Prepping and Survival Food Storage Tips for Singles, Couples and Small Families

If you are new to prepping and food storage then you may already be overwhelmed by the choices of what to buy and what to store. You may be single, a couple, maybe a single parent or only have one child. But for that very reason it is all the more important for you to have a supply of food on hand to get you through difficult times. You may not have a support system that can help you out during times of crisis. Your sole income could mean going hungry if you lose your job. Inflation can eat away at your paycheck faster than that of a dual income. You may be more vulnerable to a sudden interruption of your daily life. You may already be living paycheck to paycheck and are unsure if you will have money for groceries if your car breaks down let alone how you would survive a major crisis. While there is a wealth of food storage information online, most is geared to families who are stocking up to feed a family of 4 or more. While your needs are different from a family of 6 they are just as important and real as any large family.

So where do you start? You can certainly look over the many lists available online to get ideas on the type of things to stock up on. But as a single person or couple you probably don’t need 300lbs of grains. Sure a 50lb bag of rice is cheap at the big box stores but how long is it going to take you to eat it? Buying a years supply of long-term food is cheaper to buy for one person vs a family of 4 but do you have a place to store it? Chances are you may be living in an apartment, condo or shared housing. You may not have the same storage space as a family in a 4-bedroom house. But you might be surprised to learn how much food you can store in a small space.

The first thing you need to do is analyze your own needs. How much food do you go through a week? Do you eat out 4 nights a week? What do you have on hand right now? How long would it last? How much storage space do you have? Can you reorganize your space to make room for additional preps? All preppers have the same issue of how much to buy. It is all too easy to go to Walmart or Costco and just start buying in bulk and buying the biggest packages you can find. This approach can quickly overwhelm you and before you know it you have more food than you can possibly use. If you or your family doesn’t like green beans why would you buy a case of them?

Start by breaking it down by meals vs buying in bulk. Think if you were home for one week what would you eat each day for breakfast, lunch and dinner? What would that look like if you were to buy enough for each of those meals? If you have hamburger helper one night do you or your family finish it off in one meal or are there leftovers? For a single or couple there are many meals you can make that will feed you for a few days, soups and stews in particular. Make a menu for each day. Once you figure out how much you need for a week then it is pretty easy to move on to enough food for two weeks and then a month. By taking this approach you won’t end up with food you will never eat or don’t know what to do with.

When I see pictures of preppers who have hundreds of can goods on their shelves I have to wonder are they really able to go though that much before they expire and what kind of rotation plan do they really have? I have issues with can goods. When it comes to canned vegetables I am not crazy about the taste, they are bulky and take up room. But canned goods are basic to every preppers food storage plan. Buy what you like, and what you will use. Canned soups, meats and pastas are all great to have on hand. Also include ingredients to cook other meals such as chili or stew. A note about expiration dates. Once you place a canned good on your shelf the countdown begins. They are not a put it on the shelf and forget about it product. Recently I found a couple of can goods in the back of my pantry that were two and three years past the expiration printed on the can. Turned out they were still fine and no ill effects were had.  Goes to show you how even the best rotation plans can go a muck. But most can goods can still be consumed a year or two past the expiration date.

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