If you are ready to start stocking up so you are prepared for an emergency, you probably have a lot of questions. What do you need? Keep in mind that you may or may not have power, so hopefully you will prepare yourself with sources for cooking and cleaning too. That being said, it doesn’t hurt to have some food that can be prepared and eaten cold, such as freeze-dried and dehydrated options. This will help save some of your resources.
Baking
Many people overlook raw materials when they start building their storage buckets, but staple items, such as sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder and oil can be huge assets. You may want to pick up mixes for pancakes, muffins, etc., when you catch them on sale as well.
Golden wheat, red winter wheat and other grains can be bought in bulk. You may also want to consider buying a hand mill and stocking up on raw grains rather than flour. This way you can mill it as you need it. This is cheaper too.
Food
It never hurts to buy bulk canned goods, ramen noodles, crackers and other items that you buy already. When something is on sale, buy two and put one in storage. However, although these items usually have a fairly long shelf life, you will still need to rotate and keep an eye on them. At some point, they will need to be eaten and replaced.
When you are stocking up on long-term survival foods, you will utilize food storage buckets to hold items, such as nitrogen packed legumes, grains, freeze-dried and vacuum-packed foods and MRE’s. These Meal, Ready-to-Eat often have up to a 10-year shelf life. Make a goal to buy a few every month to add. They are convenient, nutritious, quick and easy to prepare, but they are a bit costly. It’s definitely worth it to splurge to have a few stocked up.
Don’t Forget Dessert
Just because you are under emergency does not mean that you can’t have dessert. Besides, dessert always makes things seem not so grim. Surprisingly, you can actually buy MRE desserts that include brownies, pound cake and more. Hand candy is easy-to-store and you can never have enough of. If you have a sweet tooth, sometimes just a Werther’s Original is satisfying all on its own.
Supplement
Since it is unlikely that you will be gathering fruits and vegetables from your garden (unless you are really lucky), you should include supplements and even probiotics in your storage kit. Just make sure they are whole food vitamins or natural products; it is proven that artificial strands can do more harm than good, and some aren’t even digested.