After water and shelter, food is the next thing a crisis tests. It doesn’t matter whether the emergency lasts a few days or a few years. Once the first two are covered, your attention turns to having enough to eat, and that comes down to two questions: what you buy, and how you keep it.
It’s never too late to start. Disasters, whether natural or a pandemic, usually arrive without warning, and the difference between coping and being overwhelmed is mostly preparation. This guide covers why storage matters, what to factor in when choosing food, which foods to stock, how to store them, and what to do when the power fails, a flood arrives or there’s a fire.
Why proper storage matters #
In a disaster or off-grid situation, food processors and grocery stores may stop operating. What’s in your house might feed your family for only a couple of days. If you haven’t stored food well, you could face real hunger.
Storing it badly is nearly as bad. Contaminated food makes people sick, and heat and other conditions change taste and smell until the food is hard to eat. Done right, storage lets you keep food for long periods, commonly 6 to 12 months, keep it fresh and palatable for the whole emergency, and plan for the calories and nutrients every person in your household needs.
What to factor in #
Family size. Do the math on daily consumption so you don’t run out early or skip meals to stretch supplies. Include children, and include pets, who still need feeding if food runs low.
Preferences and dietary needs. Not everyone likes the same food, and treats help morale. Account for anyone who needs special diets or supplements.
Shelf life. Some foods stay edible past their expiration dates, but that’s not a reason to ignore shelf life. Nutritional content can fall after the date, so you get fewer calories per portion and may need to eat more to compensate, which shortens your supply. Choose long-lived foods wherever possible. Canned fruit, for example, doesn’t last as long as other canned goods, so store it at the right temperature.
Cost. Prices change constantly, and some stores offer better deals than others. Shop around. Cheaper doesn’t always mean worse, and some lower-cost stores sell food of comparable quality that lasts just as long.
Storage space. There’s no sense buying more than you can house. Make sure the space you have can hold the food without overwhelming the room.
Water. You can’t survive long without it, and you can’t safely drink contaminated water. For drought, invest in quality storage tanks and harvest rain when you can. In a displacement situation you may have to source water from streams, lakes or dams, which means knowing how to purify it. If you have no purification supplies, boiling kills germs.
What to store #
Variety matters, so build the supply from several categories.
Canned foods are the most popular for survival storage because of their long shelf life. Some brands stay good for several years, many have strong calorie profiles (a tin of kidney beans, for example, has over 700 calories), and they come ready to eat. Vegetables, fruit, meat and more are all available. Low-acid foods last longer than high-acid ones.
Nuts and seeds have good calorie and nutritional value and keep well for up to a year. They don’t need vacuum packing, but watch for insects such as weevils, which can shorten shelf life.
Dried foods such as beans, dried fruit, flour and pasta have long shelf lives because the moisture has been reduced. They may not last through an entire crisis, so repackage them to limit degradation. Research which foods hold up well dried and how to repack them for better shelf life.
MREs and other dried ready meals are best treated as additions, not the core of your stores. They are fast, high-calorie meals and store well. Typical examples include a dairy shake, chili with beans, veggie burger in BBQ sauce, chicken fajita tortilla and cheese spread.
Powders and pills such as protein powder, fish oil and vitamins supply high calories or nutrients but should be supplements only. They last a long time but do have expiration dates.
Beyond those categories, a good emergency pantry also includes:
- Oats, rice and dried pasta
- Hardtack
- Flour, kept dry in a sealed container
- Dried lentils and legumes
- Dry corn, rye and barley
- Pemmican and other long-shelf-life dried meals
- Freeze-dried meats and freeze-dried coffee
- Powdered eggs and powdered milk
- Dried herbs
Don’t forget the equipment. A food thermometer, a manual can opener, utensils and disinfectants, sanitary and cleaning supplies, a dehydrator and zip-top freezer bags all belong on the checklist. Your can opener should work without power.
How to store it #
Three factors determine how long stored food lasts: temperature, humidity and oxygen.
Temperature. Bacteria, yeast and other microorganisms multiply faster in the heat, which speeds up spoilage. This is why cans say “store in a cool, dry place.” Keep your food as cool as you can. A rule of thumb from the Q10 temperature coefficient says that every drop of about 18°F doubles shelf life.
Humidity. Humidity is how much moisture the air holds relative to what it could hold at full saturation. Higher humidity, like higher temperature, speeds food breakdown. Keep storage dry and stable.
Oxygen. Most microorganisms need oxygen to multiply. Low oxygen suppresses their growth, and a complete lack of it kills them. Cut your food’s exposure to air where you can.
With those in mind, three methods work best:
- Vacuum packing. Sealed airtight bags keep air and moisture out and slow decay. Home sealers such as the FoodSaver are inexpensive.
- Airtight containers with oxygen absorbers. Dry food in an airtight bucket with an oxygen absorber creates a nitrogen-rich environment that discourages bacteria and other microorganisms.
- Canning. Cooked food is heated in airtight jars to kill bacteria. Canned food can last upwards of three years.
In practice, store everything somewhere cool and dry. Stacking cartons saves space, but don’t overstack them. Too much weight can burst, bend or damage cans and expose the food to bacteria. Cheap DIY shelving in a garage, spare room or shed works well, and rodents and mice will help themselves to your stock, so keep up your pest control.
Avoiding spoilage #
- Keep food out of direct sunlight.
- Keep moisture and humidity low and steady.
- Seal wheat products tightly, since moths and other insects breed in them.
- Keep rodents out. They’ll chew through almost anything.
- Rotate regularly and use up anything near its date. If food is already past it, check out how long canned food lasts after its expiration date before you throw it away.
When the power goes out #
Use the perishables from your fridge first, where practical. A freezer with an airtight seal should keep food for roughly 12 to 24 hours before it spoils, depending on outside temperature. For cooking or heating, use a camp oven or stove outdoors only.
Floods and fires #
Floods. Floodwater carries bacteria and other contamination. Move food to higher ground or a safer place if you’re warned. Discard homemade canned food, anything wrapped in foil and any other food that touched floodwater. Commercially canned food can be cleaned and sanitized. Remove loose labels and re-label the cans so you don’t get confused.
Fire. Heat triggers bacterial growth in canned food, and toxic fumes can contaminate permeable packaging. Throw out anything in permeable packaging or exposed to flames. The same goes for food that has contacted fire-fighting chemicals. Commercially canned food can be sanitized with chlorine, as with floodwater.
Resupply #
Storage only lasts so long. The most reliable way to keep eating through a long emergency is to grow food. That is harder than it sounds. You have to keep your garden productive in all seasons, which means deterring pests and disease and replenishing the soil with organic manure. The details of that are beyond this article.
Keep going #
Don’t stop once the shelves are full.
- Plan ahead. Having food stored doesn’t mean you’re done. Set money aside in case food spoils or a disaster destroys it.
- Stay calm. If something goes wrong, savings and a clear head let you pick up the pieces.
- Keep building. Rotate your stock and add to it whenever you can. Watch for bargains and discounts. If you run out of room, start using up the older supplies. Treats such as hard candy or rock candy last a long time on the shelf and help morale, especially for kids. The COVID-19 pandemic showed how quickly supplies disappear and how hard they are to replace.
Related reading: Food and water guide; starting an emergency food supply; 2-week emergency food supply list; using Mylar bags for food storage