I thought it would be good to put together my emergency food supply list year supply, as many have been asking for a full breakdown of all of the items I store. Now many of these long term food storage items will have to be rotated every few years. This is to keep our food fresh and cut down on wastage.
It’s hard to have a full 1 years worth of long-lasting food in our pantry due to most foods being perishable and taking up a lot of space. But with the correct knowledge of food preparation and storage ideas, you can defiantly be prepared for even the worst of disasters. Let’s get right into the best survival food supply list for your whole family.
Table of Contents
Long Term Food Storage Items
Some of the items below if stored correctly can last 20 years or more. Airtight, vacuum sealed containers that are kept in a cool dry, dark room is the best condition for food storage longevity.
- Pasta
- Rice
- Flour
- Wheat
- Brown and White Grains
- Sugar, salt, pepper, and honey.
- High protein muscle powder
- Powdered milk
- Condensed milk
- Bottled Water
- Pinto beans
- Rolled Oats
- Potato Flakes
- Oil such as olive, canola, and lard
- Potato flour
- Oats and oatmeal.
- Dried spices and herbs for flavor
- Milo, Tea, and coffee.
- Vinegar
- Baking Soda
- MRE survival food packs
- Alcohol such as Vodka for trading and wound sterilization.
It’s a good idea to write down your emergency food supply list so you are not doubling up on items you may already have. It will all come down to the number of people you have in your household. Also how many months of food you need for the number of calories needed.
Some companies like Augason Farms make meals ready to eat in conveniently pre-packaged buckets. You can read about how we use these MRE kits to have some variety in our meals. Prepping for 1-year food supply for a large family takes thought and effort. They are quite reasonably priced as well.
Short Term Food Storage Items – One Year List
These items need to be constantly rotated or thrown out after their expiry date.
- Canned meat such as tuna, salmon, chicken, beef, and turkey.
- Canned vegetables such as beans, carrots, corn, and peas.
- Canned fruit
- Jars of stir fry flavor.
- Nuts and trail mix
- Dried meats and fruit
- Jars of Jam
- Chocolate
- Vitamins
- Yeast
- Sauces.
Storage Conditions
There are 4 main areas that need to be considered before you can safely think about long term food storage.
- Temperature: Make sure to store products at a temperature of 75°F/24°C or lower. If storage temperatures are higher then this, then the shelf life will be reduced. Rotate your food products more often to reduce spoilage and wastage.
- Moisture: Is the one thing which will destroy your food supply fast. This is why we store dried food. Use oxygen absorbers to fully remove the moisture from your air-tight containers. A good practice is to keep containers off the floor to allow for air circulation.
- Insects and rodents: You will be surprised when mice, rats, and raccoons can get into. Protect your food storage products stored from rodent and insect damage. Set traps and bait in the general location of your food storage pantry.
- Sun Light: Protect products stored in PETE bottles from direct light. Sunlight can cause containers to fail and water to promote bacteria and algae to grow. An always dark location is best.
Make sure to store your food in approved airtight containers. Temperature, moisture, sunlight, and rodents will quickly destroy your food supply.
Metal tins with sealing lists will be good as long as there is no moisture nearby. Even tins that are galvanized can quickly fall apart due to rust.
Glass mason jars with a pressure sealed lid are great as you can see the contents of the jar. But be careful as these can break if knocked over.
Plastic PETE bottles and containers are perfect to seal in your long term emergency food supply. I even like to use larger containers to store rice, wheat,
Reusing paint containers for storage.
Some people like to reuse plastic paint containers for their emergency food storage. This is a great idea They are made tough and have a reusable sealing lid. Just be sure to fully wash out all of the paint and dry fully.
It’s important to note that you should only use a container that has a gasket in its lid for long term storage. You can get around this by vacuum sealing your grains, and other dry food products and using food grade moisture absorbers. These non-food grade containers can now be used to store your food.
I like to leave the lid off the pain containers for a few weeks just to air them out. This way your food won’t smell like water based paint.
Metal paint tins seem to rust out too quickly. They will work but over time I find that there is rust on the outside of the paint tin. Especially in high humidity areas such as the tropics.
For more ideas on setting up your pantry see our doomsday prepper food storage ideas list. We cover everything from vacuum sealing to lighting in your pantry.
Making food storage part of your everyday meals.
Part of a quality food storage pantry is having a good rotation system. Sure there are foods that may last 20 years or more but there are a lot more foods that need to be consumed on a more regular basis.
If you incorporate your emergency food storage list items into everyday meals not only will you rotate your food to keep it fresh but your body will begin to get used to these different types of foods.
I like to use small stick-on labels so this way I can write down the dates on when I have purchased the canned goods. This makes it easy to see which emergency foods need to be eaten first or rotated.
My pantry often starts out being all nice and orderly but over the years we tend just to place extra items in any old place. This way the sticky labels help.
You can even experiment with grinding wheat and making damper with the flour. Its like bread but much heavier. This is an Australian recipe passed down from my grandmother over the generations. The simple ingredients are:
Australian Damper Recipe
- 250 g self-raising flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 25 g of butter.
- 175 ml of milk or water.
Mix well together and then cook at 190 deg Celsius for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Now many of you will be cooking this on the coals out bush so just keep an eye on it.
Preservatives.
Try and stay away from foods that have preservatives in them. They will break down over time and spoil your food
- 200 Sorbic acid
- 201 Sodium sorbate
- 202 Potassium sorbate
- 203 Calcium sorbate
- 210 Benzoic acid
- 211 Sodium benzoate
- 212 Potassium benzoate
- 313 Calcium benzoate
- 280 Propionic acid
- 281 Sodium propionate
- 282 Calcium propionate
- 283 Potassium propionate
- 249 Potassium nitrite
- 250 Sodium nitrite
- 251 Sodium nitrate
- 252 Potassium nitrate
If you see any of these numbers on a package then your canned or processed foods will have preservatives in them. It’s very hard to buy anything nowadays without some sort of preservative so just keep it in mind.
Conclusion
I wish more people would take food storage more seriously. Many families live day to day, paycheck to paycheck and I know it can be hard to spend a lot of money gathering extra food for a disaster that may never happen.
But if you take the time to shop wisely and only buy in bulk when the food is on special you can save many thousands of dollars. If you plan in advance you can quickly get together your emergency food supply list one year supply.
Our society is very fragile and any natural disaster, or break down in the national transport grid can disrupt the food supply grid for weeks. If you have a full emergency food supply listed out here you will be able to survive a year or more.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has always promoted self-reliance and independence from the world. Being prepared for an emergency is something that is always been encouraged. They have some great online resources available such as their detailed post on Longer term food storage. The Boy’s Scouts motto is also “be prepared”
It will be up to you to work out the quantity and variety of food to store. If it was up to my kids they would store 1 year worth of chocolate only.
Let me know in the comments below what food items you like to store in your pantry for an emergency.
As an electrician and a survivalist prepper, I want to share some of my ideas, thoughts, hardware, and survival techniques I have learned over the past 20 years. The world is changing fast and we need to be repaired for what may come if society breaks down.
