I like to be flexible and consider that I can adapt to many different circumstances. As well as trying to cover every eventuality I am firmly of the belief that most issues are what are called cascade failures. It is where one failure is followed by another small failure to make a much larger failure. These are what cause most of the major issues nowadays.
What this means for us as preppers is that we need to consider the minor risks as well as the major risks. They are more likely to happen and if we are not careful then they will cause us more issues than we can handle. An example is the fuel strike, a minor issue for us because we don’t travel that far but when the food stops because the transport firms have not got any fuel, coupled with our 30 year experience of JIT and supply chain management which has led to stores and manufacturing plants not having any warehouse facilities which leads to a shortage of components in a mere few days. Modern systems that have been working fine for 30+ years brought to a standstill because of a single event which on its own is a big deal but not seen to be catastrophic. Many manufacturers will do fine for a bit longer but most nowadays work on the JIT principles to make cost savings, using their suppliers as warehouses.
Luckily for us most of our preps for larger events will also cover us for smaller events but not always. Some of us are planning to bug out and others are planning to use currently illegal methods because after an event no one will be there to prosecute us. But what happens if the event is large enough to trigger our protocols but small enough to keep a veneer of civilisation on society and means that eventually someone will eventually be around to perform an investigation? The fuel example is a good example of this.
It is something we need to think of and we need to plan for such an eventuality. We know ourselves that we are making plans for many things but most, if not all, are apocalypse events. We should also be considering the smaller events as well.
In many ways most of us already are. Our food supplies can be utilised when we are made redundant or there is a lack of food delivered to the local stores. We can set up our snares and shoot the local wildlife, leaving the illegal ones at the moment, to supplement our food and most of our stores will be fine for this.
Our processes though will not always be. We need to look at those and plan for the smaller events. I’d hate to survive a massive food shortage that was fixed after two months and then find I get a visit from Plod for hoarding and shooting the kings deer with a bow or something.
I think in many ways this is more difficult than prepping for TEOTWAWKI.
How long, in realistic terms and in cool conditions underground, can tinned food last?
Depends on type of tin, steel, coated steel, alloy, plus whats in it,external humidity, temp etc, IE an unlined steel tin contained acidic fruit would be useless in a couple of years.But I’ve eaten army tinned foods that were canned in 1985 and were fine. Theres just to many variables to consider to give a straight answer.
As NR said, impossible to say but the ideal conditions are cool, dry and out of the light. You do that and they will last for a very long time. I have some in my pantry that has been there since the 90s and they were fine.
Always check them for eaating and rely more on your nose than the print on the tins.