We can't have root cellars here on the coast; the water table is too high. So that's frustrating. I'm very limited. I guess I should only plant the things that I know I can easily store in a SHTF situation. So I won't be saving those squash seeds. Okay, yes I will, but only plant a little for seasonal food or trades. Beans and peas are easily dried. Tomatoes can be canned fairly simply with those Tattler lids; just have to keep feeding wood into the fire to keep that pot boiling. Throw in some peppers, onions and spices for salsa and sauces. Cucumbers can be made into pickles but do pickles have any nutritional value? I don't have room to grow or store wheat. Now I'm moving into true ignorance territory for me. What do you do with things that are supposed to be pressure canned? Just put more wood on the fire and hope it gets hot enough? In a real SHTF situation, unless we've been nuked, I think we'd all be okay with a year of stored food and plenty of seeds. I downloaded an excellent e-book on how to grow sprouts quickly in the house for fresh, nutritional greens. They don't make more seeds but if you had enough seeds stored you could eat sprouts through the winter, then plant in the spring and save seeds from that for the next year. I've also been reading up on aquaponics and that looks like it would be enjoyable as well as a nutritious source of protein and vegetables. I'm almost a vegetarian, so a few fish, maybe some chickens for their eggs and the veggies and I'd be a happy camper. Uh oh, I forgot about fruits. I love fruit, better put in some grapevines. It really isn't a matter of "the more you grow, the less you need to store," because with grapes, strawberries, raspberries, any of the fruits that are fairly easy and quick to grow, you still have to have canning supplies and sugar. I think sugar is going to become an extremely precious commodity. There must be a fairly easy to get substitute and honey isn't it since Monsanto has killed off all the honeybees with their GMOs.