Nothing calms you down in a survival situation like being able to eat. SHTF situations really put everything into perspective that way.

Make sure you always have the option to eat by following the essential tips in the article below.

1. High quality foods
When choosing foods that you won’t be consuming right away, it is important to use so called ‘high quality’ foods. This will help assure that your preservation method coupled with long term storage will result in a more nutritious and tasty meal later on.
2. Good variety of foods
Variety is the spice of life. And that includes the foods you eat. As you fill your deep pantry, be consciously aware to procure a variety of foods.
3. Store foods in the coolest place
Higher temperatures will drastically reduce the food’s shelf life!
Store food in the basement. However be very aware that excessive moisture will work its way into many types of packaging and eventually affect the food.
4. Rotate your foods
When your shelves are deep enough to store multiple rows of food items, place the newest items in the back while moving the older items to the front. This will assure that what you take from the front is the oldest – which should be consumed first.
5. Be aware of potential issues if storing lots of wheat
It’s a good idea to actually process and consume some of that wheat on a regular basis (e.g. make your own bread) so if SHTF your body won’t be in ‘shock’ while suddenly consuming other foods. This will also let you know if you or anyone in your household has an issue with wheat.
6. Beware of appetite fatigue
Can you imagine eating just rice and beans over and over and over again?
7. Store what you eat and eat what you store
A serious goal should be to really begin to eat as much as you can from the foods that you store. This will enable excellent food rotation and minimal waste.
8. The importance of cooking oil
Cooking oil is a very important item to have in your storage. It is hard to cook without, and it adds calories and flavor to your meals.
Be cautious of how your store cooking oil. Keep it in a cool and dark (dark is important) place (maybe in a box, sitting on the cool basement floor).
9. Spice it up
I cannot overemphasize how happy you will be if you’ve stored ahead lots of spices.
10. Beans with rice, wheat, or corn
The combination of ‘rice and beans’ makes a ‘complete protein’.
The consumption of the two together provides all the essential amino acids and it is no wonder that this combination is a staple of many diets throughout the world.

If you are going to follow any of these tips, apart from the tips on the quantity of food, make sure you can give yourself variety. When you get tired of your food, your body starts to crave it less and less, meaning that eventually your appetite will disappear altogether, and you will begin to grow weak.

A lot of survival is knowing how to combat issues of psychology like that. Spices, oils, and abundance of food types will go a long way to making sure that doesn't happen. After all, if you eat nothing but plain rice and beans every day for months, starvation starts to look pretty good.

These are some great tips on SHTF survival that everyone should take note of. If you want to read more on stockpiling go to Modern Survival Blog.