Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
When people decide to start stocking up on food to prepare for emergencies, usually the first thing they do is head to the store and buy rice, beans, and canned food. That’s all well and good, but you don’t want to live on those foods alone.
Eating the same bland meals everyday would get old fast, especially if you’re already stressed out by whatever disaster you’re facing. A delicious meal or snack can really boost your morale when things seem bleak. That’s why you need some variety in your food storage. Not having enough variety is one of the many food storage mistakes.
Here, then, are 14 foods you might have forgotten store.
1. Sweets
Twinkies, Ho-Hos, Ding Dongs or whatever sweet treat floats your boat. After a long, hard day, sitting down and just enjoying the greatness that is a Twinkie can make your worries melt away for a little bit.
2. Candy
Candy, in general, is another sweet treat that is super inexpensive. Buy bags of hard candy, toffee, caramels or whatever you and your family enjoy and hide them away. Life doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom after SHTF.
3. Seasonings
Seasonings like garlic pepper, chili powder, creole seasoning, and other spices should be added to your stash. Food just tastes better when you can doctor it up a bit. For example, a little garlic powder can completely change the flavor of dehydrated potatoes or canned corn. It’s inexpensive and will last for years.
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4. Sugar
Sugar is something that is taken for granted in today’s world. We sprinkle it in our cereal, on our fruit, and use it to make a variety of tasty desserts. It is hard to imagine life without it—so don’t. Store plenty of brown sugar, white sugar, and powdered sugar. And don’t worry about getting too much because it’s one of the foods that last forever.
5. Coffee and Tea
This should definitely be in your stash if you already drink one or both of them. Just because the power grid is down or the economy has collapsed doesn’t mean your love of and dependence on coffee and/or tea will vanish. Caffeine headaches can be brutal.
6. Cooking Oil
Cooking oil or shortening is something you probably don’t want to eat alone, but it is absolutely crucial to making a number of foods. Remember, you won’t be able to run to the store to buy oil or shortening to make biscuits, bread or fry up the fish you caught. Cooking spray is also a good option to have on hand especially when you are using cast iron cookware over a fire.
7. Bouillon Cubes
These are another necessary component to casseroles, soups, and stews. If you are cooking from scratch, you can certainly eat stew without the addition of bouillon cubes, but it won’t be near as flavorful.
8. Applesauce
This is so easily overlooked, but imagine when you want to make some tasty muffins or cake and don’t have fresh fruit to add. Applesauce is a versatile food that can be eaten alone, cold or warm, or used to flavor your favorite cakes or muffins. Applesauce doesn’t have to be refrigerated and has a fairly long shelf life, making it an excellent food to add to your prepper stash.
9. Cereal
Cereals such as Corn Flakes, Cheerios, and other non-sugary cereals are not only great for breakfast, but can be eaten alone or grounded up and added to a meatloaf or used as a crust for your chicken or fish.
10. Peanut Butter
Another one of those foods that can be used in recipes, added to fruit and veggies, or eaten right out of the jar. A tablespoon of peanut butter is filling, satisfying, and actually quite nutritious. It is a comfort food you will certainly miss once it’s gone.
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11. Honey
Honey, especially raw honey, is another versatile food that can be used plain or in recipes. It also has medicinal uses. Find somebody local who will sell it to you in jars and buckets and load up on plenty of it because, like sugar, it also lasts forever.
12. Salt and Pepper
These seem pretty basic, but imagine life without them! Food can be so boring without a dash of salt and pepper. In fact, salt is used in cooking all the time. You will be hard-pressed to find a recipe that doesn’t call for salt. Besides, it has many other uses other than cooking.
13. Baking Ingredients
Things like baking soda and baking powder are also very important to have on hand. Again, you will be making a lot of your food from scratch and those two ingredients are important for making fluffy biscuits, pie crusts, and a variety of other items.
14. Vitamins
These are going to be important as well. While they may not be filling, they will be necessary to ensure you remain healthy. Canned foods and dry foods are not exactly healthy and you will be missing out on some valuable vitamins and nutrients if you don’t have access to fresh or frozen produce.
A good multi-vitamin will make sure you get all the nutrients you need to keep going.
Take a look in your pantry and make a note of those little comfort foods and spices you have on hand, then make sure you have plenty of extras. Just don’t forget to rotate it. Good food can help ease the tension after a disaster.
Lynn Sessions is correct. As a practicing member of the “Mormon” faith, and a Californian-native ex-pat living in Utah, most folks here, LDS and others, do not “prep” much, if at all. I’ve lost count of the numbers of LDS members in my immediate area, that have said to us, “When the SHTF, we, are coming to your house!”
I now reply with a chuckle, “Well then, you will die at the bottom of the hill with everyone else, who thinks we are their salvation!”
For Irish girl in ABQ, look up the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) in your neck of New Mexico online. You will find the nearest Family Canning and Storage Center. All items there are “at cost”, and available to ANYONE, who wants to be more self reliant, and no, there is no preaching required to sit through, prior to, (or after) purchase!
Also, online, you can download (free) a .pdf of the Self Reliance manual that explains basic home and food storage minimum average requirements for families and individuals. (No strings attached)
Best to you and yours!
That’s pretty funny. Everything that normal people buy every day is what you think people will forget………………….
You mentioned the Mormons do canning, but not anymore – the FDA has closed them down; But you can purchase pre-canned dry food like potatoes, rice, wheat, etc. I recommend you watch some youtube videos on canning, doing water bath canning for fruits, jellies, etc or pressure canning for meats, beans, and that type of stuff. There are a few groups on FB you might want to consider joining. Disaster Prep; The Woman’s Prepper Cave (for women only), Share the Seed, USA. I am sure there are others. There is a lot of information, recipes, directions, diy stuff, and you can ask tons of questions and get many answers.
I am curious Jenny. How do they verify that you are a woman. Do you girls have some secret password or something LOL
That’s funny! I am not an administrator there, so I don’t know the criteria.
For a good start, take a look at how people lived BEFORE the global transportation at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxr2d4As312LulcajAkKJYw
Salt is important, but artificial leavening is a total luxury. And why use boullion when portable soup is not that hard to make (with practice) and works just as well. Look at historical foodways of your region, and buying primarily from it, so that when SHTF you should already be pretty much a locavore.
Because liquid beef and chicken broth requires space…a bottle of 125 bouillons from Sam’s Club…hardly noticed on my storage shelves.
I just used a couple yesterday with my chicken dumplings.
Thinking from a practical, historical perspective, the popular spices and seasonings that do not grow in your area have ALWAYS been a great bartering tool when transportation of good is not longer easy.
Make friends with Mormons! Trust me on this, they LIVE for food storage!! And their resources are AWESOME! Each ward also has a storehouse and participates in canning things to help reduce cost.
I know ZERO about canning and I don’t know any LDS in our area. ?
Where might you be? I do know that there are reenactors in just about every area of the world, and they, too, are VERY knowledgeable in food storage, and tend to be easier to befriend and all. Also, you can stop by your local Tractor Supply or Lowes, and you can find the BEST canning and food prep books there! You can find many homesteading groups online, but the best and first step is, find some reenactors. If you don’t know about what to do, you can search my name on FaceBook and I can give you a few directions.
Thanks. I’m in ABQ so hardly out in the sticks. I have to go to lowes tomorrow and I’ll look. I’m thinking I want to start with something easy like jams so I might just bug you if I get stuck. Thanks
Pardon my daffiness, but ABQ? Is that Australia? I’m in Texas.
My mother in law is a specialist in jams and jellies, and next month is the huge wild orange harvest here. You are most welcome to message me, just be aware…. I’m… pretty strange.
Don’t worry, I embrace the strange ? and we are one state over. I’m in Albuquerque. I can spell it, but my thumbs appreciate me short handing it with ABQ.
As in Arizona? Heck, just stick stuff outside and let it dry.
Funny guy. As in New Mexico. Even less populated.
Luckily, they are online – http://store.lds.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Category3_715839595_10557_3074457345616706237_-1_N_image_0?countryName=US&warehouse=01&showCountryChangePopUp=false&langId=-1¤cy=USD&catalogId=10557&DM_PersistentCookieCreated=true&storeId=715839595&ddkey=http:SetCurrencyPreference
Mormons are just like everyone else here in the US. Some are “preppers” but unfortuneately, most are not. And each ward does not have a storehouse. There are regional LDS Cannery locations where anyone can walk in and purchase bulk food basics at really good prices. However, everyone has to be their own ‘storehouse’.
This article hurt my head. It’s not very often I read something from this community so banal. I disagree with amost everythig in this article. Does this guy Allan ever research anything he writes? Edits anything? Proof-reads?
I will try and forget the things I just read here and hope I don’t get a massive Migraine from it.
Such as?
Wow,, you’re a real hard a$$ eh?
Tobacco and alcohol
I’m pretty sure the drunks won’t forget their alcohol
It’s not just about drunks, alcohol and ammo will be two of the best bartering items you can store even if you don’t use them personally.
I’ve been storing all sorts of foods that we eat. Instant mashed potatoes, Mac and cheese, and other things like that. I’m wanting to have a garden next Spring and dehydrate a lot of veggies and herbs and other items. I love food storage! Can never have enough!
You forgot extracts. My favorites – vanilla, lemon, almond, butternut, & maple. Maple allows me to make maple flavor syrup. The others allow me to make an infinite number of cake, muffin & bread recipes. Sam’s has large lemon & vanilla at pretty good price.
Also – fat is vital in the diet. You will die without it.