This Is How One Pig Can Feed Your Family for 3 Whole Months

Picture this: the grid’s down, grocery stores are empty, and your family is hungry. While rice and beans are prepper staples, one pig – around 275 lbs, the average slaughter weight in the U.S. – can be your lifeline, feeding a family of four for three months with nutrient-packed meals.

Our ancestors knew that when it came to survival, nothing beats using every part of an animal, and pork has always been a prepper’s dream for that reason. A pig can be used nose-to-tail, providing not just meat, but fat, organs, skin, and bones that all play a role in keeping a family strong and well-fed.

In many traditional communities around the world, this practice still keeps families going through harsh winters and hard times. Of course, after an SHTF event, you’ll need to rely on other food sources to live as normally as possible. But when handled correctly, a single pig of this size is a real life-saver.

Raising or Buying Your Pig: What You Need to Know

You’ve got two options for getting a pig: raise it yourself or buy one from a local farm. Both have pros and cons, and the choice depends on your setup, skills, and resources.

Raising Your Own Pig

The fact of the matter is that this takes effort. Quite a lot of it, actually. You’ll need 100–200 sq ft of space for a pen, sturdy fencing (pigs are escape artists), and a simple shelter to protect from weather.

Feed them kitchen scraps, forage, or grain (about 500–600 lbs of feed over 6–8 months to reach slaughter weight).

Daily care includes fresh water and cleaning to prevent disease. Expect to invest time and money. About $200–$400 for feed and setup.

Then there’s the slaughter issue. Butchering a pig yourself requires skill and tools (a sharp butcher knife, bone saw, and clean workspace).

If you’re new to this, many small farms or local butchers offer slaughter services for a fee ($50–$150, depending on the region), saving you the mess and learning curve. Check with local farms or extension services for resources or training.

Buy From a Local Farm

This is ideal for urban or suburban preppers with limited space. A 275 lb live pig costs roughly $400–$825 ($1.50–$3 per lb), or you can buy a half or quarter pig to save money.

Most farms handle slaughter and basic butchering, delivering a dressed carcass (about 205 lbs) ready for you to process further.

If you’re in a city, you can partner with a farm or join a meat CSA to source pork without raising it yourself.

Disclaimer:  When you’re butchering, cooking, or storing pork, cleanliness is everything. Mess up, and you could end up with nasty bugs like Salmonella or E. coli, or even parasites like Trichinella, which can cause trichinosis—a real pain you don’t want.

Make sure your pork is cooked all the way through to at least 145°F (63°C) inside, and let it rest a bit before digging in.

Use clean tools and surfaces—sanitize like your life depends on it—and store the meat properly to avoid spoilage.

This is just a heads-up, not a replacement for proper training or advice from butchers. Your family’s health comes first, always!

How Much Food You Really Get From a Pig

A 275 lb pig is a goldmine if you know how to use it. After slaughter, you lose some weight from blood, inedible organs, hair, and hide. This leaves a hanging weight of about 205 lbs (75% of live weight).

After deboning and trimming, you’re left with 155–165 lbs of prime meat and fat: shoulders for pulled pork, hams, chops, belly for bacon, and trimmings for sausage or ground meat.

But don’t stop there. In a survival scenario, wasting any part is a mistake. Bones, organs, skin, and even blood can yield 45–55 lbs of additional food, bringing your total to over 200 lbs of usable nutrition. That’s enough for 600–700 frugal meals when planned right.

How to Use Every Part (Zero Waste)

In a crisis, wasting a scrap of food could mean the difference between a full belly and hunger. Using every part of the pig maximizes resources and respects the animal. Here’s how:

• Meat: Turn shoulders, hams, and loins into roasts, stews, sausages, canned pork, or meat powder.
• Fat: Render into lard for frying, baking, or sealing preserved meat. It’s also great for soap or pemmican.
• Bones: Boil into nutrient-rich stock for soups or stews. Crush soft bones for pet food or garden fertilizer.
• Skin: Fry into cracklings, add to stews for richness, or make collagen-rich broths.
• Organs: Liver, heart, and kidneys are nutrient powerhouses for pâtés, sausages, or stews.
• Head & Feet: Use for head cheese, jellied dishes, or hearty soups.
• Blood: If you’re up for it, make blood sausage or use as a stew thickener.

This zero-waste approach ensures you get every calorie and nutrient possible, critical for long-term survival.

One more thing: a pig could also offer great bartering value. Properly cured hams, jars of canned pork, or even rendered lard can all be powerful bartering items when cash is worthless and supplies run low. A well-preserved stash of pork could help you trade for medicine, tools, or other critical resources when it matters most.

What You Need to Eat (or Preserve) First

Not all pig parts last equally long, especially without refrigeration in a grid-down scenario. Lose a single day, and you could lose 20 lbs of valuable food – or worse, feed the rodents instead of your family. Prioritize to avoid spoilage:

Organs: These spoil quickly and should be cooked or preserved within a day or two. Use them in pâtés, sausages, or stews.

Fresh cuts: Tenderloin and smaller cuts that won’t be smoked or cured need immediate attention. Salt, smoke, or cook them as soon as possible.

Fat: If left out, fat can go rancid. Rendering it into lard allows it to last for months.

Bones and skin: These last a bit longer but should be processed into broth or cracklings soon after butchering.

If you lack butchering skills, practice with online tutorials or ask a local butcher to teach you. Use clean surfaces and boiling water to maintain sanitation and avoid pests.

How to Preserve the Pork for Long-Term Use

Preserving over 200 lbs of pork is key to food security. With the right techniques and tools, you can store pork for months or years. Here’s how:

Curing: Use 1 lb non-iodized salt per 10 lbs meat, plus ¼ cup brown sugar and 1 tsp curing salt (per package instructions) to prevent bacteria. Add spices like black pepper or garlic powder for flavor. Store in airtight metal or plastic bins (<60°F) to keep pests out. Shelf Life: 6–12 months.

Smoking: Pre-salt meat, then smoke with 2–3 lbs hickory, applewood, or cherry wood chips in a smoker or DIY pit. Shelf Life: 6–12 months (best with curing).

Pressure Canning: Use a pressure canner ($100–$200, or check for used ones) to can 50 lbs of pork in 20–30 pint Mason jars with new lids. Add ½ tsp non-iodized salt per jar and fill with broth or water. Check seals to avoid botulism. Shelf Life: 1–2 years.

Rendering Lard: Melt fat, strain through cheesecloth, and store in 10–15 pint jars or tins. Keep airtight, away from light. Shelf Life: Up to 1 year.

Drying: Marinate thin pork slices in ½ cup soy sauce per 2 lbs with chili powder or paprika, then dry at 160°F in a dehydrator or oven for jerky. A solar dehydrator works for low-tech setups. Shelf Life: 6–12 months in low-humidity, airtight storage.

Meat Powder: Use lean pork cuts (like loin or ham), trim off all fat to prevent spoilage, and cook until fully done. Dry completely in a dehydrator or low oven at 160°F until brittle. Grind into a fine powder using a food processor or mortar and pestle. Store in airtight jars or vacuum-sealed bags, away from heat and moisture. Shelf Life: Up to 2 years if fully fat-free and stored properly.

Store all products in rodent-proof containers in a pantry or cellar like The Easy Cellar (it’s fast to build and incredibly useful in different scenarios). Rotate stock, using older items first, to keep your supply fresh.

Don’t forget: Without proper preservation, all your hard work and investment can disappear in days.

The Most Nutritious Parts of the Pig

Chops and tenderloin taste great, but the real survival nutrition is in the parts most folks overlook. Organ meats (liver, heart, kidneys) are packed with vitamin A, iron, and B vitamins, which are essential when supplements aren’t available.

Pork fat (lard) is a high-energy substitute for cooking oil or butter. Bone marrow and cartilage from joints and feet make collagen-rich broths that support joint and gut health. Even skin provides protein and collagen when fried into cracklings or slow-cooked. In a survival scenario, these parts are absolutely critical for staying strong.

I learned a lot about this from the Amish, thanks to The Amish Ways Book. These folks are absolute pros at stretching resources, especially when it comes to pork! They have been raising pigs, butchering, and preserving meat for generations, and they don’t let a single scrap go to waste.

We’re talking lard for cooking, bones for hearty broths, sausages packed with flavor, and smoked cuts that last. It’s like they’ve cracked the code on making one pig feed a family for months, no fridge or fancy gadgets needed! Learn from their ways here, and you’ll be ready for anything!

Practical Examples for a Family of 4 Over 3 Months

Let’s put all these numbers into perspective. Say your family of four has to rely on this one 275 lb pig for the backbone of your food supply during a crisis.

If you plan for two pork-based meals a day, whether that’s a chop, stew, or sausage, you’ll need to stretch the meat carefully. Using portions of about 3 to 4 ounces of meat per person per meal, that means roughly 2 to 3 pounds of meat daily for the whole family.

With about 160 lbs of prime meat and fat, plus the extra nutrition from organs, bones, and skin, you’re looking at roughly 3 months of meals, assuming you supplement with other staples like rice, beans, or vegetables.

You can keep variety high by rotating fresh cuts, smoked meats, canned pork, broths, and dishes made with rendered fat or cracklings. The key is good meal planning and proper storage.

>>How to Stockpile 272 pounds of long-lasting food with just $5

Sample Meal Plan for a Family of Four

This simple meal plan uses pork carefully – about 3 to 4 ounces per person per meal – and combines it with pantry staples to make filling, nutrient-packed dishes. It assumes you’re working with a mix of preserved pork (canned, smoked, or cured) plus beans, rice, and homegrown or foraged veggies.

Breakfast: Pork and Bean Skillet

Ingredients:

• 12 oz canned pork (about 3 oz per person, from shoulder or ground pork)
• 2 cups cooked pinto beans (soaked and cooked from dry beans)
• 1 onion, diced (homegrown or stored)
• 1 tbsp rendered lard
• 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper, ½ tsp smoked paprika

Preparation:

Heat the lard in a skillet. Sauté the onion until soft. Add canned pork and beans, season with salt, pepper, and paprika, and cook until heated through (around 10 minutes). Serve with cornbread if you have some.

Nutrition:

Packed with protein (pork and beans), fat (lard), and fiber (beans).

Lunch: Pork Broth Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 cups pork bone broth (made by boiling bones for 12–24 hours)
• 8 oz smoked pork (about 2 oz per person, from ham or shoulder)
• 2 cups diced root veggies (carrots, potatoes, or turnips, from storage or garden)
• 1 cup kale or wild greens (foraged or homegrown)
• 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp dried thyme

Preparation:

Simmer broth with veggies and thyme for 20 minutes until tender. Add diced smoked pork and kale, cook 5 more minutes. Serve hot.

Nutrition:

Rich in collagen (from broth), vitamins A and C (greens and veggies), and protein.

Dinner: Pork Fried Rice with Cracklings

Ingredients:

• 12 oz ground pork sausage (about 3 oz per person, made from trimmings)
• 2 cups cooked rice (pantry staple)
• ¼ cup pork cracklings (from fried skin, for crunch)
• 1 cup mixed veggies (peas, carrots, or cabbage, garden or stored)
• 1 tbsp rendered lard
• 2 tbsp soy sauce (pantry staple), 1 tsp garlic powder

Preparation:

Heat lard in skillet. Brown sausage, then add veggies and stir-fry 5 minutes. Stir in rice, soy sauce, and garlic powder, cook until hot. Top with cracklings for extra crunch.

Nutrition:

Balanced with protein (pork), carbs (rice), and vitamins (veggies).

Tip: Rotate meals creatively so your family doesn’t get “pork fatigue”. Morale is survival fuel too.

Learn More About Meal Planning

This is just one example of how you can manage your meals for a day using what a pig has to offer. On the other hand, there are many alternative survival meal planning strategies — you just need to know where to find them.

In the book A Navy SEAL’s Bug-In Guide, survival expert Joel Lambert shares a wealth of invaluable advice on this topic. Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll find inside:

38 Foods to Stockpile

What a Survival Expert’s 3-Month Food Stockpile Looks Like

Weekly Bug-In Meal Plan

How to Safely Store Your Bug-In Food Stockpile

And so much more life-saving information! It’s nearly 100 pages packed with practical, essential food and crisis management strategies. This book is truly a treasure. I left the link where I got my own from below – but I don’t know if there are any more copies available. Maybe you’ll get lucky, though…

Click on this link to check if there’s still a copy available for you

Final Thoughts

Tomorrow’s shelves could be empty. Knowing how to turn one pig into three months of food is your edge against chaos. One 275 lb pig can transform your prepper pantry, securing your family’s food supply for three months or more, whether you raise it or source it from a trusted farm.

Start today: read about meat preservation and cooking, connect with local farmers, master butchering and preservation skills, and stretch every cut to its fullest.

Crucially, safeguard your health by strictly following safe handling, cooking, and storage practices to eliminate risks like trichinosis and bacterial contamination. This pig-to-plate journey equips you to thrive when crisis strikes. What’s your next step? Share your thoughts in the comments!

As a prepper, I’ve always believed that the most important things are food, the safety of my family and myself, and access to clean water. I invested in this backpack-sized water generator, and I can honestly say it was one of my smartest choices. I was able to easily and quickly secure a device that provides me with at least 10 gallons of water per day – without any resource except the air! Check out this compact powerhouse right here!

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