What Are the Best Long-Term Food Storage Meals?

There are a few reasons why someone might want to have food for long-term storage. Typically the biggest reason is for emergency purposes. Food that lasts for long periods of time is non-perishable and has a shelf life of at least a few years. Stocking up on long-term food is an essential part of emergency preparedness and having a survival kit in your home. 

When you’re in the middle of an emergency, you will not have time to think about gathering food and supplies. And given the nature of many emergencies, such as natural disasters, you might not be able to go out for supplies even if you do have the time. The whole point of being prepared is to make sure you can focus on one thing during any emergency: surviving. 

Whether it’s a power outage or a dangerous winter storm, you need food that will last. The most important reason is so that you never have to worry about your food expiring. It takes the stress out of possibly finding expired food in your emergency kit. 

Another reason is that once you stock your kit, you won’t have to buy more food to replace the food in the kit as time passes. Once you stock up, you are good to go until a possible emergency arises. You do not want to have any added stress in an already stressful situation. When things are out of your control, you want to try and take back as much control as you can, and that means being prepared. The best long-term food storage meals are our freeze-dried food kits and cans. 

Why Is Freeze-Dried Food a Good Long-Term Choice?

There is no better option for survival and long-term storage than freeze-dried food. Our pre-portioned food kits and supplemental cans are made with a shelf life of 25 years. That’s right—over two decades of peace of mind knowing you have food that will last and keep you full and energized when you need it. 

Freeze-dried food is food that has been frozen and then dehydrated. This process makes sure there is no water left in the food. This means there is no way for it to become moldy or stale. Another great thing about our freeze-dried food is that there are several different options, from the type of food to the duration of time in which the food will help you survive.

If you’ve never stocked up on food for long-term storage, the 72-hour survival food kit is a great place to start. This kit has enough food for one person to survive for three days, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Each kit is pre-portioned for three meals for one person, so it is recommended you buy one kit per person in your household. That way, you will not have to ration any food. 

If you want to be on the safer side, you can purchase the one-week survival kit. Similar to the 72-hour one, there are three meals a day for seven days. Again, this is portioned for one person, so make sure to buy enough for everyone in your family. The kits then go up to a four-week supply, three months, and one full year’s supply of freeze-dried food. We always say it is better to be safe than sorry, and this definitely applies when stocking up on long-term food for storage. 

At the very least, you should have a 72-hour kit, but it can never hurt to have more food on hand. If for any reason, the food kits don’t work for you and your family, we also have extra-large cans of common foods that are freeze-dried. For example, we have rice, soup, eggs, fruit, and more. These are good options to supplement the food kits or to have instead of the food kits. Keep in mind you will have to portion each can out. 

Should I Have Any Other Items for Long-Term Storage?

A great idea to have, in addition to any food kits or cans of freeze-dried food, is our meal replacement bars and protein shakes. Each meal replacement bar contains 400 calories and is non-thirst-provoking. Each protein shake contains 29 grams of protein. They will keep you satiated and help you survive if you do not have any food left or simply need additional calories. 

You will need to have plenty of clean drinking water in storage. A general rule of thumb is to have one gallon of water per day per person in your household. A good idea might be to have a water purifier on hand as well. Since freeze-dried food requires water to activate it, you want to be sure you have enough for drinking and for adding to the food. 

The most important key to survival is having clean water because you can survive for much longer without food than water. If you have a water purifier in your survival kit, you have the assurance that you’ll never run out of clean water, both for drinking and adding to your food. Our water purifiers are built to last for 5,000 gallons, so you know you and your family will have plenty of water for a very long time. 

Conclusion

Our freeze-dried food kits and cans are the best long-term food storage meals. They have a shelf life of 25 years, which means you won’t have to worry about replacing your unused food supply. The kits range from durations of 72-hours to one full year’s supply and are portioned out for one person. 

You should have at least one 72-hour kit for each person in your family, but it’s always a safe bet to have more than that. You will also need clean water in your long-term storage, but having a water purifier is a great idea. It will ensure you never run out of water.

You might also consider having meal replacement bars, and protein shakes as a backup for your food kits. This way, if you run out of food, you can eat the bars and protein shakes for energy and to keep you full until you can find more supplies. 

Sources: 

https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/survival-kit-supplies.html 

https://www.ready.gov/power-outages 

https://www.nsc.org/home-safety/safety-topics/emergency-preparedness