When SHTF, a lot of folks here may be stocked to the hilt with canned foods, buckets of dried foods, rice, etc. when shit really begins to hit the fan there are a few major reasons why you should steer clear of your stockpile for as long as possible:
# 1
If it gets to the point where do you feel compelled to start consuming your prep, then that means things are likely not gonna be getting better for a very long time, which means that you should be out there in the streets/stores groveling for whatever remaining supplies you can get, and continuing to stockpile excess while reducing your consumption to subsistence levels.
By the time that available supply runs out, everybody who has no prep will perish (this is not a good thing - don't celebrate the demise of others, just because they were too ignorant to prepare). After this period of time passes, there will be a lot fewer remaining people to consume whatever resources remain, which means that you may not have to dip into your stockpile to survive. If things continue downwards from this point (think of a worst case scenario like a nuclear winter), you will still have whatever number of months of supplies that you started with to survive the real SHTF that ensues.
Reason # 1 could be summed up as "shit can always get much worse".
# 2
The next reason is that you may think shit has hit the fan, and so you begin to consume your stockpile, and then suddenly things turn around and start getting better, and now you have consumed your stock pile and you are no longer prepared for whatever comes next, while the likelihood of another SHTF scenario probably increases exponentially after this point in time (due to all the systems that will have failed as a result of the first SHTF).
# 3
If your neighbors and everybody around you have been going to the store/other resource pool, and you have just been comfortably hiding out in your house (to avoid chaos, etc.), then the likelihood of somebody nearby realizing that you are stocked up goes up increases.
The first point stands on its own and should be reason enough to follow this advice.
BONUS
Whatever food preps you have, add 100 pounds of rice AND 1 water filter (life straw or Sawyer Mini) per person to that. It's cheap AF, you can buy cheap mylar bags from Amazon and oxygen absorbers to put in those bags and the race will last for many years. And then you will have about six months extra runway when SHTF.
Here are the mylar bags:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MDWBMY4/
Here are the oxygen absorbers:
I absolutely agree; great advice. Berkey filters are a big investment for a lot of people, but if you can afford one and you're planning on bugging in and you have the space for one, the big Berkey is a great option.
Zero water filter is cheaper and better
No, they're not.
Zero water filters only remove 23 contaminants, mostly only chlorine, lead, and other dissolved solids (which could even include natural dissolved salts in water), and their filters are only good for 3-5 months. Berkey filters remove 203 contaminants, and each pair of black filters work for 6000 gallons (several years worth for an average family), and in a SHTF scenario they can filter questionable water from sources like ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers.
Zero water filters are a gimmick filter, barely above Brita filters, since they pride themselves on removing dissolved solids, which is laughable in comparison to how well Berkey filters work, which are also independently lab tested, removing 99.999% or more of each contaminant, including bacteria, cysts, parasites, viruses, plastics, pesticides, VOCs, pharmaceutical drugs, chlorine, chloramines, lead, arsenic, etc.
There's a reason why most serious preppers have bought a Berkey. They're that good.