Prepare: Emergency Food Supplies

Take a look at your food situation at home. What sort of shape are you in?

The average home has food in the refrigerator and freezer, the cupboard and maybe in a closet type pantry.

This same average home emergency food supplies consist of whatever is on hand in these locations. Now, how long can those supplies last in a real emergency? I am not talking about a 8 hour power outage but real emergencies like a biological or nuclear attack, pandemic, or massive and widespread civil unrest.

Now how long can the average home's food supplies last? A few days? Maybe a week?

For real preparedness, you have to start thinking about your home's food supplies and what you and your family will do in a real emergency.

To start, break down your food supplies into a "consume order" plan. For instance, foods which are perishable in the refrigerator will go first, followed by foods from the freezer.

Next, foods which do not require refrigeration or freezing, but have a shelf life all the same.

Finally, ling term food supplies will be consumed when augmented with other food sources.

So to get started on your emergency food supplies and your plan.

Take an inventory of your shelf stable food supplies such as canned and dry goods, macaroni and pasta. How many days will those foods last? Your goal should be to have at least three months of those types of foods on hand for your entire family and with some available for others. Better yet, because these foods last longer, shoot for six months or a year if possible.

Next, concentrate on your long term emergency food supplies such as sugar, flour, rice, dried beans, cooking oil, honey, corn starch, baking powder, dried fruits and vegetables and jerky.
Attempt to store at least one year supply of these basics.

Finally, consider long term storage foods like those available from specialty retailers like Emergency Essentials, Provident Pantry, etc. Some people like to store military Meals Ready to Eat (MRE), but I have mixed thoughts about those.

The goal behind your emergency food supplies is to have a long term stored food plan in place before a real emergency takes place. Remember, the day IT happens will be the day it is is too late to do anything about it.