cactus

often you don't want to store food, but still want backup food,
cactus are great at that, and some grow down to -25F and lower, and that is sure colder than it gets here.

now these are all small, but I have seen them get as big as a truck (I collected the pads I am growing from plants that size), and having many tons of food around seems like a good plan to me

they have fruit that is tasty
here is one developing now, it is a yellow one and should get to be 3 to 4 times the size it is now, 
I have not yet tasted one like it, so I don't know how good it is.

and here is one from last year that is still on the plant (although half has rotted away) and they taste like spicy watermelon

you can also eat the leaves, just burn off the spines (something the deer and racoons can't do) and chop them up,
some people remove the skin first (this is what I would be doing), but not needed (or so they tell me),
the young pads are going to taste better, but you can eat them all.

they are cactus, so water them once a week in the hot dry weather,
you want them to totally dry out before you water them,
if they have weeds growing in the pot, the weeds should die before you water them,
lots of people don't water them in the summer,
but they only grow when it is hot and they have water,
so give them water and they will get very big very fast.

and if nothing else the are pretty

now time to fix a web forum problem (I know, not gardening related...)