Having an emergency food list means that you are preparing yourself and your family for any emergency situation that happens. You will want to make sure you have enough food supply to sustain you.
We will help you choose the proper survival foods that will be shelf stable, budget friendly and healthier than what you might think.
What does shelf stable mean?
It means that items can sit on the shelf, without cold or refrigeration for long periods of time. No microbial spoilage.
Fresh Fruits and veggies are generally not considered to be shelf stable.
With the exception, if you buy potatoes, squash and onions and store them properly they will have a longer shelf life.
What are some shelf stable foods?
- Pasta
- Cereal
- Cookies
- Dried Beans
- Shelf Stable Milk (powdered milk)
- Shelf Stable Almond Milk
- Canned Beans
- Canned Veggies
- Carrots canned
- Apples jarred
- Mandarin oranges canned
- Spaghetti Sauce
- Pesto Canned or jarred
- Jalapenos Canned or jarred
- Roasted Peppers Canned or jarred
- Onions Canned or Jarred
- Pearl onions jarred
- Artichokes Canned or jarred
- Parboiled Rice
- Instant Rice
- White Rice
- Jasmine Rice
- Peanut Butter
- Nut Butter
- Dried Fruit
- Dried Berries
- Juice (once opened no longer shelf stable)
- Sports Drinks (once opened no longer shelf stable)
- Flour
- Corn Meal
- Nuts (once opened no longer shelf stable for long periods)
- Pancake Mix
- Sugar
- Brown Sugar
- Salad Dressing Packets
- Oil
- Vinegar
- Gravy Packets
- Seasonings (once opened no longer shelf stable for long periods)
- Dried Herbs (once opened no longer shelf stable)
- Cilantro dried
You can add anything from the above list in any combination to your emergency food supply.
What is shelf stable meat?
Shelf stable meat and snacks are any meat that is dried, canned, in a jar, or in a shelf stable pouch.
List of Shelf Stable Meat
I like both dehydrated and canned meat and you get a good mixture of both types as a way to bulk up my non perishable food list.
- Spam
- Canned Tuna
- Canned Chicken
- Canned Beef
- Canned Salmon
- Beef Jerky
- Deer Jerky
- Turkey Jerky
- Chicken Jerky
- Summer Sausages (do not buy them refrigerated and then put on shelf)
- Dry Sausages
- Freeze Dried Meats
How long does shelf stable food last?
Most shelf stable food can last 30 year to forever. However, there are items that have too much oil like brown rice that will not last as long.
Many foods will go past the expiration date. But we choose not to go too far past that date and always test it first. Remember that you can’t always tell when something is bad like you can with spoiled milk. So use your judgement here and also to avoid this, use the FIFO method.
How long can you leave food in the fridge without power?
According to the USDA,a refrigerator will keep food cold for 4 hours if unopened. Which means you would need to possibly cook a lot of food so it doesn’t go bad.
A freezer will hold its temperature for 24 hours if it’s half full and 48 if it’s full.
PRO TIP:
We keep a limited amount of food in our fridge in an emergency situation. We keep a good back stock of emergency food supply that is shelf stable and ready to go.
Keep a good amount of beans and grains on hand since they are a great alternative to proteins that do not need to be in the refrigerator or freezer.
Fridge space will be limited:
So it is important to keep non perishable food items on hand.
- Do not overcrowd
- Eat and make sure you do not make foods with too many leftovers
- This will mean you eventually will have waste
- Make a huge lasagna, eat that for lunch next day with veggies and bread. Then make a new dinner
- This will mean you eventually will have waste
- We clean our fridge every 2 days
- Do not toss it out. Eat it. It may be a small portion, but eat three small portions of whatever
- IE: we had lasagna, risotto and chicken breast. Not enough for 4 people, but we each took some of what we wanted and cleaned out the fridge.
- Do not toss it out. Eat it. It may be a small portion, but eat three small portions of whatever
- Stop waste
- If you find yourself putting food in the garbage, it can mean a couple of things
- Someone didn’t like the meal. Which in my house doesn’t matter, it gets eaten anyways.
- You made too much. Which is fine just don’t use your freezer as a storage wasteland. Use your fridge as a base and a hub. Eat the food before making another meal or allowing food to be opened.
- If you find yourself putting food in the garbage, it can mean a couple of things
Ingredients that are shelf stable you need to have on hand
(we recommend getting smaller sizes vs bulk sizes, so your fridge does not become full of these things and not food).
Shelf Stable Cans, Jars, Pouches
- Beans
- Cannellini
- Pinto
- Kidney
- Black
- Olives
- Tomatoes
- Sun Dried tomatoes
- Red peppers
- Potatoes
- Artichoke hearts
Always buy shelf stable foods
Making sure that you are buying a good portion of your foods as shelf stable is a great way to stock your pantry. Only buy foods that you would normally eat. So let’s say you don’t eat quinoa, don’t buy a 10 pound bag of it for an emergency. It would make you miserable.
Our rule of thumb is that we try to have pasta, marinara, canned tomatoes, beans, flour, sugar, dried potato flakes, canned beans, etc on our shelves.There are four of us. As a rule of thumb, we always keep a few shelf stable recipes on hand, normally about 2 weeks to 4 weeks supply.
We use the FIFO method to make sure items are fresh.
Dry Goods Non-Perishable Foods
Grains and different kinds of pasta also should be a part of your long term food storage. These items are easy to find and can be purchased online, bulk stores and your local grocery store.
Pasta
Make sure that when you are buying your pasta that you are varying not only your flavor and type of your pasta, but also your sizes. It is important to be able to vary your food so that you do not get board with having the same thing day in and day out.
- small
- large
- shells to stuff
- spaghetti
- linguine
Rice
- white
- jasmine
- instant
- parboiled
Potato Flakes
Are great for thickening soups and stews, stretching a meal, making potato patties, mashed potatoes, potato puffs, potato rolls, breading both vegetables and meats. So Do not skip this pantry staple.
Please note that some of these items can become stale, like cereals, crackers, etc. But they are still edible. Our goal is to rotate out food with the FIFO method. First In First Out
Plan Your Shelf Stable Meals
Just because you are buying these shelf stable foods for emergency purposes does not mean that you do not use them. You will want to use them so that you can keep the supply up. I call this my working pantry. I buy excess for emergencies but I use it every day in my meals.
Part of the way that I am able to use up my food is to plan my meals out. Now, I do not always stick to this, I do allow some grace. But I do make sure to check for freshness and the entire family is involved in the process of making sure food does not get wasted. Get more help on creating a shelf stable meal plan you can start by learning how to Meal Plan to get the basics down.
Snack Non-Perishable Foods
- Beef Jerky
- Granola
- Peanut Butter
- Cookies
- Peanuts
- Cashews
- Walnuts
- Almonds
- Pistachios
- Trail Mix
- Saltine Crackers
- Butter Crackers
- Graham Crackers
- Fruit Snacks
- Chocolate
- Vanilla Wafers
- Pudding
- Jello
- Dry Cereal
- Rice Cakes
- Raisins
- Chips
- Pretzels
- Fruit Bars
- Popcorn
What are shelf stable meals?
Used in emergency situations. When unable to get to the store during times of emergency, during times when meals can not be delivered, and meals that do not require refrigeration.
What if I don’t eat a lot of pasta, rice or bread?
Good question! We don’t normally either, so the changes we have had to make to our diet has been challenging but we will make it through it.
You can add in tomatoes along with veggies and other sources of proteins in order to allow for a little more variety. It is always good to add in things that you like to eat in different ways so that all the meals do not seem like they’re the same meals repeatedly.
We had the basics I listed above, but having to actually eat them everyday had been hard. I actually refused to eat it last night, I made scmeetza, I will give more on what this is later. I am sick of starchy foods.
I am eating more canned veggies than I normally do. We also happen to have a deep freezer, so we can rotate in some meat and fish that is frozen, but we are limited on supply there as well. We went for more prepared meals just in case someone gets sick. But the majority of our meals are shelf stable meals.
This is a pizza in a pan with no bread, aka scmeetza. I felt refreshed after eating this. Not weighed down like I had been feeling over the last few days of just rice and pasta overload. Remember that you do not have to eat tons of carbs everyday when eating shelf stable meal plans. You can toss in a few fun things too!
I hope that this helps you be more prepared. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to email me. My email is in the newsletter.
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