Emergency Food Supply List 2011-2012

If a disaster ever strikes, will your family be prepared with an adequate food supply? In a truly massive event, grocery stores would be cleaned out in a matter of hours or days. Are you prepared to fight it out at the local store to get what you need for you and your children?

Most people are not even close to having enough food to last them a week, let alone for months. On average, an adult needs about 2500 calories per day to maintain their current body weight, but 3000 would be a good idea if you were working harder in the aftermath of a disaster.

Everyone should maintain at least a weeks supply of emergency food, but a minimum six month supply would provide peace of mind. Storing and maintaining this much food is expensive and time comsuming. Many foods do not store for long periods of time so it is very important to rotate your stocks of emergency food supplies. It would be disasterous to go through the effort of building an emergency food supply, and when the time comes for you to use it, you learn that much of it has gone bad.

The least expensive foods to store are going to be the ones that you can buy off the shelf at a grocery. While the most expensive are freeze-dried foods and ones that are professionally packaged to last for years. A good mix of all three types gives you the most flexability. While freeze-dried foods are the most expensive, they last much longer than store purchased foods and are light weight. If you have to flee for your life, there is no way you can drag along 50 pound bags of rice but you can fill a backpack with freeze-dried foods that can last you a week or more.

Remember to keep a variety of foods in storage. If you only stockpile 100's of pounds of rice and beans,

A- you will not get enough healthy food, and

B-you would quickly go crazy eating the same thing 3 times a day, every day.

Keep some comfort foods in your emergency stash. Candies, sweets, sweet powdered drinks-- basically anything that you like and believe would be important to maintaining your mental health. If you ever need to use your emergency food supply, you will have plenty of other things to worry about, besides "Are we having beans and rice again tonight??"

Keeping these options in mind, here is a list of the things you should have:

EMERGENCY FOOD SUPPLY LIST

1. long grain white rice
2. beans, beans, and more dried beans
3. cooking oil
4. sugar "The more the better, if you can't use it all, it is great for trading!"
5. spices "You will be eating a bunch of bland foods so use your spices."
6. flour
7. cornmeal
8. baking soda
9. baking powder
10. water "At least a gallon a day, or the means to treat water."
11. dried fruits
12. multi-vitamins
13. canned vegetables
14. canned fruits
15. canned meats
16. coffee "This is also an important trading item."
17. tea
18. powdered milk
19. powdered drink mixes "Kool-aid, country time lemonade."
20. sprouting seed "Bean sprouts are full of nutrients and grow fast."
21. nuts
22. granola bars
23. chocolate bars and hard candies
24. juice boxes or capri sun
25. dry cereal
26. powdered electrolyte drinks like Gatorade
27. freeze-dried foods
28. peanut butter
29. jelly
30. crackers
31. yeast
32. salt

Additonal Items To Add To Your Supplies

1. can opener
2. camp stove
3. batteries
4. flash lights
5. matches
6. garbage bags "There are a hundred and one uses for them"
7. duct tape
8. MRE's "meals ready to eat"
9. hand sanitizer
10. cooking utensils
11. aluminum foil
12. pet food
13. over the couter medications
14. bullets "the more the better on this too. The best barter item in a long term situation"
15. 5 gallon buckets with lids to store your items in
16. bleach