A good selection of long term foot storage items is an important part of any prepper’s plans. Many disaster scenarios cause problems with the distribution system, resulting in food shortages. Even a regional disaster, such as a hurricane, can cause major problems with food distribution for months.
There are many different articles and books out there which give you lists of what you should include within your long term food storage. While each author has their own ideas of what foods to store for a survival situation, the lists end up being more or less the same. However, even with that, there are some items which are commonly overlooked.
You’ve got to balance three different things in your long term food storage: storability, cost and getting your family to eat it. Each of those is difficult on their own, but when you put them together, they become almost impossible. However, almost impossible is not the same as impossible. You just have to know how to make the foods you store palatable to your family. Adding a few important items to your food stockpile can make all the difference in the world.
- Spices – A good use of seasonings can hide the taste of many foods that your family may not like, making it taste like something they do like. Considering that many survival foods are rather bland tasting, the addition of a good stock of spices can go a long way towards keeping your family happy. Don’t go for the little four ounce bottles, get the commercial size ones.
- Bouillon – This is your soup base; usually beef or chicken flavored. With this and some pasta, you’re ready to make soup out of anything. That may be good, as some of the things you find to eat may work out better in soups than any other way.
- Spaghetti Sauce – If your family likes Italian food, spaghetti sauce can be a godsend for your long term food storage. Spaghetti sauce is flavorful enough that it will hide most other flavors. So, you can take squash, for example, put spaghetti sauce on it, and fool your kids into thinking it’s some fancy Italian dish. The sauce will make it taste like spaghetti to them.
- Coffee – With as many people as there are in this country that are addicted to coffee, I’m surprised that more preppers don’t put this high on their list. Unground, but roasted coffee beans will keep longer, holding their flavor better. A small, manual coffee grinder will make it easy to use when the time comes. Coffee is also valuable as barter goods, as nobody else will have it.
- Hard Candies – Most candy doesn’t keep well over a long period of time. However, hard candies will, as long as they are protected from moisture. This gives you a treat for the kids, as well as something to help you and your spouse, when you need a pick me up.
- Peanut Butter & Jelly – Lots of people talk about peanut butter as a part of their long term food storage, but few mention jelly to go with it. Considering that peanut butter & jelly sandwiches are about the ultimate comfort food for kids, a good stock of these critical ingredients can go a long way towards keeping your kids happy in a difficult situation. You’ll have to bake bread, but that’s easier than making your own PB&J.
- Condiments – Ketchup, mustard, steak sauce and other condiments are often overlooked in the prepper’s stockpile. Like the spices and spaghetti sauce, these will help transform your survival foods into tasting like what your family is used to eating. All of these items are “pickled” to preserve them and canned (in bottles) for long term storage. Try to make sure you buy them in glass bottles, rather than plastic, as they will keep longer in the glass bottles.
While none of these items provide much nutrition, except the peanut butter, I’d make them as high a priority as any of the other foods you are including in your long term food storage. People tend to eat less, when they don’t like the food. If your family doesn’t like what you are storing for survival, they might not eat enough, thereby affecting their health. So, there is legitimate reason to concern yourself with things that may only seem like they are there for the flavor. These “unique food items” are also among the top Bartering items I recommend stocking up on. Click Here to get all 75 overlooked prepper items Now for FREE…
In fact, I would go as far as to have too much of these items, as compared to your other food stocks. At some point, you’re probably going to switch from eating your stored food to food that you are either catching or producing. With a good stock of these items on hand, you’ll be able to make those foods more palatable to your family.
