Nutrition is going to be one of the most important items to have available after every SHTF event or big natural disaster. You’re not going to be able to rely on what’s in the shops – panic buying or theft would probably have wiped them all out unless they were first guarded by police or the military. The products in them are not going to be available to you anyway. It will take time before you can grow your own, as well, unless you already have a working smallholding. When you want to get through the initial months after the event you’ll need large food stocks to hand over – preferably enough for at least a year, but just two or three months worth will buy you time to become self-sufficient.
The food you store needs to be sufficiently nutritious to keep you alive, and have enough caloric value to work hard for long days without feeling exhausted – surviving is not a simple job. It also needs to have enough variety to not become monotonous, so it will help to keep the morale up in difficult conditions by stocking up on a few favorites.
Alas, you can’t just store something you like. When you don’t have your own generator fuel, it’s not going to be reliable, and you can’t rely on something you need to keep frozen or cooled. That leaves out most ready-made conventional meals. Tinned food is a great option – for years, all of it can be kept safely at room temperature – but certain tinned products can also deteriorate. That’s also an expensive way to create a buffer, so the practical choice for most people is to store some staples – mainly carbohydrates – and use foraged or grown products to supplement them.
Most bulk foods such as pasta, beans, or dry white rice can almost be stored indefinitely. Some don’t; they ‘re going to go rusty or rancid over time, and they can attract pests too. Here’s an introduction to the key products that you either CAN’T store with much care, or can do so.
10 Baked Goods
Baked goods can not be stored without freezing for more than a few days, so it’s tempting to store enough flour for a few years to allow you to bake your own. Unfortunately, that’s not a smart idea. Flour can be stored for some time but as a long-term alternative it is not viable. Wheat flour can last just about eight months before getting badly deteriorated. Refined flour does a little better but it can only be kept for around two years, even then.
Infestation of psocids, or booklice, which are small black or brown insects is the big problem with flour. Once the flour has been opened it will attract these pests easily, and they will spread rapidly once they get in. Please store flour in sealed airtight containers to prevent them, and ensure it is completely dry. Flour typically comes in packets of paper, and psocids are well known for being able to get through paper. When you want to store the supply of flour for a few months, then seal the bags inside the plastic ones – if you can vacuum them even better – then store them in a plastic bin with a tight lid. Keep the area around the store clean, and immediately sweep any spilled flour (don’t mop it) to prevent psocid attraction. Never mix old and new flour.
If you can’t rely on the SHTF to provide more than two years of flour supply, so why not store grain instead? It is covered by its natural husks, so it is much more insect resistant. Nevertheless, mice and rats may be a problem, so pack wheat or barley in plastic bags again, and place them in a bin. Rats will chew through plastic – consider a thoroughly cleaned steel trash can.
Another choice is buying flour and baking it into a hard tack. You’ll find plenty of recipes for this popular seafaring and military cuisine. Making-just flour, water and a pinch of salt-is incredibly simple, and if you keep it dry, it will last for years.
Related: How to Make Hardtack Biscuits With Over 100 Year Shelf Life
9 Canned Bread
There’s a popular recent trend for baking home-canned bread and cakes. These are simple to make; you generally pour batter into Mason jars, bake in the oven, then seal the jar and cool it down. That produces a partial vacuum inside the pot, preserving the contents for a time. Canned baked goods, particularly cakes, are often provided as gifts for Christmas or birthdays and this is not usually an issue. A number of people, however, often say they can be stored for up to a year; some assert that they can be stored forever.
It might sound enticing but that’s a terrible idea. The issue is with Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium. This organism develops from hard spores that are found nearly everywhere but only grow under certain conditions. It thrives in warm, nutrient-rich conditions with little to no oxygen – and the baking and canning cycle inevitably produces an atmosphere that is just about ideal for it. As the bacteria grow they produce a toxin, commonly known as botox, that can be lethal when it contaminates food.
There is no safe way to produce canned bread at home, free of Botulinus. The spores are heat-resistant enough that they can not be destroyed by baking, and while some scientists have created bread recipes designed to prevent the bacteria from growing, it’s just too easy to get it wrong. Canned bread is good as a gift or treat, and will be consumed in a few days’ time, but it should never be kept for a long time. This is certainly not healthy and it can have dangerous consequences. In a case of survival the overdose with botox is untreatable. Don’t take chances.
Related: Top 20 Places to Hide Your Survival Water Stockpile
8 Canned Tomatoes
Most canned foods can be preserved for a long period of time – often quite indefinitely. One exception is tomatoes. The problem is the juice which will strike the can over time. If you hear people talk about issues storing canned products, it will be a tomato product most of the time. Possible issues include bulged or leaked cans and even seams split.
Also, if the can look perfect and there are no obvious leaks, it may have tiny perforations that indicate it isn’t airtight anymore – and then it’s not safe. When you open a tomato product can and it is discolored or has an unpleasant odor, do not risk it – throw it away. Few preppers can resist having any canned tomatoes because they are so flexible, but don’t keep more than about six months’ worth and make sure you rotate your stock regularly.
7 Canned Fat Meat (some)
There are dangers of processing meat of any kind because it can harbor too many bacteria and parasites; canned types are among the healthier ones but there are still limits. Meat contains fat, and fat consists of acids; food can be sufficiently acidic to damage a can. The consistency will also go downhill after a while, so it isn’t going to be very appetizing even though it’s still healthy.
Canned tuna can also deteriorate – after long storage, it appears to get mushy. Other canned foods are generally healthy to maintain for at least many years; texture and taste can deteriorate, but they will remain edible. Cans are held in a dim, dry location with a steady cool temperature for better results. Avoid uninsulated attics or garages, as these frequently undergo drastic changes in temperature. Basements are perfect so long as they have no trouble with dampness. Finally, humid conditions can corrode the cans, so this will allow air in well before any visible leaks occur.
Related: 12 Essential Food to Stockpile Before It’s Off the Shelves
6 Homemade Jerky
Compact dehydrators are becoming popular, and they are now available to many preppers. They are a perfect way to make delicious and balanced fruit snacks, and they are a godsend to any jerky fans of course. Market jerky is expensive, but from inexpensive cuts of beef you can make your own and it tastes just as sweet. Unfortunately, stocking is not as secure. Commercially produced jerky is processed in industrial dehydrators which allow very precise control of the moisture content. Home models aren’t as predictable – even the moisture in your kitchen will influence the finished product’s moisture content. Homemade jerky for normal consumption is pretty healthy, but if you store it for months or years there is a risk from any bacteria that have survived the drying process.
When you are ready to store the homemade jerky, pack it in a vacuum and add a sachet of silica gel for each batch to soak up any excess moisture.
5 Graham Crackers
These seem to be an easy, trouble-free item to store, but they’re not – over time, they develop a rancid taste. Don’t count on them to remain tasty for over a year. Through repackaging them in vacuum-sealed containers, or in an airtight container with oxygen absorbers, you can prolong it another year or two.
Long-term, using the ingredients to make your own graham crackers is a great idea. It’s not hard and there are plenty of recipes available online.
Many other crackers are also bad choices for long-term storage. They appear to go soft and lose their shape unless you take a lot of care to seal them in an airtighten box. Many also pick up a stale, unpleasant taste. Getting a few boxes of crackers in your SHTF stock is great just make sure you rotate periodically through them. Saltines are an example – they will not stay fresh for more than six months.
4 Eggs
Eggs last much longer than most people realize; even if you don’t refrigerate them they still last a week or more, and you can keep them in the refrigerator for about three weeks. However, few people will seriously consider adding these to a long-term food store. Then again, others say it is probable. Spend a lot of time with other preppers and someone would most likely tell you that eggs can be kept good for months, or even years, when properly prepared. Typically, it proposes two methods:
- Dipping the eggs in petroleum jelly
- Dunking them briefly in boiling water
The theory behind both is that they protect the inside of the egg from any bacteria that may get into it. This is not the case and none of these approaches can extend an egg’s storage life. If you want to add eggs to your emergency food stash, go for the powdered kind. They are less versatile and a little less appetizing, but they can be kept safely for more than a few weeks unlike fresh eggs.
Related: When Grocery Stores Go Empty – A Back Door Shopping Strategy
3 Breakfast Cereals
The packaging on these is not durable or airtight enough to be kept for long term storage. They’ll smooth out after a year or so and start to taste stale. If you are looking for a carb alternative for breakfast, take the oatmeal instead. This will last for years and it is much more nutritious, too. You s hould not buy it in large bulk boxes if you want to hold a stock of cereals – once it is opened the gradual deterioration will escalate dramatically. Look for regular size packs you can eat in one or two weeks.
2 Butter
Butter can last much longer than most dairy products except hard cheeses but for long-term storage it is still not a good option. Wrapped or home-canned butter should be avoided completely; it can be kept commercially canned for a while, but be sure to refresh it periodically to prevent old cans from becoming rancid at the back of your shelf.
1 Nut Oils
A lot of people believe these alternatives to vegetable oil are safer. Definitely, they produce delicious meals, but they don’t hold well. Whenever you can, avoid the nut oils.
Certain cooking oils are generally suitable for long-term storage, but require some care. Don’t buy big containers; once opened, the oil can start to oxidize, which isn’t just bad for the flavor – it can create toxic chemicals when heating the affected oil. Do not seek to save money by purchasing in bulk and then decanting to smaller bottles – you must just mix in dust, so this will oxidize it even more easily. Buy the oils instead in regular bottles. This way by the time it begins to deteriorate so badly, it can be removed.
Some of the things on this list make it difficult to prepare your food storage – flour is probably the worst, since it is used so frequently. Nonetheless, you should keep your carbohydrate consumption with other options, with rice and pasta being favorites. This is possible to store large amounts of wheat if you have the expertise and equipment to grind your own grain, and this will remain edible for years (or more likely decades) as long as you protect it well from vermin.
Some food will last longer if well looked after; similarly, if the storage conditions are not right, they will all deteriorate more quickly. When there’s something you’re not sure about, ask local preppers – they might be able to tell you (although some of them have their own ideas, so do get a few more opinions before splashing out a couple of hundred dollars on food you can’t store. Finally, us airtight outer packaging when you can to deter pests, and keep your food in the right conditions. Consider investing in vacuum-packing gear. Good luck!
