When it comes to storing foods for an emergency, the first big challenge is identifying what types of storable foods will best meet the nutritional needs and tastes of each individual. Once that step has been taken care of, the next big challenge is to determine how much of each type of food should be stored to make sure that, in the event of an emergency, each individual is adequately provided for. While storing too little food could have potentially disastrous consequences, storing too much food can be both expensive and wasteful. In fact, with the proliferation of companies offering vast varieties of high-quality prepackaged emergency foods—shipped right to your door—food hoarding can be a real problem. Being that the amount of food storage you need is mainly dependent upon the size of your family and the length of time you want the food to last, here are some simple guidelines you can follow to help better prepare.

Water:

When storing water for emergencies, a good rule to follow is 1 gallon of water per person per day, with two quarts designated for drinking, and two quarts for food preparation and sanitation. You want to have enough water for 3 days minimum, which is at least 3 gallons for each member of your family. The best way to store water is in well cleaned, non-corrosive, tightly closed containers. Stored tap water should be rotated every 6 months. Store-bought bottles of water should be rotated once a year. 

Canned Goods, Fruits, Meats, Vegetables, Beans, and

Soups:

For these items it’s recommended that you store a minimum of 2 cans per person per day. Based on the 3 day minimum supply, you’ll need 6 cans per person. Storing a variety of each food group would be ideal, i.e., 3 cans of meat, beans, or soups, and 3 cans of fruits or vegetables per person. Watch expiration dates and rotate accordingly. Again, these are minimum amounts, so you will want to store extra. Just try not to go overboard or you’ll end up discarding food that you didn’t get around to rotating.

Dried Goods:

As a rule you’ll want to store at least 1lb of dried foods per person per day. This can be rice, oats, pasta or other dried grains, as well as dried fruit, flour, sugar, beans, etc. How you select the items that make up the 1lb of dried goods will primarily depend upon the personal preferences, and the individual dietary needs of each family member.

Special Foods and Formulas:

For those who are pregnant or have an infant, formula and jars of baby food, or dried infant cereal are essential items to have in your food storage supply. How much you need depends upon the age of the baby. At the very minimum, you should store enough formula or food to sustain a young infant or an older baby for at least a week. For babies under 6 months powdered formulas will require sterile water, so make sure you have the means to boil water in your emergency kit. Some ready to drink formulas may have short shelf-lives and require refrigeration, so try to find suitable alternatives. Jarred baby food should be kept on hand, along with infant cereal for an older baby who is eating more than straight formula. Again, figuring out the proper amounts to store depends on the age of the child. Keep in mind that nursing mothers will need more daily water and nutrition than mothers who are not nursing their babies.

Pet Food:

When planning for disaster, the needs of any 4- legged family members should be factored in as well. You will want to have enough emergency pet food on hand to last several days to a week. In some cases, depending on the size of the pet or the type of food it eats, buying just one extra bag of dried food or an extra case of canned food, could sustain the pet for a month. Don’t forget to factor in your pet’s water needs as well. The 1 gallon per day rule should be more than enough.

For those who wish to store foods primarily in bulk and for longer periods of time, there are many calculators online to help make sure that all family members are adequately provided for.

Kathy Hamilton is an emergency preparedness expert.  She has been teaching classes on topics ranging from food storage to guns for over 15 years.

Bookmark to:

So I was searching through the internet the other day and randomly came across this blog.  I just had to write about it quickly, because while all of her recipes might not keep with my “no-time-to-cook, so-this-better-be-quick” mentality, I found myself very inspired by the creativity of her recipes (I found the recipe that I posted for checkerboard cake from her blog).  This girl is the type of cook I want to be someday…creative, and daring!  She uses different ingredients (I hope I’m not the only one, but sometimes I find myself falling into a sort of pattern, feeling like I’m making the same things over & over!).  She posts her meal plans every week, and I’m amazed at the meals she makes every week (this week she’s making some things we’re all fairly familiar with like chicken & white bean chili and country fried steak (although I can’t say I’ve ever actually made country fried steak!)…but she’s also making Wonton & Bok Choy Soup and shrimp & sweet potato cakes with slaw, and last week she made Marinated Tofu with red curry, peas and scallions…wow, don’t think I’ve ever put that on a weekly menu!).  I think if you have some extra time you should check it out…if not to find quick recipes you’ll have time to cook, then at least to be inspired to be more creative and daring!

Bookmark to:

I came across a cool tool today and just had to share! The website is CookingByNumbers.com, and basically how it works is that you click on some of the ingredients that you have on hand in your fridge and pantry, and it’ll show you recipes that you could make with those ingredients! Genius! It tells you how many ingredients are needed for each recipe it gives you, and what percentage of those ingredients you have on hand, so that helps you narrow the search even better (if you only have 20% of the 12 ingredients needed, maybe should try a different recipe!).

The other thing I really liked was that it tells you if you’re missing an essential ingredient, like potatoes or eggs or something, basically the ones that you probably wouldn’t be able to find a simple substitution to in your fridge or pantry. All of the recipes I checked out that it provided me with were also quick, so that is ALWAYS a plus!

For instance, I checked that I had chicken, cheese, and garlic in my fridge, and oil, herbs, stock cubes & canned tomatoes in my cupbard. It provided me with recipes for things like chicken and cheese parcels and chicken and tomato pasta (it said I had 80% of 5 ingredients for both of those).

One thing to watch out for, though, is that they provide you with the recipes for very small servings on some of their recipes (like those 2 recipes I told you about above were for 1 and 2 servings), so make sure you pay attention to that and convert the amounts of ingredients if needed, or you’re gonna end up with some hungry people!

A lot of the recipes that I looked at seemed pretty basic, maybe even a little bit boring, but hey, when you’re standing in your kitchen thinking you have no food and wondering what to make, I think this tool could help a ton! Check it out!

Bookmark to: