Emergency Preparedness Food Kits OR your own “survival” food?

[Ginevra]

Do you have, either commercially prepared and sealed, emergency preparedness food, or else food kits consciously planned for that purpose? I’m talking like 72-hour, or maybe up to a week per family member of stored food with a long-term shelf life, that can be prepared without electrical service? (IOW, I’m not talking about making a “prepper” bunker where we can live indefinitely in a Zombie Apocalypse; I just mean when there’s a snowstorm or whatever that takes out the power for up to a few days.)

I’m considering buying the 4patriots kits. But I’m also not opposed to DIYing something like this with either my canning supplies or my vacuum sealer supplies or some combination of the two. But I don’t know where there might be guidance on this (and I’d like to steer clear of...well, lunatics). Are the kits overblown expense? Im noticing they are grains and vegetables...I think I could make my own much less expensively, but I don’t have any knowledge yet about how one does that. 

Any thoughts on this subject welcome. Thank you! 

Oh, PS. The kits are 25-year. I don’t require that. I am fine with prepping just 3-5 year shelf life. I don’t expect to be living here for twenty-five more years. 

[regentrude]

What scenario do you envision where you need specifically prepared rations that have a 5 year shelf life and cannot use "normal" food? 

We do have a stash of backpacking meals, since we backpack anyway. But unless I had to evacuate and carry everything on my back and eat on the go, I can't see any reason why I would need emergency rations rather than a pantry. In case of snow storm or power outage, it might be more effective to invest in an alternative cooking source, like a camping stove.

Edited September 25, 2020 by regentrude

[73349]

I try to keep 3 days' worth, yes. Our stove is electric, and we are in hurricane season, which will be followed by ice storm season, which will be followed by tornado season. IOW: power outages and being stuck at home are not unlikely here.

I like the book The Storm Gourmet for ideas.

I use square buckets with lids, stacked in a closet. A first aid kit (with a list of helpful phone numbers and a flashlight) is the bucket on top, and then the other buckets are labeled either Breakfast or Lunch/Dinner.

Some essentials for us (YMMV): applesauce, dried fruit, nuts, shelf-stable almond milk; pre-cooked rice cups; canned beans and vegetables that would work together in a bean salad; spices/dressings/sauce that would go along with the foods.

Edited October 2, 2020 by Carolina Wren

[regentrude]

If the power goes out for longer, you will want to eat the contents of your freezer. That would mean fruit and veggies and bread for us.

[Sherry in OH]

We have a gas grill, a fireplace and and a fire pit.   If the electric goes out, I can cook on one of those.    I would cook from my refrigerator and freezer first (to avoid unnecessary waste) supplementing with pantry items.  

I know my family will eat the foods I regularly have on hand.  Why pay extra for seasoned dried beans when I already have dried and canned beans and spices in my pantry?

If we had to leave home, we'd pack whatever food we had on hand in totes and coolers.  It would make more sense for my family to invest in a portable camping stove than in expensive freeze dried foods that my picky eaters wouldn't want to eat anyway.

[Pawz4me]

I just keep plenty of shelf stable things that we eat normally--canned soups, beans, pouches of salmon/tuna, peanut butter, nuts, crackers, protein bars, some bottled water, etc. Those along with a grill and a camp stove mean we could get by okay for awhile. I wouldn't want to devote space or money to food that I didn't know we'd consume.

Edited September 25, 2020 by Pawz4me

[Pawz4me]

1 minute ago, Pawz4me said:

Ignore -- I made the dreaded quote instead of edit mistake!

 

Edited September 25, 2020 by Pawz4me

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, regentrude said:

What scenario do you envision where you need specifically prepared rations that have a 5 year shelf life and cannot use "normal" food? 

We do have a stash of backpacking meals, since we backpack anyway. But unless I had to evacuate and carry everything on my back and eat on the go, I can't see any reason why I would need emergency rations rather than a pantry. In case of snow storm or power outage, it might be more effective to invest in an alternative cooking source, like a camping stove.

Of course I could use “normal” food, and we do have alternative cooking sources; what I’m wanting is something organized as complete meals specifically for this purpose. I like the idea of having jars and sealed bags that make a fairly good meal with just hot water. 

[regentrude]

1 minute ago, Quill said:

I like the idea of having jars and sealed bags that make a fairly good meal with just hot water. 

Then I'd just buy some freeze dried backpacking food. Backpacker's Pantry or Mountain house.

[Sherry in OH]

7 minutes ago, Quill said:

Of course I could use “normal” food, and we do have alternative cooking sources; what I’m wanting is something organized as complete meals specifically for this purpose. I like the idea of having jars and sealed bags that make a fairly good meal with just hot water. 

You can can stews and meats.    

[Guest]

38 minutes ago, Æthelthryth the Stormy said:

You will be thrilled to know Quill, that Jim Bakker has an apocalypse food bucket. 

 

Oh, thank you so much for sharing this with me! This cheered me up exponentially! 

[Guest]

Also, look: apparently not the first time I have thought about this. And I became vaguely aware that I bought a book through Mother Earth News some years ago. And then forgot all about it. But here it is folks: Meals in a Jar.

 

[City Mouse]

We have a variety of backpacking meals. It is probably around 5 days worth. I got them a little bit at a time and mostly for my DS to have for camping. He can’t eat gluten, so when he goes to Scout things  it is easy to throw in dehydrated meals that he can eat that way he has a back up in case he can’t eat what is planned. 
Other than that, we don’t really keep food specifically for emergencies. We probably have several weeks worth of dood in the pantry, and a ton of meat in the freezer. 
The longest we have gone without power was 7 days following a hurricane. We did eat a lot of stuff out of the freezers which made for some fun community cook outs with the neighbors, but after a couple of days we borrowed a generator and saved the rest off the freezer. The foods that we ran out of were the snack type stuff that can’t really be save. We had no problems with meals. However, I do remember having to drive quite a long ways to get to a distribution location to get ice.

Every once in a while, I do get sucked into the whole preppier thing and think about buying more long term food storage, but then I see that most is not gluten free so it isn’t good for us. I recently watched a YouTube video on preserving cheese by putting wax on it. that looked interesting.

[Arcadia]

My husband is the only non-picky eater in our home. It’s easier and cheaper for me to have food that don’t need cooking like canned food, pasta sauce and dried fruits than to buy emergency food kits that probably only my husband would be willing to eat. 

[Pen]

Regular food that doesn’t need cooking for getting through power outages etc.  Most years we have winter storm power outages. This year we had summer wind/wildfire outages.   And if I anticipate power outage I make a stew or similar before hand that can be used during the outage. (Most of our outages are in cold weather so things aren’t spoiling quickly.)  Then maybe we’d use canned soup or things like that which could heat with a camp stove or we got a wood stove a few years ago which has helped a lot.   For the summer outage we used up  fresh foods first, already defrosted meat that could not be cooked went to dog...then to pantry foods...

 

While packing for possible evacuation from wildfires it did occur to me that if I had to go in direction further rural (away from cities with stores) that more lightweight portable camping type food could be useful.    We do sometimes have backpacking type packaged foods, but it gets used and we didn’t happen to have any currently.

 

 For extreme emergency I have Datrex (Iirc brand name) emergency food ration bars.  (Sort of like an innocuous dense coconut oil rich cookie that doesn’t cause a lot of thirst.) But they have gluten and are not ideal for me (gluten free ) to be eating in circumstances that might require them.  Still, along with enough water they could preserve life till rescue in some circumstances.   They taste okay, but not good enough to get pilfered as snack food. 

 

[kiwik]

1 hour ago, regentrude said:

What scenario do you envision where you need specifically prepared rations that have a 5 year shelf life and cannot use "normal" food? 

We do have a stash of backpacking meals, since we backpack anyway. But unless I had to evacuate and carry everything on my back and eat on the go, I can't see any reason why I would need emergency rations rather than a pantry. In case of snow storm or power outage, it might be more effective to invest in an alternative cooking source, like a camping stove.

We are told to have 3 days supply of food and water outside the house in case of earthquake.

[katilac]

1 hour ago, Quill said:

Of course I could use “normal” food, and we do have alternative cooking sources; what I’m wanting is something organized as complete meals specifically for this purpose. I like the idea of having jars and sealed bags that make a fairly good meal with just hot water. 

I'm pretty confident that any food designed to last 25 years is going to be hella nasty. 

Source: have eaten MREs after hurricanes. 

[Corraleno]

1 hour ago, Æthelthryth the Stormy said:

You will be thrilled to know Quill, that Jim Bakker has an apocalypse food bucket. 

 

"Well, I guess I'd rather eat that than a relative..."  😂 😂😂

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, katilac said:

I'm pretty confident that any food designed to last 25 years is going to be hella nasty. 

Source: have eaten MREs after hurricanes. 

Yeah...as I looked at it more closely, the main 72-hr supply was (8) oatmeals, (4) mac and cheese and (4) creamy veg rice. I mean...I am positive I can do better than that. But I don’t expect it would last 25 years, but I don’t anticipate needing such a shelf life as that. 

[katilac]

3 minutes ago, Quill said:

Yeah...as I looked at it more closely, the main 72-hr supply was (8) oatmeals, (4) mac and cheese and (4) creamy veg rice. I mean...I am positive I can do better than that. But I don’t expect it would last 25 years, but I don’t anticipate needing such a shelf life as that. 

Of course, you could always buy it and taste test it for our amusement. 

[Arcadia]

13 minutes ago, kiwik said:

We are told to have 3 days supply of food and water outside the house in case of earthquake.

Same here for earthquakes but mine are kept indoors since I stay in a condo.

12 minutes ago, katilac said:

 

Source: have eaten MREs after hurricanes. 

My husband had MREs during military service and he rather eat uncooked instant noodles. Not a healthy choice but uncooked instant noodles can be eaten raw like chips and they have a long shelf life.

[Pen]

5 minutes ago, Quill said:

Yeah...as I looked at it more closely, the main 72-hr supply was (8) oatmeals, (4) mac and cheese and (4) creamy veg rice. I mean...I am positive I can do better than that. But I don’t expect it would last 25 years, but I don’t anticipate needing such a shelf life as that. 

 

We normally have some instant oatmeal packs and maybe a box of Mac and cheese anyway.  That would be “pantry” food. Instant add hot water type oatmeal got used a lot in our last winter outage.   It gets used and replaced, so 25 years not needed, or at least the desirable flavors get used  All the apple and cinnamon goes first, then maple, and eventually we get left with gluten free flax flavor 

[alisoncooks]

DH wants to invest in some of those emergency food kits. We do have a grill...dependent on propane. All our house is electric. We don't have storage (no pantry, no garage), so something like a kit that can be stacked in the back of a closet and ignored for a couple of years sounds attractive. 

Buying and storing normal food sounds great, but only if you have the space to cycle it (use/replace)...

[katilac]

20 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

"Well, I guess I'd rather eat that than a relative..."  😂 😂😂

And, "All you need in the apocalypse is a fully functioning oven" 😂

I have so many questions. Why does the food need to last for 25 years? Is it so you can buy a supply and then not think about it for 25 years, or is it so you can buy 25 years' worth? That's a lot of buckets to store.  

[Clemsondana]

I don't keep assembled kits, but we keep plenty food on hand that could be eaten without power.  We store tons of food in chest freezers, so if there was a long-term outage we'd be needing to eat through that if the weather was warm (we don't have a generator yet, but I could see us pooling resources with a neighbor who does).  We have a gas grill that we could cook on, and this is making me think that maybe we should keep an extra tank.  We also have a fire pit, so in a pinch we could use that and go all 'boy scout dutch oven cooking' if we had to.  I also keep canned soups, canned beans, tuna, lots of peanut butter, crackers, etc that would be fine to eat for a week if necessary, even if some wouldn't be particularly good cold.  If we wanted to heat water in a pot on the grill, we could also do ramen or mac and cheese quickly.  But, as long as we had gas for the grill we'd probably eat mostly normal food - maybe frozen prepackaged stuff because the freezer goods would need to be eaten but we wouldn't have to deal with raw meat if we were eating from our 'busy day' stash of frozen pizza or fried rice and egg rolls.  As a kid we had a long power outage in FL due to a hurricane (we were 2 hrs inland) and in WV we had one during a cold period when they hadn't built enough electrical infrastructure to supply the new houses that had been built.  In both cases, we snacked and breakfasted on packaged things like cereal bars, protein bars, pop tarts, etc, and then learned to appreciate the unique taste of grilled items-that-aren't-usually-grilled.  🙂  I remember oddball meals to finish off the fresh food, like grilled roast beef with grill-toasted buttered hot dog buns and fruit or carrot sticks.  In our experience, as long as you have water you're fine.  In one of those locations, loss of power also meant loss of water because it had to be pumped, and we struggled much more with the lack of water than the lack of power.  

[Carrie12345]

I have emergency food *ingredients that last 5-45 years, but I won’t go near the actual packaged meals. It would have to be zombie level survival for me to eat those. I’d rather take freeze dried ingredients and my own seasonings to make something I know I/we would be relatively happy with.
 

ETA: Those freeze dried ingredients are just back ups to fully stocked freezers and pantries.

Edited September 25, 2020 by Carrie12345

[katilac]

6 minutes ago, alisoncooks said:

DH wants to invest in some of those emergency food kits. We do have a grill...dependent on propane. All our house is electric. We don't have storage (no pantry, no garage), so something like a kit that can be stacked in the back of a closet and ignored for a couple of years sounds attractive. 

Buying and storing normal food sounds great, but only if you have the space to cycle it (use/replace)...

Why can't you just store it wherever you would store the apocalyptic food? Cycle it once or twice a year, like 4th of July and Christmas. 

Emergency food is nasty, I hate to see people spend good money on it, lol. Almost any kind of packaged food will do for a short-term emergency, and I don't think too many people are going to be cooking in a true long-term emergency. 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, katilac said:

And, "All you need in the apocalypse is a fully functioning oven" 😂

I have so many questions. Why does the food need to last for 25 years? Is it so you can buy a supply and then not think about it for 25 years, or is it so you can buy 25 years' worth? That's a lot of buckets to store.  

I was actually pondering that same thing - is the idea that you could hunker down for decades provided you have your other prepper items covered (source of heat, source of water, personal protection for ex.), or is it more like, “buy these buckets when you buy a fire extinguisher and a carbon monoxide alarm and then don’t worry about it for 20 years”? 

I wondered too. 

[Arcadia]

I saw this at Costco today and I rather buy cartoons of pasteurized milk (original, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry flavor) than eat any of the contents 

https://www.costco.com/chef’s-banquet-ark-2020-food-storage-kit-30-day-supply-in-black-or-white-bucket.product.100646521.html
 

“Each kit is packed with enough food to feed 1 person 2020 calories per day for 30 days. That’s a lot of food in one kit! 

 

• Black or White Bucket
• 1 PERSON
• 30 DAYS
• 2020 CALORIES PER DAY
• Food Storage Packaged for Long-term Shelf Life
• Great for everyday meals, camping, emergencies, starving students, disaster relief, etc
• 10 Delicious Varieties
• Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal
• Six Grain Rolled Cereal
• Spanish Rice
• Chicken Flavored Rice Orzo Pilaf
• Savory Black Beans & Rice
• Creamy Cheddar Cheese Grits
• Cinnamon Rice Pudding
• Old Fashioned Hearty Potato Soup
• Cheddar Broccoli Rice
• Creamy Mashed Potatoes
• Average Serving contains about 200 calories
• Net Weight 35 LBS 13.6 OZ (16.26KG)
• 8.5 Gallon rectangle pail with lid
• Dimensions: 12” x 12.5” x 18”
• *Up to a 25 Year Shelf Life”

[Corraleno]

1 hour ago, Quill said:

Also, look: apparently not the first time I have thought about this. And I became vaguely aware that I bought a book through Mother Earth News some years ago. And then forgot all about it. But here it is folks: Meals in a Jar.

 

I wouldn't even bother with these "meal in a jar" things, since you can buy pretty much the same stuff off the shelf. Why make your own mac-n-cheese kit when you can just buy a box of Kraft or Annie's? You can even get instant mac-n-cheese that just needs hot water. Why bother adding dried beans and chili powder to a mason jar when you can just buy canned chili? Cooking split pea soup from scratch is going to use a lot of propane, versus just buying a few cans or cartons of soup that take a minute or two to heat up. Just keep your pantry stocked with the foods you normally eat, including things like tuna, beef jerky, peanutbutter, jam, crackers, nuts, dried fruit, applesauce, granola, instant oatmeal, protein bars, etc. Keep a few cartons of UHT milk or nondairy milk in case you run out of fresh milk.

[Carrie12345]

10 minutes ago, Quill said:

I was actually pondering that same thing - is the idea that you could hunker down for decades provided you have your other prepper items covered (source of heat, source of water, personal protection for ex.), or is it more like, “buy these buckets when you buy a fire extinguisher and a carbon monoxide alarm and then don’t worry about it for 20 years”? 

I wondered too. 

I do not have decades of emergency food. 🙂. I do have kids who don’t always rotate properly or run down my pantry without saying anything, and sometimes even I lose track. My back ups are primarily for... let’s say there were an unanticipated lockdown (for any reason.) If my kids ran me out of or close to out of eggs that week, I know we still have the ability to make rubbery scrambled eggs.

I’ve probably told this story a million times, but a neighborhood in our region was put on lockdown for something like 48 hours due to a giant manhunt for a cop killer. People in that neighborhood were FREAKING that they couldn’t go out to get food.  I like knowing I have no reason to freak out for a good while.  Much less than decades though, lol.

[katilac]

9 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

 I’ve probably told this story a million times, but a neighborhood in our region was put on lockdown for something like 48 hours due to a giant manhunt for a cop killer. People in that neighborhood were FREAKING that they couldn’t go out tclo get food.   

I can't imagine not having enough food for 48 hours. People just have, like, no food in their house? 

Disclaimer: I am talking about people who can afford to buy food. 

[kiwik]

49 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

Same here for earthquakes but mine are kept indoors since I stay in a condo.

My husband had MREs during military service and he rather eat uncooked instant noodles. Not a healthy choice but uncooked instant noodles can be eaten raw like chips and they have a long shelf life.

Would be tricky to have it outside in a condo.  The problem was in the second Christchurch earthquake most people were at work and school and many of the houses were unsafe to enter or the only place safe was the garage. So they suggested garden sheds would be better an even if the fall down you should be able to safely access them.  I am slack though.  My kids are extremely fussy eaters and my food budget has never really stretched to buying expensive food to not eat.

[mommyoffive]

I sometimes am tempted,  it is the squirrel tendency in me.  No real good thought.  But we have a lot of pantry food that we could eat. soup, bars, vegetables, cereals....

The most common disaster here would be a tornado or flooding.  With one I don't think my pantry will do me any good.   But even before covid I feel more relaxed having stock of everything.   But I think even more so now

[Sherry in OH]

33 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

I saw this at Costco today and I rather buy cartoons of pasteurized milk (original, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry flavor) than eat any of the contents 

https://www.costco.com/chef’s-banquet-ark-2020-food-storage-kit-30-day-supply-in-black-or-white-bucket.product.100646521.html
 

“Each kit is packed with enough food to feed 1 person 2020 calories per day for 30 days. That’s a lot of food in one kit! 

 

• Black or White Bucket
• 1 PERSON
• 30 DAYS
• 2020 CALORIES PER DAY
• Food Storage Packaged for Long-term Shelf Life
• Great for everyday meals, camping, emergencies, starving students, disaster relief, etc
• 10 Delicious Varieties
• Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal
• Six Grain Rolled Cereal
• Spanish Rice
• Chicken Flavored Rice Orzo Pilaf
• Savory Black Beans & Rice
• Creamy Cheddar Cheese Grits
• Cinnamon Rice Pudding
• Old Fashioned Hearty Potato Soup
• Cheddar Broccoli Rice
• Creamy Mashed Potatoes
• Average Serving contains about 200 calories
• Net Weight 35 LBS 13.6 OZ (16.26KG)
• 8.5 Gallon rectangle pail with lid
• Dimensions: 12” x 12.5” x 18”
• *Up to a 25 Year Shelf Life”

All of these sound like foods you could get in the dry goods aisles of any grocery - Knorr and Lipton Instant Soups, Instant Mashed Potato, Rice Mixes, packets of instant grits and oatmeal.    Add in some shelf-stable proteins, fruits, and vegetables.  They wouldn't have a twenty-five year life-span but if you rotated every six months there would still be enough shelf-life left that you could donate the excess to your local food pantry.

 

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Corraleno said:

I wouldn't even bother with these "meal in a jar" things, since you can buy pretty much the same stuff off the shelf. Why make your own mac-n-cheese kit when you can just buy a box of Kraft or Annie's? You can even get instant mac-n-cheese that just needs hot water. Why bother adding dried beans and chili powder to a mason jar when you can just buy canned chili? Cooking split pea soup from scratch is going to use a lot of propane, versus just buying a few cans or cartons of soup that take a minute or two to heat up. Just keep your pantry stocked with the foods you normally eat, including things like tuna, beef jerky, peanutbutter, jam, crackers, nuts, dried fruit, applesauce, granola, instant oatmeal, protein bars, etc. Keep a few cartons of UHT milk or nondairy milk in case you run out of fresh milk.

Killjoy! 

😆

I think, that’s the problem for me, the “keep it stocked with...” part. Because if it’s just the “regular” food that’s normally in there, people are eating it up. Also, I (just myself) don’t normally eat meal-in-a-can/box things and dh rarely does. 

If it were a distinct thing, it wouldn’t get eaten up and I wouldn’t have to keep monitoring it. 

[Sherry in OH]

18 minutes ago, Quill said:

Killjoy! 

😆

I think, that’s the problem for me, the “keep it stocked with...” part. Because if it’s just the “regular” food that’s normally in there, people are eating it up. Also, I (just myself) don’t normally eat meal-in-a-can/box things and dh rarely does. 

If it were a distinct thing, it wouldn’t get eaten up and I wouldn’t have to keep monitoring it. 

Put the food in a lidded and labeled bucket or tote. Stash the container in the bottom of a closet or on a top shelf - somewhere memorable but not where others in your family routinely look for food.  Then when you change your clocks, in addition to checking smoke detector batteries, check your emergency food kit for items that will expire within the next six months.  Replace those items.  Put the pulled items in your food rotation or donate them.

[Carol in Cal.]

I have a chest freezer in the basement, and it's so nice and cool down there that a 3 day outage would not result in anything getting defrosted.  I know this for sure because our local utility shut down the power that long last fall for fear of wildfires, and I stored a Tupperware full of ice cubes in it to see whether they would deform at all--and they were as sharp as ever after that time.  Of course, I can't go in and out of it all the time and expect it to stay cold, so what I would do is quickly take out stuff for a couple of days on the first day, and use that gradually.

I also have a couple of good sized cabinets with packaged and canned foods.  I would say that we have enough food to eat for maybe a month, although we would be running short of veggies and even dried fruit after about 10 days.  I mostly use fresh produce but it occurs to me that I should probably lay in a couple of cases of canned corn and a really big sack or two of raisins and dried apricots.

We have a camp stove and white gas, a solar oven, and a fire ring outside with firewood, as well as a charcoal grill and charcoal.  In an emergency we would do our best not to use fuel without sharing it--for instance if we were going to burn charcoal for the barbeque we would cook stuff for our neighbors as well.  We do have a whole house generator and a double size propane tank, but I don't like to use that too much as it's expensive to run.  However, turning it on for an hour 2-3 times per day to run the fridge and freezer after the first 2-3 days would be something I would definitely do.  Additionally, I have candles, and I can find them and matches in the dark.  And we have a little propane heat stove that runs even when the power is out, so although it's not as good as a furnace, it is enough to be comfortable, even if it snows.

I've priced out power bricks but by the time you also buy the back up solar they are quite expensive.  I've still considered them on the premise that I could run my phone and computer off of them, which is crucial, and extend the time between generator runs that way, but they take a looooong time to recharge from a wall plug, so the solar back up seems like what makes them actually practical.  One thing I am sure I will get sometime is a backpacking solar electronics charger.  At least then I would have enough juice for the phone and maybe an Ipad, and I would use it for hiking also.  But that technology is moving forward so fast that I am postponing this purchase until I'm ready to try an overnight backpacking trip, probably next year.  

One thing I really wish I had is a crank flashlight.  I used to and then DH lost it, and they don't make them that simple anymore.  The ones on the market now all have little solar panels that don't work well,make them twice as big and heavy, and triple the price.  So annoying.

 

[Carol in Cal.]

Just now, Carol in Cal. said:

I have a chest freezer in the basement, and it's so nice and cool down there that a 3 day outage would not result in anything getting defrosted.  I know this for sure because our local utility shut down the power that long last fall for fear of wildfires, and I stored a Tupperware full of ice cubes in it to see whether they would deform at all--and they were as sharp as ever after that time.  Of course, I can't go in and out of it all the time and expect it to stay cold, so what I would do is quickly take out stuff for a couple of days on the first day, and use that gradually.

I also have a couple of good sized cabinets with packaged and canned foods.  I would say that we have enough food to eat for maybe a month, although we would be running short of veggies and even dried fruit after about 10 days.  I mostly use fresh produce but it occurs to me that I should probably lay in a couple of cases of canned corn and a really big sack or two of raisins and dried apricots.

We have a camp stove and white gas, a solar oven, and a fire ring outside with firewood, as well as a charcoal grill and charcoal.  In an emergency we would do our best not to use fuel without sharing it--for instance if we were going to burn charcoal for the barbeque we would cook stuff for our neighbors as well.  We do have a whole house generator and a double size propane tank, but I don't like to use that too much as it's expensive to run.  However, turning it on for an hour 2-3 times per day to run the fridge and freezer after the first 2-3 days would be something I would definitely do.  Additionally, I have candles, and I can find them and matches in the dark.  And we have a little propane heat stove that runs even when the power is out, so although it's not as good as a furnace, it is enough to be comfortable, even if it snows.

I've priced out power bricks but by the time you also buy the back up solar they are quite expensive.  I've still considered them on the premise that I could run my phone and computer off of them, which is crucial, and extend the time between generator runs that way, but they take a looooong time to recharge from a wall plug, so the solar back up seems like what makes them actually practical.  One thing I am sure I will get sometime is a backpacking solar electronics charger.  At least then I would have enough juice for the phone and maybe an Ipad, and I would use it for hiking also.  But that technology is moving forward so fast that I am postponing this purchase until I'm ready to try an overnight backpacking trip, probably next year.  

One thing I really wish I had is a crank flashlight.  I used to and then DH lost it, and they don't make them that simple anymore.  The ones on the market now all have little solar panels that don't work well,make them twice as big and heavy, and triple the price.  So annoying.

Really, where I *should* focus is water.  I just don't keep enough around.  I do have a Lifestraw so in theory I can filter stream water, but I should have some bottles around.

 

 

[Katy]

Start with giant bottles of water.  Water is more important than food.

There's no reason you can't use any pantry stable food.  Pop tarts, oatmeal, mac & cheese, canned anything, they even have shelf-stable TV dinners these days (though they have a ton of salt).  Look for shelf stable versions of things you eat all the time.  Add in a stash of chocolate because you need a treat when life is stressful.  You should have at least 3 days where no cooking is required, but after that plan on a grill or a solar oven or some sort of cooking.

If you want something healthier, look into homemade backpacking recipes and use a food saver.

Alternatively, get some food safe buckets from Home Depot, and get 100 pounds of rice, 50 pounds of beans, some freeze dried or canned veggies, and a couple huge containers of chicken bouillon and a bottle of oil.  It's an easy vegetable bean soup that will keep your belly full in the event of an emergency and it's very cheap.

There's also plenty of LDS families with YouTube channels who have put out content like this since the pandemic started.  Just search for "food storage" and there's so much information it could take you years to get through.

[J-rap]

I don't have emergency back-up food, but I do always have large bags of dried beans and rice, simply because we love them!  If electricity is out, we'd have enough leftovers and random food like bread and PB to easily get us through several days.

But, I definitely understand being prepared.  We used to live in a very rural area, and when we'd have blizzards, all highways to our town were closed, and there were times we when we couldn't leave our house for a long 2-3 day blizzard.  The most nerve-wracking part of that was that our heat was fuel oil (delivered to our home every month or so), and when it ran out, it was out.  Period.  

[CTVKath]

We have way too many food allergies and an extreme picky eater so none of those 25-year meal kits would work for us. Our biggest threat is an ice storm in the winter. For that I build about a 1-week stockpile in the fall that I keep in plastic boxes in the basement. In the spring, I donate it to the food bank. We have a gas stove/oven, a sealed wood fireplace that can't be used for cooking, and a propane camp stove. I'll buy some foods that take longer to prepare like rice and dried beans but also buy instant rice and canned goods in case we only have the camp stove available. I figure there's at least one week and possibly two weeks of food in my pantry and fridge/freezer. So having a 1-week supply rounds it out nicely.

I love thinking about prepping though. A couple of weeks ago, I bought a car windshield sunshade and made a solar oven then baked cookies in it. And I watched tons of YouTube videos about how to make and use solar ovens even in the winter with low light. The idea of it is a lot more fun than the implementation.

[Corraleno]

1 hour ago, Quill said:

I think, that’s the problem for me, the “keep it stocked with...” part. Because if it’s just the “regular” food that’s normally in there, people are eating it up. Also, I (just myself) don’t normally eat meal-in-a-can/box things and dh rarely does. 

If it were a distinct thing, it wouldn’t get eaten up and I wouldn’t have to keep monitoring it. 

Unless you normally shop several times a week, you almost certainly already have at least a week's worth of food on hand for situations like getting snowed in or flooding making the roads impassable or whatever. If you actually took an inventory of what you have, you probably have enough for 2-3 weeks if you eat the fresh food first, then frozen, then pantry. You may not normally eat canned food, but you don't normally eat the gross "prepper" stuff either, and at least normal canned or boxed food is going to taste a lot better. And some canned foods, like beans and tomatoes, are pretty common staples in most people's pantries and can form the base for lots of different meals by adding different herbs & spices (chili, curry, bean soup, bean salad, etc.). Some of the Pacific Foods soups in shelf-stable cartons are really good (I love the Roasted Red Pepper soup), and if you like Indian food, Tasty Bites has some decent food in foil pouches (Costco sells the Madras Lentils and sometimes also sells the brown rice & lentil packs).

Instead of buying a bunch of nasty tasting food that you will probably just end up throwing out when you move, I'd make a list of meals that you would willingly eat that use shelf-stable ingredients and then just keep a reasonable inventory of those. And I'd focus on having enough food for 2-3 days that do not require cooking in case the power is out (nuts, dried fruit, crackers, peanutbutter, granola, jerky, etc.).

Edited September 26, 2020 by Corraleno

[Lucy the Valiant]

We sometimes lose power for a long time, and have had some practice with using what we have available. My recommendation for people who are serious about this is to practice it yourself - prepare and then execute a 3-day "NO ELECTRICITY FOR FOOD PREP" situation. Take notes, and then use those notes for future reference. 

I grew up in a city and now live in a rural area, and that has been its own sort of education. 😉 

Best "prep" things: Camp stove + propane, a way to get clean water (we have a giant LifeStraw thingie in addition to some stored water), a way to get heat, a way to make GOOD COFFEE, and a sense of humor. (We actually have a "PLOP" list - Potential Loss Of Power - and when a storm is coming, the kids all know the drill, and we "activate the PLOP". I'm frugal and would FAR rather activate it unnecessarily than be caught inconvenienced later.

 

[slackermom]

I recently put together a separate "emergency pantry" in a bookcase I cleared for that purpose. Mostly it is overstock from shelf-stable stuff I usually buy, with a few extras thrown in. Stuff like crackers, pasta, noodle bowls, couscous, pancake mix, protein bars, peanut butter and jelly, jars of peaches and apple sauce, cans of corn, beans, tomato sauce, and tuna, beef jerky, cooked bacon, sports drinks, ginger ale, and a few pounds of Kit Kats hidden in a Mylar bag. Extra vitamins. Extra pet food. Etc.

My next step is to pull together something I feel comfortable leaving in the back of my van, just in case we get stuck somewhere on the road rather than at home. I usually keep an empty cooler there, which should stay. I want to add a couple days worth of no-prep food in a secure bin that won't attract pests and can handle temperature swings. And if we ever actually have to evacuate, I would load what I can from the emergency pantry into a plastic tub with a lid, and throw frig stuff into an insulated bag.

[Ottakee]

10 hours ago, katilac said:

Of course, you could always buy it and taste test it for our amusement. 

My friend, new to backpacking, accidently bought these instead of real backpacks bg food.   The Mac and cheese was NOT good at all.  She regrets the purchase as it was expensive and not tasty at all.

Much cheaper (and tastier) to buy mac and cheese cups, instant oatmeal packets and dried soup mixes at the grocery store and rotate them every 6-12 months 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

If I were going to do this, storage space would be a major issue for us.  I think the most effective and efficient thing I could do would be to go to a Costco and buy a giant box of Powerbars and another of some type of bar containing plenty of fiber.  Finally, some big jugs of water.  

But I haven't done this.  No Costco in Switzerland.  😄

[Carrie12345]

@Quill

Apparently there’s still a shortage on emergency foods. I was going to list the things I feel good about keeping, with prices, but all the out of stock and 3rd party sellers make it hard to show what they normally cost.

I keep hard white wheat because it’s basically one of the cheapest things, and we blow through flour at a pace I haven’t figured out how to keep steadily stocked. (Gone one day, tons sitting around another.). I never actually want to use it with our manual grinder, but it lasts something like 40 years1, so I can ask grandchildren to do it when it gets close to its date, lol.

Rolled oats are also cheap. My kids go through regularly packaged ones at whatever pace I buy them, even when it’s in disgusting quantities. They won’t open the bin, though, so that’s safe.

I don’t buy “Emergency” packaged sugar, because sugar basically lasts forever properly packaged at home. I don’t buy powdered milk because we tasted it and everyone decided we’d rather die. I don’t buy the giant tubs of beans because dry beans pretty much last forever, though may take longer to cook. I *do have a can of black bean burger mix because I still tend to forget about my pescatarian.  Freeze dried real meat is insanely expensive, so I’ve kept to the freezers, cans, and was supposed to start canning (but haven’t.) Regular shelf white rice makes more sense than emergency packaged, but brown rice turns faster, so I’ve got one of those.

Stuff I consider worthy but not entirely necessary include pancake mix and bread or muffin mix, since they’re not extremely expensive. Also peanut butter powder, though I don’t like that it’s sweetened. We use peanut butter without added sugar, but go through it like crazy and it tends to be more expensive. If I put cheap sweetened pb in the pantry as an emergency option, my kids will eat it (and have) just because.

And then also eggs (rather expensive), a few fruits and vegetables (some more expensive than others,) and shortening and butter. We don’t go through most oils fast enough to keep an extra bottle on hand.

What we keep would round out whatever is in our pantry and freezers. In a zombie apocalypse, it’d get boring but still useful. Mostly it’s peace of mind because I live with 3 teenagers and a kid who thinks he’s a teenager (and all of them cook) so, even though we are well-stocked, I can never 100% guarantee they haven’t raided any specific stashes.

 

[Carrie12345]

11 hours ago, katilac said:

I can't imagine not having enough food for 48 hours. People just have, like, no food in their house? 

Disclaimer: I am talking about people who can afford to buy food. 

My theory is that at least some of them were panicking because there was no way to know how long it would last, or were freaking over the whole “freedom” thing.  But, yeah, some were posting on FB about having nothing to feed their kids.  I couldn’t see in their houses to know what “nothing” meant to them. Actual nothing, or the “nothing” my kids see when they open the fridge and don’t find their favorite grab and go foods?

The comments sections were pretty active on that, but I can’t say I remember any real answers.

We holed up for a bit, because there was no telling where he’d be.  It turned out he wasn’t even in that neighborhood (though I think he had passed through at some point.)

[Guest]

Okay, I will say I have abandoned any notion of buying the kits. But, I am going to experiment with making some kits of my own. I’m going to pick 3-6 recipes, make sets of them and then try them in a dry run. I like what @Lucy the Valiant said about the PLOP list. 

I may also try making some soup or stew and canning it; then trying it a bit later to see if yes, I really would eat and enjoy this. 

I typically don’t have food that is literally everything you need in a can or packet. When we have power outages now, we’re always puzzling through what to cook entirely on the grill or camp stove and that usually turns out to be something like: hot dogs, canned green beans and maybe some applesauce if we have some. 

Usually, in a loss of power, our biggest immediate issues are: we can’t run the water or flush the toilets (unless I prepared water buckets on a pending storm), we don’t have a source for drinking water other than whatever bottled waters we may possibly have left over from a trip to our beach house. Also, if power is out due to ice/winter storm, we have to use our fireplace for heat...or, I should say “heat”, as in, warm enough we don’t freeze to death, but certainly not comfortably warm. And we all have to camp in the family room to be near the fire. 

We do have a supplemental generator, but we can’t run it continuously, and we use it mainly to spare our freezers and fridge.