Preparing the right food survival kit is one of the most challenging factors in making sure that you and your family will survive a disaster. Although it sounds easy there are a lot of important things that needs to be considered when planning which food to store like knowing what each of your family member likes or dislikes, storage space, shelf life, medical needs and nutritional concerns.

Before going through the details of your food storage plan it is important to understand the 3 main factors that could make your planning easier and effective and that is space, shelf life, and survival food selection.

Space Considerations



According to FEMA recommendation each family member should have a three-day food and water supply. Although it doesn’t sound like a lot, proper storage could ensure this survival food lasts as long as possible. If you are looking to store more food that will last for more days you will need a lot of space to store it all. Keeping your food storage dry and kept at a minimum light exposure will make your food supply deteriorate less quickly.

Shelving is also a good option for storing your food items like canned goods, packed food, and more. Using plastic rubber maid totes is also advisable as it can be stacked on top of each other conserving a lot of space. When buying your supplies you might need to consider buying specially made freeze-dried and dehydrated foods as they are packed to take up less space.

Shelf Life

Freeze-dried and dehydrated food (like this) is considered to be the ultimate survival food because it doesn’t have a lot of moisture content which makes it less likely to spoil faster and has a shelf life of up to 25 years.

Canned goods on the other hand can last up to many years but needs to be changed with the regular meals as their expiration date draws near.

As Redditor J973 pointed out however, he is more than comfortable with eating canned goods beyond their expiration date

Many canned foods like some veggies, beans and meats have a MUCH LONGER SHELF LIFE THAN A YEAR….. and that’s just the expiration date that is arbitrarily stamped on there, I would feel comfortable eating many foods well past the stamped date. I have bought canned beans that have an expiration date of 2017, that is way more than a year. Home canned and pickled stuff can last YEARS. Dry canned rice, beans and flour can also last years.

Foods that are high in fat and snack foods are the fastest to spoil so they should be changed when needed. Food supplies that have expiration dates should be stored in an accessible area. Remember to keep any food item that is not airtight to be stored in an airtight container.

Here’s a video of how to properly store food for emergency survival.

Picking the Right Foods



Knowing the right food to store and the right place to store them is very important to ensure your survival in a disaster. Having the right plan on how you should you use the food on your stock pile and being able to provide the basic food everyone in your family should have will make the difference in a survival situation.

Everyone knows that wheat, milk, honey, and salt are the four basic products that should be included in a good food survival plan. You have to keep in mind that eating wheat meal after meal may have negative effects on the human body.

A lot of people are allergic to wheat and statistics show that having a diet rich in wheat for a long period of time is not applicable to a lot of people because of its negative effects. It is best to include other foods on hand and not have wheat as your main staple. If you want to include wheat on your basic survival plan just be sure that no one in your group is allergic.

Including other staples in your plan is recommended to allow you to change things up and give your body the nutrients it needs to be healthy from different sources. Foods such as dehydrated and freeze dried foods, canned goods, and powdered eggs are great food staples that you can add on your food storage plan.

Vitamins are very important and should always be included in your emergency storage. As your space will be limited and the time may come when you are unable to get a healthy meal, vitamins can give your body the nutrients it needs, but keep in mind that vitamins alone cannot keep you healthy. It is still best to keep a variety of food storage supplies to meet most of your body’s needs.

Foods that are easy to prepare and do not require cooking is also important and must be added to your emergency food supply plan as they come in handy when you have very little time or too tired to prepare a meal. Freeze dried foods (great picks from Amazon) are some examples of this type of meal. Including snack foods in your supply is also important as it helps children cope and feel better emotionally if times are hard.

Although it’s really hard to completely prepare for a disaster knowing the essential things to store will greatly raise your chances of surviving. Having the right food supply on your emergency storage will put your heads above the majority of the population as you will not be starving and will be strong enough to help your family and the people around you.