How To Stock Your Kitchen For Survival
Have you thought about how to stock your kitchen for survival? If you think about it, in most cases after a disaster, what we have today in our home may be what we will have to eat or drink for days or weeks, and possibly, months.
Now, this is assuming our home or apartment is still standing. Today, I drove into town (ten miles) and it was beautiful to see the Christmas decorations, like the trees, the brightly colored lights, and the Poinsettia plants. I actually ran into a hardware store looking for a pickle crock for my home.
I accidentally dropped my favorite one and it broke into bits and pieces. Luckily, the store had the exact one I wanted. It’s a plain and simple cream-colored pickle crock and I love it. As I walked around the store I could see beautifully wrapped boxes underneath Christmas trees in several locations.
I thought to myself, I’m so glad my family is practical, they don’t want or expect a lot for Christmas as far as gifts go. They are thankful for one gift from their parents. Maybe two, and the second one would be underwear and socks. Yay, for new underwear, right?
Practical Gifts
Here’s the deal, if you have ever thought you needed to give practical gifts, this is the year. Just think about Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. My heart still aches for the people trying to recover from those disasters. Plus, there will be more to come, I promise. We all know that.
Please keep in mind I am not, and I repeat, I am not a survivalist. I can survive anything because I am prepared for the unexpected. I will not go up in the hills to a cabin or tent and be ambushed by some crazies out there, and there seems to be a lot of them lately.
We have to remind ourselves we have good people around us, but we need to be prepared to take care of ourselves if we can’t leave our homes. I will not leave my home under any circumstance unless our neighborhood is evacuated or swallowed up by an earthquake.
Please, purchase practical gifts this year that can be used year after year for survival.
Like-Minded People
We need to live near like-minded people and work together as a team. You have heard me say this before, but we must do it now. I don’t have a glass ball that tells me the exact date something will happen. But it seems mother nature is stronger or has more effect on families nowadays than ever before.
Maybe it’s because we’ve become more of an urban society living in big cities for the most part. Therefore we must be able to stay in our homes and stock our kitchens for survival. Period.
Tents, Cabins, or Trailers
If you have plans to take a tent somewhere or go to a cabin, drive a motorhome, or pull a trailer somewhere, that’s awesome but I don’t have any of those options. My home is stocked with food and water for Mark and myself.
Stock Your Kitchen
Here are just a few ideas to remind us all to be prepared before we have to be prepared. We will not be caught off guard, right? Yes, disasters happen, but if our kitchen is stocked with food and water, we can survive.
Of course, we need other items, but the local grocery stores will be empty within 24-48 hours if an unforeseen emergency happens. Please buy cloth diapers if you have a baby, I know it’s not in the kitchen, but please get some.
If the stores close we will not be able to buy disposable diapers. That one popped into my head, I’m always thinking of other items we will all need. It may be your neighbor’s baby.
Water in the kitchen
If you know me, I recommend four gallons of water per person per day. That may seem like a lot, but you will need a whole lot more than this amount. You may have neighbors that only have the contaminated water from their kitchen faucet if the water lines even work.
Please keep in mind if our water supply is compromised we will not be able to use that hot water heater we all have which may be a 40-50 gallon tank. Your swimming pools will become a haven for algae without electricity. You can purify it if you have water purifiers stocked.
I have a Big Berkey and several Life Straws and Berkey Sports Water Bottles. This is somewhat new, Family Life Straw Unit.
You need water for cooking, hydrating yourself, personal hygiene, and washing at least your underwear. While we’re talking about it, please give lots of underwear this year to family members for Christmas.
Food in the kitchen
My favorite food storage is from Honeyville Grain and Thrive Life. I only buy freeze-dried fruit, freeze-dried meat, and freeze-dried vegetables. You still need the basics in your kitchen, but just buy an extra can or two every time you have a little extra money.
These would make great gifts, hint, hint. I highly recommend Jodi from Food Storage Made Easy (.net) she sells Thrive Life and she is awesome to work with.
Sign up for her emails and then you can find out when they have sales going on with really good discounts. Here is my post on the basics you need in your kitchen. Basics To Cook With by Linda
I also buy lots of canned beans. I can no longer bottle them because of my arthritic hands, but they taste fabulous! Don’t forget to have at least two to three can openers. You can eat some foods right out of the can. Yes, we can survive with the food we have in our kitchen!
Cash
Please store one-dollar bills and five-dollar bills, you will need them. Yes, you will need them.
Thanks again for being prepared for the unexpected. May God bless this world.
My favorite things:
Survival Food Storage by Linda
Paper Plates and Cold Paper Cups and Hot Paper Cups
Along with a well stocked kitchen, remember to have multiple ways of cooking that food. Electricity will probably be out in any major disaster, so will your gas oven work without power? If not, you’ll need another way to bake. Dutch oven, propane oven, solar oven, etc. And if your range top is electric, then you’ll need something else just to heat food let alone cook anything.
I try for at least 3 ways to do any normal task if at all possible, so if some of my supplies are ruined, I can fall back to a secondary or tertiary option. My wife thinks I’m crazy, but I want to make sure we as prepared as we can be for any curveballs thrown our way.
And every year or two I give preparedness gifts to local family. One year it was winter car kits, next time was 72-hour MH emergency food kits. Another time was shake to charge flashlights. Not sure what I’ll give next year, maybe Sterno camping stoves… 😉
HI Dmwalsh, I always love your comments, but you know that I’m sure. I did recommend a butane stove and the bottom of my post. This is so funny because you and I think alike, we need more than one option for everything. Mark has no clue how prepared we are. LOL! He goes to the presentations I am asked to speak at so he knows we have preparedness stuff. It’s pretty obvious looking around our home and garage! LOL! I love hearing you are giving preparedness gifts to local family. It’s wonderful that your family members are receiving stuff they may need after an unforeseen emergency. You rock! Happy Holidays! Linda
P.S. If the gas lines are not damaged, yes you can use a match to light the burners and use your gas stoves. This is why I traded out my electric stove for a gas one.
Sorry I missed the Butane stove link.
And while most gas stoves will light with a match, it’s best if folks test this before an event. Just flip the circuit breaker to the stove and try it. The latest stoves have safety features and might not let gas flow when they have no power. Better to know ahead of time before getting an unpleasant surprise. My stove top will work, but the oven is useless without power. Although since I have a standby generator that situation isn’t very likely for me (if natural gas is flowing, I have power, if it’s not flowing then the stove won’t work anyway!)
And thanks for all the great articles!
NO worries, my friend, thanks for that additional tip about stoves. Linda
Lights Out by Ted Koppel, is scarier than any post apocalyptic fiction there is. Even if that scenario never happens, there are the usual ones, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, winter, job loss and more. Taking care of one’s family is a priority. Learning to cook from scratch is a necessity, plus the added benefit of being better for you.
Hi, Janet, that book “Lights Out” is the best book in my opinion. It’s real, it’s informative and SCARY! Our country is so unprepared for an attack on our grid system. I wish people would read it. I have offered my book to several people to read. Guess what? Only one friend would read it. Are you kidding me, do you not want to know what is wrong with our degrading power systems?? When our grid system is attacked and it will be, people better know how to cook from scratch. I need to write some more posts on simple ways of cooking from scratch. On Thanksgiving, I taught my 10-year-old granddaughter how to make a roux. We were making creamed chip beef on my homemade rolls. By the time it was finished, all the grandkids were in the kitchen wanting to know how to make a roux and how to make meals with it. Sorry to ramble, but you get it!! Happy Holidays, my friend! Linda
My great grand daughter was about 10 when she and I did the whole Thanksgiving dinner, and yes, she knew how to make the gravy after making the sauce for creamed eggs on toast… The best age is YOUNG when teaching a child.. never too young to let them know how much fun it is…. and how they could brag to their friends what they can do… if waiting till in their teens, they are too involved in other teenagers… not interested in boring things like cooking.. I want to thank you for all these ideas, makes us old folks remember back when I was younger and did so many things I no longer do… I hope to show my great grand daughter this site when she comes to visit next time.. all folks need to learn or remember how to do the needed things to keep going in any type of disaster from losing a job to having a water line break.. We never know too much. thanks..
Jeanne, plus we learn from each other! Hugs, Linda
Hi, Linda! I wanted to add one thing to water in the kitchen. Whether store bought or home canned, don’t throw out the water/broth in canned food, in a survival situation. Although you might not want it wash with it, it can be used for cooking and even hydration, if necessary. I don’t purchase a lot of store bought canned food, but when I do purchase canned vegetables or fruits, I make sure they are water packed.
I, also, store extra water for canning. If the power goes out and looks to be out for an extended period, I am going to need to can anything in my freezer. That takes a lot of water, especially for anything I am water bath canning. That water shouldn’t be tossed out after the canning process, either. It can be reused for pretty much anything.
Have a great day my friend! I’m glad you and Mark got to spend some time with the family for Thanksgiving! Hugs, Mare
Hi, Mare, you always have great thoughts to add to mine, thank you, my friend! Great tips about the water in the cans, I picture using it as well. My biggest fear is a power outage longer than 5 days. I’m finding myself buying less and less food for the freezer. But we still need to freeze certain items. I can cook and bake without electricity but the frig and freezer would be a problem. I have frozen jugs of water that would help for a few days in the frig and freezer but the heat here…well you get it. Happy Holiday Hugs! Linda
(I think you’ve got a typo in your section on “Like minded people” Second to last sentence you wrote “unban” but I believe you meant “urban”.”
Great article 🙂
We are definitely fans of more practical gifts in our family. Though as we’ve got a four year old, we’ve got to leave some room for fun too. Usually we let the grandparents buy the “fun” toys and my husband and I buy the practical things like clothes and books.
Hi, K, thank you for letting me know about the typo! I really appreciate it! Oh my goodness, four-year-olds are so fun to watch and interact with!! Our youngest grandchild is nine. I remember one of my daughters not wanting to sit on Santa’s lap for a picture around 3-4 years old. I can still see the terror in her eyes! Needless to say, she was the only one we didn’t have a picture of Santa that year. Life is so fun with little ones. Happy Holidays! Linda
Linda, as always, a great post.
I have multiple ways to “cook”. I have 2 cast iron dutch ovens and I know how to use them: – baking, stewing, even pancakes and crepes!! I also have a butane stove and a good supply of fuel for it. I also have a camping percolator to make my coffee in the morning!
Something I saw some time ago about cooking is using candle power. Here was the idea – have a number of large pillar candles with 2-4 wicks. Place one in the kitchen sink, take the rack out of your oven and place over the sink. Now, you can light your candle and set a pot (perhaps not a large pot) filled with what you want to heat. I haven’t tried it yet myself so not sure how hot or how long it will take. I must do that one of these days. The way I see it, the candle in the sink makes for a safe way to heat a pot of soup/water for tea/coffee, etc. The only thing I think one should do, however, is line the sink so that any wax will be contained and not go down the drain. I think a layer of parchment paper or aluminum foil would do the trick.
I have been telling people to purchase extra canned foods when they shop. I explain about rotation as well and adding that food to the grocery list when they use a can. For example: I purchase 2 cans of chili; I use one can for dinner; I put chili on the shopping list; I go to the store and buy 2 cans of chili. Now I have 3 cans on the shelf; I use one can; put it on the list and purchase 2 cans; now I have 4 cans, and on and on. That way, a person is purchasing food they eat, rotating it so you save money by not having food that does not get eaten or have to toss because it is too old.
Well, I must get back to my craft room and get more gifts made.
Leanne
Hi, Leanne, oh how I love your comment! You know I love hearing people are prepared to cook several different ways. I love your can idea, that’s a great tip! I think I would use foil in the sink as well. Interesting idea. I love hearing your making crafts for gifts! LOVE IT! Linda
Set the candle on a tray, in a bowl, or anything that won’t tip. Line it with foil, sand or anything to stabilize it.
We put in a well so we will have water. I’m too old to walk very far with a pail. I can then do laundry outside if I have to, and always have fresh, clean water. Great for bartering too.
If things get really, really long term bad I can hook up a hose and pump it into the house through the outdoor faucet. (Flush toilet too) Less carrying. That was pricey but, oh the work it will save. No hose in winter though. Maybe I could some how insulate it but I wouldn’t want to break the hose.
As for cooking I have always done from scratch so no problem there. Used to be a tent camper many years ago.
I have some solar things but we don’t get a lot of sun here.
HI Mary, great tips on using water, I really wish we had a well. I love your comment I used to be a tent camper, I love camping!!! I have a lot of sunshine here so I’m set for solar, but some areas will rarely be able to use solar. Good thought about bartering. Great comment, Linda
Nice to see a fellow Minnesotan! I have a hand pump well unit and the sand point for it but wasn’t able to get the pipes to pound it into ground yet. Yep, my regular well needs electricity. Many generators can’t kick the power necessary for it. I’ve tried very hard to teach my sons and grandson ways to survive but I wonder how much they will remember if I’m gone. I live far east East Central MN. Where are you?
Hello.
I’m in central Mn not too far from Mille Lacs. Moved to the area not too long ago. My grandson and a daughter like the woods and learning about survival. I think anything we can pass on will be recalled when it is needed. Keep on teaching something is bound to stick. Now I am going to start teaching my great grand kids about the woods, building a shelter maybe firestarting, Dakota fire, and using a compass. Should be fun. They are coming for a visit in 2018. I’m really looking forward to that.