April 29, 2011
Should You Keep an Emergency Food Stash?
Emergency food pack, courtesy of Flickr user earthworm
Judging by my Twitter feed this morning, the only people not enthralled by a certain extravagant British wedding were protesters in Uganda and Syria, people across the South affected by yesterday’s terrible and deadly tornadoes and me. If you were hoping for an in-depth report on royal canapés, sorry to disappoint. You’ll have to look elsewhere—or read Abigail Tucker’s fascinating history of wedding cakes.
The tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural disasters that have been punctuating news reports between birth conspiracy theories and nuptial to-dos in recent months are a good reminder that it’s wise to keep an emergency supply of food and water on hand. Even if you don’t live in earthquake or tornado country, floods, snowstorms, power outages or space alien invasions could disrupt supplies or leave you stranded. OK, probably not that last one—although, now that SETI suspended its search for alien signals, who knows if we’ll be caught unawares?
So, what should be in this emergency cache, and how much of it? At the very least you should have about three days’ supply of water and food per person in your household, recommends the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). These should be kept in a “grab and go” container—one for home, work and car—in case you need to evacuate quickly. Each kit should contain at least a half-gallon of water per person per day. You might also consider buying water purification tablets or another water sterilizer from a camping goods store (you can also boil water to purify it, but it’s good to have a back-up in case you don’t have power or a gas stove).
FEMA also suggests keeping a two-week supply of food and water at home for “sheltering needs.” These foods should, obviously, be nonperishable: canned goods, dry mixes, cereals. Try to avoid foods that will make you thirsty or that require a lot of water or special preparation. Don’t forget a manual can opener. If the power is out and your appliances are electric, you may be able to cook on a camp stove, barbecue, fireplace or solar oven, but consider storing foods that don’t require cooking.
Even nonperishable foods need to be replenished periodically. According to a FEMA chart, dried fruit, crackers and powdered milk will last about six months. Most canned foods, peanut butter, jelly, cereals, hard candy and vitamins will keep for a year (but check expiration dates on packaging). Stored properly, wheat, dried corn, rice, dry pasta, vegetable oils, baking soda, salt, instant coffee or tea, and bouillon will keep indefinitely.
Finally, don’t forget your pets. Fido and Mr. Bojangles need food and water, too!
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This is a good idea. One I have been thinking about for years. I don’t know why I keep putting it off. I really DO need to put this togather for my family. Especially bottled water. A Must. Just enough for my family. If I over do it , I will be a target for bad people.
I had one after 9/11 but then gradually got rid of it. And seriously, I’m supposed to put one of these grab and go things in my car? Including 2 gallons of water? And the amount of water they suggest you have on hand is unwieldy, and that needs to be replaced every few months. It’s probably good practice, but not exactly practical.
No matter where you live, it is probably a good idea to have a decent supply of non-perishable foods. But I don’t. Not yet anyway. In recent years I’ve become much more of a locavore in the kitchen, relying on fresh produce, eggs and dairy. And so, as I’ve stopped cooking with canned goods, I have almost no canned goods in the house. I have plenty of dry goods — rice, pasta, oats, dried fruit, etc. — but those ingredient wouldn’t be sufficient if there was an extended emergency in my city (e.g., earthquake on the Hayward Fault).
After the Japan earthquake and tsunami, I got some new resolve to go shopping for my emergency kit, while also coming up with a new plan. My problem in the past has been that I don’t like to eat the stuff I buy for my emergency kit — e.g., canned fruit, canned soup — so it stays in the kit for years and enters the territory of questionable safety (although I vaguely remember some studies of very old canned foods showing that they are safe to eat well past the date stamped on the can). So this year I’m going to try buying better foods and then rotating through them every few months. For example, I bought a bunch of tasty KIND bars, some decent canned soups, German whole grain bread and other good-tasting items. I’m also going to buy a few gallons of water. I marked my calendar for a few months out. When the reminder shows up, I’ll buy new food and eat what I bought previously. I might drink the bottled water instead of tap, or I might just keep it around. In an emergency, it won’t be a bad thing to have too much water around.
Keeping additional kits in my car and my office is a bit tricky, as a few bottles of water in my trunk sounds like a recipe for a punctured bottle and water spilling all over the trunk.
[...] start with the basics of stocking your pantry. The American Red Cross recommends that you store enough food to last you for two weeks. Foods [...]