Food: Emergency Preparedness 101

While we can survive for a fairly long time on little or no food, we never want to find ourselves in that situation, and we certainly want to keep our children and pets from suffering.  This week we’ll examine what to do to make sure we have sufficient and appropriate food supplies to help us weather a disaster.

The general recommendation is to stockpile a three-day supply of non-perishable food per person and that’s probably a good rule of thumb for pets, too.  There are many ways to accomplish this, and the number of choices to make may be the most significant obstacle to crossing this one off the list.

If you don’t care about what you will eat during a disaster, you can spare yourself much trouble by ordering a 3 day food supply kit, all boxed up and ready for storage.  Here’s one I found:  https://mountainhouse.com/products/just-in-case-3-day-emergency-food-supply and another: https://www.campingsurvival.com/collections/food-products/products/72-hour-kit-sample-pack-16-servings

To use these kits, you will need to be able to cook.  Do not order them if you don’t have a way to cook if your electricity and gas service is interrupted.  Maybe you have a generator or other alternative power or a full propane tank (18-20 hours of cooking on a medium-sized grill) stashed away but, if not, you’ll need a food supply that requires no cooking.

Here are some non-perishable items that require no cooking:

  • Crackers and rice cakes

  • Chips and other bagged snacks

  • Granola and breakfast cereals

  • Energy bars

  • Dried Fruit

  • Applesauce

  • Nuts

  • Nut butters

  • Fruit preserves

  • Jerky

  • Juice boxes

  • Shelf-stable plant milk or ultra pasteurized cow milk

  • Canned goods like beans, tomato or marinara sauce, tuna/sardines, hearts of palm, and grape leaves

If you will be able to cook, the world is your oyster.  You can add dried foods like noodles, rice, and beans to your supply as well as anything else that comes in a can or jar.  Just make sure that you have approximately 1500-2000 calories per person per day.  And don’t forget a manual can opener.  

Store your emergency food supply separate from your regular pantry items and in a climate controlled environment.  If the garage gets too hot, that’s not a good place for it.  If you are storing “real” food rather than survivalist food, set a reminder on your calendar to check your supply on a quarterly basis to see what needs to be refreshed. And please refer to Blog Post #1 which provided guidelines on the water quantity to keep on hand.


To do this week: Decide on a storage location, buy your food and store it. Report on your progress at [email protected].

DSPNAemergency preparedness