Most who are not prepared have a rudimentary list of food supplies that will keep you fed for a few days, but is not targeted for nutritional or long-term storage value.

Making sure your food storage cache meets nutritional and taste needs as well as possesses longevity is vital to you making it through whatever you are facing healthy and well fed!

Wheat

This is the backbone of your survival diet. Wheat is nature’s longest storing seed, with an indefinite shelf life given proper storage conditions. The wheat (and other grains) can also be sprouted, adding fresh greens to the diet even in winter.

Rice

Rice is my favorite storage foods and I actually prefer rice over wheat for storage, but that’s a personal decision, and well I like rice and rice dishes. White rice stores better and has a longer shelf-life than brown rice; however brown rice has more nutritional value. Despite the trade-off in storage duration, I still prefer brown rice for storage because of the added nutritional value.

Beans

Beans, corn and rice combined make a complete food, providing just about everything you need to survive. Add some fresh green sprouts or garden produce and extra vitamin C just to be sure you’re getting enough to avoid scurvy, and you’ll be well fed and healthy.

I like to store a combination of pinto beans, black beans, and mung beans. How much you store of each will depend on your personal preferences to taste.

Oats

Don’t go overboard when storing oats, about 20 pounds per adult per year is plenty. Oats have a storage life of approximately four to six years, depending on storage conditions and whether or not they have been opened after being packaged for long term storage.

Corn

Corn equals cornmeal, cornbread, cornmeal mush, corn cakes, and a huge list of other foods that you can prepare using the seed. I store whole corn because it stores much better and with at least double the shelf-like of cracked corn.

Salt

While not a food but a mineral, salt, is none the less essential to the diet and individual health. Salt is also used in the preservation of food and animal products. Salt, like wheat, has an indefinite shelf life. Store at least 10 pounds of iodized salt per person, per year.

Honey or Sugar

As a sweetener honey makes an unequaled contribution to the diet. Honey, like wheat and salt, has an indefinite self-life. Store at least 10 pounds per person. If the honey hardens and crystallizes, heat it slowly in a double boiler to reconstitute.

Cooking Oil

There is some controversy as to which is best for storage in the preppers pantry, vegetable oil or olive oil, while both will work fine and you should stock up on the one that you like best. I recommend putting away, 10 quarts, per person, per year.

Powdered Milk

Most people turn their nose at the thought of powdered milk. Granted it does have a slightly different taste and after a week or two it seems to “grow” on you. Studies have shown that nonfat powdered milk, when packaged and stored properly has a storage life of 20 years or more.

Supermarket Canned Foods

Canned foods from the supermarket have many advantages when it comes to food storage, they have a decent shelf-life on average of 2-5 years for most products.

Store bought canned foods have several advantages over freeze-dried or dehydrated foods, including cost and calories contained per serving. Another advantage is that canned foods already have their own water supply for preparation, so there is no need to use any potable water from your storage.

Despite the advantages of canned foods over freeze-dried and dehydrated foods, canned goods do have some disadvantages in comparison, like, weight, space needed for storage, and shelf-life.

Other Foods

After you get the basic foods listed above in the needed proportions (see below), it is a simple matter to add other foods as you get the extra money.

Canned meats: We all know that SPAM is the preppers go to for a cheap “meat” source that has a longer than average shelf-life, and fat content. Canned hams, tuna, salmon, chicken, and turkey are all welcome additions in my pantry shelf – stock-up on the meats that your family normally eat and date and rotate just as you would any other canned food.

White flour: White flour from the store has a much longer shelf-life than does whole wheat flour because it has been “processed” which removes the oily germ, but unfortunately this “processing also removes the nutrition.

Processed white flour has a shelf-life of over five years if kept dry and safe from pests (like the meal moth). Mill moths get into the flour, lay eggs and those eggs turn into flour weevils, which ruin the flour. Look for tiny dark specks in the flour, as this is the first sign that the flour has been infested.

Peanut butter: Peanut butter is a good source of fat and calories and has a decent shelf-life. Peanut butter is also an energy food and one that I always take on hunting and camping trips. Unopened peanut butter will last for years.

Spices: Be sure to include a good selection on spices in your food storage. Spices can make even the most awkward foods palatable, and help to alleviate food boredom. Cinnamon, Turmeric, Paprika, Ginger, Oregano, and Garlic are my favorites and make up the bulk of the spices in my pantry.

Baking powder, baking soda, and yeast: Baking powder, baking soda, and yeast (keep yeast frozen to extend shelf-life) are also essential since you’re storing and baking using unprocessed grains.

Dried pasta: Dried pasta will keep indefinitely if kept dry in bug and rodent proof containers.

Comfort Foods:
Storing a sufficient amount of “comfort foods” is very important, to your psychological well-being as well as to alleviate “food-boredom” that is sure to set in after eating only storage foods for several months.

Consider comfort foods such as – Jell-O, instant pudding mix, cake mix, hard candies, chewing gum, Spaghettios, mac and cheese, brownie mix, canned spaghetti and meatballs, mashed potatoes, popcorn, cocoa, tea, coffee, powdered juice mixes, sunflower seeds etc. And remember to date and rotate on a FIFO basis.

A Sample Three Month Food Storage List for One Adult
• Wheat 75 Pounds
• Grains, rice, oats etc. 25 Pounds
• Canned meats 5 Pounds
• Canned margarine, powdered eggs etc. 2 Pounds
• Dried beans, peas, lentils, etc., 6 Pounds
• Dried fruit juice and concentrates 6 Pounds
• Dried fruits or canned 25 Pound (if dried, then equal to this fresh weight
• Comfort foods 3 Pounds
• Non-fat dried milk 25 pounds
• Peanut butter or substitute protein/fat source 3 pounds
• Dried potatoes 12 pounds (equal to this fresh weight)
• Salt 2 pounds
• Shortening oils 3 quarts
• Sugar or honey 12 pounds
• Canned or dried vegetables 9 pounds (if dried, then equal to this fresh weight)

I conducted an impromptu survey of family and friends and what foods they had stored – either for survival or their normal consumption.

Just about everything on this list was covered, by every person – the question in a survival situation was quantity.

But by making sure you hit sales and stock up when you can, you can make sure you have the right food when you need it and enough of it to make it through!

For more information on adequate, appropriate and proper food selection and storage for a survival situation, please check out The Survivalist's Blog.

Featured Image via The Survivalist's Blog