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FOOD STORAGE COOKBOOK

Food Storage Calculator: How much food should I have stored?

Written by Colton Blairin Calculator Tool,Food Storage

Clicking on the link below to jump down the page right to our Food Storage Calculator!

Use Our Food Storage Calculator

Food Storage Calculator – Emergency Food Supply Calculator

Calculate 2 weeks, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year food supply for your family with our food storage calculator! Use
it to gain a good idea of the minimum food storage needed to feed everyone in your family. It includes recommended food storage of
grains, canned or dried meats, fats and oils, beans, milk and dairy, sugars, fruits, vegetables, water, and other cooking essentials. The below
calculator is based on estimates from organizations like the CDC and recommendations from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints Home Production and Storage manual. These figures are minimum recommendations and may be increased to fit the needs of
specific individuals and families. You will need to choose the best options and foods you should store for your family.
According to Healthline, the average woman needs to eat about 2,000 calories per day to maintain her weight. Meanwhile, the average man
needs 2,500 calories to maintain his weight. Other factors to consider include age, height, current weight, activity levels, metabolic health,
and others. The below calculator will provide enough calories to maintain most people’s weight.

How to Use Your Food Storage

Know exactly what to buy and how to use it in recipes that everyone in your family
will enjoy so that nothing goes to waste. Plus long-term food storage
substitutions and how to make your own ingredients! Check out the Food
Storage Cookbook

Try Our Food Storage Calculator

After using the below food storage calculator check out our recommended food storage items: What are the best foods for long term
storage? We spent hours compiling a list of our favorite food storage items/foods so you don’t have to! We based this list of food items on
the below food storage calculator.

Food Storage Calculator | EZ-Prepping 

This Food Storage Calculator is easy and automatic. Simply put the number of people in your family and the
amount of time you'd like to plan for your food supply and the calculator will do the heavy lifting!

Number of Adult Family Members, Number of Younger Family

Ages 7+ Members, Ages 0-6

3 Enter a number
Food Storage supply (2 weeks, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, or

1-year Food Supply)

Select the amount of time you'd like to use to calculate for your food storage supply

One Year Supply

See All Results Below

Grains 

Wheat, Flour, Corn Meal, Oats, Rice, Pasta, and Total Grains 

Total Grains

1 170 lbs

Wheat Rice Flour

600 lbs 210 lbs 90 lbs

Oats Pasta Corn Meal

90 lbs 90 lbs 90 lbs

To use grains/wheat you will need a grain mill, to know exactly which one is right for you

read Best Grain Mills (Wheat/Flour Grinders), Ultimate Buyers Guide

Canned or Dried Meats

Bacon, Beef, Beef Jerky, Spam, Chicken, Fish (Tuna Fish, etc), Ham, Hamburger, Lamb, Lunch

Meat, Mutton, Pepperoni, Pork, Turkey, and more. Canned, dehydrated, and freeze-dried meats

are great for long term food storage. *Freeze-dried and dehydrated meats weigh less. 

(conversion: 1 lb/kg meat = 1/3 lb/kg Freeze-dried meat)

Total Canned or Dried Meats

60 lbs

Click here to see great freeze dried meat options on Amazon

Fats and Oils

Shortening, Vegetable Oil, Peanut Butter, Salad Dressing, Mayo, and Total Fats and Oils 

Total Fats and Oils

75 lbs

Vegetable Oil (1 Shortening Salad Dressing

gallon = 8 lbs)

12 lbs 3 qts

6 gallon 

Mayonaise Peanut Butter

6 qts 12 lbs

Beans and Legumes

Dried Beans, Soy Beans, Lima Beans, Split Peas, Lentils, Dry Soup Mix, and Total Legumes
 Total Beans and Legumes

210 lbs

Dry Beans Soy Beans Lima Beans

120 lbs 30 lbs 15 lbs

Split Peas Lentils Dry Soup Mix

15 lbs 15 lbs 15 lbs

Milk and Dairy

Powdered Milk, Evaporated Milk, Other Dairy, Total Dairy 

Total Dairy and Milk

261 lbs

Dry Milk Cans of Extra/Other Dairy

Evaporated Milk

216 lbs 45 lbs

45 Cans

Sugars

Sugar, Brown Sugar, Honey, Corn Syrup, Jams, Powdered Dring Mixs, Molasses, Flavored

Gelatin, Total Sugars

Total Sugars

180 lbs

Sugar Brown Sugar Honey

120 lbs 9 lbs 9 lbs

Jams Corn Syrup Molasses

9 lbs 3 lbs 3 lbs

Powdered Juice mix Jello Mix

18 lbs 3 lbs

Cooking Essentials

Salt, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Yeast, Jams, and Vinegar

Salt Baking Powder Baking Soda

15 lbs 3 lbs 3 lbs

Yeast Vinegar

3 lbs 3 Gallon

Fruits and Vegetables

Fruit Ideas: Apples, Strawberries, Blueberries, Banana Chips, fruit Mixtures, Applesauce, and

Fruit Juices.

Vegetable Ideas: Carrots, Corn, Green Beans, Peas, Potatoes, Onions, and Tomatoes.
 The best shelf-stable fruits and vegetables include freeze-dried, canned, dehydrated, and

frozen.

Total Canned Fruits and Total Dried Fruits and Vegetables

Vegetables

270 lbs

960 qts

Click here to see freeze dried fruit and vegetable variety pack on Amazon or all other options on

Amazon

Water Storage 

It may not be practical for your family to store enough water for one full year for each family

member so good water purification devices and methods are strongly advised. The below water

storage estimate is for minimum drinking water only not enough for cooking, rehydrating

foods, cleaning, and bathing. Additionally, the CDC recommends only using between 8 and 16

drops of bleach per gallon of water for sanitation. 

Water Bleach

*Please give this calculator up to a minute to load.

*This food storage calculator rounds up to the nearest whole number.

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I also spent hours compiling a list of my favorite freeze dried foods/meals for long-term storage, camping, hiking, hunting, or any other
circumstance! See my article Best Freeze Dried Foods: Must-Haves For Any Circumstance to find a few of the best freeze dried foods to
try out for yourself.

Starting to buy food storage can be expensive so to help you plan and budget check out our simple prepping on a budget calculator and
article.

EZ-Prepping’s Food
Storage Made Easy
Calculator
This food storage calculator is meant to be a quick and easy resource tool to help you calculate exactly how much food storage you and
your family will need over a course of time. The calculator has broken down food into its basic ingredients to give you an idea of the
minimum amount that you will need to make basic meals for you and your family.

Our goal with this food storage calculator was to make it complete with a variety of foods and easy to use. The calculator does all the hard
work for you which will ease your planning. We realize that starting food storage can be challenging and it’s hard to know where to start so
we sincerely hope that it will help you have an idea of how to get started building your food storage. For more information and help getting
started, check out our article 3 Month Food Supply: Ultimate Guide to Getting Started. The most important thing is to just start, you never
know when you’ll need food storage. Be prepared!

To get a better idea of how much water storage you and your family needs try using our Water Storage Calculator.

Food Storage Containers

There are many great options out there for long-term and short-term food storage containers. We think it’s best to not get to hung up on
what containers to get but to just order some so you don’t delay building up an emergency food supply that your family might desperately
need. Check out this listing of long-term food storage containers on Amazon. There are many great options for containers that will work
well for long term food storage.

As for short-term food storage containers we enjoy the Rubbermaid Brilliance food storage containers that you can also find here on
Amazon.

To learn more about safe plastic containers to us for food storage read our article Which Plastics are Safe for Food Storage and How to Use
Them.

How Much Food storage is needed Per Person? Per Year and Per Month
Food Per Person Per Food Per Person Per
Food Storage
Month Year

Grains (Wheat, Rice, Flour, etc.) 32.5 lbs 390 lbs

Canned or Dried Meats (Freeze Dried, Beef, Jerky, Spam, fish, chicken, etc.) 1.6 lbs 20 lbs

Fats and Oils (Vegetable Oil, Peanut Butter, Shortening, etc.) 2 lbs 25 lbs

Beans (Dried Beans, Soy Beans, Split Peas, Dry Soup Mix, etc.) 5.8 lbs 70 lbs

Milk and Dairy (Powdered Milk, extra dairy) add about 2 cans of Evaporated Milk per
7.25 lbs 87 lbs
month to the est. lbs

Sugars (Sugar, Brown Sugar, Honey, Powdered Drink Mixes, etc.) 5 lbs 60 lbs

Cooking Essentials (Salt, Baking Powder, Yeast, Vinegar, Jams, etc.) .7 lbs 8 lbs

Fruits & Vegetables (Dried) 8 lbs 90 lbs

Fruits & Vegetables (Canned) 27 qts 320 qts

Water Storage (Drinking Water Only) 16 Gallons 183 Gallons

*This is an estimate monthly food storage for 1 person and is a minimum recommendation. For convenience, the results have been rounded
to the nearest 10th. For greater customization to meet your specific needs see our Food Storage Calculator above!

Putting the Food Storage Calculator to Use

Track Your Meals Method to Enhance Our Food Storage Calculator

We love the track your meals method and encourage you to add it to our food storage calculator. It allows you and your family to track what
you already eat and then breaking it down by ingredients and track it over the number of months you want to stock for. The best part about
using this method is it can be made for your specific needs.

Here’s how it works: step by step to make it easy.

1. Take your family’s favorite meal.

2. Write out the recipe and times it by 12 (this will give you a year’s worth of that meal if you plan on eating it once a month.)
3. Buy enough of the items to stock your pantry for a year of that meal.
4. Do it again for the next meal.

Storing and Rotating Your Food Storage (FIFO)

It’s important to make sure that you are rotating your food storage using your older foods first so that nothing goes bad. First in first out
(FIFO) method is helpful, especial for canned foods.
Canned Foods

Storing and rotating canned foods can be challenging. Applying the FIFO (first in first out) method can get
disorganized when dealing with canned food. To help with this we have found having a good canned food
organizer and rotator very useful even indispensable. We found one that is cheap and works well to rotate cans
making FIFO easy. It is the DecoBros Stackable Can Rack Organizer (Click here to check the current price on
Amazon). When we bought a couple of them they were only listed at about $20 each rack and it comes with
adjustable plastic dividers making it able to accommodate various can sizes. It’ll store up to 36 cans depending on the can sizes being
stored. This canned food organizer can help you put the above food storage calculator to use and build a working, rotating food storage and
make organizing as easy as pie! 

An Alternative to Powdered Milk for Short Term Storage

Learn More About Gossner Milk as an

Alternative to Powdered Milk for Short
Term Food Storage

Consider Gossners U.H.T. Milk as an alternative to powdered milk for shorter-term food storage. This milk is awesome! It tastes like normal
pasteurized milk but has a “best by date” of 6 to 9 months. Learn more about how great Gossner Milk is in our 3 Month Food Supply article.

Emergency Food Storage

In addition to long-term food storage include a designated Emergency 72-hour Food Kit. This food only needs
water to cook.  It can be bought in prepackaged servings or bulk.  It is perfect for storms, power outages, natural
disasters, and much more. Having this emergency 72-hour food supply when stores are not accessible will be life-
saving.  Be sure to put one of these emergency buckets at your home.  Store in RV or bug-out vehicle for on the road
meals. For ease and worry-free try Augason Farm’s 72 Hour Emergency Kit, Food Supply. (Check the price on
Amazon). As far as freeze-dried meals go we enjoy Augason Farm’s food and highly recommend this 72-hour
emergency food kit.

To learn more about 72-hour kits check out our article 72 Hour Kit Guide & Checklist For The Whole Family With PDF Download.
Freeze drying foods is a great way to preserve fruits and vegetables from your garden, build up your own personal emergency food supply,
and for camping or backpacking meals. To learn if buying your own freeze dryer is right for you check out my article Buying a Home Freeze
Dryer, What You Need to Know First!

Long term Food Storage Tips

Food and water should be rotated every 6-12 months and use-by dates should be followed to ensure that they are safe to consume.
Store canned goods in a dry, cool place, about 40-60°F to prevent spoiling (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
Keep food protected from insects and rodents by storing in airtight containers (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
Do not consume canned goods that have become swollen, dented, or corroded (American Red Cross).
In case of a power outage, eat foods in the refrigerator first, then from the freezer, then from storage. In a well-insulated freezer, foods
are usually good for 2 days if there are still ice crystals in the center of the food. Keep the fridge and freezer doors closed as much as
possible (FEMA).
Consider investing in a generator that can power your freezer and refrigerator to keep those foods from going bad.
Make sure the fridge stays under 40° F. If the fridge is unopened, food will stay cool for about 4 hours (Seltzer).
Food storage how-to guides (National Center for Home Food Preservation).
Longer-Term Food Storage Tips form The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Long-Lasting Foods to Store that you can calculate using our Food Storage Calculator

Conclusion
We sincerely hope that this emergency essentials food storage calculator will be a valuable preparation tool and give you the confidence to
start building food storage for your family. You never know if and when tragedy will strike so being prepared to provide food for your family
is imperative. Good luck!
 Save Tweet PRINT EMAIL

Colton Blair
I'm Colton Blair, co-owner of EZ-Prepping with my wife Kaycee. I value the safety, protection, and well-being of my
family above all else. Finding easy and practical ways of prepping for emergencies or unexpected disaster has
become very important to me.

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ABOUT US

We are the Blair's, the family behind EZ-Prepping. We have two rambunctious little boys which make us a family of four. As time goes on we
increasingly realize that our families physical, social, financial, and spiritual well being is more important to us than anything else in the
world. Considering the uncertainty and disaster in the world today we decided to find practical and easy ways to prepare our family for
emergencies, natural disasters, financial hardship, and more. We hope that we can help others do the same!

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FOOD STORAGE COOKBOOK

The Food Storage Cookbook makes planning and using your food storage ridiculously easy! Over 100 tried and true recipes that use
common ingredients that you already have in your pantry. To make it even better, this cookbook includes a fool-proof long-term food
storage substitution list and make your own ingredients!

TAKE A LOOK!

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