We wiped out our emergency food stores after a two year unemployment stint. We are starting the process to rebuild those stores now. We are struggling with getting a garden to grow, so we just bought yellow squash and green beans from a local couple. Today's activity consisted of breaking a bushel of green beans and canning 14 quarts of squash. There is more squash and the green beans will get canned as well. I we are not setting the woods on fire with this, but we are working to get back closer to where we need to be. I find this all works better when we work as a team.
Two years ouch! I was laid off from Learjet in Jun of 1982 and did not find steady work again until April of 1984. That was plenty bad enough. Unemployment insurance has a nasty habit of underfunding you and then running out.
Seems to me that rebuilding stores will take as long as the initial build. Your key will be to take it steady, not in spurts. The need is not coming any faster now than it was then, and a panicky haste will not help.
The problem was, I didn't qualify for unemployment insurance. Wife was working at half my salary at the time. We made it through, so now it's time to rebuild.