What food should you store?

Lets say if we want to store some food just in case for some unexpected disasters. What kind of food should we store?

I know the basic ideas.
1. Easy to store
The food must be able to last for a very long time without the fridge or any other special storage conditions. Since we might very well lose electricity in case of an emergency.

2. Easy to prepare
The food must be fairly easy to prepare when it comes to eat it. Again, we might not have power or gas, or even enough clean water in case of an emergency. We also might not have the luxury of spend hours to prepare for a meal. So they must be something easy to eat.

3. Nutritious value
The food must be able to meet the nutrition needs of our body instead of just some junk food or filler. So in longer term, we will not become unhealthy for eating these food all the time.

4. Easier to transport
The food should be fairly easy to transport. In case we must leave our home for evacuation or simply be on the run. So it should not be too heavy, and not taking too much space (compacted, dense).


One of the foods meet all of the requirements above is beef jerky
It can be eaten just like that without any preparation.
It is high in complete protein, iron, and B vitamins.
It was dried through long period of low heat and already lost almost all of its water. So it is very compact, without extra weight.


Any other requirements and good food you guys can add to the list?

 

First, I do not think I can store what I usually eat.
Fresh cut of beef, chicken breast, salmon, shrimps are what I eat most often for protein. I also eat tons of fresh veggie and fruit every day. At least 7 different types in total. Just fruit alone it would be one banana, one kiwi, one apple, minimal for each day.

As for grain, brown rice + red rice + oats + buckwheat etc, but they all require extensive cooking which we might not be able to do so in an emergency. I am not completely ruling out all foods that require cooking, but just saying that we should at least have a lot of "instant" food on hand that can be eaten directly without any preparation. Leave the food which needs to be cooked for later use (ex: when things are settling down a little, or at least when we have found a temporarily shelter to stay for a little while... and with enough fuel + freshwater water for the cooking).

Second, I know we have no choice but to eat what we have stored, but what since it hasn't happened... we still have a choice to choose what to store for just in case. That is why I am asking this question and trying to make a list here. We need to make the best choices or we might regret it later.

 

Well, we will never know if we can stay where we are in case of a disaster/emergency. It might not be up to us. Even if we are able to stay at home initially, there is no telling how long we can stay before being "forced" to leave for one reason or another. Canned food is great for when you have a long term shelter or better means of transportation than go on foot. Canned food can be heavy, take a lot of space. Some of them are not really healthy.

That's said, I would definitely have some canned food stored at home. In fact, I already have some leftover from my hiking trips last summer. Most of them are some canned fish and beef. In my opinion, there is too much water and oil in the canned food I bought. If I really want to eat until I am full, it might take minimal 5 cans just for one meal. So that's minimal 15 cans for just one day. Unless I have a full basement of such supplies, it won't last me for long. I also can't carry more than a few days of canned food on me if I am forced to leave.

I know when you eat dried food, you also need to drink water, but water is something easier to come by than high quality food. You can't live on just the water from canned food forever anyway. So finding water will be something you must do either way.

Dried fruit and veggie was on my mind too, but I am not sure of their nutrition value. Please correct me if I am wrong. I thought most water dissoluble vitamins would be gone in the dried food. So there is not much good nutrients the dried fruit and veggies can offer other than temporarily fill you up and give you some energy. Unlike the dried meat and fish, which got high quality complete protein.

By the way, do you guys think instant oatmeal would be a good food to store?
I just thought about it... in some parts of Asia, people probably would say instant noodles instead. Totally junk food.

 

I have trail food, I have pack food and I have bulk food!
I will eat from bulk food where I can first! if that runs out or is abandoned I have pack food
And lastly I have trail food!

Trail food is dry no cook stuff
Pack food is a mixture but mostly dry and low/quick cook stuff

Bulk foods are just the basics, mainly rice, sugar, pasta, spices, tins of tuna/sardines and spam!
Where I am I can forage/hunt for red meat easy but not fish so I store mostly fish and only a little red meats!
With bulk food I ration 100gm of rice per day as the base staple and whatever I can get fresh if I can or something from stores!
I also stock multivitamin pills! and will be taking one per week! not optimum I know but enough to stave of any deficiency problems!

Pack foods are small tins of sardines, two min noodles, muslie bars, peanuts, sachet of powdered soup topped off with some chewing gum and toilet paper, basic home made rations

Trail foods are just muslie bars for me, can eat hot cold no dish's no stop, eat on the move anywhere and no scent!

 

Good suggestion on multi-vitamin pills. I actually thought of it too but failed to mention it. I am even taking them now. Each bottle has 120 pills. So even if I take just one per 3 days, it should last me for a whole year. Carrying too much would be just extra weight, and less room for other foods.

I really think rice is not a good food to carry. You will need extra cooking tools, lots of freshwater, and fuel to prepare rice. Not to mention the time required.
Unless all of the above is no problem for you, I would personally avoid rice as an emergency food item. I'd rather take instant oatmeal which can be prepared within minutes if I have hot water.

Forage and hunting is important. Since no amount of stored food will last us forever. We have to restock our storage with new supplies eventually. The sooner the better.

 

My motto is 'eat what you store and store what you eat'. I wouldn't tuck into a tin of pilchards in my everyday life, therefore I don't have them in my food stores. I have dried foods laid in, protected in mylar with oxygen absorbers - enough for a good few months - and these are made up of rice/pasta/legumes/couscous; I also have my food cupboards which contain all of my other supplies. I haven't gone down the MRE route as I'm not envisaging a scenario where I need to bug out, and if I did it would likely be the result of a gas leak or something of that ilk, and I would be evacuated to a rest centre or I would go and stay with friends.

It's wise to consider the following, when assessing what food you need to store:

Dried foods need water to rehydrate or cook them - plan for this in your water storage
Try and think about where you can get extra calories from for 'free'. So, for example, I buy tuna in olive oil as it has a higher calorie count than tuna in water (plus it tastes a lot better IMHO!).
Make sure you have a wide variety of foods in your stores - food fatigue will not only have significant detrimental effect on morale (picture yourself eating white rice for every meal for a month) it could also cause you to lose weight and muscle strength at a time when you need it the most.

 

I really think rice is not a good food to carry.

It is Awesome you just boil water add rice and wait 10min on the boil or 20min in a thermos!
Drain but keep the remaining water as it can be used as a stew base!

I hate cooking so all my food prep is boil water or less!

100gm of rice per day is the easiest and cheapest staple around and you can put most anything with it!
Water is most everywhere and easy to replace not so food!

Rice is the most versatile staple! and it go's well even with weeds!
Rice with a little condensed milk/cream makes a neat desert!
It is the single best survival staple but if one wont eat it then it is not!

I reckon I have a fair chance to scrounge/forage/whatever some meats and vegies and the odd bit of fruit but bulk carbs will be hard to get!

Maybe some need to modify there current dietery intake to prepare themselves for change later

 

@ Arkane,

Rice can't be cooked in just ten minutes. I cook rice almost every day, so I know. Even with a high pressure rice cooker, it needs 30 minutes to be done. Without high pressure cooker, it will take even longer. The water might not be a problem unless it is a drought disaster. But the real problem is you have to find more fuel to cook the rice than if you prepare a lot of other food. I know rice has fairly high calories compare to many other grain, but isn't wheat having even higher calories?

@ ukpreppergurl,
While some dried food needs water to get it prepared for eating, some others such as beef jerky can just be eaten like that as long as you have normal teeth.

 

It's really important to stockpile food in case of emergencies that come without warning. I remember a couple of years ago when, without warning, terrorists stormed into our city and for a week all the grocery stores were closed so we had to rely on whatever food we had at home. Only then did I realize the importance of keeping emergency food! The best ones to stock up on are those that are great sources of energy, and also those that don't get stale right away even after opening. (Like cereal)

 

I don't eat beef jerky, therefore I don't have it in my preps.

 

+1 for dried foods. I have dried food on my basement shelf, it will last for several years to come. They used to store dried food in school bomb shelters during the cold war for a reason, if you were stuck down there for a long time, you'd need long lasting food. Dried food people, store plenty of it!

 

I just thought of another food, or two as a good food source to store.
Soybean and black soybean. Soybean is one of the rare plant based products has (complete) protein. A cup of soy milk contain the same 8 gram complete protein as a cup of cow milk. It can also be cooked and eat just like that. Even more convenient, you can just put died soybeans in a cup of water and let them sit overnight. They will be expand in size and become soft enough to eat just like that. Dried soybeans do not take a lot of space unless you really have to eat a lot lol... Same goes for black soybeans. I know that eating plain soybean does not taste that great, but for an apocalypse type of disaster, I think you do not really have much choice. It is good to have a source of complete protein, and these soybeans can also be used as seeds for the next season.

It doesn't even have to be beef. You can make jerky from pork, chicken, turkey, fish, basically all kinds of animal meat. For whatever reason you do not eat one or two types of animals, you are free to choose others, unless you decide to stay as a vegetarian during an apocalypse. If you are forced to hunt to get protein, it is also a good way to store the extra meat you can't eat. I know I would. Eat what I can, and make the rest into jerky for later.

 

Don't know what rice you use but I bring water to boil then add rice stir once, stir again in 5 then strain at 10min! use at 15min!
I don't cook daily now but have in the past! the rice I use is over 15years old! rotating it out of storage!
I just use a non-stick pan and lid!
If it takes more than 10min you must not be doing it right
Jerky is good, usually takes 24-36 hours to get it just nice! beef, deer, goat, roo, camel, horse, buffalo, crocodile all good as jerky!

When we butcher an animal all the bits get jerkied and never make it home!

 

@ Arkane,

I mainly cook brown rice, red rice, and black rice now. Ok, I know a fact white rice is easier for cooking, but it is also less nutritious as its out layer was stripped away along with most of its minerals and vitamins. So for health reasons, I eat any rice but white rice. White rice is a good source of carbohydrate, but that's it.

By the way, please tell me how does the 15-year-old rice taste like?
Usually the rice are stored for 3~5 years at most. They can get bad too unless you seal them really well and store them in a very dry, and cool place. Often time they go bad to mold, and pests. Most grains I buy in packages have labels say it is only good for 12~18 months. So it is crazy for me to hear you store your rice for 15 years.

Yeah, tell me how does crocodile jerky taste like too.
You can certainly make jerky out of any animal. Correct me if I am wrong, it is how some of our ancestors store their surplus meat back when you could never know when your next meal will be.

I believe if there is an apocalypse, it will be a test for us to see if we can survive what our ancestors had lived through.

 

Our food cabinet is always filled with food supplies that we use everyday. With canned goods, they can also serve as emergency food. We always have corned beef, spam, sausages, pork and beans, sardines and some other canned foods. I remember when we experienced the first flood that hit our house in 1996, the stock of food saved the day for us since it is dangerous to tread the flooded streets, we just stayed home the whole day until night time. We feasted on crackers and potted meat (a kind of pate) in the morning and had the ready to eat corned beef for our dinner. By the way, we also stock on drinks particularly milk and juices for breakfast and soda for snacks. I'm not hoping but in case of a crisis, we are safe maybe for 1 week regarding food to eat.

 

I'm totally aware of jerky, but I don't eat it and it doesn't and wouldn't feature in my preps. I'm not prepping for an apocalypse. I'm prepping for more realistic scenarios that would necessitate me using my preps; adverse weather, redundancy, civil unrest and financial turbulence, and I prep so that I can maintain a reasonably stable lifestyle during those times. I am not envisaging that I will need to don my Rambo gear and start rampaging through the fields chasing ducks and chickens any time soon, it's just not going to happen.

 

And this is exactly the type of scenario that I prep for too, thank you! You are doing exactly the right things for your personal circumstances and that's what prepping is all about - there's no one size fits all.

 

By the way, please tell me how does the 15-year-old rice taste like?
Usually the rice are stored for 3~5 years at most. They can get bad too unless you seal them really well and store them in a very dry, and cool place. Often time they go bad to mold, and pests. Most grains I buy in packages have labels say it is only good for 12~18 months. So it is crazy for me to hear you store your rice for 15 years.

I buy in airtight plastic bags, heavy duty stuff 2kg bags Koala brand! 8 bags to the 20l bucket close lid and store !
I have had no storage problems at all after 15 years the outside of the plastic bags are a little tacky but no difference to the rice good as new!
Don't know about any other brand but these were chosen due to there sealed heavy duty bags and the handy 2kg sizes!

Jerky is jerky very little difference in taste or texture as most taste is from the marinade spices!
All jerky needs to be lean meat as fat even dried go's off quick! so lamb is not much good and forget pig!
Snake jerkies ok as well!
Thin strips, marinade well and over hot coals but not too hot as you want it to dry not cook!
Some smoke is ok if you like the taste! should take 6-12 hours to be ready
Try to keep all pieces about the same thickness, thin!
Every 1/2 hour check a smaller piece should be hard but bend not snap. done!

 

Well, if you were trying to hunt for fresh meat, then you might as well just make good use of the frozen meat in your freezer. There is no better way to store them than having them made into jerky when the power is out. Meat is meat. Frozen or fresh. You just can't leave them there for too long without your freezer.

By the way, did you get anything during the hunt? Other than maybe dozens other hunters who are out for fresh meat too.

I know lamb has twice the fat even in its lean cut when compare to beef. But how come pork can't be made into jerky? I have had some in the past. Pork has some lean parts which has very little fat.

Snake is all muscle, so I guess it will make great jerky.

Are you saying crocodile jerky taste just like fish?

 

Are you saying crocodile jerky taste just like fish?

Nah croc is sort of a porky/chicken taste! well the stuff I had tasted that way anyway! not a regular consumer of croc so don't take my word as gospel on the taste!

 

Exactly.
Just ask the dinosaurs if a world wide apocalypse would ever happen.
As the matter of fact, out of all the species had ever existed on this planet, only 1% still remain. I am sure in the long history of the earth (5 billion years?), we humans only play a insignificant role. However, if things has really gone bad, I believe it will go back to normal eventually... in a few million years for all we know lol.

On the other hand, majority of the population today have less chance to survive than the people from 2,000 years ago due to the skill set. Today, what most people can do? Either office work at a desk, on front of a computer, or resembling work in a factory doing the same tasks over and over hundreds times a day. When it comes to basic survival, most people have no clue. Only maybe the farmers, hunters, and a few special force soldiers know how to survive without the technology. Even them were not prepared for long term.

Goes back further than 2,000 years ago. Lets say 20,000 years ago before the time of agriculture. I'd guess most people's job were hunting and forging. So to survive in the wild came natural to them.

Man, taste like chicken!
Where did you get that stuff anyway? It is not like crocodile jerky are for sale in the supermarket.

 

Where did you get that stuff anyway? It is not like crocodile jerky are for sale in the supermarket.

Yes it is! well it is in some places!
Not in my local but there was camel jerky last time I looked!
The more exotic jerkys are found up north in Darwin, Northern Territory Australia where it is made!
Some of the smaller independent supermarkets stock it ! not cheap! so I usually make my own
I have good results with deer and goat but my beef jerky needs improving!

 

Not really comparable with meteroids nowadays and the dinosaurs. Most of the dinosaurs died out due to the environmental change that came with the impact. The vast amounts of food and crops that allowed the dinosaurs to grow so big suddenly stopped and these giant beasts no longer had enough availability of food to sustain themselves. People believe that the initial impact wiped all of them out, it didn't. The insignificant role is silly considering the impact on the environment we already have. It's really not a comparable scenario with the dinosaurs.

 

The dinosaurs were already doomed before impact!
Back then the earth was smaller and gravity was less allowing mega beasts to exist on land!
Some of the larger ones were already gone!
Another 65million years of rock accretion has increased earths gravity to the point that the maximum size land animal
is now less than a full grown mammoth but more than an full grown elephant!
A few more millions of years of accretion and even elephants wont be viable on earth!

At one time Pangea the super continent was the whole surface of a smaller lighter earth!

end of lesson!

 

More like 10 seconds at most lol. Modern humans' history is less than 500,000 years if I remember correctly. Go back any further our ancestors were not the same species (if you believe in evolution ) Even apes had no more than a few million years of history, again please correct me if I am wrong.

So anyway, in 21st century we are all get used to buy food from supermarket and grocery stores. Some people buy them from restaurants. The laziest of all will always just make a phone call or use an app to order take outs. We have long lost our ability to directly work for fill our stomach. Yes, we still work, but our skills / expertise aren't for getting food directly any more.

To be honest, I think we should have a required course in the school for all to learn how to survive without the luxury of a modern society. Including the necessary skills for work for food directly (hunting, forge, farming, no robbing please ). Then there is the need to take another course for how to rebuild a civilization from scratch. Then in case something happens, the remaining people will have a much better chance to survive and to rebuild our world.

 

I know it probably won't become a required course if somehow it manage to enter the school system. Even if it does, it will be too late for all the grown ups like me who have graduated long time ago. We would have to learn the lessons somewhere else. At this moment, majority of the population won't be able to survive for more than 3 weeks (the time required for people to starve to death lol) if something happens. Or just 3 days (if they can't find water to drink).

There is another important thing. Even if everyone knows how to find food, unless the initial disaster took out most of the population, there won't be enough resources to go around for every skilled survivors if the number is high. Our population is too depended on the high productivity. Without the mass production for even just a few weeks, the society will collapse really quick. It is even more reason we should store food while there are still plenty. By the time we go through our food storage, most of the people will be gone too.

 

I prep for the reasons I prep, just like other people prep for their own reasons and personal circumstances. I do not for one moment think that civilisation is about to crumble, but this does not make my ethos and my motivation any less valid than anyone else. Some people choose to build bunkers and to be honest, I think that a lot of the more extreme viewpoints come from individuals who actually WANT us to be taken back to the stone age. I am not one of them.

 

Haha, I am not one of those who have built themselves bunkers. But I think there is nothing wrong to get prepared. If some people are willing to spend the money, time, effort to build themselves a fortress, bunker, whatever, then it is their choice. But unless they are living in these bunkers every day, by the time something really happen, the ones who move into the bunker might not even be themselves.

Very few people might want to take us back to the stone ages. It is not the point here. We might not have a choice if something bad happen. I certainly hope not, but again there is nothing wrong with getting prepared.

Then again, this thread is about what food should you store. Everyone will prepare for what events they have in mind.

 

By the way guys, I just thought about another food - military ration.
I just remembered watching a few Youtube videos about it. Someone was eating this so called "Ready to eat" meal packages from various military rations around the world. It seems like those military rations are very compact, easy and quick to prepare, and meet the basic nutrition needs of the human body. Has anyone here tried them or heard of them?

Do you think it is a good idea to have a stockpile of these military rations for emergency (either by themselves) or in addition to whatever you have stored?

 

Are you referring to the British military ration? Please check out the Youtube videos for other countries' military ration. They are all quite different.

By the way, could you please provide some details on why you were not impressed? A list of the food, and how they taste like, pros and cons might be helpful for us to understand the reason you do not like it.

I know any kind of ration do not meant to be delicious or even for long term consumption as the only food source, but food is food. In an emergency situation, we need something can be easily prepared, fairly nutritious, easy to carry, and won't go bad easily. Military ration does fit in though.

 

In terms of food that doesn't go bad easily and can be stored without refrigeration, I think dried beans are a good bet. They are also a staple of eating healthy on the cheap end. You've also got dried grains, dried fruit, and dried meat (jerky). I think the foods I mentioned should fulfill all your categories. It might not be as good as the other things I mentioned but I think peanut butter should serve pretty well too . Its easily stored, doesn't need a fridge, and even tasty right out of the jar!

 

I think dried milk would be extremely important. And to go with that maybe some whole oats. That would be a very healthy meal. I guess the oats would not hold up as long as the milk but would be there for awhile. Dried milk is good for everyday use in cooking, so I keep it on hand anyway, in the freezer. I do think it would hold up quite awhile at room temp. Especially if it could be stored in air tight conditions, like with a foodsaver. This could be done in advance and kept in the freezer, then if disaster struck, it could be removed from the freezer and placed elsewhere.

 

You should store plenty of water to begin with in order to cook or re-hydrate the dried foods. Your dried foods should include beans, brown rice, fruits and lots of vegetables. As for the meats, if you cannot buy the freeze dried versions, then you can always make yours by smoking. There are also powdered foods like potatoes, yam and cassava which re excellent sources of energy. Tinned foods are also not a bad idea, my only problem with tinned foods are all the additives of preservation.

 

All civilizations rise of hard working people who start poor.
They stop rising when children become entitled and grow lazy.
And they fall when degenerates take control!

Degenerates are now in control and have been for a while now
I do not know the perceived cause or the precise date but I know it must fall and fall it will.

It is a bit like thousands of people roped together standing on the edge of a massive cliff!
One falls and he is held by the rest, two fall and they are held and maybe three
but when too many fall they can not be held and they drag the rest over ready or not!

We are on the cliff and some are falling but being held, just a few more and then the cascade of death begins!

 

Dried foods and nuts are a definite 'must-have' to have in an emergency or survival situations. I would also recommend the potato as a food that is excellent to have in a survival situation since it is nutritious, especially in vitamin C, lasts for several weeks before spoiling, is easy to prepare as long as you have access to a fire or some other heat source and can be grown from the existing stock in fairly poor soil (see Ireland and Idaho for proof). Of course, water is a must have and it always helps to have a two-week supply in reserve in the event of an apocalypse as well as some method to purify rain/stream/river water as a last resort.

 

Dry fruit, can make a dehydrator yourself for it even. Carbs for energy are fast-acting (try to find endurance athletes that go low-carb before major races), easily digest and taste great without the need for anything else. Dehydrating them is quick and you can just can 'em up and they'll last for a long long time