Absolutely. Along with food don’t neglect a means to ensure you have pure water, a way to cook and keep warm, medical supplies to include antibiotics, and basic trauma care, We could very easily be on our own even more than we are now.
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Technically, you don’t “need” to cook it, it will still rehydrate but take longer if not heated.
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When I raced Bicycles we would ask “Do you prefer the crunching ones or the soft furry ones”"
(@Don102 I know what you’re thinking… Don’t Do It!!)
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I look at any stored foods as a temporary answer to get through to a possible long term solution, if there is one, and both canned and freeze dried have a place.
If an event happens where some version of society can be up and working again in a number of months, stored food is what I need. If something happens that society will he down for years, or permanently, I don’t have, nor can I reasonably make a plan for that, until I get there (I recognize that I may not survive that, nor even want to). For these reasons I keep a mix of freeze dried and canned on hand. The canned is good for, say, a major hurricane that has me stuck for a couple weeks. However, it takes a lot of space and needs to be rotated out. I keep enough freeze dried for when my wife and I would be stuck for a couple or four months. Buy it and forget it, plus, it lasts decades, not just years. I have a water source, and if I ration fuel I can get there. As for canned, most of it is protien- the canned chicken at Sam’s, for example, is very good, low cost, and a dense protein source straight from the can. Carbs are in the form of dried grains and legumes. Bags of black beans, rice, and lentils, for example, should be a major part of your supplies.
As for long term, I don’t have a plan, other than make one when I have more data. Plan A is to survive the initial event long enough to assess and make a plan B. Plan B could be absolutely anything.
Sort of along the lines of your other thread on survival caliber, I know how to fish and hunt, and have all the equpment I need in those regards, so I would almost immediately start supplementing my stored food with what I can gather. Basically, if stuff looked really bad, I’d immediately go into long term survival mode and start stretching resources to the max.
My biggest short term concern is actually protecting what I have. I can picture very little sleep guarding the homestead. I have an unusual, old rural style property with water and wood in the middle of what has become a crowded suburb with zero-lot houses all piled on top of each other. Those people will want what I have, and that’s a problem. My neighbor on one side has 20 acres and is a retired Colonel, plus a trusted friend. The other neighbors don’t seem ready for a bad thunderstorm.
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All really great points and ideas. Thank you @Joseph488.
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Get a book or get information on local plants that are edible. You might be surprised at how much is out there. Hunting wont last long before the game is gone but if you hunt you will have to keep it quiet. Bow, crossbow, suppressor or air rifle. I have a 22 caliber air rifle that has a built in suppressor. Not NFA on air rifles. I have killed vermin and pests with an air rifle. It will take small game. Learn how to trap animals.
I live near a large lake. I would have to go out at night in a kayak with no lights to hide from human predators. Don’t overlook crayfish. Set a trap and check it at night.
If you don’t have an alternate means of transportation you better start looking. Bicycles are good but even a scooter would help. A folding scooter in the back of your car will get you further faster than walking if your car dies.
In NYC during WW2 most of the tenement roofs had pots with food crops and pigeon coupes. Squab was a big unrationed food source.
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One of the reasons I have a couple of small Faraday Cages, is that I keep a couple of small devices with downloaded books on dozens of of survival style topics. They can all be recharged with Solar chargers I have. So I may not have that knowledge memorized but I can at least hum a few bars until I get into it exhaustively.
Edit: Punctuation 
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Good points, for sure. I’d actually started thinking about finding a nice effective air rifle for small game. I don’t have one now. I’m a life long cyclist, so, yes, bikes are an alternative transportation in place now.
The way I look at prep is, on a daily basis as I’m going through my routine, to think about everything I’m using, if it would function totally “off grid” and what my backup is. Phones and internet? I have complete GMRS and CB systems for communication, including mobile, handheld and base. I have old fashioned am/fm radios, weather radios and over the air TV for information (stations may be down, but maybe not), as well as ability to monitor different amateur radio bands. Power? I have a good generator, but that’s not enough. Lots of people have those. Are you sure you have enough motor oil on hand for weeks of running? Spare parts? I keep a full stock of spares on hand, including spare carburetors ignition parts, etc. (I’ve converted it to dual fuel and run propane now, so that reduces maintenance), but still, I don’t ever want to be regretting not having what I need.
Things like batteries, I’ve tried to standardize everything in the house that needs batteries to AA (mostly flashlights and radios), and have a more than a few dozen AA batteries on hand at all times (Sams has big packs of AA for cheap). Medical- everything from trauma care to health monitoring (blood pressure, O2 sat). My wife is type 1 diabetic. We never throw old insulin away. It’ll work long after the “expiration date”, and we stockpile as much as we can get our hands on. Again, Sams has regular human insulin, no prescription needed, for $25/vial. It’s not the fancy time managed modern insulin, but will keep a diabetic alive. Even mundane stuff like dish detergent. Can I, on moment’s notice, go a month being able to wash dishes?
Then, the key is to use the stuff on a regular basis. Are the radio batteries all charged, all the time? Antenna connections good, and the systems working? All the flashlight batteries good? Fuel tanks full? Chainsaw running well? Got enough 2 stroke and bar oil? Cat food? It’s a lifestyle mindset.
The standard I try to hold myself to is, if power goes out for 2 days, I want to hardly notice, life will go on at home more or less unchanged and comfortable. If power and services are all down for 2 weeks and I’m blocked in and can’t leave, no worries, we’re totally stocked and ready. If all services will be down for 2 months, we will survive at home and stay healthy and safe, but it won’t be comfortable.
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No sense in prepping in my current situation.
I live in the suburbs of a major metro city.
If power goes out, yeah I have a generator….
If it goes down permanently,… how long before that generator draws attention?
Sure I could stockpile food and water,… but again,… how long before those resources become scarce and turn my stockpile into a target for the millions that live near me?
My extent of prepping is having just enough arms and ammo to fit a very small group,… we will either die, or become local warlords in the event of societal collapse.
Maybe, once I have some remote land and can off grid homestead,… THEN I will prep for doomsday.
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We will all suffer our own personal, inevitable and irresistible doomsday.
If you didn’t wake up this morning, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
It’s prudent to prepare to weather disasters of various kinds such as natural and political/economic,
That’s being responsible.
Avoiding be nihilism, and nihilists is IMHO a good start.
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I know where I’m going when the “lights go out” and the good Lord calls me home. So no worries there. Just don’t like going out the hard way.
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“WHAT?” 
Snicker
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Not hoarding,… but this is another reason I won’t make it too long in a SHTF situation!
I love to cook.
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Bout 5 hours in wood smoker… alas I can only taste it on my head…
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Yeah…. That pic was when they hit 165 internal temp after about 3-4 hours on the smoker…
They’re wrapped in foil and back on to cook to 200-205
Will be fall off the bone tender!
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I’m begging here. Please stop…
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That is awesome. I do want to cook up a mess of ribs. Usually smoke a couple of chickens at the same time. I have a feed it yourself coal and wood smoker. Would like to get a pellet job. I use oxygen moving around for a restrictive pulmonarydeficit. So, I have to set everything up, take off the cannula quick light the fire. Then I sit and throw wood at it as needed. You must be a BBQ fan… you know the foil wrap for the last bit.
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I have stored food, and I have kept the receipts as well, I do not wish to be accused of hoarding. I also have a water storage capacity to last over 1 full year, at drinking one gallon per person in my group. I will fill the storage barrels when it becomes necessary, they are waiting, I will use Pool Shock to purify the water - once mixed, the water will remain stable for 5 years, keep it cool and away from light and sealed. I recommend you stay away from any food products that are stored in cans - like Emergency Essentials - I lost a lot of food because the cans rusted and bulged out - meaning the contents spoiled. Patriot Supply is best in mylar packs. Storage is the key - keep it dry, cool, and away from light. They can last for 30 years. Thus, do not buy your food all in the same year - string it out over the years to keep fresh food every year without rotation. Other items - plastic bags, silverware, Bic lighters, disposable bowls cups, and get coffee, creamer and sugar. Stock liquor. Ammo, of course. Get HAM Radio certified, or at least buy a base type station that can go portable if necessary, if SHTF - I will laugh in the face of the idiot that asks me for my HAM certification - but at least know how to talk on one. Think out of the freakin box, all people will bend the rules when the world crumbles. And seek the LORD.
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