Emergency Food Preparedness
Top Tips for Starting an Emergency Food Stockpile
- Think long life, non-perishable food
- Add one or two items a week, if you don’t want to bust your budget (or give yourself a hernia carrying stuff home)
- Take advantage of multi buy offers like ‘buy one, get one free’
- Switch to own-brands and value range items to keep costs down
- If kitchen space is tight, keep a few cans under the bed or at the bottom of your wardrobe
- Rotate stocks to stop food going off, pulling items with the shortest dates to the front
- When you use something from the stockpile, replace it next time you go shopping
- Think about storage, for example keeping flour in a tightly sealed container
- Set aside space in your freezer. I try to keep some essentials handy, like a sliced loaf, frozen peas, frozen meat and fish, butter and ever-faithful fish fingers
- Choose items your family will actually eat. No point stashing lentils or quinoa if your nearest and dearest won’t touch them
- Even without an emergency, these supplies could all come in handy for a self-catering holiday or last minute camping trip.
Essential Items for an Emergency Food Stockpile
- Porridge oats
- Boxed milk
- Cereal
- Powdered milk or long life milk
- Long life fruit juice
- Tea
- Coffee
- Rice
- Pasta
- Flour
- Sugar
- Yeast
- Baking powder
- Honey
- Peanut butter
- Tinned beans, like baked beans or kidney beans
- Chickpeas
- Lentils
- Tinned tomatoes
- Tinned fish like tuna, salmon and sardines
- Tinned meat or a jar of frankfurters
- Tinned potatoes, if you can face them, or Smash
- Tinned fruit, like peaches, grapefruit, pears or pineapple
- Dried fruit like raisins or apricots
- Curry paste
- Pesto
- Tomato puree
- Stock cubes
- Spices and flavors like chili powder and soy sauce
- Cooking oil
- Salt and pepper
Nonfood Items
- Spare tin opener
- Batteries
- Pet supplies like pet food and cat litter
- Spare medicine
- Toothpaste
- Soap
- Toiletries like shampoo, conditioner, deodorant (maybe those hotel miniatures would come in handy)