Emergency Pantry Solutions for Great Cooking & Being Prepared

Why an Emergency Pantry?

The days are getting shorter and fall is coming, change is in the air. After the last year or two, most of us realize that change is something we can depend on these days. But change can be challenging with a family, cooking, and pets. After we thought COVID-19 was waning and we all sighed a collective sigh of relief, with the new variants afoot, we are all dealing with change again. For those of us that also deal with distinct seasons, we are used to having food on hand in our pantry, but for people in more temperate climates, this is not something that they usually plan. Many of us have been reminded how important it is to have supplies on hand so we are well prepared for emergencies in the last few years. So we are discussing the merits of an emergency pantry today and how to stock your pantry and be prepared.

Maybe it’s living out in the country most of my life or having a large family, but having a well-stocked pantry was just something we did to minimize trips into town and to make sure we had what we needed on hand for family meals and guests that would show up at a moment’s notice. For years we have used a portion of our outdoor shed for food, paper products, and pet food storage; it frees up a lot of room in our kitchen pantry. Also, our shed is much more accessible for unloading those 40-pound bags of dog food!

Another benefit of having a well-stocked pantry, it cuts down on quick runs to the grocery store which helps the climate. It’s nice to be able to make a meal and know that you will have the ingredients on hand that you need. Our emergency food pantry list that we share with you below will help you thrive during bad weather, power outages, and other unexpected things that happen in life. Because it’s always good to have a little control when storms, power outages, or illnesses disrupt our lives. We give you a list below that covers water, food, pets, paper goods, supplements, and more so you know you are prepared for a great meal or an emergency.

Stocking Your Emergency Pantry

Consider some important details when stocking your pantry for everyday use and emergencies because it’s important to choose foods that your family will eat. We encourage you to use a black permanent marker to write the pull dates on items where they will be visible. Also keep in mind that most foods are fine well past their suggested sell date, so you can give yourself some wiggle room. We have a list inside our pantry door of what is in our pantry and quantities. This list comes in handy for keeping track of what is in your pantry and when to restock.

Be sure to take into account your family’s special dietary needs, such as gluten or dairy-free, or allergies when stocking your pantry, and adjust our sample list accordingly. We will put your pets on our list too and don’t forget about prescription refills. Refilling any prescriptions or having each family member with enough prescription, over-the-counter medications, vitamins, and supplements that they might need for a two-month stretch is important.

Other Emergency Supplies

Other than food, paper goods, prescriptions, supplements, and pet food there are some items that can make life easier in an emergency. If you are lucky to have a gas stove, be sure to keep some lighters on hand to light your stove. If you have an electric stove, buying a small propane camping stove to use outdoors in emergencies allows you to cook most of your food.

Keep in mind that you can use your outdoor gas grill as an oven, it’s our favorite way to make pizza to grilled fruit! Also, having on hand, flashlights and battery-powered camping lanterns is a must. If you live in an area prone to power outages or extreme weather, a backup generator can make life so much easier. Be sure to have an inverter generator for your refrigerator and computers, they don’t do well on traditional generators. Also, dual-fuel generators give you many options and bottled propane is much easier to store than gasoline which can go bad over time.

Your Food Pantry Basics

Please keep in mind your family’s needs when stocking your pantry, but below we go over what we think are some good basics to have on hand for cooking a meal when you haven’t had time to go to the store to have emergency food supplies on hand:

• • Canned fruits, and vegetables, be sure to have a manual can opener
  • Canned salmon, chicken, and tuna-you can whip up some easy skillet meals to casseroles with any of these ingredients
  • Quick oatmeal, nutritious, filling, and easy to prepare
  • Pasta, rice, and whole grains
  • Canned beans such as pinto, black, garbanzo, or kidney beans, make for a good base for soup or to add to your skillet meals
  • Canned tomatoes for stew, soups, and skillet meals
  • Lentils and split peas-great protein source, filling, and great to add to soups or stews
  • For vegetable, chicken, and beef broth, I prefer bullion in jars, but some people prefer cartons
  • Potatoes-always a staple
  • Onions
  • Evaporated milk and powered milk-both can be used in a lot of recipes
  • Boxed milk or oat, soy milk
  • Dried fruit like cranberries, blueberries, apricots, raisins, all make a quick snack with nuts
  • Nuts, such as almonds, cashews, and walnuts-keeping these in the freezer keeps these fresh for a long time
  • Salt, pepper, and spices
  • Powdered peanut butter-this organic wonder is available both at Costco and Amazon
  • Protein bars
  • Dry cereal and granola
  • Crackers and pretzels
  • Dried soup mixes
  • Nut butter, jelly, or jam
  • Baking staples such as sugar, flour, honey, oil, etc.
  • Basic comfort foods such as candy, cookies, instant pudding, coffee, tea, and powdered creamer

If you are fortunate and don’t experience a power outage during emergencies you can also stock up on some staples that you can keep in your freezer and refrigerator:

• Eggs
• Butter-it can be frozen by the way
• Cheese, of many types, can be frozen
• Fruits and vegetables
• Yogurt
• Meat, chicken, or tofu
• Bread-it can be stored in the freezer and thawed as needed
• Pizza dough stores well and can be frozen-great for pizza and focaccia

Water & Beverages

Probably one of the most important items in your pantry will be water and beverages, staying well-hydrated is important whether it is hot or cold. You should keep enough on hand to last each person in your family at least a week. Be sure to keep some of your favorite beverages on hand also. Also, many times in emergencies water gets contaminated, so having a water purification pitcher at home can help so much in an emergency. The cost of water purification pitchers has come way down and can be purchased locally or on Amazon starting at about $30.

Stock Up on Pet Food & Paper Products

Be sure to remember your pets when it comes to stocking enough food in your pantry for an emergency. So this entails having dog and cat food on hand that would last at least 2 weeks, and kitty litter if your cat is an indoor cat.

We all learned last year how important it is to have some paper goods on hand. Remember to stock your pantry with paper towels, toilet paper, tissue paper, plastic bags-if you use them, plastic wrap, kitchen bags, garbage bags, paper plates, and plastic utensils-both of which come in handy during a power outage. Also, be sure to have enough of your personal products on hand to last at least 2 weeks if you can’t get to the store or deliveries have slowed.

Some of us use our pantry for stocking up, others have a cabinet in their garage, while other people find keeping part of their outdoor shed for emergency supplies allows their kitchen pantry to stay uncluttered. Especially if you store your pantry items in the garage or outdoor shed, it would be handy to keep a list on hand of everything that is in our emergency food supply in your kitchen. When the person uses the last of an item, put that item on the grocery list for this week’s grocery shopping-this makes it simple to keep your pantry up-to-date and stocked for cooking fun and emergencies too!

Keep your outdoor shed well-ventilated with louvered windows if you are using it for food storage and if you live in a humid climate a dehumidifier does wonders for keeping what is inside your shed in good shape. Many of the finishing items we stock at Shed Windows and More can help create a great place to stock pantry items and keep them easy to find in your outdoor shed or garage.