I am trying to wrap my head around the idea of having a year worth of food in storage.
I assume you guys are talking about MRE or cheap canned goods. MRE's are very expensive.
1 years worth assuming 2 meals a day would be nearly $5500 per person. I know they last 3-5 years but still that is a lot of reoccurring expenses, especially if you assume at least 3 people residing in a typical house. Then comes the question of do you leave your older kids, your parents and siblings out in the cold? So for me the answer is No, I would have to let any close family member into my house and that then puts the meal plan in jeopardy.
A better investment is in a few rifles including a .22's plus lots of Ammo as Squirrel's, Rabbits etc might be the main course and just maybe have 2 months of MRE's plus a lot of fishing gear if I am near enough to the water.
If you purchase your food from a common grocery store, then yes, its going to be mighty expensive.
We bought most of our food from a bulk foods store.. and a lot of it came in 50 lb bags. 50lb bags of rice, beans, corn, oats, lentils, split peas, flour, sugar, etc. At the time, we were paying about $25 per 50lb bag on average. $500 later, we had enough food to keep us easily fed for a year. My wife would also pay attention to really good sales at the stores. Tuna went on sale for 30 cents a can so she bought 300 cans.. we still joke about the comments from the cashier. Then Sam's Club had a crazy sale on Chef Boy Ardee Ravioli so we bought 100 cans of that.. a couple months later, they had a crazy sale on Condensed Mushroom Soup, so another 100 cans since that stuff can be used in all kinds of dinner recipes.
And on and on it went. It wasn't going to be the most diverse diet, but it would keep us alive and fed.. A year later, we bought a freeze dryer, and that opened up a whole new world. And let me tell you, freeze dried meat is nearly indistinguishable from frozen meat once its cooked.
That year, Thanksgiving came around and turkey went on sale like it always does so she bought 15 of them.. We'd cook one per week, complete with the stuffing inside, and then I'd freeze dry it..
Then Sam's Club had a really good sale on pasta for 40 cents a pound, so we bought 200 lbs of spaghetti.. (the good stuff, not some generic brand).
Our freeze dryer has allowed us to buy things on sale in bulk quantities and freeze dry them. All kinds of fresh fruits, cheeses, vegetables, etc. It has also allowed us to take all the canned goods and freeze dry them as well, which extends their life from 5 years in a can to a solid 25 or 30 years.
We have bulk storage items like the rice and beans, entire pre-cooked dinners (just add hot water), and even a good supply of what we call "comfort foods" like snacks and chocolate. Our total investment in food is probably somewhere in the neighborhood of about $2500 for three solid years for our family. And that doesn't include what's in our three deep freezers or what we could hunt or grow.
One of our worries: While everyone else is loosing weight, we'll still be fat and happy.. We'll have to fake it for a while.
For probably around $600, you could put away enough of those 50lb bags of staples to feed a family of 4 for a year.. The lack of variety might get boring, but you wouldn't be doing stupid things or risking your life because you're hungry.
MRE's are a VERY BAD idea.. The "long term storage" concept is a myth as they have a very limited shelf life that depends on storage temperature and is measured in the 3 to 5 year range at best. They are also crazy expensive. (You can google MRE storage).
As for your family, that is a tough question that every prepper has to wrestle with. My family is small, but even so, I store extra rice and beans for my neighbors, and since I live in a rural area, I can shoot a deer out my bedroom window almost every day of the year if I had to.
Prepping is wise.. because by the time you realize there's a problem, it will already be too late to do anything about it.