The golden rule: store what you eat
There are two ways to prepare food for emergencies: buy special long-life food, which can last decades but is expensive and unfamiliar, or expand your normal pantry. Experts recommend starting with the second, for three reasons:
- Nothing goes to waste: you eat it and replace it.
- You know how to cook it and you like it: in a stressful situation, familiar food helps a lot.
- It's cheap: just buy a couple of extra items every week.
How much food
Plan on about 2,000 calories per adult per day and around 1,400 per child. Some expert guides go down to 1,500 calories for two weeks, the minimum to keep going without real hunger, but it falls short if you're doing physical work, like cleaning up after a flood.
| Food | Approx. energy | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Olive or vegetable oil, 100 ml | ≈ 820 kcal | The most energy per weight in the whole pantry. |
| Nuts, 100 g | ≈ 600 kcal | No prep needed. Rotate them: they go rancid within months. |
| Peanut butter, 100 g | ≈ 590 kcal | Protein and fat with no cooking. |
| Crackers or cookies, 100 g | ≈ 450 kcal | No cooking, and good for morale. |
| Dry rice or pasta, 100 g | ≈ 350 kcal | Very cheap, but needs water and fuel. |
| Canned beans, 15 oz can | ≈ 350 kcal | Ready to eat, even cold. |
| Canned tuna, small can | ≈ 150 kcal | Protein with no cooking. |
Supermarket list
Prioritize foods you can eat without cooking or just heated: in an outage you may not be able to cook.
No cooking
- Canned beans: chickpeas, lentils, black or kidney beans.
- Canned fish: tuna, sardines, salmon, mackerel.
- Canned vegetables and soups.
- Nuts, peanut butter, dried fruit.
- Crackers, cookies, breakfast cereal, granola bars.
- Shelf-stable milk or plant milk, and juice boxes.
- Canned fruit, applesauce, chocolate, honey.
To cook if you can
- White rice, pasta, couscous and oats, which cook with little water and fuel.
- Oil, salt, sugar, spices.
- Broth and boxed soups.
- Instant coffee, cocoa, tea.
Morale is food too
Include some treats: chocolate, coffee, cookies you like. Preparedness experts say it often: in a hard situation, four boring meals beat two favorite ones, but a small daily pleasure helps you keep going.
How to rotate it: oldest first
- Put new items at the back and always take from the front.
- Write the month and year on the lid with a thick marker. It's much easier to read than the printed date.
- Review every six months and use what's closest to its date in your everyday cooking.
According to the USDA, most shelf-stable foods in good condition are safe long after their best-by date, which is about quality, not safety. Use-by dates on perishables, however, should be respected.
Throw away without hesitation
Cans that are bulging, rusty, dented on the seam or that spurt when opened. They may contain botulinum toxin, which doesn't always change the smell or taste.
The five enemies of a pantry are heat, light, moisture, pests and oxygen. Keep it in a cool cupboard, not next to the oven or in a garage that bakes in summer. Rice, pasta and dried beans keep better in airtight containers.
Your fridge when the power goes out
With the doors closed, food stays safe for roughly:
| Appliance | Safe time |
|---|---|
| Refrigerator | 4 hours |
| Half-full freezer | 24 hours |
| Full freezer | 48 hours |
The order to eat: fridge first, then freezer, then pantry.
Perishable food such as meat, fish, dairy or leftovers that spends more than 2 hours above 40 °F (4 °C) should be thrown out. A cheap fridge thermometer settles the question. Frozen food that still has ice crystals can be refrozen. When in doubt, throw it out.
Expert trick: keep frozen water bottles filling the empty space in your freezer. They keep it cold longer and, once thawed, they're drinking water.
Cooking without electricity
- Camping stove: use it on an open balcony or by an open window, never in a closed room or while you sleep.
- Never use grills, charcoal or generators indoors, in the garage or on an enclosed porch. They produce carbon monoxide, an odorless gas that can kill in minutes.
- Use retained heat: bring water to a boil, turn off the flame and leave pasta or couscous covered until done. You'll use half the fuel.
Don't forget
- Formula and baby food if you have babies.
- Food for special diets: gluten-free, diabetes, allergies.
- Pet food for the same number of days.
- A manual can opener. Many cans don't have pull tabs.