I'm a fan of the "ready-made" post, so here's something I wrote for a food storage email list I'm on.  A new person on the list posed the question of why we are pursuing such extreme versions of food stockpiling, rather than the more traditional "emergency stores" version of food storage (you know, have enough food for a 3 days and water for a week version?).  Well, here's my response.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I promised myself I was going to go sit on the couch and read a magazine.

Yeah.  There's 10 lbs more in the freezer, too.  Twenty pints of plain beans (2 didn't seal, so those are in the fridge), 3 quarts of ginger-pickled beans, and 2 quarts of 3 bean salad. 

We are slowly, yet certainly, turning into Localvores.