SURVIVAL GROCERY LIST 

We take the grocery store for granted. In the event of a run on the stores during a national or world emergency, just think how very few frightened shoppers that it would take for your neighborhood grocery to run out of a product like rice or canned tomatoes. A few determined families could take most of it! The stores could be stripped bare in minutes.  People go crazy even if there is a winter storm. What if something really bad happened? Any serious problem could collapse the just-in-time distribution system that we are completely dependent on. Everything depends on the trucking and railroad industry.

For this possibility, everyone should have a stock of backup food.  It needs to be chosen to last a long time with no refrigeration required.

Everyone should have some long term storage food, but we're going to veer from this for a minute. The chances of a real pandemic with destructive consequences is growing every day. Make a grocery list of the foods your family likes with *medium term* storage potential. Keep the list with you! Practice in your head how you would operate if there was a sudden need to hit the stores to get additional supplies, and which people in your household could help. The US Emergency Powers Act will be invoked immediately, so you will be prevented from hoarding. Limits on purchases will be strict. Plan on being ahead of the others! If you have men, they will usually respond to a battle plan. Don't forget to use the other supply list.

We made our grocery list based on shelf life, availability, and price. We then researched recipes to find the products most commonly used. Cross-off what you or your kids dislike. Be cautious of big sizes of perishables, since waste will quickly nullify any savings. Some items have a long shelf life, but must be used quickly after opening.

This list is comprised of mostly storage foods, those that can be stored for many months or even for years. Check expiration dates, you'll find items on the same shelf can vary as to dates.  And please..don't buy only "dry milk and tuna", as some government officials have suggested. Both of these items are common allergens, and allergies can develop when some foods are eaten to excess. Besides, your family would hate you! :)

This list probably contains some items that you usually try to avoid. During my shopping for emergency foods, lady checking me out in the grocery store noticed that I was buying  sugar and flour (on sale, for a bargain price). She haughtily informed me her children do not eat sugar, or much flour. I asked her what her kids would eat if the food supply were interrupted, like in hurricane Katrina. She said they would eat fresh vegetables. I wonder where she thought the fresh vegetables would come from?

Try to "rotate" a decent supply of food and still always have plenty on hand in case of an emergency. Many of these items have a very long shelf life, and can be used strictly as emergency storage. This list is designed for some variety, so that the kids and teens don't meltdown from boredom. No one can tell you how much to buy, but try to work your way toward a three month supply of basic subsistence. Water, of course, is #1. It's astonishing how fast a human will die without clean water.

Be sure you have your water purifier and basic food first, but better food (and some games) will be a real help in an extended "lock-down".

If you have suggestions for the list, please email them to us. We're always trying to improve our list!

Emergency Pantry: The List

Baking mixes (Dry pie crust mix mixed with canned pie filling =cobbler)
Baking powder
Baking soda
Barley
Bay leaves (delicious in beans, and insects avoid foods like flour with a bay leaf stored inside the bag)
Beans-dry
Bottled drinks and juices (not refrigerated type)
Brown Sugar
Bullion, concentrated broth or dry
Butter flavoring, like Molly McButter. Freeze for storage if you can.
Candy
Canned beans- We're actually liking these better than dry beans right now. They can be eaten cold, don't take fuel or clean water to cook, and provide a liquid source. This is something to look for a killer sale on.
Canned broth
Canned chicken breast
Canned meats
Canned chili
Canned diced tomatoes, other tomato products, and sauces
Canned French fried onions for green bean casserole
Canned fruit
Canned milk, evaporated milk
Canned pie filling (don't overlook, great item)
Canned pumpkin
Canned Salmon
Canned soups
Canned stew
Canned sweet potatoes
Canned Tuna
Canned veggies
Cans of lemonade mix, other canned dry drink mixes
Cheese dips in jars
Cheese soups, like cheddar, broccoli cheese, and jack cheese
Chinese food ingredients
Chocolate bars
Chocolate chips
Chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup squeeze bottles (about that dry milk, again)
Coffee filters (also for straining silt out of water)
Corn Masa de Harina or corn tortilla mix
Corn meal
Corn starch for thickening
Cream of Wheat
Cream soups (good for flavoring rice & pasta, too)
Crisco or generic (longer shelf life than oils)
Dried eggs
Dried fruit
Dried minced onion (big containers at warehouse stores)
Dried soups
Dry cocoa
Dry coffee creamer (big sealed cans, many uses including making dry milk taste better)
Dry milk powder
Dry Mustard
Flour, self rising flour.  Flour tortilla mix for flour tortillas, wraps, and flatbread
Garlic powder
Granola bars (not great for shelf life)
Hard candy
Honey (also reputed to reduce viral load in throat and esophagus)
Hot chocolate mix
Instant coffee if you drink it, or coffee and a manual drip cone or similar
Instant mashed potatoes
Jarred or canned spaghetti sauce
Jarred peppers
Jellies and Jams
Jerky
Ketchup
Kool Aid
Lard, Manteca (good in beans, substitute for bacon or salt pork, tortilla making, many other uses)
Large packages dry pasta, thinner type saves fuel
Marshmallow cream
Marshmallows
Mayo packets from warehouse store, if you must, not really a good value.
Mexican food ingredients
Mustard
Nestle Table Cream (Fantastic substitute for sour cream, cream, or half-and-half, in ethnic, hispanic sections of stores)
Nestle "Nido" canned dry regular fat milk. Also in ethnic sections
Nuts (freeze if you have room, only a moderate shelf life)
Oatmeal
Oil (Shelf life not great, freeze if you have room. Solid lasts much longer)
Olive oil
Olives, green and black
Onion powder
Packaged bread crumbs
Pancake mix, one step, and other mixes that already have the eggs in them
Parmesan
Pasta (lasts almost forever)
Peanut butter, nut butters
Pepper
Pet food
Pickles, relish (not refrigerator case type)
Powdered sugar
Power bars
Raisins
Ramen (not a great shelf life, surprisingly)
Ravioli, or any canned pasta you can tolerate
Real butter or favorite margarine-keep frozen until disaster if you can. Butter keeps a long time in cool temps.
Rice (cheap and filling)
Salsa (not refrigerated type) and hot sauces (Franks Hot Sauce!)
Salt
Spam or Treet  :)
Spices and herbs your family likes
Stovetop Dressing mix
Sugar
Summer sausage, keeps at room temp
Sweetened condensed milk
Syrups
Tea
Trail mix
Ultra pasteurized milk (expensive)
Vanilla (improves dry milk, too)
Velveeta (watch carton date, freeze for storage if possible)
Vienna sausage
Yeast, if you think you would use it. May be frozen.

Baby food
Pet food

Go to the non-grocery store supply list: http://www.planforflu.com/emergency_supply_list

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