Storing food doesn’t have to mean guessing. This guide gives you the baseline numbers, roughly 400 lbs of grains, 60 lbs of legumes, 60 lbs of sugar per adult per year, plus a link to a free calculator for your exact household. Then it walks through a method for turning those numbers into meals your family will actually eat, using a simple recipe-multiplication trick learned the hard way after ending up with 53 jars of spaghetti sauce and not nearly enough spaghetti.
When I first began setting up my family’s food storage pantry, I was in a bit of a panic. It was late 2008, the economy was beginning to wave red warning flags, and all I wanted was to keep my family safe, healthy, and surviving. I never stopped to figure out how much food to store.
So, into the shopping cart went multiple cans of ravioli, boxes of granola bars, juice boxes, and Honey Nut Cheerios. I had no idea of how much we needed to have, nor which foods were best. I just figured that food would keep us alive, and that was what was most important.
Well, that’s not a bad starting point, but over time, my knowledge of food storage increased, and the contents of my pantry improved, and I owe it all to spaghetti sauce.
This article was originally published in July, 2016, and has been updated by Lisa Bedford with new guidance for food storage goals, September 2026.
The Quick Answer: Baseline Numbers Per Person
If you just want a starting point before diving into meal planning, here’s the classic reference for one adult, one year, based on the traditional food storage guidelines:
- Grains: ~400 lbs
- Legumes (beans, lentils): ~60 lbs
- Fats and oils: ~20 lbs
- Sugar: ~60 lbs
- Water: minimum 14 gallons (2 weeks), more if you can store it
I don’t advise setting a year-long goal for food storage. Instead, scale these numbers down to three months, 90 days. Get more manageable goals by dividing these numbers by four, and then scale it to your own household size and appetite.
If you want the full breakdown with an interactive calculator for your exact household size and timeframe, use my free food storage calculator to get your numbers first.
Once you have a target in mind, the next question becomes, how do you turn “400 pounds of grain” into food your family will actually want to eat? That’s where the method below comes in.
The spaghetti sauce eye-opener
One day, after I’d been storing food for several months, I was looking over my over-stuffed pantry shelves and counted the jars of spaghetti sauce I had on hand. 53. Fifty-three jars of Prego, Ragu, Paul Newman’s — pretty much any brand for which I had found a coupon.
Then I counted the amount of spaghetti I had: 13 packages. How did I plan on making spaghetti as a meal without much actual spaghetti? That’s when I realized the importance of aligning what was in my pantry with specific meals planned and knowing how much of each ingredient to purchase and store.
As a mom, I do my regular grocery shopping around a menu. I make a list of what I want to cook for dinners, what we’ll eat for breakfasts and lunches, and then create a shopping list. I think in terms of recipes, not so much in terms of ounces or pounds of specific ingredients.
Over time, this is pretty much how I’ve managed my entire food storage. It’s centered around what we actually like to eat and meals that are easy to prepare if we were without power and I had to use a solar oven, like this one. Even in the best of times, cooking is not my favorite past time, so why complicate the process when planning for the worst of times with overly fussy recipes that are time-consuming.
When all hell is breaking loose, who cares if they’re eating chili mac or boeuf bourguignon?
It’s important to have a solid idea of how much food your family consumes now as well as how much it will consume following a major disaster of some type. That way, you’ll know your own family’s needs are covered, will have an idea of how much you can spare (or not) in helping others, and will also let you know when you’ve reached your food storage goal.
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Get started with the recipes
One of the best ways to make sure you are storing what you eat, is by doing just that – STORE WHAT YOU EAT! Find your family’s favorite recipes and then figure out how much food you’ll need to be able to make those meals for 3 months, 6 months, or however long your household’s plan calls for.
You might have to make some minor adjustments to your recipes, but if you plan ahead, you’ll have everything you need whether it’s a job loss, a bad storm season, or just wanting fewer trips to the grocery store.
Some of the recipes that I have in my food storage planner are Macho Mexican Rice (been making this for years, you can tweak it in dozens of different ways), No-Recipe Soups, and various types of skillet casseroles.
In the case of soups and casseroles, their cooking pots or pans become both a mixing bowl, the cooking/baking vessel and then the serving dish, all in one. Anything that makes the whole cooking/eating/cleaning cycle easy is the route to take with the bonus being only one pot to wash. That’s especially important if you’re dealing with a boil notice or your only water source is what you’ve stored.
As well, look for recipes that are shelf-stable and don’t require refrigeration. This is why dehydrated and freeze-dried foods are so popular for emergency food storage. Stock up on cans of freeze-dried ground beef, store in on a shelf in a cool location, and you’ll be able to make hamburger pie, chili, or tacos in a matter of 5 minutes.
For recipes requiring fresh produce, consider buying freeze-dried and/or dehydrated. Dittos if they call for meat and dairy products. Freeze-dried cheese is surprisingly good, although expensive.
The breakfasts and lunches at my house rarely require an actual recipe. For breakfast, I personally favor oatmeal and homemade pancakes. If I make 3-4 loaves of bread per week for my family of 4, I can serve up sandwiches at lunch. Leftovers are another popular lunch item as well as quick meals of pasta and homemade marinara sauce. Even though these meals are quick and casual, I will still have to account for them in my planning.
How to calculate how much food to store
Now that you have your meals planned, it’s time to calculate how much food you’ll need. A goal of 3 months is a reasonable one for more people and all too many crises, such as Superstorm Sandy, have proven that life doesn’t always return to normal as quickly as we might expect.
Also, in the days and weeks following a major disaster and the grocery stores have re-opened, do you really want to have grocery shopping on your To Do list? That stash of food, cleaning supplies, toiletries, etc. will be a godsend in more ways than one.
So, on to our calculations.
For each recipe, decide how many times you want to make it in a given month. A meal of pasta and marinara would be fine with my own family if I served it once a week. Dittos for the Macho Mexican Rice and chicken salad using freeze dried chicken. I’ll plan on making each of these meals once a week, or 12 times for my 3-month plan.
For your planning purposes, it will be simpler to assume each main meal/recipe will be made once a week. Therefore, when it comes time to begin shopping for ingredients, you’ll take each recipe, multiply each ingredient times 12, and that’s how much of each ingredient you’ll need to stock up on.
Going back to my Mexican rice recipe, let’s use that as an example:
- 2 cups white rice
- 3 T. olive oil
- 3 cups water or chicken broth
- 2 T. tomato paste
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 t. salt
- 1 t. each: cumin, chili powder
- 1 can chopped green chilies
- 1/2 c. corn (frozen, freeze-dried, or canned)
- 1/2 c. salsa
My plan is to make this once a week and, since all the ingredients are very food-storage friendly (have long shelf lives and can be stored at room temperature), I’m ready to move on to my calculations by multiplying each ingredient amount by 12.
- 24 cups white rice
- 36 T. olive oil
- 36 cups water or chicken broth
- 24 T. tomato paste
- 24 cloves garlic
- 6 t. salt
- 12 t. each: cumin, chili powder
- 12 cans chopped green chilies
- 6 c. corn
- 6 c. salsa
Looking over this list, a few things come to mind that will make storing this food easier. First, rice is inexpensive and maybe another rice-centered meal would be a good idea. I can buy a 50 pound bag of rice at Costco and be ready to make many dozens of these recipes. That would cover 2 days per week with 2 rice meals.
Storing oil can be tricky, and I detail the problem and solutions in this article, but in this case, olive oil stores for quite a long while on its own and can also be refrigerated or even frozen to extend its shelf life.
Next, if I prefer chicken broth over water, I can buy a large can of chicken bouillon and be good for at least a year. The bouillon from the grocery store is very expensive in comparison. Buy tomato paste in the largest size can OR make my own with tomato powder and a little bit of water.
Most of my recipes require garlic and I have a good supply of garlic powder on hand already. For this recipe and during a time of duress, I’d go ahead and use that garlic powder in lieu of fresh garlic. If you also use a lot of garlic in your cooking, plant many cloves of it and begin harvesting your own.
The remaining ingredients are all nicely shelf stable and will last for years by storing them in a dark, cool location — away from the enemies of food storage. I buy many spices in bulk already and canned goods and the salsa can be purchased inexpensively with coupons. A well-stocked pantry will serve you well, and it’s surprisingly easy to assemble.
Once I know how much of each ingredient I need for this recipe, I need to make the same calculations for every other recipe in my plan. Honestly, this is the hardest part of the whole planning process.
You’ll end up with quite a long list of ingredients, but you’ll find a lot of recipes will call for the same ingredient. Between coupons, grocery store sales, and buying food in bulk when it costs less per unit, this really doesn’t have to be expensive.
By the way, if these large amounts cause you to freak out, just step your goal down a notch from 3 months to 1 month or from 1 month to 2 weeks. The main goal is to have extra food on hand that your family will eat and that can be prepared for a time of emergency. Once you get those 2 weeks or that 1 month under your belt, just repeat the process, except this time around, you’ll be a pro!
The recipe secret
If you think about a time when you’ll have to rely on stored food to see you and your family through a very tough time, the last thing you’ll want to do is make complicated recipes. The Mexican rice recipe borders on being almost too fussy for a survival recipe, but I’ve made it many times and know that I can make it as simple as possible by using only the first 6 or 7 ingredients AND I can turn it into a very satisfying meal by adding just about any kind of meat, like freeze-dried ground beef.
The secret to making the planning, shopping, and storing of your food easy is by selecting very simple recipes that call for basic ingredients that will also be used in other dishes. If your kids can also make the recipes, that’s a huge bonus. Read this post for more details about the planning process.
Depending on your own style and skills, all this information can be kept in a spreadsheet or on sheets of plain old notebook paper. You’ll definitely want to have a system for tracking what you have and what you still need to buy.
Frequently Asked Questions
The classic baseline is about 400 lbs of grains, 60 lbs of legumes, 60 lbs of sugar, and 20 lbs of fats and oils per adult, plus at minimum 14 gallons of water. That’s a full-year target for one person; scale it down for shorter goals or a smaller household.
Multiply the per-person numbers by your household size, then adjust for kids, who typically eat less than a full adult portion. A family of four aiming for a year’s supply is generally looking at somewhere in the range of 1,000 to 1,200 lbs of grain alone, before legumes, fats, and everything else. Our free food storage calculator can give you exact numbers based on your household size and timeframe.
No, but a lot of older food calculators and advise use a year as a goal. In my opinion, that’s way too much. It can be expensive, takes up a lot of space most people don’t have, requires management with regular rotation, and knowledge of how to use all that food in actual meals. Most people are better served starting with two weeks, then a month, then building from there. Having some food storage beats having none, and small, steady progress beats never starting.
Start with your family’s actual favorite recipes, decide how often you’d realistically make each one, and multiply the ingredients by that number. It’s a lot more useful than storing food in the abstract, since you end up with exactly what you need for meals you already know your family will eat.
The Final Word
Don’t be intimidated by food storage! Pick a handful of recipes your family actually loves, and build from there one grocery trip at a time. The goal was never to have a perfect pantry. It was to have enough of the right things, ready before you need them.
Thanks for the links and shout out Jamie!
Many thanks, Jamie! I love this collaborative list, what a great effort to pull everyone together!
Before things fall apart, stock up. What you’ll need is CALORIES. You can afford to store enough calories, if you know what you’re doing.
You can figure 25-30 years storage life for hard red wheat, stored at 60 degrees in a 55 gallon drum, using 1 pound of dry ice to drive out the oxygen (wait 24hrs) before sealing the drum. 400 pounds per drum equals 400 man-days of calories, costs you about $100. Fill 3-4 barrels. It’s Cheap insurance. Add a barrel of Rye for variety. Add a barrel of oats. Then a couple barrels of rice, and 2-3 barrels of pinto beans. (You need the beans to balance what’s missing from the grains. The beans may be harder to rehydrate after 10-12 years without a pressure cooker, but then you just grind up the dried beans, and bake them in your bread.) For under $1000, you can be prepared to feed your family for a decade, especially if you garden and have fruit trees. Honey is way too expensive to store on a dollar/calorie basis, but consider bee keeping.
Great, great ideas. Sometimes I believe people may think that in case of a serious emergency such as the if and when the grid goes down that we can continue life as usual. However, it may not be that easy. Yes it will be like camping out but that will get old soon. Teach your children now in a calm way of what could happen and what to do. More than likely we will not have the pleasure of eating as much as we do now. Food will be like gold and may be making it go for a very long time. Grabbing up the hard red wheat is good. I have some and about to order more. Just so you know, with all the weather concerns it may disrupt the wheat flow. So now is the time to get it if you can. It is also a good idea to stock up on dry milk for the kids. Keeping it cool will be difficult but at least you will have some. Not to frighten, just to make sure people know. I just ordered more filters for water as that will most likely be important and must be clean. Calculating the amount may be a little difficult for some as they are not used to the idea of not having food. It is just so easy to run to Big D’s or the chicken place. These places will no longer be open and serving as the employees will be home helping with the families. Watch the news, watch the skies and when it happens you will know. If you are on the edge of America it is time to move inland.
Grandma Rose
All of these storage ideas won’t matter in an evacuation situation. It will all be ruined in a flood, fire, or tornado.
For recipes like your rice most of the ingredients can be stored together in something like a canning jar or even a zip lock then all you need to do is add the wet ingredients and away you go. Also makes it easier to know how many meals you have left as opposed to having to measure .
Where is the meat?
It is so important to dehydrate foods for storage. These foods do not need refrigeration and can be re-constituted quickly. You can dehydrate vegetables, meats, fruits, herbs, and even cooked rice to have on hand for quick meals without the need for long cooking. Store them in canning jars with tight lids.
You can purchase a good dehydrator or even just use your oven at the lowest setting with the door open a few inches. If you start now, you will have a good supply in no time.
Also, if you have a garden (which everyone should have) save those seeds! They will enable you to keep growing your own food even if you do not have access to seeds through other means. You can even save the seeds from store bought items. And many people do not realize that you can re-grow vegetables from scraps. For example, when cutting up green onions, take the root ends and plant them and in no time you will have more green onions. You can do this with many vegetables. Do not waste anything.
Our God YHWH is good and has provided for us everything we need.