West is right: it's important to try to have enough to be able to help others as well.
Get an allotment a.s.a.p. Everyone is entitled to one. Learn about them here:
Irish Allotments
and here:
Food Security From The Ground Up | Dublin Food Growing
Some advice from Colonel Kurtz: "If you want to buy in bulk just go to an Asian market. They are set up to sell in bulk - much cheaper for the basics like rice. You can buy a 20kg bad of basmati rice for about 45 euro. That's more than 200 servings of rice per bag.
If you are growing your own it might be worthwhile investigating making your own
earthbox. I am building my own at the moment - it will be fun to grow my own tomatoes for my vindaloos."
Lthse posted, "I did a lot of research about soil remineralisation a few years ago and would highly recommend remineralising your soil using rockdust or seaweed dust. Most soils are seriously depleted in minerals and only 3 are added by farmers and growers NPK. A lot of health problems are caused by mineral defficiency because of soil depletion, if it's not in the soil then it won't be in the food. Even organic growers don't add enough to the soil or understand the health benefits. The minerals help restore bone density, repair blood vessels, restore tissue elasticity, organ functions etc there are literally hundreds of health benefits. It's not quackery either it's based on science and studies done by researchers and medical expert."
And for food storage: "There are a lot of bargains if you look closely, for example I bought tins of beans, peas, lentils, large packets of porridge, Tesco cereals, razors (49c for 10), canned fruit (30c), creamed rice (25c) soup, pasta, Tesco salmon, Tesco sardines, Tesco tea-bags, large packets of toilet rolls, canned stew, meat (limited by freezing space), rice, coffee, pasta sauce, Tesco beer, Tesco vodka, chocolate, large bottles of Tesco shampoo, toothpaste.
You can buy large bags of rice in the Asian stores for about 20 Euros.
Large boxes of washing powder for 20 Euros (Bold, 90 washes) can be found in some stores (I don't know the stores but I got a friend to buy them as she knows where to get them).
If you know anyone holidaying in Spain/Canaries you can get 200 cigarettes for 5 Euros.
Some people like to buy in bulk but I don't think it's necessary. You can buy a lot of food for about 30 Euro a week if you look at the bargains on offer and you will have much more variety. I would recommend buying a wide variety of foods but that's just my opinion.
I would recommend buying wholewheat rice and pastas because they are very high in energy and fill you up. Porridge is also very good for giving you energy and filling you up.
I haven't looked at Lidl and Aldi yet but will be having a look over the coming weeks."
Rhonda posted the following very useful list, which has been widely circulated on the web:
100 Items to Disappear First