5 Easy Steps to Build the Ultimate Survival Food Kit

Having something like a survival food kit meant you were labeled a “prepper” as that is somehow a bad thing. Preppers were often laughed at as “conspiracy theorists” for their beliefs in preparing themselves and their families for any and all mishaps life could throw their way. Yet since the pandemic, hackers shutting down gas pipelines and meat manufacturers, rising food costs, weather disasters, and threats of war, ordinary people are beginning to think that maybe they too should at least have a survival food kit ready.

Starting to build a survival food kit can seem overwhelming to many at first. What foods to add to the medicine cabinet for better nutrition? How long will the food last? How should I save the kit once I have it set up? These are just some of the questions you may be asking yourself, and the reason this is so is because you’re used to buying only what you like to eat and only what you need for the next week or so every time you go to the grocery store. Building a survival food kit doesn’t have to be overly complicated if you take the process step by step.

Step 1 – Decide the purpose of your survival food kit.

You will need to ask yourself a few questions to determine the primary use for your food kit in the first place. Are you preparing the food kit for emergencies or conditions that limit you to your home or for situations where you will need to grab the food kit, get in your car and go? Will the kit be designed to stay in the car in an emergency while in the car away from home? Will the kit be expected to feed you and your family for just a few days or for weeks or even months?

Step 2 – Determine the storage location for your survival food kit.

Once you’ve decided on the purpose of your food kit, you’ll need to determine where you want to store your food in your home or car. You’ll need to consider the anticipated size of your food supply, which is directly based on how long the food should be able to feed you and your family, as this will limit your storage space options. Obviously, your car has limited space, so a 6-month supply of food probably won’t fit well, nor is such a large amount of food likely to be necessary in your car anyway.

The storage location of your survival food kit can greatly affect the shelf life or longevity of the food in your kit. You’ll want to store your food in a cool, dry place, out of direct sunlight to ensure your food stays good to eat for longer. Find a place in your house that fits this criteria and make sure there is enough space for the amount of food or the total size of your medicine cabinet.

Step 3: Gather or buy food for your survival food kit.

As a general guideline, remember that you’ll want to store the foods you already eat. There’s no point in storing a bunch of cans of tuna if neither you nor your family like to eat it. Even if you have the extra funds to buy long-term storable freeze-dried foods, you’ll want to choose the types of foods you and your family already eat in their “fresh” form. Stick to the foods you love, but try to add a balance of nutrition to your kit in the process.

That being said, there are certain foods that just don’t store well, period. Foods that are high in fat or moisture generally do not store well. Dried pasta, (white) rice, flour, sugar, and oats store quite well if kept in the proper sealed containers and in the right environmental conditions. Canned goods generally store quite well, however you may want to consider choosing things like dried beans over canned beans for longer shelf life and less weight.

You can buy powdered alternatives for things like milk, eggs, butter, and even peanut butter. Dry and powdered foods are never exactly the same as their fresh counterparts, even when reconstituted; however, they can still be quite good in many recipes.

Step 4: Repackage food for longer storage, if necessary.

Many foods can be repackaged to provide a better shelf life. All your dry foods will store well in a simple sealed container; however, they can also be placed in mylar bags along with oxygen absorbers and/or desiccant packs for humidity control. You can then vacuum seal the mylar bags for the ultimate in food protection in your kit. Many long-term freeze-dried storable foods you can buy are already similarly packaged for better longevity, so repackaging is usually not necessary.

Step 5 – Eat and rotate the foods in your survival food kit.

One of the key steps for your survival food kit is to remember to rotate food that has reached or exceeded its expiration date and replace it with fresh replenishment. The easiest way to do this is to simply eat food from your medicine cabinet from time to time and replace it quickly. Again, this is why you’ll want to only stock foods in your kit that you and your family want to eat.

Always eat the oldest foods in the medicine cabinet first to ensure proper rotation. You might be tempted to pick a particular item from the kit based on what you fancy, however you should avoid this and pick items that are closer to the end of their useful life first.

As an extra tip, you may want to include items like can openers, spice or seasoning packets, fire starting and cooking tools, etc. in your survival food kit too, for convenience, especially if your kit will be a take-out type. Having these items inside your kit can save time and can make the experience of any disaster or situation that requires accessing your food kit in the first place less stressful to manage.