Get ready for the possibility of food shortages and start stockpiling food. Worst case scenario, you save money on your food budget and have a solid hoard of food for family emergencies and other catastrophes. Keep in mind that economic collapse, hyperinflation, and currency devaluation might mean that food is available but unaffordable. It’s not just about “food shortages.”
36 Foods To Hoard For Shortages
These are the foods I suggest hoarding for food shortages, they are the best for any long-term survival scenarios because they have been tested by civilizations and have proven themselves worthy of keeping people alive during hard times. Most of my long-term food storage is based on these foods, namely white rice, wheat, dry beans, and rolled oats. Let’s take a look at the food you should stockpile for shortages.
- Polished White Rice
- Jasmine Rice
- Basmati Rice
- Long-grain White Rice
- Arborio Rice
- Converted Rice
- Hard White Wheat Berries
- Hard Red Wheat Berries
- Rolled Oats
- Hulled Oats
- Pearled Oats
- Dry Beans and Legumes
- Pinto Beans
- Black Beans
- Lentils
- Split Peas
- Salt
- Table Sugar
- Field Corn
- Dry Pasta
- Quinoa
- Barley
- Rye
- Bleached All-purpose Flour
- Vinegar
- Soy Sauce
- Baking Soda
- Baking Powder
- Canned Soup
- Canned Pasta Meals
- Canned Stew
- Canned Fruit
- Canned Vegetables
- Canned Tomatoes
- Canned Meat
- Multi-vitamins
- Water
How Much Food For One Year
Below is a stockpile of dry emergency food suggested by the LDS church to feed one person for a year. It’s a list of emergency or survival food in the true sense, without consideration for flavor or enjoyment. Once this food is in place, you can start rounding it out with canned food, condiments, freeze-dried foods, or other preferred foods.
- Grain 400 lbs
- Beans and Legumes 60 lbs
- Powdered Milk 16 lbs
- Cooking Oil 10 quarts
- White Table Sugar 60 lbs
- Salt 8 lbs
Grain (400 pounds)
Storage of 400 lbs of grain includes a mixture of any grains you choose, polished white rice, wheat, grain corn, rolled oats, dry pasta, or flour. (400 pounds of grain per person for a year’s supply)
I’m not a big fan of storing flour because it has a shorter shelf-life than whole wheat berries, but it’s cheap and readily available. Expect to get a 10-year shelf life from properly stored flour.
Scott, Ready Squirrel
Store hard grains, dry beans, and rolled oats properly for a shelf-life of 30 years.
Up next, beans.
Beans & Legumes (60 pounds)
Store 60 pounds of dried beans, lentils, and split peas for protein from filling comfort foods.
Store dried beans, legumes, and split peas in Oxygen-free storage, and they will last up to 30 years.
Learn more about emergency proteins. Check out the Ready Squirrel article, Emergency Protein: Top 19 High Protein Survival Foods.
Next, let’s examine powdered milk which is excellent for baking.
Powdered Milk (16 pounds)
Non-fat powdered milk has the longest shelf-life and is used primarily for baking. Consider mixing fat and non-fat milk because fat is hard to get in a survival situation.
I suggest purchasing powdered milk professionally packaged for long-term storage. Stored oxygen-free, fatty milk will keep for 10+ years unopened, and non-fat powdered milk will keep for up to 20 years. I purchase my milk from the LDS Home Storage Center online and you don’t have to be LDS to make purchases.
Next on the list is cooking oil.
Cooking Oil (10 quarts)
You can store any cooking oil you prefer, but you’ll have to rotate it. Unfortunately, cooking oil has a limited shelf-life of two years if properly stored. In a long-term survival scenario, you will have to use animal fat or processed fat from nuts and grains.
Up next, sugar.
White Table Sugar (60 pounds)
White table sugar has an indefinite shelf-life. Store it in a sealed container, keep it dry, and it’s good to go indefinitely. I suggest storing more than 60 pounds of sugar because it is excellent for baking, fruit preservation, and barter.
Next up, salt.
Salt (8 pounds)
Salt lasts forever so store more than 8 pounds if you can, it’s not just good for baking and food preservation it is also excellent to barter for other items.
Learn how to prepare for food shortages or financial collapse. Check out the Ready Squirrel article, “26 Ways To Prepare for Societal Collapse.”
Next, let’s take a look at 35 canned foods to stockpile.
35 Canned Foods for Supply Chain Breakdown
Canned foods aren’t ideal for ultra-long-term food storage, but they shine for short-term emergencies because they are shelf-stable and ready to eat. Consider stocking some canned food for short-term emergencies but make sure to rotate your stock by the best-buy date to ensure your stock is fresh and ready when you need it. In the beginning, I’d focus on purchasing canned meat because it will be valuable and meat will be hard to get unless you raise animals or hunt.
- Evaporated Milk
- Meat
- Tuna
- Beef
- Chicken
- Turkey
- Spam
- Salmon
- Sardines
- Corned Beef Hash
- Vienna Sausages
- Ham
- Chili
- Stew
- Pasta Sauce
- Fruit
- Tomatoes
- Peaches
- Pears
- Mandarin Oranges
- Pineapple
- Vegetables
- Corn
- Green Beans
- Potatoes
- Peas
- Olives
- Pickles
- Sauerkraut
- Sweet Potatoes
- Pumpkin
- Asparagus
- Pinto Beans
- Black Beans
- Chickpeas
- Navy Beans
- Vegetable Oil
- Shortening
Next up, instant dry packaged foods.
34 Instant Foods For Food Shortage
You can reconstitute these simple foods with hot water or open the package and eat. These types of food are excellent for food shortages because they are easy to make and ready to eat, and many are filling comfort food. Let’s take a look at the list of 34 instant foods.
- Knorr Pasta
- Knorr Rice
- Instant Cup Rice
- Muffin Mix
- Ramen Noodle Soup
- Dry Soup Mix
- Macaroni and Cheese
- Cup of noodles
- Bacon Bits
- Couscous
- Crackers
- Nut Butter
- Cereal
- Powdered Milk
- Powdered Eggs
- Waffle Mix
- Pancake Mix
- Granola Bars
- Nuts
- Instant Oatmeal
- Instant Potatoes
- Freeze-dried Backpacker Meals
- Freeze-dried fruit
- Freeze-dried vegetables
- Freeze-dried meat
- Instant Rice
- Instant Breakfast
- Freeze-dried Coffee
- Tea Bags
- Fruit Drink Powder
- Instant Hot Chocolate
- Fruit Snacks
- Potatoe Chips
- Corn Chips
Next, let’s examine one of the most important foods to stockpile, canned meat.
Meat For Food Collapse (food shortage)
Meat, protein, and fat are the hardest foods to come by in a serious food shortage. Take this under consideration when planning your survival pantry. Ideally, we could all raise chickens for eggs and cattle for whole-fat milk and meat, but many can’t do this, if not most of us. The next best thing is going to be canned meat. Following is a list of 17 types of canned meat you can stockpile so you’ll have some on hand in the event of major shortages.
- Keystone Beef
- Keystone Chicken
- Keystone Pork
- Keystone Turkey
- Keystone Ground Beef
- Lehman’s Canned Meat
- Hormel Meats
- Kirkland Signature Brand Chicken
- Spam
- Corned Beef Hash
- Tuna
- Salmon
- Freeze-dried Meat Mountain House
- Freeze-dried Meat Nutri Store
- Freeze-dried Meat Augason Farms
- Freeze-dried Meat Honeyville
- Freeze-dried meat Rainy Day Foods
Ready to learn more about canned emergency meats? Check out the Ready Squirrel article, “Canned Meat: A Must-Have Survival Food.”
Next, let’s look at some of the major foods that Venezuelans have a hard time getting.
Foods In Short Supply: Venezuela
Venezuelans call the ongoing food shortages, the situation, or the Maduro diet. Economic collapse leading to hyperinflation and overall societal breakdown have left Venezuelans’ food, water, and electricity insecure with a high malnutrition rate.
In Venezuela, the only way to get the food you want is on the black market at exorbitant prices. There isn’t technically a food shortage in Venezuela, they have food but it is so expensive most can’t afford to buy it. Imagine that the price of meat goes up 1,000,000% based on your currency. Ok, let’s look at the list, you will probably notice most of these foods are simple staple items.
- Coffee
- Cornflakes
- Flour
- Bread
- Protein
- Meat
- Rice
- Cooking Oil
- Milk
- Cheese
- Butter
- Dry Black Beans (National Dish)
- Corn Flour
- Hygiene and Sanitation Supplies
- Toilet Paper
Up next, is food shortages in the United States.
Foods Shortages: United States
At present, there aren’t any food shortages in the United States, but there are supply chain issues because there aren’t enough long-haul truck drivers, and the food supply system hasn’t gotten back on track post-virus. Remember, it takes a while for the food chain to hit maximum output once it goes down or decreases operations. As I edit this article in 2022, there is a railway strike and the price of diesel is through the roof, this exacerbates food shortage and supply issues.
There is a rumor that aluminum is in short supply, making it harder for manufacturers of canned food and beverages to get ahold of materials. I don’t see this being a long-term issue because aluminum can be recycled indefinitely, and the United States can recycle it. Most of the new aluminum does come from China.
Be looking for hyperinflation where the price of everything skyrockets, which means food may be available but it will be so expensive most won’t be able to purchase it.
Hyperinflation is rapidly rising inflation, typically measuring more than 50% per month. Hyperinflation can occur in times of war and economic turmoil in the underlying production economy, in conjunction with a central bank printing an excessive amount of money and can cause a surge in prices for basic goods—such as food and fuel—as they become scarce
Investopedia.com
Emergency Water
We’re talking about survival food, but I must mention the emergency water supply. Emergency water is an essential addition to your long-term food storage. You can survive a couple of weeks without food and only three days without water.
A clean water source is necessary for cooking dry staples, hydration, hygiene, and sanitation.
Ideally, have access to a clean natural water source but, at the very least, store one gallon of clean water per person for each day.
I suggest storing at least a 2-week supply or 14 gallons of water per person and adding water stores for cooking beans, rice, and other dry staples and packaged foods.
Up next, what causes the food supply chain to stop working?
What Causes Food Supply Chain Breakdown?
A Food supply chain breakdown occurs when networks of suppliers, shippers, and distributors hit roadblocks or bottlenecks in the food distribution system caused by issues with food harvesting, shipping, or packaging caused by a disruption anywhere along the supply chain.
The typical food supply chain has six parts: raw materials, production, processing, packaging, storage, wholesale distribution, and distribution to consumers. If any of these parts are disrupted, it can cause food shortages and they are all interconnected so the supply chain is easily disrupted.
The food supply chain is a system of relationships and interconnections built over decades and cannot simply be turned on and off quickly. Once the chain is broken or lags in production, it takes time to build back up to full capacity.
Up next, are signs the food supply chain is broken.
24 Signs The Food Supply Chain Is Broken
Food shortages can be an indication of societal breakdown in general. It may not be obvious what is causing food supply issues, so start stocking up to ensure you have food when you need it. Here are 24 signs that the food supply chain is in trouble.
- Foods Shortages
- Food Rationing
- Price Controls
- Rising Prices
- Hyperinflation
- Empty Shelves
- Diminished Food options
- Limits on purchase quantities
- Stretched supply chain
- Rail breakdown
- Road system down or diminished
- Diminished labor pool
- Labor strikes
- Food manufacturing decreases
- Packaging system upset
- Crop failure(s)
- Inflation or hyperinflation
- Insolvency of restaurants
- Insolvency of grocery stores
- Major increase in oil prices
- Currency devaluation
- Societal collapse
- Major catastrophes
- Manipulation
- Bureaucracy making laws vs elected officials
- Corporatocracy
- Graft and corruption
- Curfews and lockdowns
- Postal and delivery service overload
- Shift to online shopping and downfall of brick and mortar
Learn more about prepping for societal collapse. Check out the Ready Squirrel article “26 Ways To Prepare For Societal Collapse.”
Up next, 32 non-food supplies to stockpile for societal collapse.
32 Supplies To Stockpile (Non-Food Items)
Stockpile the non-food supplies you might need in case of a supply chain breakdown or other catastrophes, or natural disasters. More than likely, you already have a lot of this stuff in the house, but it’s a good idea to have a list to keep track of what you have on hand and what needs to be replenished. Let’s check ou the list of non-food supplies.
- First Aid Supplies
- Prescription Meds
- Water Filter System
- Isopropyl alcohol
- Cleaning materials
- Laundry Soap
- Bar Soap
- Shampoo
- Hand Disinfectant
- Bleach
- Lysol
- Baby Wipes
- Trash bags
- Toilet paper
- Toothpaste
- Manual toothbrush
- Dishwashing Liquid
- Camp or portable stove
- Cooking Fuel
- Tinfoil
- Ziploc Bags
- Paper Plates
- Plastic forks, spoons, and knives
- Cook Kit
- Manual can opener
- 5-gallon buckets for cleaning laundry and clothing
- Flashlight
- Scissors
- Knife
- Batteries
- Candles
- Lighters
Thanks for stopping by Ready Squirrel. If you have questions or ideas, leave them in the comments below.
Keep on Prepping!
Best Regards, Scott
