If you’re like most families, you want to be better prepared and figure out how to store food so you can be more self-sufficient during tough times. These 15 commandments of food storage are really practical tips on getting enough food, making it last, and preparing for unexpected situations.
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When the Blizzard of ’78 hit New England in the days before Doppler radar, folks had no idea how bad it was going to be. People were stranded all over or housebound. Stores ran out of supplies in hours. Everyone was unprepared and pretty scared.
Instead, imagine being well-prepared for this or any situation, especially when it comes to having enough food? You can be! These 15 practical tips cover everything from getting started with food storage to making sure your pantry contents lasts a long time and help you create a well-rounded preparedness plan for your family.
15 Commandments of Food Storage
1. Start now
Start your journey to preparedness by taking small steps today. If you buy even one extra can of tuna tomorrow or box of crackers tomorrow, it will give you a sliver of peace of mind until next week. Repeat on your next shopping trip. Over time, every bit adds up.
2. Store water, too
Having enough water is crucial. Without it, even having lots of food won’t help. Remember the Rule of Threes: you can go three weeks without food, but only three days without water. While canned food is good, it doesn’t have much water, and it often has salt or sugar. Make sure to store water, and and have at least two ways to collect and purify more water if needed. Depending on where you live you have different options for collecting water. Read this post for methods for rural areas to collect and store larger quantities of rainwater.
3. Store what you use and use what you store
We’ve all heard this, but what does it really mean? Simply, make sure the food you buy and store is the food that your family already eats.
A couple years ago, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons or LDS), the original food storage experts, reiterated the call to start with three months of ordinary foods your family eats every day while building up basic staples like dry milk and wheat. Besides storing foods you usually eat, make sure you’re storing it correctly for longest shelf-life. Some foods, like storing oil, need special attention.
4. Eat and cook real food
Opt for real, whole foods over processed alternatives. It’s cheaper to eat the real thing, it keeps longer, is healthier and far more versatile! A can of chili is a can of chili. But a can or bag of kidney beans combined with meal-stretching rice opens up a whole world of possibilities and doesn’t contain a nutritionally criminal amount of salt.
You can pay the grocer or the doctor when a poor diet gets the best of you, and the grocer is cheaper.Eating well saves you money in the long run. The idea that healthy food is pricier than processed junk is just not true. Many resources, like Michael Pollan’s Food Rules, can show you how to eat better without breaking the bank. It’s a small investment for a lifetime of benefits.
5. Don’t buy a years’ worth of one thing at a time
Buying basics in bulk is economical and absolutely should be part of your plan, but what happens when all of one item expires or goes stale at the same time? If you spread out your buying, then you spread out your expiration dates, particularly with basic staples, like pasta.
6. Condiments will save you
Extracts, herbs, and sauces spice up a bland diet, and a years’ worth of cinnamon only costs about $6! (Ok, so maybe you do want to stock a year’s worth of something!)
I talked to someone a few years ago who was living on their food storage due to prolonged job loss. One day she realized that she had a vast array of baking ingredients but no vanilla. Or any other extracts. Every family is different, but for most families the most versatile ones to start with will be ketchup, soy sauce, and something spicy like chili powder.
7. Have a few convenience/luxury foods for barter and illness
Imagine your 9-year-old having to feed the family because of sickness or a bad situation. Now, think about a prolonged disaster with no power or fuel. People are cooking simple meals in fireplaces or makeshift pits. In these tough conditions, basic and easy-to-use items, like a just-add-water pancake mix, take on new importance, and even “luxury” items like clams or chocolate chips gain new value.
8. Replenish supplies
What if the emergency went on for years? It doesn’t have to be Zombie Apocalypse. It happens in war all the time. How do you get more food? Sharing and trading might help, but t’s folly to count on them.
So, you’re left with three options: foraging, hunting/fishing, and gardening. Do you know how to find and identify wild edibles? Do you have even rudimentary fishing/hunting equipment and knowledge? It’s harder than it looks.
To prepare, store heirloom, non-hybrid, non-GMO seeds and learn how to grow them. Include grains, beans, herbs, and fruits if possible. Protect them from moisture, heat, light and oxygen in that order. Storing them in a brown paper-lined canning jar in the fridge or freezer works well. Consider creating your seed “vault.” If you buy one, make sure it’s from a seed company, not a food supplier.
9. Store the rainbow
Eat all the colors of plants. There are different protective chemicals attached to each color and you don’t want to miss any. In both food and seeds, make sure to have multiple sources of all colors plus some vitamin tablets, just to be safe.
10. Multiple layers of storage
Simply put, have some dry goods, some canned goods, some freeze dried, some frozen, etc. When the fridge is gone, there’s dry. If you can’t cook at all, there’s canned, etc. Multiples of different types. Just make sure you have a good can opener for the canned goods.
11. Store multi-use items
Your food storage can include medicine, hygiene items, and household cleaners. Vinegar, baking soda, coconut oil, lemon juice, peppermint, and ginger, among others, serve myriad purposes besides cooking and baking. That’ll save space, money, and toxic chemicals.
12. FIFO and Par
Those aren’t Norse gods. They’re restaurant concepts. FIFO means “first in, first out.” Write the date you buy it or the use-by date ( whichever works for you) on items and rotate them so the oldest is used first. This also helps you track how much you really use of an item.
Par is the amount you’ve decided to keep in stock. When do you buy/make more? At half-par. Let’s say you’ve decided to keep 40 pounds of sugar around. You buy more at 20 lbs. Going lower is a good way to invite disaster. Kind of like the way washing your car causes it to rain.
13. Dishes
What are you going to eat all this food on? Traditional dishes and dish washing eats up a lot of precious water and space. Buy some multifunctional dishes like shallow bowl/plates, pie tins, sporks, and metal cups that can go on a fire. Dishes can be wiped with a damp cloth and sanitized with alcohol or witch hazel.
Cast iron pans and can go right onto coals and should never be subjected to soap. Sturdy paper plates can be used several times and then composted or used for tinder.
14. Location, location, location
This means store your supplies in more than one location, like mini caches. There’s potentially some loss at any one location due to pests/rodents, water, natural disasters, or whatever. The rest is safe.
15. OpSec
Operational Security (OpSec) is important for your family’s safety, both at home and during travel. Striking a balance in sharing information is crucial. This includes everyday aspects like being mindful of what bumper stickers on your car might reveal. It’s essential to practice situational awareness, teaching your family to avoid trouble proactively. Additionally, protect information about your location while traveling by not sharing details on social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook. Equally important is safeguarding your hotel room number.
FAQ
Yes, consider including essential non-food items like medicine, hygiene products, and household cleaners in your storage for comprehensive preparedness.
While frozen food is valuable, power outages can jeopardize this source. Diversify storage with non-perishables to ensure a continuous supply.
Emergency kits complement food storage by including essential items like first aid supplies, flashlights, and important documents for a comprehensive preparedness approach.
Want More Help?
Would you like help putting together your emergency food storage? I created a FREE ebook to help you build a balanced pantry to help you do that! In it I share more simple tips and explanations to help you create an emergency food supply that will provide nutritious and simple meals in an emergency. Get that free build a balanced pantry ebook here.
Final Thoughts
Being prepared for the unexpected, especially in terms of having enough food, is a valuable goal for everyone. By following these tips from the basics of starting food storage to ensuring its long-term effectiveness, you’ll build a strong foundation for a comprehensive preparedness plan. Remember, preparedness is not about panic but prevention, and these tips aim to empower you to face the future with confidence and resilience.
Nice article, Thank you!
This is so great! Lots of things I didn’t think about before. Thanks so much for a fun and thoughtful read.
My Dad was born in 1930 and was an upstate NY farm kid too. When the Blizzard of ’78 hit here in IN. We had food to spare. Always had at least a months worth of groceries in the basement. My hubby thinks I still do.
I love that movie, so I cracked up at your opening!
Good advice, people seem to think I need to get everything at once, so they get overwhelmed and don’t try. I grew up in Western NY and lived through the Blizzard of ’77 but don’t remember having any food issues either, plenty of home canned goods in the basement
I learned my lesson many years ago after being housebound for 4 days in sub-zero temperatures with no heat, power, water, phones, or food. I vowed it would never happen again, and our stores have gotten us through several rough spots since then. Most recently, we were without an income for 3 months, and while we did buy a few groceries, we didn’t actually need anything. My kids finally understand why I stash things away, and they’ve begun helping instead of arguing about it. Rather than the regular requests for junk and fast food, they’re suggesting that I buy non-perishables for storage. I love it!
There is a cup of water in cans of green beans. In Walmart there is green beans in cans no salt just green beans and water. I buy them
I do look for the canned fruits and veggies that are packed in water and with veggies the ones with no salt added. I know that they don’t add much extra water, but it would be a little something more.
The one area that I found most helpful was to have some luxury items for barter. This is something I definitely need to work on! Love the article. Thank you!
Store these and you will ALWAYS have chili seasoning and taco seasoning:
chili powder
cayenne
cumin
garlic powder
onion powder
salt/pepper
crushed red peppers
Create how you like; spicy, not so spicy. Equal amounts or not. It’s up to you!!
My husband noticed the taco salad was different–better and no preservatives like in those packages!!!
Enjoy!
Thanks Brandy! I used to know a Bosnian war refugee who said during the war , she couldn’t believe the things that were now “luxuries”. She said cocoa powder became worth more than its weight in gold.
This was really well said and good reminders. Thank you! I sent the link to my sister-in-law who is getting married next week so hopefully she gets it right from the start!
@Beth, an ounce of cocoa powder going for $1300 an ounce? I don’t believe it. Perhaps it was a figure of speech?
@Everyone else, rosemary is not an annual, and thyme comes back every year. The ground makes a great ‘storage’ area. …But you knew that already.
LOL, I’m sure the cocoa powder/gold was hyperbole….then again, you can’t eat gold.
Perennial herbs are a great “storage” option but rosemary is native to the Mediterranean and in areas north of Zone 4 it’s a good idea to winter-protect it with mulch or wrap for a couple years until it’s bigger and stronger.
Whoops! I meant Zone 7, obviously.
Very insightful with a refreshingly humorous angle. Loved your section on eating the rainbow!
I have been thinking about the bartering bit for many years now. Although I don’t really drink much coffee, I have “tons” of it stored for bartering. I also buy the 24 rolls of toilet paper, and have nearly an entire room full of it: yeah, well, what do you think toilet paper will be worth when the SHTF???
I also do not buy what I would not be willing to consume myself, so even though it is much more expensive ( I buy one extra each time I shop, that way, the cost is pretty much minimal), I do buy organic. I don’t use sugar, but I have lots of that, too, and someone mentioned cocoa….yup, got lots of that, as well!
Those are my pretty much “go to” items that I stock up on for bartering later. Just think what is going to be NECESSARY or LUXURY items when there is little to be found, and start to add that to your prepping items.
GREAT article.
Yeah, toilet paper is a big deal. There’s a great scene in the Robin Williams movie ” Moscow in the Hudson”. He’s walking through Soviet- era Moscow in the winter ( which is sort of a redundancy) and sees a line a block long and asks if it’s for toilet paper or chicken; cause those are things you stand in line for hours in the snow to get
A good read, lots of info in not much space. Thank you.
Adding luxury items for barter is an important thing that many people miss. Most people reason that they can do without their coffee, their bottle of liquor, etc. But that’s not the purpose of storing these items. I have a solid year worth of coffee, because that’s about how long I figure I want to be taking it out of storage and using it myself.
But if things went bad, I wouldn’t be drinking the coffee. I’d be trading it a few ounces at a time for things that I either forgot or ran out of. No matter how great a prepper you are, there’s no such thing as a perfect plan. If you suddenly discover that someone has gotten celiac disease and can no longer eat the bread, or bugs got into something, all those supplies could become worth far less. You’ll need something that other people want and have a passion for. There’s a lot of folks who have been without coffee for a week that would be glad to bargain with you for anything you need, just to hold a hot cup again.
Don’t forget to stock up on the antibiotics. Yes, I know your family doctor won’t Rx your storage for you, but you can get the same thing via online pet shops in their fish department. No matter what you buy it for, amoxicillin is amoxicillin.
Great article…thanks
Salt is an extremely important item. If power goes out frozen meat could be preserved with salt. Also, having a water bath & pressure canner & info on how to preserve fruit, vegetables, meat & other things is invaluable. We don’t drink but I have some vodka that was left at my house that I’ve saved; it could be used for as anaesthetic or barter. I would also recommend matches, lighters & a hand powered radio & lights.
I love your article and some ideas for bartering all but one Biggie! Coffee IS my survival food! lol
great article. Coffee, chocolate in several forms, and plenty of spices, herbs are on our must have lists. Never thought of them as luxury items, especially the coffee! Necessity for sure.
Hi Beth, from a fellow Upstate NYer. Great article. Grew up in a family of small farmers and “planners” who lived through the depression and WWI and WWII. I have them to thank for the natural instinct to plan and prepare for the worst…ice storms and Eastern blizzzards included. I have passed that on to my children also.
We have had to deal with several rounds of long-term unemployment. We always kept a years’ supply of food and supplies (like toothpaste, soap, etc.). We have had to USE that several times and it has saved us! Big believer!!
Being a pet owner (three cats), I keep 40 pounds of cat food and 40 pounds of kitty litter on hand at all times. I know it won’t last that long in a. SHTF situation, but it WILL get us through any short term emergency.
We have young Chinese friends of ours tell us that pets weren’t allowed in homes during the early 80’s in China where they lived at the time, because of some edict that same down from their authorities. They had a small pet dog at the time. I asked what happened to it? Ate it, they said.
Hope it doesn’t come down to that here, but you never know.
Toothpaste, soap, hygiene items, alcohol wipes, and a reliable (preferably undetectable) means to heat water–that doesn’t rely upon electricity–is essential in a SHTF situation.