Food Storage

When discussing food storage there are 2 types of storage that should be addressed. Short term food storage and long term food storage. In this article we will break down both and help you discover how much of each you need.

Short term food storage

A short term supply should last you for 3 months. This is food that you and your family regularly eat. Begin by simply buying an extra day's worth of meals. This could be accomplished by buying double of whatever you’re planning to eat that day. You now have one for your meal and one for your storage. Every couple of days add another day. Be sure to rotate through your food storage regularly so that you don’t have spoilage. Eat the food that expires first. Eventually you will have expanded to a month’s worth of food, and then 3 months. Keep in mind that you should also have a short term supply of medications, hygiene items, and any other necessities for your family.

Long term food storage

It is recommended that you have 9 months worth of long term food storage. Once you have a 3 month supply of short term food storage, then you will want to start building your long term food supply. You can do this while you are building your short term food supply, it just lightens the financial burden if you do them one at a time. Your long term food supply will be food that can last for a long period of time. We’re talking about food that can last 20 - 30 years+ if stored correctly in a cool, dry place. Food that falls into this category includes wheat, rice, pasta, oats, beans, potatoes, etc… You can often find these types of food already stored appropriately in 5 gallon buckets or in #10 cans. Where I live you can find these at Walmart and Costco. The cheapest place to get it that I have found is from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because they do all of the prep and packaging themselves so they can sell it at a discounted price. You do NOT have to be a member to purchase it. You can check out their online store here.  Or they have brick and mortar stores in many places throughout the United States and you can find a location closest to you through this link here, go there in person and then you will not have to pay the shipping cost.

How much long term food do you need?

For one month it is recommended that an adult has 25 lbs/11.5 kg of wheat, rice, corn and other grains, and 5 lbs/2.5 kg of dried beans.

It is also recommended that you have a good source of vitamin C and other essential nutrients. This could be dried fruit, vegetables, or you could store multi vitamins and rotate through them. Other items that are helpful to store include sugar, yeast, nonfat dry milk, powdered butter, powdered eggs, baking soda, salt and cooking oil. I also store seasonings so that I can add flavor to whatever I’m making. 

Many emergency prep companies sell entire meals or cans of stew that have a bunch of nutrients in them already. I strongly recommend only purchasing one can or one meal and trying it before you buy an entire year's supply because some of it tastes better than others and you don’t want to get a year's supply of food that you or your kids don’t want to eat. 

The idea of home storage is to get you to a point where you could be self-reliant for 1 year. This may seem excessive, but you would be surprised how long it takes communities to recover after a major disaster. On top of being prepared for a major disaster, how nice would it be to not have to buy food if your family experienced job loss or emergency medical bills, or there was a major disruption of the food distribution system and food could not make it to the grocery stores. You will be set. The peace that comes from knowing that you can take care of your family in any circumstance should not be underestimated. 

What happens if my food storage runs out?

Ideally you will replace whatever food storage you use as soon as you can after you have used it. 

There are a few things you can do to help stretch your food storage and make it last longer. 

• Supplement with fresh food: grow a kitchen garden. Plant fast-growing crops like leafy greens, herbs, microgreens, and radishes to reduce your reliance on what you have stored. If you have more space consider growing a larger garden with other kinds of vegetables that your family eats. You could also raise small livestock such as chickens and rabbits for eggs and meat if your space permits it. If you’re going to raise livestock please do your research and make sure that you can do it appropriately before purchasing them.
• Prevent waste: repurpose leftovers, turn unused food into soups, casseroles, or stir-fries. Regularly check expiration dates and use them before they expire. 
• Practice preservation during harvest: Preserve surplus produce immediately after harvesting to maintain its quality. This could include bottle/canning, dehydrating, pickling, or freeze drying. If you do not have a dehydrator or a canner or a freeze drier, you probably have access to a freezer. So I chop or shred your fruit or vegetables. Frozen fruit pieces blended make great smoothies. Frozen shredded carrots, zucchini, onions, peppers, potatoes, etc…can go in casseroles, hash browns, stir-fries, fajitas etc…

Don’t let the amount of food that you need, or the cost paralyze you and prevent you from storing any food. Just start with what you can. Something is always better than nothing. Just start and build from there. You can do this!

To learn about water storage, check out this link here.