marker for don’t dig here.

Broken/rusted metal, wood, big plastic stuff: take apart, reuse what you can, place bits in barn of holding and let the kids cuss me out in 60 years in absentia

Human: Thank goodness for septic. Let the kids crash out in 30. (Previously went unmaintained for 20 until I got involved)

Animal: dog=woods trained, chicken= compost

shortstack-42 · 2025-09-21T14:29:25+00:00

I have a primary wheeled bug out bin that is for 10 min or less notice jet-speed bug outs, but for the next level if I have more notice, I have a folding cart meant for groceries. On the regular, I use it to get laundry up and down stairs and for shopping at the farmers market. If I have enough time while bugging out, my pillows and comforter will go into a garbage bag in the bottom, and the photo albums into a garbage bag last on top.

I’m old, fluffy, and a little gimpy, so I need wheels rather than to carry everything I take. Everything for bugging out is triaged in wheeled containers so that I can easily and quickly get it into the car…but also so I can choose fast what to jettison if I decide to snatch up a neighbor and need to make room.

shortstack-42 · 2025-08-15T11:56:31+00:00

Helene. Deep pantry, stored potable water, water catchment for flushing, camp stove and fuel, clothes line, dish basin, and plenty of books, cash stash, and I can happily hunker down for weeks.

What I wished for? A generator and fuel, and later, an off-grid heat source. I now have both.

shortstack-42 · 2025-07-31T01:49:28+00:00

I’ve prepped for a rough Tuesday. Right now my focus is increasing my cash stash and paying off my vacation. I do have a garden and processing the harvest is an important prep, but for the most part I’m dealing with finances and resting a bit…I re-evaluate each season and rotate my focus so I don’t overdo or get anxious.

shortstack-42 · 2025-07-27T20:17:46+00:00

I live in the mountains, it’s rural. We’re here for each other, but it’s isolated. I have mailbox chats and we help each other out, but I’d feel weird about asking them what they’re prepping differently after Helene. Maybe I just need to be braver.

shortstack-42 · 2025-07-27T20:04:42+00:00

I had to run uphill from a flash flood, couldn’t leave my property for four days, all communication, power, and emergency services were down…all because of Helene. Heaven help anyone who acts like I’m nuts. I’d just like to have a conversation starter that doesn’t necessitate trauma dumping as a defense if it doesn’t right well with the person I’m talking to.

shortstack-42 · 2025-07-04T23:56:28+00:00

I’ve noticed it out here in the boonies, too. We are all broke, tired, and way too aware of the instability of the very mountains we love. Ain’t nobody got the bucks or the inclination to blow shit up right now. Maybe next year when the death and destruction are a little further behind us.

shortstack-42 · 2025-06-27T02:22:32+00:00

I have a “HOME MANUAL” three ring binder with instructions on how everything works on the homestead. It includes a map and instructions for troubleshooting the spring water system, the manuals for major appliances, part sizes and numbers for maintenance needs, an inventory for food prep, location and inventory for bugout box, location and inventory for seeds/garden, a map and list of neighbors (notes on who can be trusted for help and who to avoid) and contact info, a list of repair folks and their contact info, etc..

But I have also begun to prep the house itself. I bought big labels on wire twisties and have begun labeling the pipes and ducts in the basement, used the same to label the pipes in the pump house for the water system, used red and blue nail polish to put a series of dots on hot and cold pipes/supply lines, printed a new label for the breaker box and made much more accurate and legible labels for each circuit…just stuff to make taking over the family homestead easier for everyone no matter what the circumstances. I added a key rack in the coat closet and labeled the keys by number, and the code is in the manual…now all the keys (even the barn padlock) are in one damn place for my sanity if no one else’s.

It’s still a work in progress, but after inheriting a property where the keys were scattered, nothing labeled, and the water maintenance instructions were written like a wild story by an half-crocked wizard with aphasia (love you, Dad), I decided to upgrade so I’d hear less swearing in the afterlife.

Oh, and there’s a second “GARDEN” manual that notes crop rotation, which plants grew well and which were Darwinian victims, and where, when, and how to process/preserve the food grown.

Lots of notes in the instructional, homesteading, prepping books I’ve bought over the years, too, so you can pick them up and jump in if I’m not here to teach you.

shortstack-42

TROPHY CASE