When it comes to a disaster of any sort, food and water are our 2 main needs. While there are quite a few other areas of preparedness that are important, none of them matter if we don’t have food and water. There are a number of different long term food and water storage ideas for preppers, and it all depends on your situation.
The average person only has a couple of days’ worth of food in their pantry, and very little water storage…if any. With food readily available at the grocery store, and water freely coming from the faucet, people feel that long(er) term food and water storage is unnecessary.
This is why people tend to rush the stores when a disaster strikes. We’ve all seen the pictures of empty grocery store shelves, and the first things to go are bottled water, and staple foods. Whenever I see this, I can’t help but wonder how these people plan on cooking when the power goes out? And why rush to buy bottled water, when you have water at home waiting to be stored.
SPP221 Long Term Food & Water Storage Ideas

In this week’s show Lisa and I went over some different long term food and water storage ideas and how to decide on what works best for you. There is no one size fits all solution when it comes to food and water storage, and making informed choices now can save you time and money down the line.
Store What You Eat
You may have heard this a hundred time, but unless you don’t mind wasting money, it is very important. If your family eats spaghetti once a week, go ahead and store plenty of spaghetti sauce jars and spaghetti noodles.
A problem a lot of people have is canned food. Canned food is great for long term storage, but if it’s not used, it just takes up useful space. Take green beans for example. We prefer fresh over frozen, and frozen over canned. However, canned is the only long term option.
Even though we tend to use frozen vegetables when fresh isn’t available, we try to use our canned veggies a few times a month to minimize the chance for spoilage. This doesn’t mean you need to use them daily. Canned corn lasts for about 2 years, so if you eat a can of corn once a week, you can store 100 cans without worrying about expiration.
Set a Goal
What you store Depends on your storage space, family size and income. If you are just starting your food storage plan I would say, start small and get into a routine. Once you figure out what works, start to build on that.
Take a look at your monthly budget and figure out what you can comfortably afford to spend on food storage per month. By spending as little as $50 extra a month on food, you will build up your food storage in no time at all.
Water storage is a little easier than food storage. When it comes to water storage your main cost will be the containers themselves. This can even be done free by using containers like 2ltr bottles or Iced tea Jugs. Keep in mind, this is a short term/low volume option.
Types of Long Term Food Storage
In the show we talked about a few different types of long tern food storage. Some of these are really simple, and some take some time and work, but can save you money.
Shelf Stable Foods: This is the easiest way to bulk up your food storage with food you and your family eat on a regular basis. Canned foods, pasta, beans and boxed meals all have a long shelf life. But keep in mind, if you don’t eat it, don’t store it.
Prepackaged Long Term Food: We sell Legacy Food ...