Emergency Food Storage: How Much Food per Person for 2 Weeks to 3 Months

At 2,000 calories per adult per day, one adult needs 28,000 calories for two weeks, 60,000 for a month and 180,000 for three months. Count children as roughly half to three quarters of an adult, and add more for anyone doing hard physical work like hauling water or cutting wood.

Bulk staples carry most of that cheaply. USDA lists dry white rice at about 365 calories per 100 grams, about 1,650 calories a pound, and dry pinto beans at about 1,570 calories a pound. So 25 lb of rice plus 25 lb of beans is roughly 80,000 calories, about 40 adult days. Rice and beans together also make a more complete protein than either alone.

Then add what makes it livable: cooking oil, which is the densest calories you can store, salt, sugar or honey, peanut butter, oats, canned meat and fish, canned vegetables and fruit, and a multivitamin. Store foods your household already eats. A crisis is a bad time to discover the kids will not touch lentils.

Canned food is the base of a two-week supply. It needs no water and no cooking, it already contains water, and you eat it from the can if you must. Most cans carry a best-by date two or more years out. Buy what you eat, put new cans at the back and eat from the front.

Dry staples are the base of a three-month supply. Sealed in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers inside food-grade buckets, white rice, dried beans, rolled oats and wheat keep for decades. Brown rice keeps far less time because of its oil. The catch is fuel and water: dry beans need soaking and long cooking, which is why the cooking without power guide matters as much as the food.

Freeze-dried meals are best where weight and simplicity matter: a go bag, an evacuation, or days when nobody has the energy to cook. They need only water, hot if you have it. They cost more per calorie, so most households keep a bucket or two rather than three months' worth.

Heat, light, moisture, oxygen and pests ruin stored food. Keep it in a cool, dark, dry place, ideally below 70 F, off concrete floors and out of a hot garage or attic. Food-grade buckets with tight lids keep out mice and insects.

Rotate. Write the purchase date on everything and eat the oldest first. A pantry you cook from every week is always fresh, while a stack of buckets bought once and forgotten may disappoint you when you open it.

Plan for the fridge and freezer too. When the power goes out, eat refrigerated food first, then frozen, then shelf-stable. A full freezer stays frozen longer than a half-empty one if you keep the door shut. A thermometer in each tells you what is still safe, and a power station can keep them running. See our solar power for a long grid-down guide.