1 Week’s Food Storage Supply (Printable List)
Today, I want to share some ideas for a one week’s food storage supply for one person. I want to make this simple so everyone can understand the concept of food storage and then follow through to put a plan in place to do it. Here’s the deal, you may or may not like the food stored in your pantry or basement as much as you do fresh items, I get it.
I would love freshly served food, too, but we need a plan B in an emergency. So, I hope this gives you some ideas to prepare for the unexpected or add to what you have stored right now. Please remember that if the grocery stores are empty after an unforeseen emergency, you must figure out how to feed your family.
Let’s start with the basics, and you add your fluff, like chocolate chips. Yeah, baby, we need chocolate. Please understand that what I’m suggesting isn’t diet or calorie-specific. If you have family who need extra help for some reason, you must make some adjustments to these items for your diet or health needs.
You also need to consider how to feed your baby if you have one. Whether infant formula for very young kids or bottled baby food, having a stash for the little ones is critical.
Be sure to check out this PRINTABLE: FSM Meal Planning Schedule
1 Week’s Food Storage Supply
Water
We need 4 gallons of water per day per person. We need to hydrate our food, cook our food, have water for personal hygiene maintenance, and wash our laundry, or at least our underwear. So, one person per week needs 28 gallons (4 gallons a day for seven days). Now, that may seem like a lot, but it’s not. I can almost hear, “But I have three kids and my partner, so I need to store 140 gallons of water. (28 gallons times 5 people=140 gallons).
This doesn’t mean you’ll be hauling that much water somewhere; you store it on your property. I had the majority of my bulk storage in the garage, some outside with UV covers to protect the water, some in WaterBrick containers under a queen-size bed, etc. Be sure to place two by 4’s of wood at least two inches off the ground or concrete to keep chemicals from leaching into your water containers from the concrete.
Please take the figure of 28 gallons per person and calculate how to store what YOU need for your family. There are lots of options when it comes to water storage containers.
How to store 28 gallons:
Be sure to use a Lead-Free Hose to fill any water containers. I also use Water Preserver, so I only have to rotate the water every five years. If you use unscented bleach, you’ll need to rotate the water every six months. Please store water in several different ways—one container at a time—and buy the right containers the first time.
WaterBrick 3.5 Gallon BPA Free Portable and Stackable – 10 Pack (these would equal approx. 35 gallons)
The awesome thing about the WaterBricks is the fact that they hold 3.5 gallons each. When filled with water, they weigh about 27 pounds. They have a handle and you can purchase a spigot for them as well. They stack on top of each other, or you can stand them up. I put several under my queen-sized bed in Southern Utah.
55-Gallon Water Barrels I have had four of these stored outside with a UV Barrel Cover (unavailable at this time) to protect them from the heat in the summer. These need a Bung and a Water Pump to get the water out when the water is needed.
5 Gallon Water Containers (Six of these equals 30 gallons) In case you missed this post, The Best 5-gallon Water Jugs Make sure the plastic containers are food storage safe and don’t have any BPA chemicals.
BlueCans I’m sure you know that I store cases of this water by now. There is no need to rotate, and the boxes stack easily under a bed or behind the couch or a dresser. The cheapest place to find these is at Brownell’s. If they’re out of stock, put your name on a waiting list; they’re worth the wait. I buy the 24 cans (12 ounces each) in a box. So, if these equal 2.25 gallons per box, you will need just over ten cases per person per week. (Approx. 13 cases per person) I would use this water for drinking or cooking only, and not for personal hygiene or laundry, too expensive.
I quote BlueCans’ website:
“1 Case – 12 oz of water per can – 24 cans per case – 2.25 gallons of water per case Pure Fresh Taste, Hermetically Sealed, Purified with 12-step Filtration, Reverse Osmosis, UV Light Treatment, Eco-Friendly Packaging, Tested BPA Free, No Chlorine or Flouride.”
Protein
Today, I am talking about cans of food. Some of you may have a freezer full of meat, but many don’t. It’s quite simple: You need seven cans of protein per week. You can choose from chicken, pork, beef, corned beef, Spam, roast beef, or beans. If you have the option to cook, you can buy bags of beans. I purchase both bulk beans in bags and canned beans. Today, we are breaking out what to purchase for one person for a week.
If you never buy anything in a can to eat, that’s awesome. So what’s so neat about buying canned food for your storage stash? I love canned food because it’s easy to store. And all you need is a can opener when it’s time to prepare a meal. In case you missed this post, Canned Foods I Highly Recommend You Store I particularly love canned soup, like Campbell’s cream of chicken. I use it in so many recipes! It’s what you’d consider one of the non-perishable foods since it has a long shelf life.
At the end of the year, if you don’t eat all the cans of food stored in your emergency food supply, please check the expiration dates and donate them to the food bank. The food banks need our help for those less fortunate.
Of course, make sure you have a good can opener, Small Can Opener, and a Large can opener. You’ll also need utensils to eat the food. I keep lots of plastic utensils, along with paper goods like cups, paper plates, and napkins.
Vegetables
Do we love fresh vegetables? Yes, indeed. But today, we are talking about food storage for the pantry and not perishable food. If you have a garden, that is awesome, but not all gardens grow year-round. It’s quite simple: You need 7 cans of vegetables per week per person. Pick your favorites as survival food since you want to enjoy what you have to eat. We love green beans, corn, asparagus, carrots, canned potatoes, and beets. I love pickled beets, too!
Fruit
I love home-canned fruit at house, so if you have some, you rock! But today, it’s all about cans of fruit. You’ll need fruit in your canning jars or cans from the store. Remember, we are stocking your pantry for seven days. Choose seven cans of your favorite canned fruits. You may love pears, peaches, Mandarin oranges, apricots (hard to find), and applesauce. Do you see how many fruits you can choose from? If I had a bag of tortilla chips, I could eat a small jar of salsa. Don’t tell anyone! Tomatoes are a fruit, remember.
Since we’re talking about canned foods, don’t forget to check out your local grocery store for case lot sales this time of year. Our local Smiths (Kroger) store has one going on right now. They have soups, canned fruit, and canned veggies with some great pricing.
Grains
Now, let’s make this simple: for one person for seven days, you will need a 16-ounce bag of rice. I love Jasmine rice! If you want quinoa, stock quinoa. That’s what’s great about breaking down the foods we need for seven days.
Also look into some oats for breakfast meals or to make cookies. Grains are true staples that need to be included in every family’s emergency stash.
Dairy
You can start with one package (approximately 26 ounces) of instant milk. Luckily, you have water stored to mix with the dry milk, so you can mix it with the instant milk to drink or pour it on your cereal.
If you want to store butter, I have tried every powdered butter offered in #10 cans. I gagged over all of them. Here’s the deal: They are fine for baking, but I wouldn’t spread that stuff on my toast or pancakes.
If the butter is essential to you, I get it. Grab a few cans of this brand. Yes, it is pricey, but you get what you pay for. Red Feather Canned Butter (unavailable at this time).
In case you missed my post on which powdered eggs to buy, How to Use Powdered Eggs, I can only recommend these OvaEasy eggs for scrambled eggs, quiches, etc. OvaEasy Eggs don’t have a long shelf life like other powder products do.
Miscellaneous
Please note that I didn’t add baking supplies to this list. If you cook or bake from scratch, your pantry is ready now for emergencies and natural disasters.
Pancake Mix (16-ounce box)
Syrup
One box of Biscuit Mix
Cereal
Peanut butter and Jam (one small jar of each)
One box of your favorite crackers, I like Ritz, Saltine, Chicken in a Biscuit, Wheat Thins, and Triscuit.
Tortilla Chips
Flour Tortillas
One jar of salsa (I would need two or three jars!)
Pasta
Salt and Pepper
Condiments
1 Week’s Food Storage Supply
Final Word
I hope you enjoyed my post today on One Week’s Food Storage Supply! It’s quite simple: We don’t need 10 cans of freeze-dried food, at least not right now. The prices are 4 to 5 times what I paid for them 10-15 years ago.
I can’t even justify commercially prepared dehydrated food right now because food, in general, is so expensive. If you prefer buckets of food storage for each person, so be it. Please compare ounces to ounces in #10 cans; they vary greatly, as do the shipping costs.
Take your family to the store and have them fill their box for seven days or two weeks. You can label their boxes with their name and how many days the contents will feed them. Not only will it be fun, but you’ll also have food storage for each family member. Please remember to store what you like to eat; it’s quite fun, my friends. May God Bless this world, Linda
Linda,
This is great advice. I use wood pallets to store my 55 gallon water barrels on. What is this UV cover you mentioned? Mine are stored in a shed, and yes, a pump or siphon is needed–also a bung wrench.
If people have swimming pools or spas they can filter that water though an AquaRain or Berkey system to make it potable.
Hi Ray, thank you, my friend. I used wood pallets as well for two of mine. Because I lived in the desert and the barrels were outside for 12 years I think, I bought Barrel Bags. They are about $39.00 each. The price of the pumps is out of sight now. You really don’t need the covers if you store your water barrels in a shed. https://amzn.to/37xAj6d and here is the pump. Check Walmart.com first https://amzn.to/3Jtx7WC I need to look at the Aquarain! Linda
Linda, you really do need to look at the AquaRain https://www.aquarain.com/ When Jane and I first moved to Las Vegas the tap water there was so hard it gave us cramps. We ended up using bottled water until I got the AquaRain. It made the Vegas water potable for us and paid for itself the first year we had it. We’ve been using it ever since and that was now 14 years ago.
My pump is a plastic siphon (squeeze it to get the water flowing) but when I drain and refill the barrels I just use my 75′ food grade hose.
Hi Ray, I totally agree. I will check it out. I had a reverse osmosis system in my last house. If we ever get this new home built I will have two installed in two different sinks. But I like options so I will check out the Aquarain. Linda
I have a Just Water filter with an extension… it filters out all chemicals, pharma meds and petrol and fracking chemicals.. a gravity fed , set up as a bucket system, cost about 125$.
Hi Denise, that’s a great price, I love it! I’m glad you have a way to filter your water! Linda
I noticed you put a box of biscuit mix, if you want to add a little treat for yourself in times of emergencies
buy a box of the Red Lobster Cheddar Bay biscuit mix. Yes you need a few items but they are so worth it
and it will be a little bit of a treat in the middle of a emergency. O.k. not as good as chocolate but it’s right
up there. Another thing is snack bars, you got to have a snack ever now and then.
Hi June, oh my gosh, I forgot about the Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits! They are so good! I will add these and some snacks, thank you!! Linda
Linda:
I loved your list. But most people now have electric can openers these days (I even have one) but we have found the can openers you can buy in Walmart are not up to what they used to be. We bought some at Christmas and they have to be fiddled and fudged with to get them work. What I recommend is the P38 military can opener at Amazon for $12.
These are as I said military can openers and the work like you would not believe. I am going to get some so for $12 you get 20 can openers. We still have one somewhere (buried in my kitchen drawer) that Jack was given when he was in the Coast Guard. They even have a hole where you can put them on a key chain to have one when you are not at home.
Information:
Material Metal
Brand US Shelby CO
Item Dimensions LxWxH 3.6 x 2.5 x 0.3 inches
Item Weight 0.1 Pounds (this is for the whole 20 can openers)
About this item
P-38s measure 1.5″ / 38mm
Lightweight, simple design
Small hole in the body lets you attach one to your key or dog tag chain
https://amzn.to/3DWroaI
Hi Jackie, oh thank you, I forgot about these! I have some as well, in the storage unit until our home is built. I have an electric can opener as well, my hands can’t twist the manual can openers anymore. LOL! Life is good with an electric one! Linda
Love your list, Linda. I would change only one thing and that’s to make fats into a food group. You address butter in the Dairy Group, and that canned butter is expensive as you mention, but there are other fats that are not as expensive and can be stored and used. Lard is one. Shortening. Cooking Oil. Beef Tallow and Schmaltz. Schmaltz is chicken fat rendered with onion and is a savory yummy topping for toast. You can buy it canned, or I have pressure canned it myself and store it in a refrigerator. The recipe says it is shelf stable for years when pressure canned, but since the FDA hasn’t studied it, I keep mine in an extra refrigerator. It should last forever if kept in there. If the power goes out, I can put it on the shelf and not worry so much about the FDA. But while we have electricity, we do things by the book. It is an excellent substitute for butter on toast. It is so yummy.
Hi Debbie, I like your ideas on other fats!! My mother used lard, and I have some shortening. I don’t store a lot but some old recipes call for it! Great reminder. Great tips, thank you!! I love these! Linda
2 words….Bacon Grease!
Hi Hazel, oh yeah, baby!! BACON GREASE!!! I love this reminder!! Thank you, Linda
Has anybody purchased from Emergency Essentials? I found some freeze dried sweet potatoes and I wonder if they are good. Prices were reasonable and they have stock.
Thanks
Hi Ramona, oh yes, I have purchased from Emergency Essentials. I have sweet potatoes from Thrive Life, and they are good! You just add water! I added cinnamon and sugar and they were tasty! They have been around a long time. I live in Utah and they are headquartered out of Salt Lake City, Utah. They are a reputable company. I would order from them. Linda
Thanks Linda ,
I buy most of my stuff from Thrive Life but they don’t carry a lot of products like they used to. When you mentioned sweet potatoes {yum yum}. I went searching for them and freeze dried at Emergency Essentials and I ordered some . Thanks for the suggestion . I love your newsletters and have learned so much from you.
Ramona
Hi Ramona, oh, thank you for your kind words, my friend. When I worked at a Food Storage company (demonstrations), years ago, they told me they would ask other Food Storage companies for #10 cans and put their labels on them. That was many years ago before food was scarce. Linda
I second the Emergency Essentials recommendation from Linda. We bought a variety of products from them. They have good quality freeze dried food products & great customer service!
We live in an apartment, and there are only 2 of us. So 55 gallon drums of water. Number 10 cans of food, and all those other super bulk foods don’t work for us. Storage Units around here cost hundreds of dollars a month, so that is out of the question. This article started out as what you need to feed 1 person for one month so that is more useful for us. I have a tight budget so shop about 3 times a month 2 weeks at $150, 1 week at $250. The 4th week is when the rent and utilities, so I have no money for shopping that week. I have 2 standard closets canned goods racks under the sofa, 3 (12” deep shelving units in our dark, cold, hallway, and 4 of those premade stock cabinets in my kitchen, that don’t hold much (designed for someone who obviously doesn’t cook). Thus my creative storage. Under the bed is for out of season clothing, shoes, medical supplies, bedding, and a box of photos, so it’s out for food storage. Half 1 shelf is used for Xena, our cat’s food. I have 1 over the door shelving units. I have, fridge for fresh veggies and dairy anthything perishable and small freezer for meats, frozen vegetables, and Klondike bars. In the Winter I have I or 2 heavy duty storage boxes on the porch where we store breads, and other items too large for the fridge. I shop carefully from my fundamental shopping list, and other items I only buy occasionally. I have a weekly shopping list I keep on my grocery store app, a shopping list on Amazon, for grains, hot cereals, some dried beans, etc, for things I can only get there, plus a 3 page list in a paper notebook of things I need that are flexible and get worked into the shopping list if I have a few dollars leftover, in my standard list. Some items are for 1 week, some are for longer term staples. I don’t buy convenience foods because they are too expensive, and are full of fat, sugar, sodium, and sugar. I buy my staples to make my own items from scratch, plus my homemade mixes. It’s much cheaper and healthier. I can squeeze in supplies for about 3 months supplies at a time, with careful shopping,I check the the store app for sales on my staple items only. Nothing Splurged on that I won’t use. I only buy things we like and will eat. I shop by grocery pickup, it keeps my husband from buying things we don’t need because they are there. There are.lists of unadvertised sale at the market so when he checks those lists and sees things on sale that I do regularly buy are on sale, he messages me on Facebook to see if we need them. I tell him what to get carefully squeezing it from our petty cash fund. Of course I do have to hope he doesn’t see a half dozen (usually expensive) items he thinks would be good. Like buying $14 of organic strawberries, just because they look good. That has to come from his pocket cash. I buy seasonally only, it’s cheaper to buy what is in season. My whole point is that not everyone on here can afford 3-4 years of food to have on hand, just in case. We have no space, but I find things in Linda’s areticled all the time, that are useful and economical for us, and inspire ideas I can apply to our situation. We have a problem here getting food into the Northeast because of transportation issues, so empty shelves and out of stock messages on the app. Every week I have to put substitutions on my grocery lists for everything I have on the list, including the equivalent amounts I want. If something is out the shoppers buy the smallest size of the substitutions I authorize and no matter how many of an item I’ve listed. I will get only 1 out of the 2-3 I ordered. It generally takes an hour to formulate a meal plan based on what the market every week, about 2-3 hours to finalize my shopping list within my budget, then another hour to authorize the substitutions I want, that often are not what the store decides to substitute. One week I ordered a large eggplant and the shopper grabbed a small yellow squash instead! Not exactly what I needed to make my planned eggplant Parmesan! So my shopping is very careful and time consuming, but with me not able to go to the market these days, it has to be. We use l Lyft and Uber to transport groceries, since I can’t drive anymore, so It’s necessary. Thanks for this article Linda, I got some useful ideas from it.
Hi MaryAnn, I always love your comments, you are so right not everyone can afford 3-4 years worth of food storage. I hope the 1 week printable sheet will helps a few families realize they can do it one can at a time or one package at a time. I have said this before I do not know how people can feed their families these days. The price of food is outrageous, and depressing in my mind. I haven’t bought any red meat for about 2 years. I buy the Costco rotisserie chicken breasts (deboned) and divide the package into 6 bags. I’m starting to use my freeze dried food daily because at my age (74) I may as well use every bit of it now. LOL! By the way, I had forgotten about Klondike Bars, now I want some of those! Good one! Linda
Linda, about can openers. First, the P-51 is larger, easier to grip and less likely to bend than the P-38. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P40SJ54/ref=as_sl_pc_as_ss_li_til?tag=rdw0a-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=6c820773096ddac9729b858696d33183&creativeASIN=B00P40SJ54
Second, Jane has the same problem you have with twisting manual can openers so I got one of these 12 years ago. The long crank handle makes using them easy. Swing Away Easy Crank Can Opener https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CD77VO/ref=as_sl_pc_as_ss_li_til?tag=rdw0a-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=c2e69662b556fdba1a8d69c2f453fd75&creativeASIN=B001CD77VO&th=1
Hi Ray, thank you for the update on the one can opener and thank you for adding the links, You’re the best! Linda