Food: Household Plan

Every household is responsible for ensuring that its regular residents have enough food on hand to get them through a minimum of 30 days.

Imagine that a disaster strikes right now, blocking roads, resulting in power outages, and destroying stores. Could you and your family/housemates make do with what you have for 30 days? Don’t forget your pets and livestock—they, too, will need to have enough food to last. Finally, you will need to anticipate the possibility that, when disaster strikes, you will have visitors in your home who will also need food.

Look in your cabinets and fridge. What do you have and how long could you make it last?

When Disaster Hits

Your first sources of food are your cabinets and refrigerator/freezer. If the power goes out, you need to consume this food in a particular order:

After that you will turn to your emergency supply.

Types of Emergency Food

To build your emergency food supply, consider any or all of four options:

• Dehydrated meals. These are sold by companies specifically for emergencies.

  • They tend to have a long shelf life—more than 25 years.

  • They are easy to prepare and store.

  • They can be expensive and light on calories. Between about $300 and $500 for one adult for 14 days.

  • You can buy them in amounts corresponding to the anticipated time of need, like four weeks.

  • They vary in flavor—you should always sample a company’s food before buying in bulk.

  • There are many manufacturers to choose from including Cascadia Ready, Readywise, Emergency Essentials, and Mountain House.

  • Find them online by typing emergency food supply in the search bar of your browser.

You can buy supplies from our partner Cascadia Ready, which donates 5% of all purchases to Prepare Your Community.

• MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). These are emergency rations sold commercially.

  • They have a medium shelf life, about five years.

  • They require no preparation.

  • They tend to be high in calories.

  • They are very expensive. Between about $210 and $450 for one adult for 14 days.

  • They can cause constipation.

• Packaged food from the grocery store. This food is what you likely already prepare, like cooked grains or canned beans minus staples that don’t last long, like bread and cow’s milk.

○      It requires a little preparation (opening a can, heating in a pan).

○      It lasts from six months to about two years.

○      It’s relatively inexpensive.

○      It’s easy to store.

○      You have to rotate out your supplies frequently.

• Food from your own garden. Growing your own food on your patio or balcony, in your garden, or in a community garden or Pea-patch is an extremely economical way to ensure you have food during emergencies. Raising egg-laying chickens will ensure you have plenty of protein as well.

○      This food requires more work.

○      It’s inexpensive.

○      You can eat it fresh (depending on the season).

○      It tastes good.

○      The supply is theoretically unending.

○      Storing it requires some work: canning, dehydrating, pickling.

Read more about gardening here.

Grocery Store Emergency Supply List

Buy a few of these items every time you go to the store. That way you will build up your emergency supply over time without spending too much money all at once.

__ Dry cereal

__ Dry fruit

__ Canned fruit

__ Canned vegetables

__ Canned tuna

__ Canned chicken

__ Canned clams

__ Canned sardines

__ Canned soup

__ Canned beans

__ Canned olives

__ Jars of jam

__ Jars of fruit

__ Grains

__ Protein bars

__ Nuts and seeds

__ Nut butters

__ Almond or soy milk (the kind that doesn;t need to be refrigerated)

__ Beef jerky

__ Cookies

__ Candies

__ Crackers

Emergency Food Supply Storage

You don’t want to go to the trouble of storing an emergency supply of food only to have it destroyed in the disaster it’s intended to get you through. Think about the types of disasters likely to happen where you live. If you live in earthquake country, don’t store your emergency food in glass jars on a high shelf. If you live in a floodplain, don’t store your food in permeable containers on a low shelf.

Also protect your food against rodents, extreme temperatures, and water damage.

Some Ways to Store Food

●      In hard rubber tubs.

●      In cans on shelves

●      In plastic buckets with lids.

●      In jars inside hard rubber tubs or buckets.

Pro tip: When you add the food to your emergency storage supply, immediately write the expiration date in large numbers on the packaging in black permanent marker. This will make it much easier to identify and remove soon-to-expire foods.

Emergency Food Supply Preparation Equipment

Make sure that in an emergency you have access to the following tools and equipment for preparing food. You might want to keep these items with your emergency food supply.

●      Plate/bowl per person

●      Utensils for each person

●      Serving spoon

●      Mixing bowls

●      Can opener

●      Collander

●      Knife

●      Cutting board

●      A way to cook outdoors: camp stove, BBQ grill, sterno cans (and fuel)

●      Pot with a lid

●      Hot mitt

●      Measuring cup

●      Bucket or basin for washing dishes

●      Dish soap

●      Sponge

●      Salt, pepper, and other seasonings

●      Trash bag

Find out about recommended calories and nutrition here.

Steps to Creating an Emergency Food Supply

Step 1. Add up the number of people and animals in your household. Calculate the number of calories needed by each (based on weight and/or age). Multiply by 30. Round up the number to accommodate potential visitors. See Food: Nutritional and Caloric Needs for help.

Step 2. List any special dietary needs of anyone in your household. These include allergies, required supplements, and special nutritional requirements.

Step 3. Decide if you want to buy dehydrated meals, MREs, or grocery store food (or a combination).

Step 4. If you decide to go with dehydrated meals or MREs, determine the number of calories in each meal. Calculate how many meals you need to order.

Step 5. Order your dehydrated meals and MREs, if applicable.

Step 6. Buy some of the items on the Grocery Store Emergency Supply List every time you go to the store. Learn about our Ready in 12 program.

Step 7. Store your emergency food supply in a cool, dry location where it is unlikely to break.

Step 8. If you don’t already have a vegetable/fruit garden, start one now. Read more about starting a garden here, including about preservation techniques to extend the life of your garden food.