When it comes to food storage for survival, there are several key points that you must be aware of. Unlike water that can be easily stored in airtight containers for months, food is perishable and even the preserved foods will expire.
Before even looking at food storage, here’s an interesting fact you should know. Obesity in the US has reached epidemic proportions. Most people are overweight to some extent.
During a crisis, even if you only a little food stored, you could easily fast and live on water for 7 days or longer. Thousands of people have done it for years to get healthy.
When you’re in the fasting process, your body will burn fat for fuel since it’s glucose stores are low. The first 3 days of fasting will be difficult. Your hunger hormones will be firing. You may feel weak and tired. Your body is adjusting and there’s nothing to panic about.
On the 4th day, you’ll feel much better. In fact, you might not even feel hungry. Your body would have reached a state of ketosis and will be burning fat for fuel. You’ll feel more energetic and have a clearer mind than ever before. It’s truly amazing.
So, don’t panic if you’ve not stored enough food. Use a crisis to shed your excess pounds and get healthy. After 7 days or so, you can start eating what you’ve stored. Usually, by this time the authorities and food aid will be helping the affected people out.
All that said, let’s look at how you should store food for an emergency.
- How many members in your family?
This is the most important factor. You should have enough food stored away to last all of you for 72-hours at least. If you have pets, you should have pet food for them too.
- What should you store?
Store foods that your family and you like to eat. This is an often-overlooked fact. Preppers and survivalists are so into being military-like that they only stock up on MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and forget everything else.
If you don’t like the taste of MREs, it’s going to be torturous to force yourself to eat these foods.
What you should do is store food that you can easily cook and doesn’t take up much space. A bag of rice can feed a family of 5 for a couple of weeks. Store some cans of tuna, canned vegetables, canned beans, tinned meat, etc. You can whip up tasty dishes with these foods.
Always remember to store essentials like salt, pepper, cooking oil, coffee/tea, rice, baking powder, flour, dried fruit, crackers, sugar and spices for seasoning. With these items you can flavor even the blandest meals and make them taste better.
Try and store foods that will not perish easily. Vegetables, fresh fruit, bread, eggs, etc. will not be edible after a few days. During a crisis, always finish up the existing food that’s in your refrigerator first before consuming the food supplies you’ve stored.
- How to store food
Store food on shelves and in airtight plastic or metal containers. Rodents and pests must not be able to reach the food.
The food should be in a cool dry place and not in contact with the walls or floor. This will prevent condensation on the food containers.
Do not place the food cartons on the floor where they are exposed to the heat and cold from the ground. There should be a gap between the food and the ground so that there is ventilation and it’s less accessible to rodents and other pests.
- Don’t forget these
Remember to store comfort foods like chocolate, candies, a few sodas, etc. During times of disaster, these foods will lift your spirits.
- Keeping records and food rotation
Keep a record book to note down the food you’ve stored and the expiry dates. You’ll then be aware of what foods are about to expire so you can consume them.
Since you’re always preparing during times of peace, you’ll end up consuming these foods every now and then as your daily meals. This will help you get accustomed to the taste of the food and you’ll eat them without complaints during a crisis.
To conclude, there are many different types of food from MREs to freeze dried foods to canned foods and everything in between. You’ll need to do your own research and testing to see what foods you wish to store.
As long as you focus on storing foods that have carbs, proteins and fat, you should be fine. Remember to keep a few bottles of vitamins to pick up the slack if your ‘crisis food’ lacks nutrients.