How to Prepare an Emergency Food Supply

By anniewrites, eHow Member
Emergency Food Supply

An emergency food supply is an essential part of the necessary preparations for natural disasters or other catastrophes. It would be horrible to find your family without the nourishment needed for your bodies to function in harsh conditions. Can you imagine trying to wade through water, climb over fallen trees, or shovel while dehydrated and starving? Make sure that you do not find yourself in that situation by taking a small amount of time to prepare an emergency food supply that will take care of your family.

Instructions
Difficulty: Easy

Step 1: Determine how many people you will need to feed with your emergency food supply. Count yourself, your children, any neighbors that might come to you for help, as well as pets that may depend on you to meet their basic needs. If you are determining the needs of an organization such as a church or a school, factor in the number of members (or students), number of workers, and number of people from the community that might rely on you for help.

Step 2: Figure out how much food you will need for your emergency food supply stash. Factor in about 2400 calories per person each day. Your body's caloric requirements may go up when conditions are harsh and you do not want to skimp. For a family of five, that would equal 12,000 calories per day. If you want a 72-hour survival kit, you would need 36,000 calories worth of food.

Step 3: Figure out the type of food to purchase for your emergency food supply stash. You could use nonperishable canned goods but containers might rust and they are heavy and bulky. Calorie dense emergency food bars might be a better bargain, as they are lightweight, compact, and come in packaging designed to withstand the elements.

Step 4: Calorie dense food bars generally come in 1200, 2400, or 3600 calories per bar. Take the number of calories you need to purchase, say 36,000, and divide that by the number of the calories in the bar to figure out how many you need to purchase. So, 36,000 divided by 3,600 equals 10. You would need to purchase 10 of the 3,600 calorie food bars for an emergency food supply that would last a family of five about 72 hours under extreme conditions.

Step 5: Finally, find a retailer online or in your area that sells emergency food supply products and tell them what you are looking for. It is standard stock most places and they should be able to help you out!