The dictionary defines food as “substance taken into the body…to maintain life.” For humans, the amount of time we can survive without food greatly depends on living conditions, individual age, health, body weight and most importantly, “the presence or absence of hydration.”
Homemade canned preserved fruits and vegetables
Although the purpose of the preparedness guides on this website were originally intended for 72 hour periods of emergency, many of the items available on the market for food will last much longer. Past the initial cost of dry food storage items and containers, the cost difference for bulk foods storage is relatively minimal. With a little reorganizing, the pantry can be arranged to accommodate basic bulk items. If you learn to use and replenish in bulk and never need them for an emergency situation, you will at least reduce the number of trips needed to the grocery store. Then, in the unfortunate case of an emergency or need to shelter in place for an extended period of time, you will be prepared.
To get started, let’s start with what you currently have in your pantry, refrigerator and freezer. We are going to assume in an emergency situation the utilities are down. This means items in the refrigerator and freezer (unless propane operated) will start to warm up and spoil the contents in a short period of time. Naturally, these will be the first items you consume. In most cases, this will carry you through the first 36 – 48 hours. But what do you do when the contents have been depleted? Let’s dive in.
Emergency Food
This is food for right this minute, with little to no resources. Or if you need to evacuate your home and can only leave with what you can carry or pack in your vehicle. These are not meals you would see at a Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving gathering, but it sure beats a bottle of water and a bag of chips for three days.
Water: See Emergency Water from our Water Preparedness page.
MRE’s: Meals Ready to Eat are available anywhere camping supplies are sold. From the standard Mountain House Hiker’s meals that require water to G.I. packages that requires a knife (or starving teeth) to cut through the packaging. If they are not stocked at your local military surplus store, here are a few online resources: Retailers
MRE’s are the ideal grab and go emergency meal, but their bulk and self-life make them unpractical and expensive to be a long-term, primary food option for an extended emergency situation. Keep enough for the family for a week, or the length of time your emergency plan calls for, and restock every 7 years or as per manufactures specifications. Let’s continue on.
Storage Containers
Aside from the basic Tupperware and decorative glass containers that accommodate basic day-day use, here are a few bulk storage items to consider.
Gamma Vittles Vault Stackable, 60 lbs.
Threaded Lid Buckets: Available in 1.25, 3.5 and 6 gallon sizes. For plastic storage, it is critical to purchase FDA approved plastic buckets for food storage. These stronger, denser plastics won’t leach chemicals into your food storage, leaving your food inedible. With the lids sealed, this all but guarantees no moisture, insects or rodents contaminate your supply. bestcontainers.com/product-category/pails-buckets/screw-top/
Gamma Vittles Vaults: These have all the advantages of the threaded lid buckets with one additional design advantage that allows you to stack one on top of the other, yet still allowing you to access the contents without having too unstack the bucket on top. http://www.homebrewing.com/equipment/vittles-vault-60/
Additional items for sealing and air locking.
Mylar Bags
Oxygen Absorbers
Dry goods to store: Beans, rice, pastas/noodles, rolled oats, wheat grains, flour, salt, sugar, coffee beans, powder milk, cereal, etc. The amount of each commodity to store will take a little time and thought to figure out. What kinds of food/meals will you be capable of preparing in an emergency situation? (Alternative heat covered later in this article) How many people will you be preparing for? What do y’all enjoy eating and how much ingredients do those dishes require? Suggested starting point: Write down your families 3 favorite meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Next, calculate much you would need on-hand to prepare those for one week. Once you have established this base, you can then build on from there.
Freeze Dried Foods
For anyone looking for a back-up food supply that you can just store and forget about, freeze dried foods are a great solution. Designate an area(s) in the air conditioned part of your home that you can stack sealed #10 cans and start adding to cart. Most manufactures of freeze dried foods come with at least a twenty year shelf life and supply a wide variety of grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy and meal combos.
Be it from your garden, orchard or livestock, you can use these three methods to preserve just about anything for 6 – 12 months.
Cold Storage: Cellars. This is the least practical to set up for most homeowners, but nevertheless, not to be forgotten.
Canning: Fairly simple and affordable to get set up.
Dehydrating: The forgotten jewel of food preservation.
How-To resources listed at the bottom of this page.
Preparing Food
Unless your emergency plan is to rely strictly on MRE’s (Meals Ready To Eat) you are going to need some basic cooking essentials including water, heat and utensils to cook and eat your meals.
Heat sources: In the case of utility outages, without a large enough generator and proper adaptors, your electric oven range won’t help prepare your supper.
If you have gas plumbed to the house, consider having a storage tank installed to run your range (and other appliances such as HVAC, water heater, etc.) in time of outages.
A simple table top propane grill/burner combo are available at any given hardware or outdoor store in America. Having an extra five gallon propane tank (or two) will last far beyond a three week food storage supply and also be useful for other propane accessories like heaters and pest control. There are also many different types of portable butane stoves and backpacking stoves that are smart to have in a go-bag either at home or in your vehicle.
Sun Oven for solar cooking
Solar Ovens are great for Arizona and aside from emergency situations, they are fun to experiment with the family at home or on a camping adventure. www.sunoven.com
Wood burning cooking fire. Unless you’re in a turn of the century home with a wood burning stove, this option is strictly for outdoor use and you must have the equipment and wood and/or charcoal supply on-hand. www.lodgecastiron.com
Basic Kitchen Utensils: Even if you are “sheltering in place” in an emergency situation, many of the tools in your kitchen may not be practical or operable if power is temporarily out. Having quality crafted, hand tools and utensils as your base for kitchen hardware is a must.
If you have the wherewithal to raise & breed your own meat and you are blessed to have a yard with a secure fence, a little shade and place to shelter from rain, small scale livestock can not only be a lot of fun but can provide fresh meat, dairy, wool, fertilizer for the garden and ‘first alert’ to danger approaching. Just keep in mind; it will be smart to have emergency water & food storage for your livestock as well. Common small game livestock include:
Great to have on hand, take up very little space and properly stored, seeds will last hundreds of years and always ready to use. Obviously if you don’t have a current garden this is not an instant solution for food following a natural disaster (provided your garden wasn’t damaged either) but will help you get a local food supply going and easy to pack if you relocate. Seed sources:
If food production and homesteading is of interest to you, we have a lot of resources on this website for Gardening, Permaculture, Aquaponics & Urban Farming.
Books & Online Resources
How to Survive the End of the World as we know it by James Wesley Rawles
Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook by Peggy Layton
Survival Mom by Lisa Bedford
A guide to Canning, Freezing, Curing & Smoking Meat, Fish & Game by Wilbur F. Eastman Jr.
The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants by Department of the Army
