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)