Food preparedness

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I get a lot of people asking how much food should they store? This answer will be different for everyone. Some factors will contribute to the amount of food you can have in storage. Three of the main factors are the number of people in your family, what you can budget for food, and the space you have for storage. This will determine the amount of food storage you can have for an emergency.  

My recommendations for emergency food are store food you and your family eat and have recipes that can put together with minimal preparation. Once a natural disaster has happened you will be limited on your resources. You will need food that is easy to prepare and will not need too much water to cook.   

Some examples of foods that will be good to have during an emergency would be: 

-       White Rice   

-       Beans (Dry or Canned)   

-       Canned Meats (Tuna or Chicken)  

-       Canned Vegetables   

-       Canned Fruits   

-       Oatmeal   

-       Peanut Butter   

-       Canned Chili  

-       Pasta   

-       Tomato Sauce   

-       Granola Bars   

-       Honey   

-       For those of us that have kids don’t forget the treats, it will help to have these in stressful times.  

FOOD STORAGE TIPS  

-       If you are just starting your food storage start slow when you go the grocery store pick up a few non-perishable items and if you continue to do that your stockpile will add up quickly.   

 -        When putting your stockpile away make sure to keep track of the expiration dates. Monitoring the expiration dates help to make sure you don’t get sick from rancid food or eat food when the nutritional value has diminished.  

-       Make sure to rotate your canned food. 

Remember “the first one in is the first one out”. This will help you to keep your food current and not too old to eat.  Hopefully, you have realized that food is just as important as water and is also an essential element for survival. In a natural disaster, our food supply chain can be disrupted. Having food during this time can reduce the panic or stress caused by the disaster.