How to Prepare an Emergency Food Supply and Home Emergency Food Storage Pantry

Preparing an emergency food supply at home is one of the fundamental elements of home preparedness and will ensure continuity in the event of a disaster or unexpected emergency situation arising. Taking into account the complete nutrition requirements of you and your family, a fully stocked food storage pantry will last for years and will keep you fed in the face of adversity or in times of difficulty. This guide is here to help you get underway.

If you’re looking to be better prepared for an emergency at home, a core part of your response and continuity strategy will need to focus on nutrition and an uninterrupted access to food.

Alongside shelter, safety, and of course, access to clean drinking water, the ability to call upon an adequate emergency food supply during times of adversity is a cornerstone to any home preparedness planning.

While there are ultimately a whole load of ways to achieve the same outcome when it comes to planning your emergency nutrition ahead of time, if you’re planning to ride out a coming storm from the safety of your own home, then putting together some form of emergency food supply or food storage pantry will always be the end goal.

Preparing an emergency food supply will mean different things to different people and can vary pretty widely based on factors such as the number of people in your household, available storage space, budget, nutritional requirements (including allergies), and of course, personal and individual preferences.

With that being said, the core requirements of every emergency food supply will always remain the same.

We’re talking things like:

• Providing adequate caloric and nutritional value per person
• Shelf life
• Ease of storage and preparation (particularly during times of uncertainty and disruption)
• Flexibility – both in terms of scope of meals and situations, as well as the ability to adapt to a situation that may develop or change rapidly

Distill this down even further to a single, minimum objective and you end up with one goal – providing the essentials needed for daily and continued survival.

While you could (and many people do) adopt a strategy of providing basic sustenance in the supplies you store, this isn’t the approach we’re going to be suggesting in this guide.

Rather, we’re going to take a look at some of the best options for putting together an emergency food supply that meets this requirement as the foundation requirement and then builds up from there, ending up with an emergency pantry that’s practical, affordable, flexible, varied, and provides a ton of emergency food options that you’ll actually want to eat.

Far too often when preparing for an emergency situation or planning for the unknown, people forego what they view as ‘luxury’ considerations when planning emergency nutrition (good tasting food with multiple preparation options being a prime example of this), in favor of what they view as ‘practical’ alternatives that will do in a pinch – I’m looking at you generic canned goods and dried oatmeal.

The problem with this approach though, is that if things start to go south and you find yourself calling on your emergency food supplies, one of the first things that will drop is going to be your morale, and in an emergency situation where hours can very easily turn to days and even weeks, that can prove disastrous.

More than this though, it’s simply unnecessary to plan your emergency food supplies in this way, and many of the best survival food supply ingredients and emergency meal kits offer exceptional value for money alongside unbelievable shelf life (some up to 25-30 years), as well as excellent variety.

Add these benefits to a perfectly balanced supply of emergency nutrition and you soon end up with a survival food pantry that’s as good – and sometimes even better – than the food and meals you eat on an everyday basis.

Ultimately, this is what you want to be aiming for; a continuity of your normal life (of which food is a defining part), and by putting together a well-rounded emergency food pantry today, you’re going to minimize the disruption should the local or global situation and outlook change tomorrow.

When it comes to preparing an emergency food supply, there’s a lot of information and a lot of options out there.

We’ve taken the legwork out of the task of stocking up your emergency pantry and have put together what we think represent the very best survival food pantry ingredients, supplies, and kits to fill your shelves and ensure you’re ready to react in times of crisis.

If you’re looking to build a home emergency food supply as a ‘nutrition insurance policy’ against the uncertainties of the future, then you’ve come to the right place.

Preparing an Emergency Food Supply – The Essentials

As humans, we require a baseline of energy (in the form of calories) for survival. On top of this, additional nutrition in the form of vitamins and minerals are essential for optimal health and performance – both physical and mental.

With this in mind, ensuring food security means considering continued access to the basic elements that provide these in our everyday ‘normal’ lives.

The ‘building blocks’ of any survival food pantry are therefore always going to include a variety of just a few key elements which when used together, will guarantee that you’re covering the major bases for optimal health and minimal disruption.

Based on this, we’re looking to ensure a combination of protein, carbohydrates, and fat as the fundamentals of any food storage planning system, supplementing wherever possible, with vegetables and fruit for added nutritional benefit.

The great news here, is that this is incredibly easy to achieve by putting together an emergency food supply that takes these considerations as the entry level requirement and builds up from there.

With a foundation of these mission critical ingredients and nutrition elements secured in your stores, you’re going to be in a very good place to ensure food security and continuity right off the bat, while also being able to exponentially grow your supplies (and subsequently the range of your meals) with ease going forward.

Emergency Food Supply Ingredient Kits vs. Emergency Meal Kits

In this guide we’re specifically thinking about the best way to put together a survival food pantry that will get you through any eventuality that may unfold.

When it comes to this, there are basically two routes to take when stocking up on survival nutrition supplies:

1. You prepare an emergency food supply built around a core of long-life ‘ingredient’ solutions. This is going to be the focus of this guide as if you’re looking to build maximum versatility into your emergency food strategy with a primary focus on the home, then this is the optimal solution.
2. You store ‘ready to cook/eat’ emergency meal pouches in your emergency food pantry. Emergency meal kits are excellent and when it comes to ease of preparation and pack-ability, they really can’t be beat. While it’s highly recommended that an element of pouch based emergency survival meals are included in a comprehensive pantry (they provide ultimate flexibility, particularly if you need to bug out), you’re never going to get the same kind of range and variety as is offered by a food supply consisting of ingredients rather than pre-prepared meals.

The two major differences between these kinds of emergency nutrition therefore come down to increased variety at the expense of storage space and weight on the one hand, and limited choice but high portability on the other.

As with everything in preparedness, more options are always better than fewer and with this in mind, we’ll be looking to cover both approaches in this guide, generally speaking though, if you’re looking to build a food supply for storage at home (rather than for packing in a vehicle or a bug out bag), then a solid foundation of varied food ingredients with a long shelf-life is going to be your optimal choice.

The Best Emergency Food Supply Ingredient Kits

In this section of the guide, we’re taking a look at the very best emergency pantry ingredient kits that will provide you with a complete set of the store cupboard essentials to build an immediate level of resilience into your home preparedness planning.

These kits are designed to provide you with the foundation of your home nutrition requirements over a set period of time.

While some emergency food ingredient kits are specifically designed for couples or families, unless this is outlined in the description, assume that the figures and information provided for each solution are based on 1 person and calculate your requirements accordingly.

For example, if scoping out a kit for 2 people to cover 6 months, you’d either need to buy in 2 x 6 month kits, else the range of the kit will effectively be halved and will cover you both for 3 months each.

The emergency food supply ingredient kits outlined here make an excellent starting point to ensuring your pantry is disaster ready as soon as possible but can also be used as a jumping off point from which to increase the inventory of your supplies with the addition of seperate ingredients and survival cupboard staples.

In this case, we’ve given a complete overview of the very best emergency food supply ingredients, later on in this guide.

1 Month Emergency Food Supply Ingredient Kits

If you’re planning to cover a period of up to a month without food, spare storage space at home is limited, or both, then a pre-configured emergency food supply ingredient kit designed for 30 days will provide you with the essential nutrition you need to get stocked up.

Nutristore Deluxe 1 Month Food Supply

The Nutristore Deluxe 1 Month Food Supply is a great choice if you’re looking to quickly stock your emergency food supply with a range of the essential nutritional elements to see you through for up to 30 days.

Designed to sustain one person for a month, the Deluxe 1 Month Food Supply is an emergency food ingredient kit that contains over 500 servings and delivers a total of 57,000 calories, meaning you’re going to get on average somewhere in the region of 1,900 calories per day.

As with the best complete emergency food storage supply kits, the one month variant of the Nutristore Deluxe combines the essentials for a well rounded nutrition provision including fruits and vegetables, proteins in the form of pulses and meat, dairy, and grains.

Whether you’re just starting out and need the food foundations in place, or are building upon an existing food storage supply, the 12 #10 cans in this emergency ingredient kit are the perfect solution, with many of the options included in the kit providing a long shelf life of up to 25 years.

The Nutristore Deluxe 6 Month Emergency Food Supply contains the following ingredients (Individual #10 cans):

• 1 x Strawberries
• 1 x Freeze Dried Corn
• 1 x Dehydrated Potatoes
• 1 x Freeze Dried Chicken Dices
• 1 x Instant Milk
• 1 x Granola
• 2 x Hard White Wheat
• 2 x White Rice
• 1 x Lentils
• 1 x Pinto Beans

Augason Farms Simply Meal Pack Emergency Food Storage Kit

The Simply Meal Pack from Augason Farms is an emergency food storage ingredient kit containing 614 servings of food to provide one person with nutrition for up to a month.

Including 17 food varieties, this emergency food supply kit provides a total of 63,550 total calories from 18 individually sealed #10 cans which are perfect for survival pantry storage.

With the ingredients in this kit offering a shelf life of up to 30 years, the balanced nutrition and wide range of meal preparation options offered by the Simply Meal Pack make it a great choice if you’re starting out and need a solution that will cover you for years to come.

Unlike some of the other emergency food storage ingredient kits out there, the Augason Farms Simply Meal Pack combines the usual ingredient components you’d expect from a kit such as this (think freeze dried and dehydrated, fruit, vegetables, and protein), alongside freeze dried ‘meal kit cans’ which contain all the constituent parts to knock together staple, ready-to-go meals with minimal prep.

This kit is an awesome long term storage solution if you’re after a one month solution combining meals and ingredients in a long-life, easy to store, survival pantry format.

6 Month Emergency Food Supply Ingredient Kits

Preparing for a prolonged period of adversity means ensuring your food supplies have enough range to see you through for potentially weeks or months on end.

An emergency food supply ingredient kit designed to cover half a year will provide the essential long-life ingredients to maintain your nutrition requirements for a single stretch of 6 months or (thanks to the extremely long shelf life of survival food ingredients) can be called upon across multiple crisis periods that may emerge over time.

As with all of the best emergency food supply ingredient kits (and for that matter, all survival nutrition options), you can split the stated coverage of single-person kits to cover multiple people with the length of coverage effectively halving as you double the number of people the kit needs to cover: 1 person = 6 months. 2 people = 3 months, 4 people = 1.5 months.

Nutristore Deluxe 6 Month Emergency Food Supply

Providing over 360,000 total calories, this emergency food supply ingredient kit contains enough provisions to stock your pantry for up to 6 months of nutrition.

The 3,100 servings in this food supply kit will allow you to maintain a daily energy input of at least 2000 calories for one person and as with other emergency food supply ingredient kits, provides an extended range of meal options to your stores.

Comprised of 72 #10 cans, a combination of vegetables, fruit, grains, pulses, meat, and dairy means you’re going to have breadth to the meals you can produce from your supplies.

With the ingredients within this food supply offering a shelf life of up to a 25+ years on many items, this emergency pantry supply is perfect for building instant peace of mind into your contingency plans, providing food security for up to half a year for decades to come

The Nutristore Deluxe 6 Month Emergency Food Supply contains the following ingredients (Individual #10 cans):

• 2 x Dehydrated Apples
• 2 x Freeze Dried Bananas
• 2 x Strawberries
• 2 x Freeze Dried Corn
• 2 x Dehydrated Carrots
• 6 x Dehydrated Potatoes
• 2 x Green Beans
• 1 x Freeze Dried Chicken Dices
• 1 x Chicken TVP
• 2 x Beef TVP
• 1 x Freeze Dried Cheddar Cheese
• 4 x Instant Milk
• 6 x Granola
• 16 x Hard White Wheat
• 12 x White Rice
• 4 x Lentils
• 4 x Pinto Beans
• 1 x Salt
• 1 x White Sugar

Augason Farms 6-Month Emergency Food

The 60 #10 cans in this 6 month emergency food supply combine all of the major nutrition elements required to stock a survival food pantry for a period of up to half a year.

Including protein, vegetables, grains, dairy, and even baked goods, the excellent level of variety provided in this emergency food ingredient supply is designed to ensure resilience and flexibility during challenging times.

The ingredient cans included in the 6-Month Emergency Food Supply provides 274,665 calories spread across 2,822 servings. That makes for somewhere in the region of 1,526 calories per day for a single person over the 6 month range offered by this kit.

One of the crucial factors for any home food supply option is the ability to store for a prolonged period of time and with the products included in the kit ranging in shelf life from 5 to 30 years (with the majority of items falling in the 15-30 year bracket).

1 Year Emergency Food Supply Ingredient Kits

For ultimate peace of mind and a comprehensive food security foundation, the best 12 month emergency food supply kits will ensure complete continuity when it comes to nutrition in the event of an ongoing or prolonged disaster situation.

With many of the best emergency food storage ingredient kits promising a shelf life of 10-25 years on many of the ingredients included, these pre-made sets of survival food components represent a great investment for hedging against uncertainty for years and even decades to come.

A 1 year emergency food supply is also an excellent choice as a 6 month nutrition supply for a couple or a 3 month food storage solution for a family or group of four.

You’re going to want slightly more in the way of storage space when it comes to an emergency food supply covering this length of time, but a well considered pantry, larder, garage area, or basement will be well suited to setting up an emergency food supply for one of the kits below and will also cater to any additional cans or supplies you may choose to add later, provided there’s adequate shelving.

Augason Farms 1 Year Deluxe Emergency Food Storage Kit

A total calorie offering of 647,295 means that this emergency food storage ingredient kit from Augason Farms provides you with around 1,773 calories per day to cover one person for a year.

8,420 total servings are spread across 126 cans of comprehensive and varied emergency food ingredients for putting together a robust food storage system in your home.

Containing 57 different food products, this food storage ingredient kit offers you the ability to actually put together  conventional meals as you would in your everyday, rather than just serving up one-size-fits-all emergency meals.

What this looks like in practice is the inclusion of protein, carbs, dairy, and vegetables (including vegetable garden seeds that are capable of producing over 2,300 pounds of fresh vegetables).

The ingredients within this food storage kit are contained within #10 cans meaning the supplies are going to be easy to store, watertight, and will offer a superior shelf life with some ingredients in the kit lasting as long as 30 years.

Nutristore Deluxe 1 Year Emergency Food Supply

Designed to sustain one person for 12 months, the Nutristore Deluxe 1 Year Emergency Food Supply contains over 750,000 total calories (enough to provide a single person with 2000 calories per day for 1 year)

If you’re looking to put together a comprehensive foundation for your home emergency food storage supply, then the 6,500 servings in this kit represent one of the best ways to get it done.

Built around 150 easy to store #10 cans, this pantry supply kit contains grains, fruits, vegetables, proteins, freeze-dried meats, dairy, and other long life staples for stacking your shelves.

A shelf life of over 25 years on many of the items in this kit makes it one of the best emergency food supply solutions if you’re aiming to provide long-term food security that can be called on in times of crisis, whether that be tomorrow or in 20 years time.

The Nutristore Deluxe 1 Year Emergency Food Supply contains the following ingredients (Individual #10 cans):

• 6 x Dehydrated Apples
• 4 x Freeze Dried Bananas
• 4 x Strawberries
• 4 x Freeze Dried Corn
• 4 x Dehydrated Carrots
• 12 x Dehydrated Potatoes
• 4 x Green Beans
• 2 x Freeze Dried Chicken Dices
• 4 x Chicken TVP
• 4 x Beef TVP
• 2 x Freeze Dried Cheddar Cheese
• 8 x Instant Milk
• 12 x Granola
• 32 x Hard White Wheat
• 28 x White Rice
• 8 x Lentils
• 8 x Pinto Beans
• 2 x Salt
• 2 x White Sugar

The Best Emergency Food Storage Ingredients

Individual survival food ingredient cans are almost always the basis of any emergency food storage solution at home – and for good reason.

Packed in highly durable and easy to store #10 cans, the best survival ingredient components allow you to add considerable variety and depth to an existing food storage inventory or even to build a survival pantry completely from scratch.

What you’re going to get in either case, is a solution that’s highly tailored to your own requirements and preferences, allowing you to store emergency nutrition which built around the needs of you and your family.

As you’d probably guess, individual emergency food storage options are spread across the major food groups and for ease of navigation, we’ve broken down the best of each below, along with the essential information on each from shelf life to servings.

Whether you’re looking to bolster an existing food storage supply at home, increase the range and variety of one of the pre-configured kits mentioned above, or are looking to build a totally customized survival food pantry from the ground up, this section of the guide has you covered.

Meat

Nutristore Freeze-Dried Chicken

Meat can be a hard one to get right when it comes to emergency food storage ingredients (which is why non-meat substitutes tend to be more commonly found), but the Freeze-Dried Chicken from Nutristore is an excellent choice if you’re looking for a real meat protein option that lasts for years, is easy to prepare, and delivers the taste, texture, and nutritional benefit you expect from Chicken.

This gallon sized #10 can contains 20 large servings of diced chicken that simply needs to be reconstituted for you to have real chicken with both the perfect taste and texture in minutes.

The freeze dried meat in this can is premium quality and has been USDA inspected and microbe tested, meaning you know you’re getting a premium source of real meat protein, no matter what situation you find yourself calling on your supplies.

Perfect for long-term storage in a survival food supply for use in any number of meals, the Nutristore Freeze Dried Chicken has an incredible shelf life of 25 years, making it a natural choice as a healthy protein element within your emergency nutrition playlist.

Legacy Essentials Freeze Dried Beef Supply

This emergency food supply kit contains 6 pouches of premium grade, freeze dried beef with an impressive shelf life of 10 to 15 years.

Simple to prepare and offering generous portions, the Legacy Essentials Freeze Dried Beef Supply pouches each contain 19 servings with each individual serving providing 130 calories (and around  22 grams of protein), and the entire pouch offering 2470 calorie in total. This translates to around

The Mylar pouches in this emergency supply ingredient kit are resealable, include an oxygen absorber and nitrogen flush, and are the perfect size for low footprint storage in a survival food pantry, as well as packing in a vehicle, or even throwing in a bug out bag if you need to leave home in a hurry.

Beans and Pulses

Beans, lentils, and pulses provide a ton of benefits when it comes to stocking up an emergency survival food storage solution.

An excellent source of non-meat protein, this group of foods are incredibly shelf stable in their dehydrated form, offering a long-shelf life and being easy to reconstitute and prepare using just water.

Lentils and pulses are also incredibly versatile and form a high quality, nutrient-rich base to a meals as well as soups and casseroles.

If you’re looking for a non-meat survival food storage ingredient that works alongside meat just as well as it does as a replacement, then stocking up on beans, pulses, and lentils is the way to go when planning your home emerency food pantry.

Nutristore Instant Bean Variety 6 Pack

Beans and pulses are an excellent source of protein, iron, and fiber, and this variety pack of #10 cans from Nutristore provides a selection of six kinds for high nutritional variety in your emergency food pantry.

The first thing to note about these emergency food ingredient cans is that they have an awesome sealed shelf life of 30 years, putting them slightly ahead of other long-life survival protein sources such as freeze dried meat and making them an absolutely essential staple if you’re aiming to build a survival food supply with the range to see you across decades rather than years.

The instant ingredients in this pack include Black Beans, Garbanzo Beans (Chickpeas), Lentils, Navy Beans (Haricot Beans), Red Beans, and Refried Beans.

One of the real benefits of the ingredient in this selection is the quick and easy prep rather than the usual pre-soaking which can be required from dried pulses, lentils, and beans.

Augason Farms Black Beans Emergency Bulk Food Storage

This emergency food storage pail of black beans from Augason Farms provides a high nutritional content making them the perfect addition to filling out any meal.

Whether used as a side dish alongside a main course or as the main base of a meal as a replacement for meat, black beans have a high protein content making them an essential shelf stable addition to a survival food supply.

These beans have a shelf life of up to 30 years based upon storage conditions and deliver a total of 37,760 calories across 236 total servings (approximately 160 calories per serving).

A 4 gallon watertight pail makes storage and transport of this emergency food supply ingredient simple and a just-add-water preparation makes cooking equally straight forward.

If you’re looking to supplement your supplies with a vital source of non-meat based protein that’s versatile, easy to prepare, and will be good to go for up to three decades, then the Emergency Bulk Food Storage of Black Beans is an essential addition to your survival nutrition inventory.

Eggs

Eggs are one of those wonder ingredients that deliver a nutritional punch far above their humble size.

While being an excellent source of both protein and calories, the additional nutritional benefits of eggs almost need to be seen to be believed. Egg whites provide a rich source of selenium, vitamin D, B6, B12 and minerals such as iron, zinc, and copper, while the yolks contain both cholesterol and essential vitamins such as A, D, E and K.

While keeping chickens and maintaining a constant supply of fresh eggs is an excellent approach if you’ve got access to the resources, it’s by no means the only way to maintain access to this nutrient rich food source.

Many of the best whole egg survival food solutions will provide all of the nutritional benefit of eggs in an easy to store, long-lasting, and shelf stable form that can be called upon whenever needed.

Wise Foods Powdered Eggs in a Bucket

If you’re looking for a shelf-stable powdered egg ingredient kit that will remain good for up to 25 years, then this food supply bucket from Wise Foods is the perfect solution for your home emergency pantry.

Providing 144 servings of easy to prepare powdered eggs, this 11.1 ounce sealed bucket is easy to store and doesn’t require refrigeration.

This emergency dried egg supply is ideal as a nutritionally balanced pantry supply with each pail containing six individually sealed pouches (with each pouch containing  24 servings) meaning you can maximize the range and life of your supplies, opening and using one pouch at a time.

An excellent solution as a standalone meal, nutritionally balanced accompaniment to other foods, as a crucial ingredient in both baking and cooking, and of course, as a staple breakfast food, eggs are an essential addition to any emergency food storage system when it comes to the benefits they offer and this solution from Wise Foods is one of the best out there.

Augason Farms Dried Whole Egg No. 10 Can

Eggs are an excellent source of rounded nutrition and protein and this #10 can from Augason Farms provides 71 servings with a long stable shelf life to build this dietary essential into your emergency food supply planning.

Delivering 5,760 calories in total, this survival food ingredient can contains 100% whole egg powder, doesn’t require refrigeration, has a shelf life of up to 10 years, is easy to prepare (just add water), and is certified gluten free.

Whether as a standalone meal or at breakfast, combining as part of a recipe or baking, or simply adding into your daily nutrition plan, the versatility and rounded benefits of eggs make this a cornerstone addition to your survival food supply, both as a protein source, and as a store cupboard staple.

Legacy Essentials Long Term Powdered Whole Eggs

This long life powdered egg pouch from Legacy Essentials offers a slightly shorter (although still impressive) shelf-life than some of the other similar options in our guide, however what it lacks in this reduced shelf life, it more than makes up for in an incredibly space-efficient pouch packaging.

A double thickness Mylar pouch with oxygen absorber and nitrogen flush is a hallmark of many of the emergency food supply ingredients from Legacy Essentials, and these Long Term Powdered Eggs are no exception, providing an excellent solution that can just as easily slip into a spare pocket of a bug out backpack or bag as it can on the shelf in your emergency food pantry.

The Legacy Essentials pouch contains 48 servings of easy to prepare (just add water), grade A powdered whole eggs that provide 3,840 total calories and comes in a total pouch weight of around 1.6 Lbs.

If you’re looking for dried eggs that will allow easy flexibility between a food supply at home, or one that you intend to take on the road, then this is a great choice.

Vegetables

It goes without saying that without vegetables in your diet, access to critical nutrients, vitamins, and minerals is going to be at a distinct disadvantage.

Providing everything from dietary fiber through to essential vitamins, ensuring access to vegetables isn’t a nice to have luxury in a comprehensive emergency food supply – it’s a priority.

The great news is that, closed grocery stores doesn’t spell the end for green eating, with almost every vegetable you can think of being available in freeze-dried form for pantry storage, meaning you’ll be covered for years of shelf-life.

If you’re able, building into this an extra (and frankly unbeatable) level of resilience in the form of a survival garden for fresh and continual produce, and you’ve got a vegetable nutrition strategy that will stand up to almost any eventuality.

Nutristore Freeze Dried and Dehydrated Vegetable Variety

With an incredible 960 total servings, this vegetable food supply kit contains a combination of six different kinds of dehydrated and freeze-dried vegetables.

With a variety of vegetables included, this emergency food supply provides corn, green beans, carrots, brocolli, and onions to your home nutrition pantry.

The vegetables used in Nutristore kits are picked fresh and then preserved (either by freeze drying or dehydrating) to maintain retention of the key nutrients of each vegetable, before being packaged in 1 gallon (3.7 liter) #10 cans which are exceptionally practical and durable for long-term storage in a survival pantry.

Whether including as high value nutritional accompaniment to your everyday meals or for eating individually as a snack, the vegetables in this food supply are an excellent foundation to an emergency food supply, offering a shelf life of up to 25 years when sealed and 6-12 months once a can has been opened.

Thinking of Growing Your Own Produce at Home? Check Out Our Ultimate Guide to Starting a Survival Garden Here.

Augason Farms Vegetable Variety Kit

This set of three #10 cans contains dehydrated carrots as well as freeze-dried peas and sweetcorn, providing a total of 71 servings across the three vegetable varieties.

As well as providing 6,380 total calories, this set of food pantry vegetables is going to deliver a good variety of essential vitamins when integrated as part of your survival meal planning at home.

Providing an all-round excellent source of Beta Carotene as well as vitamins B1 and C, the combination of shelf-stable vegetables in this  emergency food storage kit are the perfect nutrient source for any survival food supply.

These vegetables are all certified gluten-free, and have a shelf life of up to 30 years.

Easy to prepare by simply adding water, the vegetables included in these cans are pre-washed, peeled, sliced and diced and can be served as a side dish or eaten as a vitamin-loaded snack whenever.

Fruit

While providing a delicious standalone snack or versatile accompaniment to a whole load of meals, the addition of fruit – whether freeze-dried or fresh – to a food supply strategy also delivers considerable nutritional benefits, providing essential elements such as vitamin C and promoting an overall increased state of health and well being.

As with vegetables, it can be easy to write off the inclusion of fruit in your pantry as an impractical luxury, however this is a false assumption that couldn’t be further from the truth when it comes to stocking up your supplies.

Build a variety of fruit options into your food contingency planning and you’ll benefit on a number of levels from physical and mental health down to increased morale and delicious meals.

Nutristore Freeze Dried Fruit Variety Pack

The three 1 gallon #10 cans in this variety pack contain delicious freeze-dried strawberries, raspberries, and banana.

With each can providing 40 servings of nutritious fruit, the 120 total servings in this set are perfect for either eating as a snack, incorporating into a recipe, or serving up as an accompaniment to deserts or breakfast as pat of your emergency meal planning.

As with other freeze-dried fruits, the options in this kit are both nutritious and versatile, providing a 25 year shelf life that makes them perfect for building into any long-term survival food supply at home.

Augason Farms Freeze Dried Sliced Strawberries

Having access to a source of fruit in an emergency food supply that actually tastes good can be a tall order when planning a survival food pantry and these 18 servings of freeze dried fruit provide up to 630 calories in a delicious snack that’s ready to eat straight out of the can and perfectly suited for storing in an emergency food supply pantry.

Whether you’re looking for a natural sweetener to add to recipes, desserts, or as an accompaniment to breakfasts, freeze dried strawberries are an excellent shelf-stable option to bring this popular fruit into your home emergency food supply pantry.

Freeze dried for maximum shelf life, these sliced strawberries will see you through for up to 30 years making them the natural addition to any survival pantry or home preparedness food supply.

Rice

As a food staple, rice has been cultivated and eaten by humans for thousands of years. It’s little surprise therefore, that this humble grain is a cornerstone of the diet in so many parts of the world.

The nutritional benefit, excellent storage characteristics, ease of preparation, and versatility as a side dish or main event make rice an essential for any survival food supply.

Augason Farms Long Grain White Rice

This 4 gallon pail contains 270 servings of long life white rice, a perfect carbohydrate element for use in any meal or ingredient combination in your food storage supply.

White rice is incredibly easy to prepare (simply add to boiling water) and is the ideal accompaniment to any number of other food storage ingredients ranging from meats and meat substitutes, to vegetables, pulses, and when used in or alongside soups and casseroles.

Providing a total of 45,900 calories, this emergency storage staple has a shelf life of up to an incredible 30 years before opening, while still being good for up to a year even once opened.

Perfect for storage anywhere in your home – whether that’s in a basement, garage, or dedicated food supply pantry – the pail containing this supply ingredient is airtight, waterproof, and totally impervious to rodents and pests, meaning it’s going to be there when you need it, be that tomorrow or in 27 years time.

Dairy

Whether we’re talking about milk, butter, yogurt, or cream, maintaining access to a staple of dairy products in an emergency food storage system will ensure you’ll benefit from the nutrition provided by this food group.

Providing fat, protein, and of course, calcium to your diet, dairy products are highly versatile and play an important role not only in ensuring well-balanced nutrition, but also to significantly extending the range of your meals from breakfast cereals, through to use in cooking and baking.

Valley Food Storage Fortified Instant Non-Fat Milk

The instant milk in this kit is real, whole milk which has been freeze-dried and simply needs to be reconstituted for use when needed.

A 25 year shelf life means that as a survival food storage dairy solution, this fortified milk offers an unbeatable level of long-term viability if you’re looking to ensure access to milk during an emergency situation where refrigeration isn’t an option and the shelves at the store are bare.

Packaged in an airtight resealable pouch, this emergency freeze-dried milk has a low-storage profile making it just as at home on a pantry shelf as it is in a backpack if you need to take it with you.

Valley Food Storage  state that they don’t use MSG, GMO ingredients, hydrogenated oils, artificial preservatives, or artificial sweeteners in their food kits.

Nutristore Instant Milk

This instant milk powder from Nutristore is rich in calcium and protein as well as vitamins A and D.

Providing a total of 180 servings, this instant milk is easy to prepare by simply combining with water and has a long shelf life of up to 25 years.  of great tasting and easy to prepare instant milk providing great assurance that you have

If you’re looking for a nutrient-rich, real milk powder for your emergency food supply that will allow you to significantly increase the range of your meals and other stored ingredients, then this great tasting milk is the perfect shelf-stable choice to keep on hand for use when times are bad.

Baking

The core principles and ingredients of baking are actually incredibly simple and it’s due to this that bread and baked goods are such a fundamental staple of the human diet in many parts of the world for centuries.

This of course makes baking ingredients an essential component to any comprehensive emergency food supply pantry.

From breads, rolls, and pizza dough, to cakes and cookies, access to shelf stable, long-life baking ingredients opens up an almost limitless number of options when it comes to food preparation during times of adversity or crisis.

Augason Farms Baking Essentials Variety Kit

When it comes to baking, there are a few essential ingredients that you’re always going to need to have at hand. This selection of #10 ingredient cans contains those essentials and are the foundation of any baking contingent within a home food storage system.

From milk-alternative powder, dried butter, and dried eggs, to shortening powder, iodized salt, and sugar, this variety kit contains all of the long-life baking ingredients you’ll need to get underway with a wide variety of baking related tasks, with water being the only additional item required.

The ingredients within this variety set provide a shelf life of up to 30 years, and provide a total of 36,445 calories across 2,615 servings.

Pair a base level ‘store cupboard’ selection of ingredients like these alongside some of the bread and cake mixes covered below, and you’ll have built a highly resilient base for baking almost anything you want or need during an emergency situation.

Store Cupboard Essentials

There are a lot of elements that sit somewhat outside of the remit of traditional food and ingredient groups yet still play a vital role in everyday food, both in terms of preparation of meals and just for eating.

Rather than waiting until it’s too late to do anything about it, these items should be considered highly desirable for minimizing disruption to your everyday diet during times of adversity and will see you right whether used as an accompaniment, ingredient, or as a stand-alone food option.

Emergency Essentials Butter Powder

Butter is one of those essential elements for any refrigerator or pantry and by extension, it’s a great thing to have on hand in an emergency food supply.

This butter powder from Emergency Essentials has a shelf life of over 25 years and is packaged with an oxygen absorber in a double-enameled #10 stainless steel can for durability during storage.

Simple preparation is a key element to the best survival food supply ingredients and one of the great things about this butter powder is that when reconstituted you have an instant spread or accompaniment to meals, while adding the powder directly to a recipe without reconstituting with waterprovides an instant solution for any baking or cooking needs.

Whether using in baking or simply to bring a tried and tested addition to meals or snacks, a shelf-stable source of long life butter such as this is a must-have if you’re looking to build a resilient and comprehensive emergency food supply.

Nutristore Peanut Butter Powder

Peanut butter is a great source of protein, and this powder provides all of those benefits alongside a shelf life of up to 25 years.

A pair of gallon sized #10 cans with resealable lids hold this high quality peanut butter powder which is made from roasted peanuts.

Ease of preparation is key to any survival food ingredients or supplies and this peanut butter powder has been formulated to be easy to blend with 1.5 tablespoons of water (adding or reducing this to alter consistency) while also versatile enough to sprinkle into other recipes or adding to smoothies for an extra protein hit.

Why Build an Emergency Food Storage System?

There are any number of reasons when the security of the food in your home supply could come under threat.

Whether we’re talking about a natural disaster or a man made emergency situation, thinking about the continuity of the parts of life that you take for granted right now are key to preparing for the worst.

Access to sufficient nutrition therefore becomes a priority consideration.

When it come to the immediate threats to maintaining food security, the most obvious place to start is directly at home.

Here, a blackout situation caused by a severe weather event, hostile action (think a cyber-attack from a state or non-state actor), or even an EMP, could leave you completely without power for a potentially prolonged period of time and where there’s no power, there’s no refrigeration.

With this in mind, having a dependable emergency pantry of long-life survival food close at hand can make all of the difference if and when your refrigerator and freezer fail.

In this kind of  power outage situation, another wise investment is in an emergency backup generator or solar generator which can be called upon to get your primary mode of refrigeration up and running until the food is used or the power restored, whichever comes first.

This leads us onto the next (and often simultaneously occurring) scenario that you can expect during times of crisis – empty shelves at the store.

We’ve all seen it countless times during natural disasters, grocery store shelves picked clean.

When news reaches the dinner table about an impending or unfolding event, you can almost guarantee every single time that the first things to get hit by panic buying are the food stores and gas stations.

Depending on the severity of the situation, the very logistics infrastructure that keeps the shelves stocked when times are good may also disintegrate and with this realization, it’s pretty clear that those who prepared ahead of time are going to be in a significantly better place as the days roll by.

While there’s every chance that outside help may eventually come, one of the core philosophies behind comprehensive preparedness is to rely on no-one.

It’s called self-sufficiency for a very good reason and for many people, that reason only comes into clarity when it’s too late to actually do anything about it.

Preserving and Storing Food

When it comes to preparing a comprehensive home emergency food supply system, one of the key strategies which has been employed by households around the world for centuries focuses on the preservation and storage of food for use at a later date.

While keeping a solid stock of pre-prepared emergency food ingredients and emergency meal kit solutions in your home preparedness pantry should always form the backbone of a survival food supply, preserving anything that you hunt, grow, or gather on top of this will always ensure you’ve got access to a level of flexibility and variety that goes beyond the basics of survival nutrition.

For the canned goods in your pantry, some form of specialized shelving or can storage racking becomes an essential addition to your strategy and will ensure that your able to monitor, maintain, and access your food quickly.

Similarly, if you’re planning on storing your food away from the main building of your home (such as a shed, external garage, or other outbuilding), investing in a high quality camera system is an excellent way of keeping a continual eye on your stores with many of the latest smart security systems providing both motion detection and cellphone notifications if anything seems out of the ordinary.

From canning to dehydration, preserving food such as fruit and vegetables means being able to call on it further down the line and allows you to preserve the surplus from any harvest of home grown produce that you may have on hand.

Emergency Food Supply Preservation and Storage

If you’re looking to build an extra level of redundancy into your home emergency food supply planning, then adding a method or variety of methods to preserve and store food for a prolonged period of time is an excellent choice for increasing the overall resilience in your emergency nutrition strategy.

Ball FreshTech Automatic Home Canning System

Utilizing what the system calls Smart-Preserve technology, the Ball FreshTech Automatic Home Canning System is able to accurately monitor both the temperature and time in order to ensure that the canning process is completely optimized.

What this looks like in practice is a canning process which is anywhere up to 30 percent faster than conventional alternatives and a solution which will allow you to preserve food in your pantry for up to a year.

The Ball FreshTech includes both instructions and recipes for preparing everything from fruits, tomatoes, salsas, and pickles, through to jellies, jams, and sauces.

Once you’ve chosen a recipe in the system and selected it, you simply need to prepare the appropriate food, place them in jars, add the jars to the canner and let the machine do the rest.

Cuisinart DHR-20 Food Dehydrator

Dehydrating food is one of the best ways of preserving for prolonged periods of time and this food dehydrator from Cuisinart is one of the best on the market for getting the job done with minimal fuss.

Allowing you to dry everything from your own fruit, vegetables, and herbs, through to meat, the Cuisinart DHR-20 provides a surface area of up to 552 square inches for dehydrating.

While five stackable drying racks are included with the system as standard, the ability to expand to up to nine leaves considerable room for expansion if you need to increase capacity.

This food dehydrator is well suited to use in the home as well as on the road as part of a bug out vehicle addition if space allows with a top venting design which provides 620 watts of power for long-term food preservation and an adjustable thermostat which can be set to high, medium, low, and fan modes as required.

Aroma NFD-815D Nutriware Extra Large Digital Food Dehydrator

The Extra Large Digital Food Dehydrator from Aroma is an excellent addition to an emergency food supply provision and allows you to dry a large volume of food to see you through prolonged periods of nutrition needs.

A combination of six stainless steel trays and mesh sheets allow you to dry foods ranging from fruit to meat while ensuring nothing falls off while drying.

An automatic fan and adjustable thermostat make sure that drying remains even and distributed around the system at a consistent temperature without overheating.

Cuisinart VS-100 Vacuum Sealer

Vacuum sealers are an incredibly useful addition to a kitchen equipment list and store cupboard at the best of times and when those times are more questionable, you’ll be glad if you’re able to call upon the ability to keep your food as fresh as possible for longer term storage and use.

Effectively sealing your food in plastic and extracting all of the air which would otherwise contribute to spoilage, a vacuum sealer like the VS-100 allows you to purchase, prepare, and store food in bulk for use when you need it the most.

The Cusinart VS-100 utilizes a simple control interface for operation and includes a range of accessories to get started including a bag cutter, vacuum hose, and two rolls of sealing wrap.

Emergency Food Supply Nutrient Essentials

As we’re always told, a well-balanced diet is just about the best way to ensure that our bodies get the optimal level of nutrients needed to function at peak performance, both mentally and physically.

With that being said, in an emergency situation, guaranteeing access to this kind of well rounded nutrition is by no means a certainty, and over a prolonged period of crisis, the very factors that matter most when it comes to surviving and thriving under high-stress situations are likely to be most exacerbated by the lack of access to adequate nutrition.

In this section of our guide to preparing the ultimate emergency food supply, we’ve taken a detailed look at the absolutely essential elements of any nutrition plan, outlining the benefits of the key nutrients, and providing actionable solutions to effortlessly work them into your home preparedness pantry and emergency survival nutrition strategy.

Protein

Ensuring adequate access to protein is a key factor when building an emergency food storage system and the great news here, is that whether we’re talking about beans and pulses, or freeze dried meat and meat substitutes, there’s a lot of choice out there to help you find the best ingredients for your tastes and dietary requirements.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates provide the crucial energy that we need for continual and optimal physical and mental activity and of all of the nutrients in the body, carbs are the one that’s needed in the largest quantity for prime performance (around 45-60% of calories should come from carbohydrates). Given the crucical importance of this macronutrient to survival and prime performance, carbohydrates should form the cornerstone of your home food supply strategy.

Fats (Lipids)

Fat is another one of the core building blocks of a well rounded survival food strategy and while the term may have gotten a bad rep in recent decades (mostly due to our calorie dense diets when times are good), fats are absolutely essential to a healthy and functioning body and in a survival situation, the principal role of fat as an energy store, can quite literally become a lifesaver. Foods high in fat are typically calorie dense, provide essential fatty acids, and are an energy reserve that can’t be beaten, so with all of this in mind, be sure to keep an area in your emergency food supply for this essential macronutrient.

Vitamins and Minerals

When it comes to ensuring access to well rounded nutrition, vitamins and minerals play a fundamental part in ensuring that the human body functions at optimal levels at all times.

From energy levels and immune system strength, to recovery from injury, absorbtion of nutrients, and peak mental performance, maintaining adequate levels of the essential vitamins and minerals is crucial to staying healthy in both mind and body.

With this in mind, making sure you get access to the required recommended levels of essential vitamins and minerals becomes a priority in an emergency situation.

If you’re able to provision emergency food supplies that will cover your requirements during times of adversity then you’re going to be in an excellent place in this regard. If you’re not able to stock up on food and ingredients past the minimal requirements for energy and macro-nutrients outlined in the sections above however, all is not lost – investing in a range of supplements to cover the essential bases will help you maintain during an emergency.

In this part of the guide, we’re going to take a look at the role of the most crucial vitamins and minerals you want to be thinking about when planning and preparing your emergency food supply, as well as where to get what you need to ensure you’ve got each area covered.

This is no means an exhaustive list of what you may need (everyone’s requirements will vary on an individual basis) but it’s a baseline to aim for and as with any element of food and nutrition planning, if you’re unsure how best to proceed, consult a medical or nutrition professional for advice.

Vitamin A

Also known as retinol, Vitamin A is a crucial component for maintaining the immune system and helping maintain natural defenses against illness and infection.

Vitamin A is also key to aiding vision in low light situations as well as maintaining healthy skin and linings (such as the nose).

Sources:

Good sources of vitamin A include dairy (cheese, milk, yogurt), oily fish, eggs, and liver products.

Vitamin A can also be sourced from beta-carotene rich fruits and vegetables such as yellow, red, and green leafy vegetables, and yellow fruits like mango, apricots, and papaya – think carrots, sweet potatoes, red peppers, and spinach.

Consider Stocking: NOW Vitamin A (Fish Liver Oil) Softgels

B Vitamins

Vitamin B1 (Thiamin)

Thiamin is used to maintain a healthy nervous system and to aid in releasing energy from food.

Sources:

Thiamin can be found in garden peas, both fresh and dried fruit, eggs, wholegrain breads, some fortified breakfast cereals.

Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)

Riboflavin helps maintain a healthy nervous system as well as keeping skin and eyes in optimal health.

If you’re storing vitamin B2 or foods rich in the nutrient, it’s important to keep out of direct sunlight as UV light can destroy it.

Sources:

Great sources of Riboflavin typically include eggs, milk, and rice, as well as certain breakfast cereals which are fortified with the vitamin.

Vitamin B3 (Niacin)

Niacin is an important element for healthy skin and nervous system functionality as well as helping with energy release from other foods.

Sources:

Look to source vitamin B3 from milk, meat, fish, eggs, and wheat flour.

Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)

Arguably one of the most important vitamins on this list – and undoubtedly one of the most important B vitamins – B6 is used by the body to form hemoglobin which is the substance found in red blood cells for carrying oxygen around the body.

Vitamin B6 also plays an important role in the use and storage of energy extracted from the carbohydrates and protein in food.

Sources:

Vitamin B6 is actually found in a lot of varied food types including chicken, turkey, pork, eggs, and fish, as well as in vegetables, soy beans, peanuts, wholegrain cereals, bread, and milk.

Vitamin B7 (Biotine)

B7 is used by the body in relatively small amounts in order to help break down fat and is actually produced by the bacteria found in the gut. Because of this, Biotin isn’t generally considered to be a requirement as a supplement, although it is found in low levels in several foods.

Vitamin B12

Another nutrient essential, vitamin B12 is fundamental to the functioning of the body in that it makes red blood cells and helps maintain a healthy nervous system

B12 uses Folic Acid (see below) and a lack of vitamin B12 can lead to anemia.

Sources:

Vitamin B12 is found in meat, dairy, eggs, and some fish types such as salmon and cod.

Consider Stocking: Vitafusion Extra Strength B12 Gummies

Folic Acid

Folic Acid is also known as Folate and is used to help the body form healthy red blood cells and plays an important role for pregnant women in reducing the risk of central neural tube birth defects such as spina bifida.

Sources:

Folate can be found in small quantities in vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, peas, asparagus, and brussels sprouts, as well as in chickpeas and some fortified breakfast cereals.

Consider Stocking: Sundown Naturals Folic Acid

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is one of the top nutrients needed for ensuring health on a long-term basis and the number of benefits provided outline just how important it is to effectively functioning on a physical level.

Also known as ascorbic acid, vitamin C keeps cells healthy and protected, helps maintain healthy skin, blood vessels and bones, and is beneficial in helping wounds to heal.

If you go too long without sufficient vitamin C in your diet, scurvy can occur as a result – and often did in the past, particularly for sailors who didn’t have access to this critical vitamin for months at a time.

Sources:

Vitamin C is naturally found in a whole range of fruits and vegetables and excellent sources include oranges and orange juice, strawberries, blackcurrants, broccoli, potatoes, and brussels sprouts.

Consider Stocking: Viva Naturals Premium Non-GMO Vitamin C with Bioflavonoids & Rose Hips

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is used by the body to help it regulate the amount of phosphates and calcium which are used for healthy muscles, bones, and teeth.

Sources:

Vitamin D is mostly obtained from direct sunlight which the body converts into the vitamin upon exposure of the skin to sun.

It’s also possible to find small amounts of vitamin D in some foods such a oily fish, red meat, egg yolks, and specifically fortified foods like breakfast cereals.

Vitamin D is a particularly beneficial nutrient so stock in dietary supplement form, particularly for use during an emergency situation or disaster where access to direct sunlight may simply be impossible to achieve.

Consider Stocking: NatureWise Vitamin D3

Vitamin E

Vitamin E assists in maintaining healthy skin and eyes as well as bolstering the immune system to help the body fight infection and illness.

Sources:

Vitamin E is widely found in nuts and seeds, plant oils (soy, corn, olive), and in wheatgerm.

Consider Stocking: Puritan’s Pride Vitamin E

Vitamin K

Playing an important role in helping blood to clot, vitamin K is an essential component of helping wounds heal properly.

Sources:

Good sources of vitamin K include cereal grains, spinach, broccoli, and vegetable oils, while small amounts can also be found in meat and dairy products.

Consider Stocking: Solaray Vitamin K

Calcium

Calcium is used for a number of important purposes in the body from building strong bones and teeth, to ensuring blood clots normally, and regulating muscle contractions.

Ensuring you’re able to keep a source of calcium in your diet is particularly important when planning an emergecy food supply for use over mid-long time periods.

Sources:

The more obvious sources of calcium are dairy products such as milk and cheese, however other great sources include broccoli, cabbage, soy beans, and nuts.

Look to stock your emergency food supply up with long-life versions of these calcium sources or supplements with a long shelf-life.

Consider Stocking: New Chapter Calcium Supplement with Vitamin K2 + D3

Iron

Iron lays a crucial role in making the red blood cells which in turn are responsible for carrying oxygen around the body.

The role of Iron is particularly crucial to those who suffer from a natural dietary deficiency and the effects and symptoms of this (such as fatigue) will almost certainly be exacerbated in an emergency or survival situation.

Sources:

There are a number of places where iron can be obtained in an everyday diet and some of the best sources include meat, beans, nuts, dried fruit, wholegrains (such as brown rice), and most dark-green leafy vegetables.

Consider Stocking: Nature Made Iron 65 mg

Potassium

As a mineral, potassium is used by the body to control its balance of fluids as well as helping the heart muscle to work effectively.

Sources:

Bananas are an excellent source of potassium and the mineral can also be found in vegetables such as broccoli and brussels sprouts, as well as in nuts, seeds, fish, shellfish, chicken, turkey, and beef.

Consider Stocking: NOW Potassium Citrate

Magnesium

Magnesium is a mineral responsible for helping turn food into energy and ensuring that the parathyroid glands (which produce hormones for bone health) are working normally.

Sources:

Magnesium can be found in a wide range of foods including spinach, nuts, brown rice, bread, meat, fish, and dairy products.

Consider Stocking: Nature Made Magnesium (Oxide) 250 mg Tablets

The Last Word

With all of our guides, we reference as many expert sources, real world user opinions, and verified reviews as possible so we’re able to provide the most relevant and educational information on putting together a comprehensive emergency food supply.

Planning an emergency survival food pantry for your home is ultimately a highly personal activity with individual needs and preferences sometimes varying considerably between people, locations, and uses.

With these considerations in mind, this guide looks to provide advice on our own opinions of the best survival food supply ingredients available today, however, it’s always important to carry out your own due diligence to find the best solution for you when putting together an emergency food storage solution that’s perfect for your situation.