Home Parenting Tips Survival Food Storage Ideas for Families in a Disaster

Survival Food Storage Ideas for Families in a Disaster

by Ivy B

Your family’s safety and survival plays an important part in your parenting role.  Check out these survival food storage ideas if you’re facing a disaster or emergency with your family.

In a disaster or emergency situation, having adequate food and water should be your top priority for your family!

You can survive without power and many of the creature comforts you’re accustomed to, but you cannot survive without food and water.  So, regardless of whether you choose to stay at home or in a shelter, or even get stuck in your car during an evacuation, you must think about your food and water supply.  I want to help you with survival food storage ideas so you’ll be prepared for an emergency.

Having emergency or survival food storage doesn’t have to be a costly or complicated process.  In fact, you probably have a lot of what you’d need right in your own pantry.

Before running out to the store (or ordering a massive supply on Amazon), figure out how long you want to prepare for.  Generally, having at least a week’s worth of stored food and water is great during a natural disaster.  During your planning, you must keep in mind that you have to ride out the storm and be prepared for any extra time it takes for clean up, rescue efforts, and power restoration.

Survival food storage ideas for families. What foods should your family stock up on for emergency preparedness? Emergency preparedness food storage tips and tricks for families | www.sahmplus.com
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 This is part 3 of an Emergency Preparedness for Families Series:
  1. Discussing the types of disasters to prepare for as a family
  2. How to Make an Emergency Preparedness Plan For Your Family
  3. Survival Food Storage Ideas for Families in a Disaster (this post)
  4. Must-Have Supplies for Your Family Disaster Survival Kit
  5. How to Stay Positive During an Evacuation Trip with Kids

How to Be Ready for a Disaster With These Survival Food Storage Ideas

Before we get started, I’m sharing a 14 page Family Disaster Preparedness Workbook.  Just join my newsletter and you’ll get it for FREE.  But, that’s not it.  You’ll get instant access to a library of free printable resources for parents!

family disaster preparedness free printable

Water Supply

survival water supply - survival food storage ideas for families | www.sahmplus.com

Your number 1 priority should be water.  You can live longer without food than you can without water!  So, when preparing for a disaster, make sure you are always thinking about this survival resource.

Though we hope, in any emergency, we’ll have running water, it’s not a guarantee.  Don’t depend on your home water source as the only way to get drinking water.

It’s never a bad idea to have store bought water bottles on hand.  Just be sure to cycle through them before their expiration date.

If you have warning that a disaster is likely, begin filling up milk jugs, soda bottles, and/or other clean containers you have around the house.  Filling up a clean tub is another great way to have plenty of available drinking water in the event you’re without power for an extended period of time.

Non-Perishable Food Items

Survival food storage supply closet

Once you’ve ironed out details about your water supply, it’s time to think about non-perishable food items your family will eat.  You want to choose foods you can eat as-is as well as offer some protein.  These can be:

  • Crackers & Peanut Butter
  • Canned beans, soups, etc
  • Canned tuna or chicken
  • Bread with non-perishable sandwich toppings
  • Granola/protein bars
  • Beef Jerky

Think of things you can eat straight out of the package.

If a family member has food allergies, make sure to stock up on an assortment of items for them as well.

Plus, if you have a baby or toddler who takes formula, it’s a good idea to stock up on extra water and formula packets!

Cooking

If you have a [easyazon_link keywords=”camping stove” cloak=”n” locale=”US” localize=”y” nw=”y” nf=”y” tag=”ivsvabasaan0a-20″]camping stove[/easyazon_link] or outdoor grill, you might also stock up on foods to heat and serve.  Think about items that you can heat with hot water like:

  • Instant oatmeal
  • Coffee or hot chocolate
  • Soups
  • Instant Rice

Special treats

When surviving a disaster with kids, it’s always important to think of ways to alleviate stress for them as well.  Keeping them full and happy will make the entire process go a little more smoothly.  Stock up on a few special treats like:

  • Chips and Pretzels
  • Chocolate candy bars
  • Cookies
  • Muffins
  • Snack cakes

These items might make getting through a disaster with kids a little more bearable for everyone.

In summary, make a list of things you know your family will eat.  These should be things you know you’ll use up even after the disaster is over.

Afterward, round out your stockpile with things that will keep the family full and healthy.

What if I don’t know I need the food?

A good plan of action is to purchase a small supply of food you will go through easily.  Make it part of your regular grocery shopping list and eat the food during the week as you normally would.  During each grocery shopping trip, replenish your stock.

Do not stock up on items you’re not certain you’ll eat.  If you’re not a fan of tuna, save your purchases of items like this for a time you’re more likely to need it.  In our case, I wouldn’t buy a can of tuna until right before hurricane season.

Lastly, make sure you have your family give you input on their survival food storage ideas.  Giving everyone a sense of control and responsibility will help keep the peace in what could be a stressful situation.  The last thing you’re going to want to do in a disaster event is to fight over food when there are no other options.

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12 comments

Connie May 18, 2018 - 1:36 am

Your tips are great. You can never be too prepared. We’ve had a couple of times in our family when our emergency supplies have come in handy. Love your printouts.

Ivy B May 18, 2018 - 1:53 pm

You really just never know when you’ll need something. But, with FL, we’re certain to need to stockpile around the same time every year. Much better to be prepared in advance, too 😀 Thanks for visiting!!

Echo May 18, 2018 - 8:46 am

This is so smart! You never know when something will happen and it is always good to be prepared.

Ivy B May 18, 2018 - 1:54 pm

And prepared ahead of time. I’m not one to deal well with crowds, so I’d much rather stockpile early and not need it instead of trying to gather up while everyone is. Not being able to grab necessities during the last minute shopping isn’t fun!

Kristi May 19, 2018 - 9:13 pm

Great tips and suggestions. Important to be planned for the unexpected events in life.

Ladena May 21, 2018 - 5:10 pm

These are great tips. We live in an earthquake zone so we always need a good emergency kit. I like your printable too. Very useful!

krystal May 22, 2018 - 10:21 am

We live in Florida so it is important to have a stockpile. Now that we are getting into storm season, I’m going to start stocking up on water.

Scott May 22, 2018 - 4:00 pm

Hopefully it never comes to needing those things. But it is good to always be prepared. We keep a couple cases of water in our basement just in case!

Wilfred Chong August 13, 2019 - 9:27 am

Great tips.

temple run August 14, 2019 - 5:03 am

The idea of storing raw food you share is very good and effective. will help save a large amount of raw food. I appreciate your idea.

gmail login November 27, 2019 - 1:34 am

I am so happy to read this. This is the kind of manual that needs to be given and not the random misinformation that’s at the other blogs.

Penelope Smith December 27, 2019 - 10:38 pm

I have been considering getting some food storage this upcoming year. It is nice to know that it would be smart to get a lot of water. It might be best for me to get large water containers as well as water bottles.

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