Week 1 of 52: Short Term Emergency Food Supply (List 1)
FEMA suggests that each family have a 2 week supply of food and water for their home. Starting a food supply does not have to be a budget breaker. By slowly accumulating emergency supplies, you will not feel the financial “burn” compared to having to pay for everything up front. Therefore, keeping in mind what type of emergencies that you are planning for, if there are any family members with medical needs, how long you want your food supply to last, and so on, will help you make the best choice for your family.
Taking time to read the nutritional information on the back of the food source and knowing other considerations, will help a person make the best choices for their needs. If a person needs to use their stashed food supply, having foods high in vitamins, nutrients, and proteins will provide their body with what it needs for needed energy and mental clarity.
Preps to buy:
- 1 gallon of water per day for each family member (But enough for 2 weeks and remember that having more water stored up is better than being short on your supply)
- 2 jars of peanut butter
- 2 cans of juice per family member
- 2 cans of meat per family member
- 2 cans of soup or stew for each family member
- 3 non perishable items such as saltine crackers, graham crackers, etc.
- 1 hand operated can opener
- Permanent marker
- Additional supplies for infants or elderly – 2 weeks worth (diapers, wipes, children’s medication, formula, protein/calorie drinks, prescription medications, extra pair of glasses)
For those who have pets:
1 large container of dry food – This amount should last 2 weeks or longer
Action Items:
- Date perishable goods with a marker
- If possible, set aside $20 to use for emergencies
- Make a disaster plan and decide what types of disasters you are planning for (weather related, natural disasters, economic or personal disasters)
- Decide upon an out-of-area contact who can coordinate information with friends and family members.
- Once the out-of-area contact has been decided, email or call the newly designated emergency contact and provide phone numbers and names of family members for them to call.
Author: Tess Pennington
Web Site: http://www.ReadyNutrition.com/
Date: April 6th, 2011
I absolutely love this… My family is prepared for much more than two weeks, but this is a FABULOUS start for anyone. I’ll be sharing this all over the place…Â
Thanks!
OMG! I love this! Trying to get “just started preppers” on board is hard. They imagine spending $6000 that they don’t have at Costco. This makes it so easy to explain the process of gradually building your supply. It also makes the process seem do-able. Thank you!!
This is great. But when I went shopping, I wondered what is a can of meat (a little can of tuna), or a can of juice (the big Costco size). A little more explanation would help.
I really, really appreciate the work you have done on this. I especially love that so many of your tips are arranged as lists. That makes carrying out the prep easier to do — even easier to read. Thank you again.
Thanks Bonnie,
I appreciate the positive feedback. If you haven’t noticed, I love lists. I know that a lot of you are exactly like myself: busy in their personal lives, home lives and professional lives… and lists seem to be the most efficient way of putting things in order and getting the work accomplished.
Take care and thank you again for your encouraging comment.
Tess
Thank you very much for all the information that you have put together. Â Your lists are very good. Â They have made the planning so much easier. Â Great job! Â Thanks again.Â
@ Chris,
Thanks so much, I really appreciate the feedback.
Tess
I also love the lists. I copied and printed out for a friend of mine. I have been talking to them about getting started. This will help them picture where we are gong.
Thank you.
One of the replies hit on something had to think through. What size can of meat?
I was buying the # 10 cans of everything because they were cheaper. Well after thinking it through that the canned food was what was going to be eaten after the food in the fridg. / freezer was ate which was kept cold with a generator. I realized that # 10 cans were too big for my wife and I to eat before it spoiled. So I started to buy the smaller cans which cost more but would serve us better.
Just starting your lists, found you through http://www.survivalblog.com/
I do have at least a year of supplies put back, but you’re lists may help me not miss something. Thanks
I have been reading about dehydrating frozen vegestables…is it possible to dehydrate canned vegestables? maby to use for soups etc.   Would you consider have a week talking about food dehydration? I just printed off
all the weeks you have listed to put in a binder to keep..
Thank you so much for this information  Â
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Canned food is not a good choice to dehydrate. It is already cooked and processed. dehydrating it and then using those vegetables in further cooking would suck the life and nutrition out of them. Plus, most canned veggies have added salt. this added salt interferes with the rehydration process when you go to use your dehydrated veggies. Frozen veggies are already blanched and full of nutrition and unprocessed for the most part. They dehydrate at 125 degrees for about 8 hours in your food dehydrator. You would just cut open your 1 lb bag of frozen veggies, put them on the trays, and you dehydrate them easily. Hope this helps
This is a good idea. One thing I found several years ago at Salvation Army was one of the old Swing Away wall mount can openers. It was barely used. It has been invaluable in my house. It always works and no more of those handhelds for me unless we’re camping! It was the best $.99 I’ve spent!
In addition on the action items : prepare own or family pictures(each 2, plastic coated). and decide the meeting place when emergency. the pictures will be used for when you couldn’t meet them. write down next meeting place on the back of the picture.
I love your lists and the advice you have given for us all to read and learn from. I have been a survivalist for many years and have trained my children as they were growing up how to deal with being in the woods. But now at my old age I would have to stay and protect my home, so the putting back for that “rainy day” has always been on going.
But your never to old to learn something new as they say and keep up the great work!
i see alot of talk about rotating stocks to keep them fresh.. i see this as extra work, especially when you deal with large amounts of supplies for a large group. i skip this and just eliminate stock that is very old or stale…i look at food storage as insurance…if pay auto insurance for a year and don’t use it..that’s a good thing…old canned meat can go to the dogs and veggies can go in the compost pile..they serve their purpose by being there if and when i need them, like insurance does…this way i can spend more time refining my prepping strategies…just found your site..so far so good
If you don’t usually drink juice, don’t count on it! My son had to have an opperation due to MD. The Nutritionist at the hospital insisted that children drink juice. He got Diarhirra as a result of drinking juice, which he was not used to. He was almost sent home to wait for another date until I explained to the drs that I didnot give him juice, but REAL fruit, not the result of what was left after squeezing, filtering, dehydrating and rehydrating of fruit. When they let him eat what he was used to, he was fine and recieved his opperation.
Is this list per day? I get the two jars of PB but only two cans of tuna and two cans of soup per person for two weeks obviously isn’t enough. Did I miss something? Thanks in advance for clearing up my confusion. Â
Hi Kim,
These lists are weekly suggestions of how you can ready in 52 weeks.
You mean, you should be buying this list each week for the next 52 weeks? That doesn’t make sense. That would leave you with 104 jars of peanut butter per person, 52 can openers, etc. It starts off right – 1 gallon per person per day for 14 days. The rest should continue with that – 1 oz. (or whatever) of peanut butter per person per day for 14 days, etc. Anyway, that’s how I think about food: how much per person per day, and I come up with 1 gallon of water, 2 cans of meat (e.g., tuna), 2 cans of veggies, 1 oz. of PB, etc. Even better, think of it in terms of how many calories per person per day. Malnutrition takes a while, so any mix of food to get to the right number of calories should carry you for a while.Â
If you mix a ratio of 1/3 Karo Syrup with 2/3 Peanut Butter, it makes a nice tasting meal/snack that is loaded with energy from the syrup and protein from the Peanut Butter. It goes well on crackers as well. Both of these items have a long shelf life and they don’t take up a lot of room in the storage pantry.
As to water, remember you have 20 gallons of water in your water heater that can be gotten out through the bottom spigot
I dislike telling you this but Saltine Crackers and Graham Crackers are perishable items. They will last about 12-18 months, yes, but nibble on one before you eat it. the reason, the chemical preservatives breakdown and make the crackers really poor tasting. Proven by experience. Use them up once they get six months past expire y.
has anyone ever heard of using inexpensive calf milk replacer in place of powdered milk in your survival kit?