Amount of Food You Should Store In Your Emergency Storage

Many people wonder about the best way to prepare for an emergency situation. While there are several aspects that you are going to have to work on but it is very important to pay special attention to your food storage.

Now, an important question here is about the amount of food that you need to keep in the emergency storage. According to the guidelines by Red Cross, people need to store at least 3 days’ worth of foods in their emergency food kits. It has been a longtime standard and, so, the thought of increasing this recommendation up to a week is prevailing in different circles.

Minimum recommendation for shorter emergencies

The instances of prolonged and unexpected power outages and water contamination have increased in the last couple of years. This is the reason that storing seven days’ worth of food for every person in a family has become a new recommendation. As a matter of fact, some people who have survived long power outages suggest storing foods to meet nutritional needs of every member of a family for a month.

The most important thing to consider while storing food for emergency situations is that the majority of foods should be nonperishable and shelf-stable. Canned foods come in water and dust proof containers and, so, they remain usable for a longer period of time until the can is opened. Storing dehydrated foods is another good option here.

Do you care for the others?

It has been learnt that many people are inclined to help their neighbors during emergency situations. It is certainly a good deed to check on neighbors especially if they are elderly or the ones that are more at risk. The best approach in this regard is to store enough food for at least ‘another’ family member. We should all feel a moral obligation to help others; and so, it is very important to do something practically about it.

Long term emergencies

Some of the emergencies tend to disrupt life in any affected area for a longer period of time. Strong windstorms and hurricanes do not only force people in an area to limit themselves in their houses for many days but they also make it difficult for emergency services to get into the area and provide support. In the aftermath of such events, the basic supply chains might take months to recover.

People living in the high risk zones are recommended to have a stock of three months’ worth of foods for each of the family members. For a supply of clean water for drinking, investing in high quality water purifier is the best thing to do.