If you've looked into food storage options at all, you've found there's a lot of information out there, and it can be very confusing.  We've simplified things by  gathering all the information together and sorting it out for you. 

Store what you eat?

We often hear the advice that we should only store food that we eat, which is true, but I don't know anyone that does this very well - mainly because you simply cannot store all the foods you like for long periods without adverse affect.  This obviously includes all fresh foods - meat, vegetables, fruits, eggs, dairy products, etc., and also bread and other baked items.  The best substitute for fresh foods is freeze-dried food (see below).  For bread, you'll have to make it from a mix or from scratch, which might mean storing whole grain wheat and purchasing a grinder.

Recommended Food Storage Plan

The LDS Church, which has well-established guidelines for food storage recommends a combination of short and long-term food storage.

1. Three-month supply of foods you normally eat

Build a small supply of food that is part of your normal, daily diet. One way to do this is to purchase a few extra items each week to build a one-week supply of food. Then you can gradually increase your supply until it is sufficient for three months. These items should be rotated regularly to avoid spoilage.

2. Longer-term supply of foods with long shelf life

For longer-term needs, and where permitted, gradually build a supply of food that will last a long time and that you can use to stay alive, such as wheat, white rice, and beans.

These items can last 30 years or more when properly packaged and stored in a cool, dry place. A portion of these items may be rotated in your three-month supply.  Check out our long-term food storage calculator.

Types of Food Storage

Food storage generally falls into five main categories:

1. Frozen food
2. Wet-canned food
3. Dry bulk food items
4. Dehydrated foods
5. Freeze-dried foods

The first two on the list are good for your 3-month supply of foods you normally eat.  The latter 3 are for longer-term food storage.

Frozen food has a short life - generally from 1 to 12 months, and many foods don't freeze well.  In addition, this method of food storage cannot be relied upon during an emergency since you may be without electricity for an extended period. 

Wet-canned foods are great for relatively small quantities of food, but are not the best solution for long-term food storage due to their relitively short shelf life (2 to 5 years), not to mention their bulk and weight.

The remaining types of food storage - dry bulk, dehydrated, and freeze-dried foods - are all good, but each have their pros and cons.  You will likely want to have a combination of all three on hand.

Dry bulk food items

The items in this category include wheat, beans, rice, rolled oats, sugar and other staples. They are typically bulk packed in either cans or buckets. These items can be good to have around, but here are a few things to keep in mind:

    Preparation - It is difficult to turn these dry bulk food items items into something edible. If you are going to store food in this way, then you have to go all the way. You will need wheat grinders, lots of fuel (to cook these items into something edible) and additional ingredients to make the food usable. Just the fuel alone will be difficult to store and in the quantities you will need. So just remember, you have to go all in with this approach or you won’t be able to use it when you need it.

    Shelf life – Most of these items will store for a very long time. If stored properly, the wheat, beans, rice and oats will store for many, many years and probably many decades.

    Taste and Nutrition – These dry bulk storage foods typically will give you excellent nutrition. As for taste, that depends on what you can make out them. A pot of beans, doesn’t taste that great without some other ingredients added to it.

Dehydrated Food

This type of shelf stable food is processed using high heat. The high temperatures remove the moisture from the food which gives allows for the extended shelf life. The two things that really affect shelf life are moisture and oxygen. Here are few things to consider with dehydrated food:

    Shelf life – because of how the food is processed, the shelf life for most dehydrated items is 5-10 years. A few items might be a couple years longer and a few items might be a couple years shorter (such as dairy). So all that being said, dehydrated food is on the shorter end of the spectrum for long term shelf life.

    Taste and nutrition – again, because of how the food is processed using high heat, it actually damages the food and removes nutritional value as well as flavor. You will find with dehydrated food that it just won’t taste quite as good (sometimes it will taste awful!) and the food will look a little off.

    Preparation – most dehydrated food requires that you add and cook it. This requires fuel and a stove to be able to do so. It is easy to prepare, but it does take time. For example, dehydrated soup mixes will require cooking for up to 30 minutes. Over time that will use a lot of fuel.

Freeze-dried food

Freeze-dried food uses a unique process to make the food shelf stable. Rather than using high heat, it uses low heat in a vacuum chamber to slowly remove the moisture from the food. Because of how it is processed, the food retains nearly 100% of the natural nutrients, enzymes and taste. Freeze-dried food is my choice for long term food storage because it is the best in all three categories. Here are a few things to consider with freeze-dried food:

    Shelf life – freeze-dried food will give you the longest shelf life. You will get at least 25 years and more than likely much longer. I have heard of 40 year old freeze-dried food being tested and it has lost very little taste or nutritional value.

    Taste and Nutrition – This is another outstanding quality of freeze-dried food. It tastes like fresh food. The entrees, fruits and vegetables taste fresh and not processed. The flavor isn’t muted or dull. It will also retain the same texture, color and look of the fresh food. Because it is processed in low heat, the food retains 99% of all the fresh vitamins, nutrients and enzymes of the fresh food. This food tastes so good that I eat it regularly for my lunches and I know many other people that do the same.

    Preparation – again, another exceptional quality of freeze-dried food is how easy the preparation is. This food is designed for just add water simplicity. All you have to do is add hot water, stir and wait about 5 minutes and you have a meal. Because of that, your fuel costs are very low and you don’t have to spend valuable time in the preparation.

Which type of food storage is best?

Freeze-dried foods will cost the most, but are generally considered the best due to long shelf life, easy preparation, and excellent taste and texture.  Dehydrated foods also have somewhat shorter shelf life, are not quite as easy to prepare, but cost less than freeze-dried foods.  Dry bulk foods require a lot of work to prepare, but have excellent shelf life, cost less, and offer the greatest flexibility and variety for your finished meals.