Start Your Preps on Your Next Trip to the Store

The 1st rule of Preparedness Club is:

The 1st rule of Preparedness Club is: only buy food that you and your family will actual eat!

If you don't normally consume dehydrated eggs or powdered milk- don't buy it for you emergency food stash.

Another thing you need to account for when you start stocking up on food is- how am i going to cook this stuff?

Rice and beans are cheap- but they require extra water, a stove to cook it on, fuel for the stove and a

separate pot. This also something to consider with Ramen noodles or mac N cheese. But mac N cheese or ramen can be made with just a cup or two of hot water in an emergency situation. There are also ways to make small stoves for practically free, and I'll go over those a little later. 

MRE's or canned foods can skip those requirements, but you have to balance it against what you will

actually eat. I don't think I could eat more than 1 can of Vienna sausage, or Spaghetti-O's, but I'd be OK with kippered fish or peanut butter. You have to buy stuff you'll actually eat.

Buy what you eat- and eat what you buy.

So with that in mind, let's look at some inexpensive canned foods that wouldn't require much heating or added water.

(It's also not a bad idea to buy a Sharpie marker to put the purchase date on food so you can keep it

rotated and fresh.)

Ideally, you want at least a 3 day supply of food and water for everyone in the house.

But it's more likely that you'd need to feed everyone overnight - for instance until the power comes back

on- so let's start there. The 1st thing would be to check the fridge. If you have leftovers, milk or

sandwich meat, eat those items first.

If you don't have left overs or meat, I think the good old peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are easy to fix, and hard to beat. They're also probably the least expensive way to feed 3 or 4 people easily. Peanut butter and jelly can stay in the cabinet until needed, and bread can be frozen if you don't usually keep bread in the house. Peanut butter and honey is another good combination and it doesn’t require refrigeration like the jelly would.

As a snack or quick pick-me-up during a workout, I’m a big fan of Clif bars. They’re an energy/protein bar made from healthy natural ingredients. They also have nutrients and minerals in them.They come in great flavors like black cherry, blueberry, oatmeal raisin, white chocolate macadamia and about 10 more varieties. I can find them at Whole Foods and my local grocery stores for about $1 each. 

Another possible option is to make spaghetti with sauce, and freeze it for later use. It would need to beheated, but that’s pretty simple compared to having to cook it from scratch. When I go on camping trips I almost always take a big Ziploc bag of premade spaghetti with sauce. it's warm, hearty and filling after a day's hike or a long bike ride and all you have to do is heat it in one pan and it's ready to go in about 5 minutes.

Moving up in convenience would bring us to canned soups and pastas- Spaghetti-o's/Ravioli etc. They last for several years- you can eat canned food past it's 'expiration date' safely, as long as the can isn't rusted , swollen or bulged.

The downside is the canned soups tend to be on the expensive side- especially if you're feeding 4 people for a couple of meals.

Don't forget to have bread or crackers with your soup or pastas to help add some 'filler' and help you to feel full on less food.

Sausage or hotdogs are handy in a short term situation too. Wrap them in bread or tortillas for an

easy meal. Remember folks- this may not be the best meal you've ever eaten, but it sure beats not having anything to eat when the power goes off because of a storm.

If you're going to eat for a 2 or 3 day period, you're going to need a stove. You can use a gas grill,

(or your gas stove if the gas is still on), or a portable stove. You can get small portable burners

that run on butane for about $20 on Amazon, or at local restaurant supply stores or Asian grocery stores.

The cans of butane cost about $1- $1.50 each and last for 45 - 90 minutes, depending on how a high you have the flames turned up.

Once you have a stove to cook on, you can also get by with cheaper foods. For example- Oatmeal is

inexpensive, healthy and easy to cook $3 worth of oatmeal can make breakfast for 3 people for 3 days.  For inexpensive oatmeal, buy the big box-the individual little packets are small servings and quite expensive when you look at it on a cost per pound basis.

Rice is very easy to do on one of the portable stoves, as are the dried side dishes that are add water and heat.

 In recent years there have been a lot of dehydrated cook and serve side dishes introduced to the

market- the Knorr/Lipton brand is a good example. The offer mostly a noodle/sauce combination like

fettuccine with chicken and broccoli, butter and herb, beef stroganoff or even red beans and rice. Theseand similar brands are now widely available at grocery stores and gig stores like Target or Wal-Mart.

They offer similar flavors in rice/ sauce sides as well. They're fairly tasty and cheap and they're also lightweight and easy to store.  And they taste a lot better than rice and beans.

With a stove you can also do things like Ramen noodles - add tuna for extra protein, or mac n cheese (you can add hot dogs for a meat portion).

One other thing that I like to include in my preps is canned fruit. Something like pineapple rings, peach halves or fruit cocktail tastes really good for desert or even as a snack by itself. Plus they also

come packed in fruit juice, so you get some extra water intake as well.

That should be enough to get you started. Start with the simple, basic stuff first and then add to it as

your budget allows. But at least get your supplies set up to make it through the 1st 24 hours.

Remember- think about getting through the first 24 hours, and if it goes beyond that, you have a 2-3 day plan to fall back on.    

Having even some simple preparations- a flashlight, a first aid kit, a little extra water and food and a battery operated radio can mean the difference between making it through with ease, or suffering through without food , light or communication with the outside world.

Some simple canned foods, a jug of water and a cheap flashlight will get you started for $5.
Add a $20 stove and you can dine well and invite the cute coeds next door over for dinner.

As I write this, fast moving storms have swept throw the Midwest a few days ago, and 3 million people were suddenly without power. Don’t wait until the last minute, start your emergency stash on your next trip to the store!

Be Smart- Be Prepared.