The cornerstone of any preparation for a disruption of services is food and water. Being prepared for emergencies is often painted in a negative light by popular culture and the media; however, the U.S. government’s Department of Homeland Security recommends every citizen maintains at least three days of food and water on hand. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been tracking food security in the U.S. through surveys for years and estimates the average household in the U.S. has less than three days of food on hand. Each year, various regions in the U.S. are hit with disruptions of services lasting between two to five days that include food shortages, generally due to hoarding. From governmental suggestions to realities of temporary disruptions, it is clear the first step to being prepared is having a short-term emergency food supply and water.

How to Build an Emergency Food Supply

Preparing Food and Water for Short-Term Disruptions

The yearly chances of being hit with a localized disaster (usually featuring a loss of power) lasting between one to seven days in the U.S. is around 5%. Causes can run the gamut from storms, aging infrastructure, economic issues, local infections, or civil unrest. As we leave this first level of less than a week disruption, the next level is a week to a month. Such disruptions lasting seven to 31 days have similar causes but are generally wider ranging. As such, generally small portions of the U.S. experience such disruptions each year.  Disruptions lasting more than a month have not happened within the U.S. in recent history but are not impossible. These disasters would generally include mass events such as war, nationwide civil unrest, solar storms, and a laundry list of other unlikely, but not impossible, events.

Food and water security starts with a few simple steps to ensure you do not have to scramble when a disaster strikes. At the simplest level, it involves making sure there is always at least three days of food and water available in your regular supplies. Expanding this to include a few weeks to a month just takes slowly building up your supplies of dried and canned foods. Storing enough water may require a little more thought and space, but there are several relatively cheap products available, allowing you to stockpile water supplies as well.

Taking the Plunge: Preparing for Month(s) Long Disruptions

Storing more than a month of food involves more planning, storage space, and resources. This can be done through stockpiling more dried and can foods but starts to get more and more expensive. A few years ago, I decided to take the plunge and purchase (over a series of months) a six-month supply of food for my household. At the time I was focused on shelf-life, calories (~2,000 a day), and cost. After comparing cost to calorie counts, I made my choice and purchased six months of dried foods. I selected multiple meal packs from Ready Hour. I also figured out the amount of water the six months of food would require for reconstituting and cooking and stockpiled those supplies separate from my other water supplies.

Thus, my overall food and water plan included a well-stocked everyday pantry that had approximately 30 days of food. This overall plan also included how to quickly store needed water for the same period. Beyond a month, I have another six months of emergency rations, and the water needed those supplies. Content that I had a decent food and water plan for all but world ending events, I went about focusing on other areas of preparation.

A Simple Phrase Changes My Perspective

I am honestly not sure where I heard it first, but I have run across the phrase in multiple places within the preparation space: “Not just survive but thrive.” I honestly believe the first goal of preparing is to survive. However, at a certain level of preparedness I think it is natural to start thinking in terms of not just surviving a disaster but being able to thrive. The first time I really applied this concept was while preparing charity bags (generally cheap three days of supplies to offer to people to avoid conflicts in a disaster). I distinctly remember going to the grocery store and picking out the very cheapest products for these bags. 

As I was about halfway through, I remembered there was a decent chance these bags would just be used to augment my own supplies (I live in a remote rural area).  I then asked myself would I “want” to eat any of the items I was picking up? The answer was “it depends.” If it was a question of survival then absolutely, but if it was a thriving question, then the answer was “no.” I immediately put back all the cheap items and went back and bought the items I would want to eat regardless of the situation. The result is my charity bags cost about twice as much but are filled with additional foods I would be glad to eat. 

A Return to My Emergency Food Supplies

Based on the idea of thriving not just surviving. I decided to taste test not only the supplies I had already invested in, but many of the available options for long-term emergency food stores. I also started augmenting these supplies with more ‘high-end’ grocery store canned and dried foods. The results of my comparisons are in the following table. For each item I looked at calories for a standard purchase, price (based on 2024 prices), what that price ended up being per calorie, and how much a day of food (2,000 calories) cost. Finally, we did semi-blind taste tests on a 5-star scale. 

One star represented food that was only good for calories. Two stars represented some major issues with taste but better than one star. Three stars was average taste and consistency with a few minor issues. Basically, in a non-disaster we would not buy it again but would be happy to have it in a disaster. Four stars represented food we would be glad to eat even outside of a disaster, and five stars would be food we would gladly serve regularly. These ratings were averaged across three raters, and no one gave a one star to any of the options, though only a couple of fives were awarded. It should be noted we did not try everything across brands but tested similar dinner meals across brands. Taste is subjective, but we generally agreed with the cause of lower ratings (bland taste or a cardboard-like consistency).

Meals Ready to Eat

Current MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) and canned foods are included in the table for reference. I was actually very happy to see the brand I had chosen due to cost was also well liked by all three raters. Though the taste ratings are subjective, the cost per calorie comparisons are objective and a great way to balance what you are spending.  A lot of brands advertise serving sizes (often with very low-calorie counts) or days’ worth (often based on survival (under 2000 calories). Figuring out the total calories you are buying will give you a much better idea of what you are preparing for. 

A few notes on the options presented. All but the MRE and canned foods need water to prepare, and thus having extra water set aside for your long-term food is a must. Also, several of the options require additional cooking supplies (pots and pans) to cook the food. This means that washing up afterward (and the water needed) needs to be accounted for as well. Thus, some of the more expensive per calorie options also have the advantage of being able to prepare the food with just boiled water and the bag containing the dried food.

Conclusion

Stockpiling food can be a slow and low-cost process, but like all preparations, the longer time period you are prepared for the more time, resources, and storage you need. Start small and make sure you have a week or more of food and water first. Then work on developing a full month of supplies. If you decide to continue to be ready for longer events, start thinking about emergency food stocks. Finally, throughout the process, make sure to think about making sure you would want to eat the food you have stockpiled. In other words, are you ready to thrive in a disaster or just survive?