Food Supplies
What The Guide Says
Why Should I Keep An Emergency Food Store?
According to the 2024 UK Gov's Food Security Report[1], around 40% of food in the UK is imported, in particular fruit and vegetables. We are largely selfsufficient as a country for cereals, meat, dairy and eggs. The situations we might want to be prepared for are ones where supermarkets cannot open or have restricted opening hours (such as during a power outage or pandemic), or if international supply lines are disrupted (for instance due to war or conflict in countries that impact on our ability to import food).
How Much Should I Store
How long is a piece of string?
The minimum recommended amount is for three days, or 72 hours, but some would recommend much longer. The guidance in this handbook is to prepare for a minimum of one week.
How much you can store will most likely depend on your available storage space: see the Affordability and Storage section of this guide for more advice about that.
We suggest that you build up your store gradually, adding a little with each shop.
Just buying a few extra cans or boxes in your monthly shop means that pretty soon you will have met the minimum recommended three days. You can then build up to a week or more.
You can use these checkboxes to track your progress:
What food should I store?
What you store will depend on your individual household's tastes and needs, on how much you eat and how much space you have.
Babies, children and pets will also have their own specific needs. For babies, ready made or ready-to-feed formula is best as you may not be able to boil water or sterilise bottles.
You need food that is filling, energy and nutrient-rich and that can be stored safely at room temperature for long periods
The best emergency food requires no added water or cooking - unless you have a water harvesting system or camping stove that you can use in case of outages. However, storing a combination of food that can and cannot be cooked is advisable in case the only problem is access to a supermarket.
You should keep what you actually like to eat and use what you store, cycling out food that is getting older every six months or so. Use what you store and it won't go to waste.
A good tip is to label your stored food with the date that you bought it. Just the month and year will do. That way you can easily find what needs to be used up. Have a cook-up or barbecue in the summer to use up food that is getting older and replace what you use afterwards.
Consider also storing a supply of things you love and use daily: tea, coffee, chocolate, salt, spices, sauces and any favourite mood boosters. The good news is that you don't need to diet in an emergency - calories are your friends! If you drink alcohol, think about storing a nice bottle of something for a rainy day.
Keep a thriving, not surviving mindset and there is no need to suffer through a situation. You might want to have something special stashed away in case of any birthdays or moments you want to celebrate when you can't get to the shops.
Example Food Store List
Don't try to get all of this at once. You can build up your store gradually, getting a few items at a time with each big monthly shop. You don't need to get anything specialist - a lot of 'emergency food' sold online is unnecessary and overpriced.
These are just ideas, feel free to get creative and adapt this to suit your own tastes and needs. There are plenty of options for vegans and vegetarians
Fruit and vegetables
- You can get cans of many varieties of fruit and veg. These are your best buys as they are cheap, easy to store, very long-lasting and provide essential nutrients. You can even get canned potatoes! Make sure they are the ready-to-eat kind, in case you are unable to cook.
- Dried fruit such as raisins, apricots and banana
- Jars of pickled or sundried vegetables and olives
- Canned or packet soup
- Canned tomato, passata or other sauces
- Dry soup mix
- Juice Cartons
Protein
- Canned beans and mixed bean salad
- Canned lentils and chickpeas
- Canned fish - sardines are particularly nutrient-dense
- Canned chicken
- Canned sausages and meatballs
- Tinned meals such as tuna salad
- Canned chili or bolognaise
- Nuts (check shelf life as these can be toxic when they go off)
- Seeds
- Seitan
Carbohydrates
- Crackers
- Pasta
- Rice
- Barley and Quinoa are especially nutritious grains, with high fibre and protein content
- Noodles
- Tortilla wraps - these last much longer than bread and don't require cooking
- Oats, oatmeal or porridge
- Cereal
- Instant potato mash
Fats, flavours and other
- Salt and pepper
- Favourite spices, sauces and condiments
- Oil for salads and cooking
- Tea and coffee, hot chocolate
- Chocolate or other favourite treats
- Canned custard or rice pudding
- Mayonnaise is a source of fat and can be stored unopened for around six months
- Peanut butter - another good source of fat and protein with good shelf life
- Honey
- Popcorn kernels
Rationale, background and more
Whilst it's not easy for everyone to have a comprehensively stocked larder that will last for weeks in times of disrupted food supplies, every bit you can do will help. If you are limited in space and funds, it's probably wise to aim for things that you use regularly so you can keep supplies fresh by using the older stock and replacing it with new. Aiming for things that are high in calories and take little or no cooking (as there may also be power/fuel shortages) is worth considering. Pasta is a stalwart of food stocks for many, but you will need the ability to prepare it too so take that into account.
The list above specifically mentions peanut butter; this features highly in outdoor survival packs as it's incredibly energy-dense and long-lasting. Honey also famously has a very long shelf life when sealed from moisture.
A long-lasting source of flavour and spice is well-stored stock cubes. These take up little space and can add a zing to otherwise bland food.
References
- ^ UK Government Food Security Report 2024