Emergency Food Storage - Are You Prepared?

Over the years I have heard a lot about being prepared. In general, when I think about being prepared, I think about all the financial aspects. Do I have enough life insurance, what does my 401K look like, will I have enough to retire, etc.? However, preparing for what may happen in the future is a complicated concept. Why, well, unless you have a time machine, preferably a Delorean, you probably won't know what the future holds for you. Also, no matter how financially stable you are, financial stability won't help with things like food shortages, a man-made disaster, or a natural disaster. If a major emergency or disaster were to occur, needs and resources would also change overnight.

If you look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the first level is physiological needs. Physiological need addresses the most basic of all needs, including food, water, and respiration. These are things we all take for granted when they abound, but they become much more valuable when they are scarce.

I am not trying to predict any kind of pandemic event. However, there are some simple preparations we can make to be prepared to address these basic needs no matter what may come up in the future. Addressing your emergency food storage strategy is the key to being prepared for future emergencies. There is no single approach to address your long-term food storage needs. There are a couple of key principles that are important to mention.

Dehydrated Food: Most of what we consider edible food is highly perishable. Food kept cold in the refrigerator is not a sustainable option in an emergency. emergency food storage must be able to remain stored for an extended period of time. The longer the shelf life of food, the better, so you don't have to worry about rotating it every two years. Freeze-dried food options are best from a sustainability point of view, as some of these options are valid for up to 25 years. Freeze-dried food is also neatly packaged for easy storage.

Water: Water could be the most overlooked component in a food storage strategy. Not only does a person consume more water than food daily, ideally eight 8-ounce servings per day, but if they use a freeze-dried food storage option, these products require water to reconstitute food to its original form. Water purification bottles, systems and tablets are a good idea, but they do not replace the storage of water in FDA approved plastic containers. It is a good idea to keep these water containers in a place that makes it easy to empty and recharge each year.