How to Stockpile Emergency Food Supplies

Add Rice to Your Stockpile.

Have you ever been in a grocery store when the delivery trucks were delayed for two days? It is downright scary to see how fast the shelves empty out. It is a smart idea to stockpile emergency food provisions so you can care for your family in disaster situations.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Space to store your emergency food stockpile
• Money
• List of emergency food supplies you want to buy

1. Find a spot in your house that is dry and that basically stays the same temperature year round. You don't need a ten foot by ten foot room. Half of a closet is plenty of room for an emergency food stockpile that will last several people an entire year.

2. Create a master list of emergency food supplies your family will need. Several educational sites have a recommended list, but there may be things that you consider to be essential that aren't on their lists. (See the resources below for a link to a list of a year's supply of food you should stockpile.)

3. Decide whether you can buy the items on your emergency food shopping list right away or if you will need to buy a few things at a time until your stockpile is complete. It is better to only have part of your stockpile than to give up completely on buying everything at the same time because you can't afford it and then have nothing at all when disaster strikes. f you buy your items one at a time, all you really need is $25 to $50 a month. Prioritize your emergency food shopping list and buy the first item on it today. Next month, buy the second item.

4. Check your emergency food stockpile every month to be sure it isn't sustaining any damage and to re-evaluate whether your list meets your current needs. If you've just discovered you are pregnant or you've added a pet canary to the household, you'll want to add to your stockpile.

Tips & Warnings

• Consider longevity of different products. Dehydrated and freeze dried foods can last ten years or more, which makes them a smarter investment than foods that need to be used or tossed within a year.

• Think about what you are buying. Do you really want to eat 80 servings of a strange sounding soup?

Resources

• UGA Family and Consumer Sciences