Stock your pandemic pantry with foods that do not require refrigeration, are highly nutritious, taste good, can be prepared under campout conditions, and that are reasonably priced. These characteristics are ideal for use during the adverse conditions possible during a severe pandemic. I suggest you obtain a 3-month supply of these basic foodstuffs for each member of your family.
This quantity of food should be enough to see you through times when food is scarce. Since the pandemic is expected to last about 18-months, having a 3 month stockpile implies that you will still need to have access to food sources during this time, a prospect that is very likely. What is also likely though is that food shortages will occur from time to time during the pandemic period. During these time points, it will be difficult to find certain types of food. Your stockpile is intended for use during these times of scarcity. When supplies become more plentiful, restore your depleted stockpile. This way, you will be able to keep your family fed during the pandemic and not spend countless hours waiting in line for a handful of rice and beans.
| Recommended foods for stockpiling | ||
| Common Name | Item | Food Group |
|---|---|---|
| Canned meat | Beef, chicken, ham, and fish | Protein and fats |
| Dried beans | Pinto, garbanzo, white, lima, black eyed, red, butter, lentils, and soybeans | Carbohydrates, fiber, healthy fats, and protein |
| Edible oils | Canola, sunflower, and olive | Healthy fats |
| Nuts | Peanuts, pistachios, cashews, almonds, walnuts, pecans, peanut butter, and sunflower seeds | Healthy fats, proteins, and carbohydrates |
| Dried Fruit | Raisins, apricots, prunes, figs, bananas, apples, pineapple, and dates | Carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, and fiber |
| Grains | Whole grain wheat, brown rice and oats. Includes whole grain flour, grits, and crude bran for fiber | Carbohydrates, protein and fiber |
| Dairy | Dry fat-free milk | Carbohydrates, protein, and calcium |
| Eggs | Dried whole eggs | Protein and fat |
You can find reasonable choice and great prices for many of the foods recommended for your pandemic stockpile at the warehouse grocery stores, such as Sam’s Club, Target, Wal-Mart and Costco. These “big box” stores have items for sale in bulk and at prices lower that retail grocery stores. They include canned meat and fish, dried beans, rice, dried fruits, canola oil, nuts, and many other items suitable for stockpiling.
These are the big three in nutrition. All food is composed of one or more of these three basic components. A simple way to think about them is that the body uses fats and carbohydrates for energy and protein to restore and maintain the heart, lung, liver, kidneys, blood, and muscles. We need all three components for health.
In my opinion most folks are well satisfied with a diet broken down by calorie intake into the following groups; 15% protein, 30% fat, and 55% carbohydrate. Dietary protein must provide all 8 essential amino acids used by the body to build proteins. Fats from vegetable sources and fish are generally healthy while those from other animals are usually not. Carbohydrates obtained from whole grains, dry beans, fresh fruits and vegetables are preferred because these sources also provide important vitamins, minerals and fiber that are often removed during commercial processing. When packaged the way nature made them, carbohydrates are much healthier than when the same food is eaten after processing because the absorption of sugar from them is more gradual.
The quantity of calories needed every day by adults varies person to person and
depends upon their body build, height, and activity level. As a gross guideline,
normally active adult women need about 1800 and men 2200 calories each day.
Appling this guideline to the general recommendation for the calorie content of
the various dietary components, provides an estimate the quantity of food needed
within the three basic food groups for a defined period of time. This
calculation is based on knowing that carbohydrates have 4 calories (Kcal) per
gram, fats 9 Kcal per gram, and protein 4 Kcal per gram.¹ So for figuring out
how many grams of carbohydrate a woman needs each day to meet these needs, the
formula is:
((Daily Calorie Allowance x percent of calories in food component) / the calories
per gram in the food) = the grams of food needed daily
1800 Kcal times 55% divided by 4 Kcal/gm = (1800*.55)/4 = 247.5 grams of carbohydrate per day
An important point to remember when using these guidelines is that the calories
given for carbohydrates are based on the cooked weight of the food not the dry
weight. On average the dry weight of legumes and grains is increased 3 times
after cooking due to added water. So, 3 oz of a dry grain or legume is really
equal to 9 oz of the cooked product. Also, these foods contain fiber, an
essential non-nutrient for health. While fiber has weight, it cannot be digested
so contributes no calories to the diet. This explains why high fiber foods like
beans and whole grains have up to 1/3 fewer Kcal per cooked weight than you would
expect them to have based upon the 4 Kcal per gm calculation alone compared to
processed grains.
| An estimate of the quantity of food needed for adults each day* | |||
| Grams | 55% Carbohydrates | 30% Fat | 15% Protein |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooked weight | |||
| Men 2200 Kcal | 300 gm daily | 75 gm daily | 85 gm daily |
| Women 1800 Kcal | 250 gm daily | 60 gm daily | 70 gm daily |
| Ounces | |||
| Men 2200 Kcal | 11 oz daily | 2.5 oz daily | 3 oz daily |
| Women 1800 Kcal | 9 oz daily | 2.0 oz daily | 2.5 oz daily |
| *All values have been rounded off for simplicity | |||
What would 3-months of food look like? Few people have any idea. As a way of illustration, consider this simple example confining our choice to just three items, rice, tuna fish, and canola oil. An average man would need a single 25 lb bag of rice, 3.5 gallons of canola oil, and 110 six oz cans of tuna fish. This would provide the basic nutritional requirements at the 2200 Kcal per day level but man-oh-man would it be boring eating the same thing day in and day out.
| An estimate of the quantity of food needed for adults for 3 months | |||
| Kilograms | 55% Carbohydrates | 30% Fat | 15% Protein |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men 2200 Kcal | 27 kg cooked, 9 kg dry | 7 kg | 8 kg |
| Women 1800 Kcal | 23 kg cooked, 8 kg dry | 5.5 kg | 6.5 kg |
| Pounds | |||
| Men 2200 Kcal | 62 lb cooked, 21 lb dry | 14 lb | 17 lb |
| Women 1800 Kcal | 50 lb, 17 lb dry | 11 lb | 14 lb |
The cost of this particular mind numbing diet is a surprisingly affordable $125. So those who thought that buying this much food ahead of time would be too costly need to reconsider their view. The challenge is to be sure to include enough different types of food than just a few and to build in a 20% surplus to take into account increased physical activity, spoilage, or other unanticipated conditions. Since I picked the least expensive food items to make a point for this example, you can bet it will cost more when you go out and do-it-yourself. When it does be grateful because this means that you can look forward to having a variety of additional items in your diet and are not condemned to eating rice, tuna fish, and canola oil 24/7 for 3 months straight!
During times of food scarcity, access to high quality protein is usually the most important nutrition problem to address. Meat from beef, swine, chicken, and fish are all excellent sources of this key nutriment. By high quality protein nutritionists mean a food item that includes all 8 essential amino acids. These 8 are required by the body to make, restore, and repair our organs, muscles, and many enzymes and some hormones used for health and wellness.
There are three general ways to get high quality protein from the diet. The first is by including meat, chicken, fish, and dairy products like milk and cheese in the diet. These foods are called complete proteins because each contains all 8 essential amino acids. Another is by eating two foods with incomplete but complementary protein sources of all 8 essential amino acids. Vegetarians rely on the second method to remain healthy by eating meals that combine foods like legumes with grains, seeds, or nuts. A variation on this theme is to use a small amount of complete animal protein with a rather larger amount of incomplete vegetable protein. The complete set of amino acids provided by the animal product “stretches” the protein from the vegetable source allowing the body to use all of it as if it was all from a high quality source. Stretching can be a great way to make ends meet when meat or fish is scare but access to grains or legumes is fair to good.
| Nutrient content of select food items | ||||||
| Item | Serving size (gm) |
Kcal per serving | Carbohydrates (gm) |
Fat (gm) |
Protein (gm) |
Fiber (gm/serving) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pinto beans, cooked | 114 (4 oz) |
116 | 20 | 0 | 9 | 19 |
| Brown rice cooked | 114 (4 oz) |
129 | 27 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| White rice cooked* | 114 (4 oz) |
152 | 35 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Peanuts, dry roasted | 28(1 oz) | 170 | 4 | 14 | 7 | 2 |
| Sunflower seeds, raw | 28(1 oz) | 193 | 3 | 17 | 7 | 3 |
| Dried prunes | 40 (1.5 oz) |
88 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Cooking oil | 15 (1 tbsp) |
135 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Canned chicken | 71 (2.5 oz) |
70 | 0 | 1.5 | 12 | 0 |
| Canned tuna | 56 (2 oz) |
60 | 0 | 0.5 | 13 | 0 |
| Non-fat dry milk | 240 ml (1 cup) |
80 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| * During processing all the fiber is removed | ||||||
Canned flake or chunk tuna fish is the least expensive source of high quality animal protein I was able to find at around $0.11 per ounce. I prefer it to albacore tuna because it is not as dry and is every bit as nutritious and a lot less expensive. This is a great buy and is widely available for this price. Don’t simply buy the cheapest item, though; if your family won’t eat it, then you will have wasted precious budget resources. Buy a few cans of different brands to see what passes the taste test and what ends up in the garbage can. Another good item to consider is canned beef. Most of this is produced and packaged in Brazil and is very tasty. The beef is parboiled and steam roasted with vegetables and gravy. Canned chicken and turkey is also a good value that tastes great.
There are many other equally good choices. Canned sardines are rich in omega 3 fatty acids and protein. Those packed in soybean oil are high in total fat but it is good fat not bad fat and they are tasty and filling. There are also sardines packed in water that have much less fat if this is your preference but during times of food shortage we may be counting calories a little differently than we do today. Canned Wild Alaska Salmon is also a tremendous value. It has great taste and superior nutrition. It is loaded in “good fats” specifically the essential omega 3 fatty acids, calcium, and protein. Good fats are healthy because they reduce risk for disease.
The key to smart buying of canned meat for your food stockpile is to remember the fat content of beef, chicken, and pork is almost all saturated fat that carries with it serious cardiovascular health risks. This is why they are referred to as “bad fat”. The fat found in sardines, tuna, and salmon, nuts, seeds, vegetable, and beans are all “good fats” and lower risk for disease. So, in effect, we need to be very careful when buying beef, pork, or chicken to choose the products with the lowest fat content. With the other products that have good fats, this is not a problem.
The most important thing to look at then when buying canned beef, pork, or chicken is the label. Don’t buy anything where the percent of calories from fat is greater than 1/3 of the total calories per serving. You can calculate this simply by using the Fat Index. Meat packers are required by the US FDA to put provide us with the information needed to calculate the Fat Index on every label. They don’t however provide the Fat Index calculation, something you will need to do for yourself. The information needed is located on the left side bottom of the label under Calories. To figure this out, all you do is divide the number of calories in one serving by the number of calories from fat. Use a calculator if you have to. If the Fat Index for beef, pork, or chicken is less than 3, do not purchase it.
| Fat Index for several common canned meat products | |||
| Food Item | Calories per serving | Fat calories | Fat index† |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starkist Chuck Light (tuna in water) | 60 | 5 | 12 |
| Tyson Premium White & Dark Chunk Chicken | 60 | 20 | 3 |
| Libby’s Roast Beef Parboiled and Steamed Roasted with gravy (product of Brazil) | 140 | 30 | 5 |
| Brunswick Sardines in soybean oil | 200 | 110 | 2 |
| Royal Pink Wild Alaska Pink Salmon | 90 | 45 | 2 |
| Hormel Chunk Lean Ham with smoke flavoring & ground ham added. Water Added. | 90 | 50 | 2 |
| †All Fat Index calculations have been rounded off to the nearest whole number. | |||
In the chart above I have calculated the Fat Index for some of the products mentioned. As you can see from the table, the tuna is the hands down winner in the Fat Index contest with the roast beef coming in a respectable second and the chicken used in the example barely qualifying as healthy.²On first glance, the sardines, salmon and ham all seem equally poor losers with a Fat Index of 2. But you recall that the fat in sardines and salmon is actually good fat while that in ham and the other meats is bad fat, then you realize that only ham is unacceptably high in bad fat and the others are suitable.³ It takes just a second to do this simple calculation and it will direct you to the best bargain for your money as well as the healthiest choice.
One last thought about buying canned meat. It makes the most sense to buy these products in meal-sized cans rather than large economy sized containers. Since refrigeration could be an issue, using all the contents within a can at a single meal avoids the problem of preservation•. The cost of buying these products in smaller cans is somewhat more than in the really big ones, but when you consider that you might have to discard the spoiled meat from a large can you couldn’t eat quickly enough, it is no bargain at all.
Purchasing dried legumes and whole grains offer the most nutritional value for your money than any other food source. These two food items provide a cornucopia of healthy protein, carbohydrates, fats, fiber, minerals, and vitamins. They keep for long periods of time if left in their original packing and especially if stored more formally in Tupperware-like plastic containers or 5-gallon plastic paint buckets. Even purchased retail, these food items are inexpensive and often available in the big box stores in bulk for much less. Canned beans are not nearly as good a value and in some cases not as nutritious. They are easy and since they are fully cooked, can be eaten without further preparation. In general though, they are many times more costly than dry beans.
Dried beans of many varieties are sold widely in 4 lb bags. The price of buying them in these “family sized” quantities is much less than if you purchased them canned or dried in smaller quantities. Try and obtain as wide a variety of dried beans as possible. These are likely to become the mainstay of your diet and having a good selection of them will help prevent dietary monotony, an unpleasant fate of the poorly prepared.
Spices, oil, and bouillon cubes help beans taste great. Hot pepper sauce, mustard, pickle relish, chutney, and soy sauce are condiments that are especially well fitted for use with beans and grains. Dried onion flakes and dried mushroom help add flavor to these mundane dishes. Legumes make fabulous soups, especially lentils. Cooked beans can be served cold with copped onions, sweet relish, oil and vinegar as a salad or added to a green salad. Garbanzo beans, garlic, tahini, and olive oil are the ingredients in hummus. A creative chief can make great tasting vegetable dips from just about any cooked bean, a few spices, and little oil. They can also be turned into rich salad dressings, or used on bread as a spread. There are many other ways to enjoy this versatile food group, all you need is a little imagination but a good vegetarian cookbook can come in handy too.
Grains include rice, wheat, rye, and barley. Most folks think of flour when considering wheat. While you should include flour in your stockpile, consider purchasing whole grains of wheat, oats, rye and barley. When cooked with beans, they make a complete protein. Whole wheat and oats make a great hot or cols cereal. Long or short grain white or brown rice purchased in large bags is a very inexpensive source of protein and carbohydrate. Bulk rice is sold in bags ranging from 20 to 50 lbs for as little as $0.50 per pound.
Nuts and seeds are more costly items but will add greatly to the quality and variety of your families diet. Raw nuts keep longer and are healthier than roasted nuts. Salted nuts contain too much sodium and should be avoided. You can always roast and salt your nuts if you want to later on. Peanuts are an exception to the buy nuts raw rule. Dry roasted unsalted peanuts sold in 3 lb cans are an excellent value. They taste great, last a long time, and can be turned into peanut butter. Walnuts, almonds, and cashews cost significantly more that peanuts but add considerably to the variety of the diet and should still be considered for the stockpile. Buy nuts in vacuum packed in plastic bags or cans, as they will keep a lot longer than if you buy them unpackaged. The price may be a little higher this way but their shelf life will be much longer especially if your store the bags in air-tight plastic containers.
Raw unsalted sunflower and flax seeds are the best value found in the seed category. Both are available in bulk for around $1.50 per lb. Flax seeds are the hands-down richest source of the healthy omega 3 fatty acid.
Foods slowly deteriorate over time, which is natural. Packing them properly will slow but not stop this process. The best solution is to rotate your stockpile using the first in first out principal. This means that the items purchased first for the stockpile are the first to be used by your family and replaced by new items. This way you renew your stockpile over time and keep it fresh for when you need it.
Your diet will be more interesting if you have a variety of key spices on hand. Coffee, tea, salt, and sugar are important for treatment of flu as well as being critical items to have on hand in the kitchen. Powdered lemonade or other fruit drinks will be a welcome and refreshing addition to the diet. These items are likely to be very difficult to find during the pandemic so stock up on them now when they are relatively cheep and plentiful. The health of your family will be more secure by having a 3-month supply of a good quality multiple vitamins for each member like Centrum A to Zinc®. In addition to the multiple vitamins, don’t forget calcium for everyone and an iron supplement for female teens and women of childbearing age. Caltrate Plus® and Slow-Fe® are excellent retail calcium and iron products respectively.
It will be very nice to have a good stash of special items like candy, dark chocolate, and brandy. These will come in handy from time to time, especially when everyone needs a lift.
Andrew Weil, MD, has written several books on nutrition and his ideas have been very influential in my education on this subject. In particular I recommend his book, The Diet for Optimum Health Health as one of the best single sources of scientifically solid nutrition information and advice for people interested in healthy nutrition.
William Stewart has written a book of home preparedness for emergency that has an especially good section on food stockpiling. His book, How to Prepare for a Pandemic provides the reader with a thorough discussion of how to select, purchase, safely store, and even prepare bulk grains and beans from wholesale suppliers.
Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 was published by the USAD and provides a thorough discussion of nutritional requirements, specific diets, and tables that list common foods rich in specific nutrients. The guide can be downloaded from the Resource section of the BFM.com website under Home Food Preservation.