Best Foods to Stockpile for Survival Now: Prep Your Pantry

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Best foods to stockpile.

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When disaster strikes, stress takes a toll on your body, draining your energy faster than usual. That’s why having the right survival foods on hand isn’t just smart—it’s essential. I always focus on stockpiling foods that are high in energy and protein while also being shelf-stable. Because when an emergency hits, you need fuel to keep going.

There are so many great options to build a solid food supply. I make sure to stock up on canned foods, clean drinking water, teas, powdered milk, protein sources, seasonings, spices, cooking oil, grains, and even a few sweets and sweeteners for comfort.

But food isn’t the only thing you’ll need. Don’t overlook the importance of multivitamins, medicine, first aid kits, personal hygiene essentials, household supplies, paper goods, batteries, and solar lights. A well-rounded stockpile means being ready for anything—without scrambling at the last minute.

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Foods to Stockpile

Canned Food

Canned food items are essential to stockpile. All canned foods are shelf stable and the market has so many canned food options you can store for your and your family’s diet. Do not forget to stockpile canned food for your pets!

While canned foods do have expiration dates, it is important to rotate your canned food and use them in your meals. It is also important to use your stockpiled pantry and go through it and use up anything before it goes bad so you do not waste your money, but make sure to replace it.

Can Openers

Be sure to keep a stock of different types of can openers in a basket near your canned food stockpile. Having a variety of can openers is essential for each of your family members. The market offers different can openers for older people and young kids.

If you do have battery-operated can openers in your basket, be sure to keep the required batteries in stock nearby as well.

When all else fails, you can teach your family members How to Open a Can of Food with Your Bare Hands in Less Than Three Minutes in my other post. My son demonstrates this simple technique in a short video clip in real time.

Water

Stockpiling water in your pantry is a must. Water is essential to our life and survival. Remember to stockpile water for everyone in your family, for cooking, and for your pets.

You can stockpile water in your pantry in different ways.

Bottled Water Tower

I like to create a bottled water tower in my pantry with those large packs of bottled water that have 40 bottles. Every time I make a shopping trip, I buy one of those and add it to my water tower by stacking them as high as I can. Since I have cats that love to climb, I keep my stacked bottled water tower in an area to which my cats do not have access since their claws will poke holes in the water bottles (ask me how I know!) I also keep it covered with a black king-size sheet because I also like my pantry to be neat and tidy.

Stackable 3-Gallon Water Tower

Another option for creating a water tower is using those stackable 3-gallon water containers. These are great to stockpile in your pantry alongside the bottled water tower. While the bottled water tower can be used for drinking, this water tower can be used for cleaning, hygiene, and cooking.

Remember water is heavy and keeping it stored in manageable and moveable containers that you can handle is essential. These 3-gallon stackable containers are perfect for handling, refilling, and stacking in your pantry.

Outdoor Water

Rain Barrels for outside.

Rainwater harvesting is essential for your outdoor garden. You can install them by your downspouts to collect rainwater. You can use your harvested rainwater for your plants and livestock.

Rainfall Harvest Calculator

This rainfall harvest calculator is a helpful tool to help you learn about the rainwater you could potentially collect and about how many rain barrels you may need to get the biggest rainwater harvest you can for your garden and livestock (if you have any livestock).

Teas

Teas are comforting and beneficial to our health. Herbal teas provide many health benefits that can help treat and manage many ailments we may suffer from. Provide a nice stockpile of herbal teas in your pantry since dried teas are shelf-stable.

Start and grow your own herbal tea garden. You can learn more about how herbal teas are beneficial to our health by reading my article called 16 Best Medicinal Herbs to Grow in Your Garden Now.

You never know when you might want a cup of tea!

Image illustrates food for the best foods to stockpile.

Powdered Milk

Remember to stockpile powdered milk in your pantry. You can use powdered milk in dry mixes that create soups and sauces by keeping powdered milk and other dry ingredients mixed together in jars or other containers for your convenience. I have written a helpful guide on how to actually use your powdered milk! Surprising Ways to Use Powdered Milk in Your Recipes

You can find a good recipe of mine from my other post discussing how SOS Mix is Essential for Your Survival Pantry and why you need this recipe since it can basically replace any cream-of-something soup or create a base for any soup or sauce.

Keeping a good stockpile of powdered milk in your pantry makes cooking much easier for recipes where you want a creamy texture in your food.

Protein

Beans

Beans pack a ton of protein. Get yourself a food-grade bucket and store a variety of bulk dry beans. Dry beans are shelf-stable in the long term.

I grow a few varieties of my family’s favorite beans in my garden. Beans are easy to grow and you can harvest a ton of them for your own homegrown stockpile. The best part about beans is that you can plant a dry bean to grow more beans. Just stick a dry bean out in your garden and watch it grow into a beautiful protein-packed plant.

Oats

Oats are a great option for stockpiling protein. It has a long shelf life and can be used in many recipes by adding it to bread, muffins, pancakes, or just eating fruit-flavored oatmeal. So keep a few large buckets of oats in your pantry to provide your family with a good source of protein.

Peanut Butter

Stockpiling peanut butter in your pantry is a smart choice. Peanut butter adds protein to any recipe and is delicious. It also offers a good source of fat for calories.

The best thing about peanut butter is that it is shelf-stable. You can stockpile your pantry with a ton of peanut butter jars. To make your peanut butter last even longer, also grab a few containers of peanut butter powder. While you can add water to peanut butter powder to make peanut butter spread, you can also add peanut butter powder to recipes like muffins and pancakes.

Poultry Protein

Eggs

Eggs are a good source of protein. However, eggs are not shelf stable, especially when bought from the grocery store.

You can, however, provide your family with fresh eggs if you are able to have a small backyard chicken coop. Having a few egg-laying hens in your backyard can provide your family with farm-fresh eggs that are more shelf-stable than store-bought eggs, provided you do not wash them.

You can also buy egg powder and keep it in a container in your pantry to always have eggs for baking recipes, which offers a long shelf life option.

Seasonings and Spices

Seasonings and spices are great to stockpile in your pantry and are shelf-stable. They help flavor food and make eating more enjoyable.

If you can, it is best to stockpile these items in their whole forms, meaning they are not ground up as powder. You can buy whole peppercorns, whole nutmegs, whole cloves, cinnamon sticks, and whole seeds, which will provide a longer shelf life.

Then invest in a good manual grinder to grind up your whole spices. Be sure to keep your manual grinder clean between uses. Having a manual grinder available in your pantry offers you a more self-sufficient option to grind your spices rather than relying on an electric one if you need it for power outages or an off-grid living situation.

Cooking Oil

Cooking oil has a long shelf life. It is important to keep a good stock of cooking oil, which is good for cooking and baking.

Keep a variety of oils in your pantry for versatility in your recipes, such as both liquid and solid oils.

Examples of liquid cooking oils include vegetable, avocado, grapeseed, canola, olive, peanut, safflower, soybean, and sunflower.

Examples of solid cooking oils include coconut, palm, shortening, lard, and butter.

Grains

Grains are simple and essential to stockpile in your pantry. You can stockpile a variety of grains in bulk for your pantry and store them in large food-grade buckets. Grains are very shelf-stable when stored properly.

Some grains that are great for stockpiling in your pantry include wheat berries, barley, quinoa, rice, rye, popcorn kernels, and flour.

Be sure to keep your family’s dietary needs in mind and provide options for gluten-free if necessary.

Also, keep a large stockpile of different kinds of pasta. Dried pasta can be shelf-stable if stored properly. I like to keep mine stored in large food-grade buckets in their original plastic packaging. I keep a different bucket for different types of pasta and label the buckets for their inside contents.

Sweets and Sweeteners

Having sweets and sweeteners stockpiled in your pantry is good for baking and adding to teas. It is good practice to store different types of sugars and sweeteners in your pantry since they are very shelf-stable.

You can store dried sweets like dried fruits, dates, figs, and raisins to add to your baking recipes to sweeten up your foods and teas. By the way, making a home-brewed tea with dried fruits is amazing!

To Recap: Foods to Stockpile

Canned Food.
Water.
Teas.
Powdered Milk.
Protein.
Seasonings and Spices.
Cooking Oil.
Grains.
Sweets and Sweeteners.

Nonfoods to Stockpile

Multivitamins

It is vital to stockpile multivitamins and natural alternative medication supplements in your pantry. Sometimes, medicine in pharmacies is the first to go when panic shoppers buy them out during a crisis, emergency, or natural disaster. We know this from experience watching pharmacies and grocery stores become out of stock during pandemics or natural disasters like earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes.

So be sure to keep these supplements in your pantry to help you get by during an emergency situation to help keep you and your family healthy.

Medicine

It is also essential to stockpile the medicine you and your family may need. Keep a well-stocked medicine cabinet in your pantry. A good supply of anti-inflammatory medication, blood thinners if necessary, diabetic supplies, allergy pens, and anything else you and your family may need medically is also good to stockpile.

Keep cold and flu medicine available in your medicine cabinet to help fight off these viruses. It is also important to keep pain medication available to help with any pain or stress related to an emergency.

First Aid Kits

It is smart to keep a first aid kit fully stocked in your pantry for emergencies. You can have peace of mind knowing that you have a good stock of your own medical supplies right in your pantry, which is now your survival pantry.

You can hang your first aid kit in an easily accessible place in your pantry where everyone can have access to it and where everyone knows where to find it including your kids. If something happens to you, you can send your child to grab the first aid kit and know that they will not have any issues finding it or reaching for it.

Personal Hygiene

Stockpiling shelf stable personal hygiene is important. Remember when the COVID pandemic broke out globally and we could not find personal hygiene items, including toilet paper? This should be a learning experience for us to keep our own stockpile of these items right in our own pantry.

A good list of personal hygiene products to keep in your pantry includes toiletries, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, dental floss, mouthwash, Q-tips, cotton balls, bath sponges, shampoos, conditioners, body washes, soaps, and anything else you and your family need to keep fresh and clean.

Household Supplies

You also need to keep a good stock of household supplies like paper towels, dish detergent, laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, Lysol, bleach, and anything you need to keep a clean and healthy home.

Batteries

Batteries can be stockpiled for long-term storage. Be sure to stockpile a variety of sizes and types of batteries that are required for all your battery-operated products.

Solar Lights

I am so glad you are still with me because I wanted to share a self-sufficient tip for important items to stockpile in your pantry and that is solar lights.

When the power goes out, you can save yourself battery life with the use of solar lights. Solar lights can last indefinitely so they are self-stable. You can keep those tabs in them until you are ready to use them. They are reusable and can be placed back in your pantry to be stored away until you need them again. One thing about this option for your lighting needs is that if the power goes out, you will need to use your other light sources while the solar lights are charging in the sun.

Once they are charged during the day, you can bring them in at night to place them around your home where you need light. Keep putting them outside for charging during the day until you no longer need them. This is a great option for a long-term power outage or if you are living off the grid.

Is It Worth It Though?

While it may seem like a hassle to recharge your indoor solar lights every day, you will have free off-grid, non-battery operated lights to light up your home. A good way to do this is by placing them all in an easy-to-carry basket with the solar panels facing upwards in groups and placing the whole basket of solar lights out in the sun for the whole day. Then all you need to do is bring in your basket and place your lights around the house.

If you do not mind doing that small tedious task, then it is a great idea to stockpile solar lights that come in a variety of different styles, shapes, and sizes.

Conclusion

In the end, stockpiling survival foods isn’t just about preparing for the worst—it’s about giving yourself and your family peace of mind. I’ve learned that having the right supplies, from nutrient-dense foods to multivitamins, medicine, and first aid essentials, can make all the difference when times get tough.

It’s not just about food; personal hygiene, household supplies, and even things like batteries and solar lights ensure you can stay safe and comfortable no matter what comes your way. If you haven’t started yet, now is the time. Take small steps, build your stockpile, and be ready for whatever the future holds.

Resources: Here are some helpful resources for further information.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How long do survival foods last?

Most canned goods last 2-5 years, while freeze-dried and dehydrated foods can last 10-25 years if stored properly. Always check expiration dates and rotate your stockpile.

2. Why should I stockpile multivitamins?

In a crisis, fresh food may be scarce, leading to nutrient deficiencies. Multivitamins help fill nutritional gaps and keep you healthy when your diet is limited.

3. What are the most important non-food survival items to store?

Beyond food, stock up on medicine, first aid kits, personal hygiene products, household supplies, batteries, and solar lights to stay safe and prepared.

4. How can I store my stockpile to make it last longer?

Keep food in a cool, dark, and dry place. Use airtight containers for dry goods, vacuum-seal where possible, and rotate items regularly to maintain freshness.

Summary

I hope I have inspired you to prep your pantry to be better prepared for your friends and family and have your own grocery store on your pantry shelves!

If you were encouraged by this post, I invite you to check out my FREE Printables Page for fun free printables, planners, and charts.

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Here are some more of my canning inspiration posts to check out!

Pumpkin: How to Make Canned Pumpkin

How to Make and Can Pumpkin Butter

Quince: How to Make and Can Fall Spiced Quince Chutney

Quince: How to Can Quince

Carrot Cake Butter: How to Make and Can Carrot Cake Butter

Peach Pie Filling: How to Make and Can Peach Pie Filling

Pear Pie Filling: How to Make and Can Pear Pie Filling

The Best Winter Pantry Staples to Stockpile Now!

Grapes: How to Make and Can Grape Jam