Things to Consider About Stockpiling Food
Kevin Felts 09.28.17
One of the questions often asked by people new to prepping is, “What kind of food should I stockpile?” The simple answer is, “Stockpile what you eat.”
However, there are many variables to that rule. There are certain types of food we do not eat on a regular basis, such as freeze-dried. Then there are the types of food which may not be suitable for stockpiling, such as frozen meat.
Let’s take ground meat for example. Would you want to stockpile 50 pounds of ground meat in the freezer? After a few months the meat may start to get freezer burned. And when the power goes out, the meat will have to be eaten quickly unless you run a generator to keep it cold.
Instead, you could stockpile 50 pounds of freeze-dried meat that has a life expectancy of 30 years.
Maybe do a little of both? 10 pounds of frozen meat and 20 pounds of freeze-dried?
What Are You Looking For?
What exactly are you looking for in an emergency food prep? Are you going to shelter in place or evacuate? Do you want food that can be quickly loaded while bugging out? Individually-packaged, or family sized?
Will you be taking in evacuees (friends and family), and thus need to prepare large meals?
What about portable meals? #10 cans of freeze-dried food are not very portable, and they take up a lot of space.
Self-contained, such as Meals Ready to Eat (MREs)?
Dehydrated?
Dried food stored in mylar bags?
Is temperature sensitivity an issue? MREs need to be stored within a certain temperature range…
Purpose Of The Food
What will be the exact purpose of the food? Of course you are going to eat it, but when and where will it be eaten? Are these emergency rations, or for hiking and camping, or both?
The vast majority of my food preps are divided into two categories: stationary and portable.
Stationary
- Frozen food.
- #10 cans of freeze-dried.
- Dried food in mylar bags – rice, oatmeal, noodles, or beans.
- Store bought cans – fruits, veggies and canned meats.
This is the food that will be eaten while sheltering on place.
Portable
- Pouches of freeze-dried food.
- MREs.
- Noodles.
This is the food that I take hiking, scouting or camping.
While everything in the portable section can be eaten at home, products in the stationary category are too bulky to take hiking.
Personal Stockpile
My personal stockpile contains:
- Frozen food.
- Five gallon homemade superpails.
- Dried food stored in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers.
- #10 cans of freeze-dried.
- Freeze-dried pouches.
- MREs.
- Store-bought canned foods.
While on a recent trip to a local sand pit to do some target shooting, I had a beef ravioli MRE. Being able to grab a self-contained meal while heading out is nice. This eliminates the camp stove, fuel, cook pot, all of that. Just grab an MRE and a bottle of water, and you are good to go.
On the flip side, during a prolonged power outage, I would open a 10-pound mylar bag of rice.
So when someone says to stockpile what you eat, would you stockpile beef ravioli in a can, or a beef ravioli MRE? Or maybe get a couple of both?
