ST, it is so upsetting what happened to you. The fact that some scammer would impersonate your bank well enough to convince Cary to convert it to Bitcoin is so scary. A lesson for all that we need to be very wary these days.
I have some # 10 cans of fruits and veggies. My problem is that their shelf life is only 3 weeks once opened IIRC. For 2 people we could only open one at a time.
We just don't eat enough boxed and canned foods to store years worth. I do keep some frozen meats along with some beans, rice, pasta and also some dehydrated food in smaller quantities. But the rest of what we eat is fresh. I've given up trying to store things we don't eat on a regular basis. Would we eat it in an emergency? Absolutely. But to buy, toss and rebuy waiting for that emergency is too wasteful and time consuming to manage.
I could stretch what we have for a long time. Meat, soups and beans rice and pasta. So far that is my best solution. Our backyard too shady for garden but we have had strip beside driveway in veggies. But that food would be stolen if times were bad.
While we were at the bank, yesterday, the lady we were seeing told us several horror stories about how the scammers operate. She said that our bank has seen its fair share where customers have been scammed. We weren't the first and won't be the last. The scammers are getting more and more technologically advanced with every passing day. We have it all settled now. We've taken measures at our bank and upped our security on both our computers. We also have LifeLock security. Everything we can possibly do to keep it from happening again. We are for sure paranoid, so hopefully, if we try to get scammed again, we will catch it in time. Nothing is 100% failsafe, though.
I don't store any boxed foods, period. Too processed. I have recipes that copy some of the boxed foods such as Hamburger Helper and those boxed potatoes like Au Gratin and Scalloped potatoes. I stopped buying Rice a Roni for the same reason. We are both on a low salt diet, so I cut out as much processed food as possible.
Since we can't have a large enough garden to survive on, I stock up mightily on canned veggies. The no salt kind. Although, I have a huge stock of them, I still prefer the fresh organic veggies from the grocery store, but that might end at any time if a SHTF event takes place. The canned veggies are the back up, but they get used often enough to keep them rotated on a regular basis.
I keep both chest freezers filled to the brim. Since I only buy groceries once a month, a hole develops, but on the next shopping trip, I fill those holes back up, whether it's meat or cornmeal.
Everyone has their own preferences and prepping habits. I would never say that my way is the best way. Each know their own abilities whether it's financial, storage space, ability to have a garden, food preferences, etc.
