How much food for a year: proven dry staples

Store food for a year. Store a lot of food. Don’t worry about guns, beans, or bullets until you have long-term emergency food. As I write this, 9 million people in Venezuela are food insecure or malnourished, and according to bread.org, Venezuela is on the brink of famine.

How Much Food For a Year?

For a one-year supply of food per person, store: 400 pounds of grain, 60 pounds of dry beans, 16 pounds of powdered milk, 10 quarts of cooking oil, 60 pounds of white table sugar, 8 pounds of salt, and a minimum of 365 gallons of potable water per person.

If you are reading this, you know the world is getting crazy. You can’t do much about the global economy, so focus on your circle of influence, store food, and get prepared for hard times.

Dry staples like beans, rice, wheat, and rolled oats are the framework of a one-year emergency food supply because they are proven throughout history to keep people from starving. They don’t require refrigeration, are calorie-dense, last for decades, and don’t have to be rotated.

Scott, Ready Squirrel

Read on to learn more about the dry staple foods to hoard for the apocalypse.

How much grain to store

Plan to store 400 pounds of grain per person for a year’s emergency and survival food supply.

Simplify the food storage process by focusing on hard white wheat and white rice to make up the 400lbs of grains per person. Or mix and match with some of the grains listed below to reduce palate fatigue and make your survival menu a little more interesting. Just make sure your overall grain store adds up to 400 lbs.

The bulk of my one-year food supply is polished long-grain white rice, hard white wheat, and a combination of dried pinto and black beans because these foods are inexpensive and readily available where I live.

Scott, Ready Squirrel

Chart #1 Grain for one-year (top choices)

Grain Type	Shelf-life Oxygen-free Storage
Long-grain White Rice (polished rice)	30+
Jasmine Rice	30+
Basmati Rice	30+
Arborio Rice	30+
Converted Rice	30+
Hard White Wheat	30+
Hard Red Wheat	30+
Rolled Oats	30+
Triticale (Hybrid of rye and wheat)	30+
Soft Wheat (Less Protein Than Hard Wheat)	30+
Ancient Wheat (Einkorn,Emmer,Spelt)	30+
Buckwheat	30+
Grain Corn (Field or Dent Corn)	30+
Millet	30+
Kamut	30+
Dry Pasta	30+

Chart #2 Soft grains for one year (top choices)

Soft Grain Type	Shelf-life Oxygen-free Storage
Quinoa	20+
Hulled Oats	20+
Pearled Oats	20+
Rolled Oats	20+
Rye	20+
Barley	20+

Chart #3 Do not store these grains long-term

Some grains are high in fats with a limited shelf-life, and Lipids go rancid quickly, regardless of their storage. You can use these grains for your short-term emergency food supply if you rotate them and avoid storing them for your bulk long-term food supply.

Grain Type	Shelf-life Oxygen-Free Storage
Brown Rice	6 to 18 months
Black and Purple Rice	6 to 18 months
Pearl Barley	6 to 18 months

Survival Wheat

Survival Wheat should be included in the 400 pounds of grain needed for a one-year supply. It is a proven survival edible. First cultivated 10,500 years ago, it was a staple food of the Romans and the Egyptians.

Wheat requires a proactive prepper because it needs to be milled with a grain mill for flour. Milling whole-wheat flour from wheat berries is pioneer-level work if done manually. Storing all-purpose white flour is an option, but it has a shorter shelf-life.

To learn why I store wheat berries instead of flour, check out the Ready Squirrel article, “Flour or Wheat, Maximum Shelf-life.”

Why Wheat for long-term survival food?

Wheat has a 30-plus-year shelf life and is flexible survival food. Boil it whole and eat like porridge, mill it into flour for baked goods, sprout for nutritious greens, or plant it in an emergency or survival garden.

In the United States, wheat for consumption is wheat berries. Wheat berries are wheat kernels with the oil-containing husks removed, increasing shelf-life by decades. Red wheat has the highest protein (gluten) levels, but it is a little wilder tasting than hard white wheat and takes some getting used to if you primarily eat white bread.

Learn more about “Do It Yourself” Oxygen-free storage of wheat. Check out the Ready Squirrel article “Storing Wheat To Outlast You.”

Emergency Rice

White rice is a filling comfort food that provides a whole protein or amino acid combined with cooked dry beans, making it a “no-brainer survival food.” Rice feeds most of the planet, a proven staple food dating back 10,000 years when the Chinese first cultivated it as a crop.

Learn more about the types of rice to store and rice to avoid in long-term food storage. Check out the Ready Squirrel article, “Best Rice For Long Term Storage And How to Store It.”

Emergency Oats

Rolled oats have a good combination of carbohydrates and healthy fats. They are one of the few soft grains that offer a 30-year shelf-life.

Oats were first cultivated around 4000 years ago. Oats are a proven staple food eaten in Germany, Ireland, and Scotland and were the primary diet of the Scotch Highlander in the form of oatcakes.

Learn more about oats in long-term storage. Check out the comprehensive Ready Squirrel article, Best Oats For Storage: Long Term Survival Food.”

Beans as Emergency Food

Store a minimum of 60 pounds of dry beans for a year’s emergency food supply.

Beans are tried and tested survival food, first cultivated in Peru 8000 years ago. Today they are a staple food all around the globe and a powerhouse survival food. Beans provide all nine essential amino acids and make a complementary protein combined with white rice.

Beans can be boiled, milled into flour, or sprouted for healthy greens.

Learn more about the best dry beans for long-term storage. Check out the Ready Squirrel article, “Beans For Long-term Storage: Top Survival Food.”

Milk for one-year supply (powdered-nonfat)

Store a minimum of 16 pounds of milk per person for a year’s supply.

Powdered milk is used primarily for baking, but you can drink it. Unless you have a cow or goat for post-collapse, you will want a supply of powdered milk.

Powdered milk is one of the most challenging foods to get your hands on in Venezuela, along with pasta and cornflour.

Powdered milk can sell on the black market [in Venezuela] for 7000 bolivares-more than $700 at the current official currency exchange rate.

Flora Charner, Caracas, with Rachel Clarke writing from Atlanta

Emergency oil for one year (top choices)

Store a minimum of 10 quarts of cooking oil for a year’s supply.

Cooking oil is an emergency food with a short shelf life, up to 24 months, but you need it. Stay on top of your emergency oil supplies to ensure you don’t run short and that the fats don’t go rancid.

Cooking Oils You Can Make

1. Olive oil
2. Palm oil
3. Soybean oil
4. Corn oil
5. Peanut oil
6. Avacado Oil
7. Coconut Oil

Sugar for one year (white granulated)

Store a minimum of 60 pounds of sugar per person for a year’s supply.

Sugar has gotten a pretty bad rap, but it is fundamental for your one-year food supply.

Sugar is a flavor enhancer, a preservative, and an excellent substitute for bartering in the event of a currency collapse. Finally, it lasts forever.

Sugar and salt are so cheap I would consider storing way more than you need. If SHTF, both will be valuable barter items.

To learn more about storing sugar long-term, check out the Ready Squirrel article “Storing Sugar In Long-term Storage.”

Salt for one year

Store a minimum of 8 pounds of salt per person for a year’s supply.

Salt is another innocuous, if not boring, a staple that is a secret weapon. It is an excellent flavor enhancer and preservative but inexpensive and lasts forever.

When there is no refrigeration, salt is essential as a preservative.

Salt was used as currency in ancient Rome to pay soldiers, entire economies were based on salt production and trade.

History of Salt, Shanna Freeman, Science, How Stuff Works

Water for one-year

Store a minimum of 365 gallons of water per person for a year supply.

Water is more important than food. A person can survive two weeks or longer without food but only three days without water.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency suggests storing at least 1 gallon of water per day per person, but in a post-apocalyptic environment, you’ll need more. Plan to store water or a method you can use to treat or filter it.

Chart #4 Food for one-year (breakdown by food type)

Below are two charts that provide the necessary food to stockpile for one year for one person. Again this is a bare-bones skeletal list for basic survival needs in times of duress or famine.

(Types of grain are interchangeable depending on preference, i.e., 1 case of rice for 1 case of wheat)	–
Wheat berries, White Rice, Rolled Oats, Dry Pasta	400 lbs
Legumes (Beans, Split peas, Lentils)	60 lbs
Milk (Nonfat-Dry, 15 yr shelf life)	16 lbs
Sugar	60 lbs
Dried Apple Slices	6 lbs
Dried Carrots (10 Year shelf life)	8 lbs
Potato Flakes	22
Dried Onions	2
Iodized Salt	8
Baking Soda (For baking and to soften old beans)	_
Baking Powder	_
Vitamin C tablets (90 mg)	_

Chart #5 Short shelf-life foods for one-year

Short-term food items	Approximate unopened shelf-life in years	Per Person Amount Per Year
Fats and Oils (types are interchangeable based on individual preferences: storing a variety of fats helps with rotation.)	_	_
Cooking/Salad Oil (e.g., soy, olive.)	1+	2 Gallons (8 quarts)
Shortening or Frying Oil	1+	Three cans or 3 lbs
Butter/Margarine (stored in the freezer)	1	6 lbs
Mayonaise/Salad Dressings	1	3 quarts
Peanut Butter/other nut butter	1+	6 lbs
Fruit Drink Mix	2	Three #10 Cans
Spices/Bouillion/Condiments	2+	_
Powdered Eggs	3+	Two #10 Cans
Yeast	5+	2 lbs
Other Sweeteners (e.g., Honey, molasses, brown sugar, jams, jellies, syrups)	_	_

Stockpile enough food to provide at least 2000 calories and 1 gallon of water per day, per person, for an emergency or natural disaster. The minimum storage requirement for the 72-hour emergency kit, suggested by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is 6000 calories and 3 gallons of water per person.

Food storage for one-year: 10 things to consider

1. How many people are you feeding?
2. How long will the emergency last?
3. Emergency Scenario
   1. Plan your food for your most likely scenario(s)
4. Calories needed per day for each person based on; age, sex, and physical activity
5. Carbohydrate, protein, and fat requirements
6. Store foods with a long shelf life or foods with a shorter shelf life that you rotate into your regular diet, so you always have stock.
7. Plan Minimum water requirements of 1 gallon per person per day
8. How will you prepare the food? Do you need extra water?
9. Cooking Method(s) How will you cook your food under different emergency scenarios
10. What season is it? If you lose power in the winter, you don’t want to cook outside in a blizzard.

Dig deeper into storing food for a year, and check out the Ready Squirrel article, “How Much Food to Stockpile Per Person.”

Calories Per Person Per Day: Food For a Year

How many calories you want to store per person for a year depends on age, sex, and lifestyle, and I suggest you err on the side of too many calories. The target daily calorie count is 2000 calories, but I’d shoot a bit higher to build a safety net and account for days when 2000 calories don’t cut it.

I consider everyone in my household an adult male to pad extra calories into my food store.

Chart # 6 Daily calorie requirement per day (male)

Males By Age In Years	Sedentary* Lifestyle	Moderate** Lifestyle	Active*** Lifestyle
2	1000	1000	1000
3	1000	1400	1400
4	1200	1400	1600
5	1200	1400	1600
6	1400	1600	1800
7	1400	1600	1800
8	1400	1600	2000
9	1600	1800	2000
10	1600	1800	2200
11	1800	2000	2200
12	1800	2200	2400
13	2000	2200	2600
14	2000	2400	2800
15	2200	2600	3000
16-18	2400	2800	3200
19-20	2600	2800	3000
21-25	2400	2800	3000
31-35	2400	2600	3000
36-40	2400	2600	3000
41-45	2200	2600	2800
46-50	2200	2400	2800
51-55	2200	2400	2800
56-60	2200	2400	2600
61-65	2000	2400	2600
66-75	2000	2200	2600
76 and Up	2000	2200	2400

Chart # 7 Daily calorie requirement per day (female)

Females By Age In Years	Sedentary* Lifestyle	Moderate** Lifestyle	Active*** Lifestyle
2	1000	1000	1000
3	1000	1200	1400
4	1200	1400	1400
5	1200	1400	1600
6	1200	1400	1600
7	1200	1600	1800
8	1400	1600	1800
9	1400	1600	1800
10	1400	1800	2000
11	1600	1800	2000
12	1600	2000	2200
13	1600	2000	2200
14	1800	2000	2400
15	1800	2000	2400
16-18	1800	2000	2400
19-20	2000	2200	2400
21-25	2000	2200	2400
31-35	1800	2000	2200
36-40	1800	2000	2200
41-45	1800	2000	2200
46-50	1800	2000	2200
51-55	1600	1800	2200
56-60	1600	1800	2200
61-65	1600	1800	2000
66-75	1600	1800	2000
76 and Up	1600	1800	2000

Thanks for visiting Ready Squirrel. If you have any thoughts or questions, please leave them in the comments.

Keep on prepping!

Best Regars, Scott

Sources

A Guide To Food Storage For Emergencies, Brian Nummer, Food Safety Specialist, Utah State University PDF

The Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Day Saints, Food Storage, Getting Started