How to Build an Emergency Pantry to Be Prepared For Disaster

First Off, What Not To Do When Building an Emergency Pantry

Before we get into our logic for how to build an emergency pantry, we should first discuss what not to do. Because if you can learn from our mistakes, we'll consider that a win above anything else.

Simply put, an emergency cellar can be one of two things- a collection of cheap, accessible products to be used in a pinch, or a collection of products you actually use, but just having more on hand to provide some buffer.

During the 2020 COVID shutdown, we built an emergency cellar with the former. Think of items like the cheapest canned vegetables, canned soups, cheap shampoo, etc., that we could find. We, fortunately, ended up being lucky enough to have access to food and other household products even on the worst days, so we didn't need to touch that stash. But, since we don't usually use those products to begin with (because, honestly, they're kind of gross), they sat there for years until they ultimately expired well before we noticed.

This is a critical flaw in building an emergency pantry, especially when it comes to food- if you don't use it, you're going to waste it.

This is why there is a popular recommendation out there to build a cellar of items you actually use. Keep this golden rule in mind when building your cellar, and always go back to the question: “will I use this before it expires?” We'll touch on this part more at the end, but it's worth thinking about up front as it should be a driving factor for all purchases moving forward.

Adopt this mindest, and you're already ahead of us the first time we build up an emergency stash. Thankfully, we fixed that for round two!

What Foods Should You Have in Your Emergency Pantry?

So when thinking of things to build in your cellar, particularly around food, take a look at what items you eat and use regularly, and work your way backwards on what you can add to your space- include dry goods with long shelf-life, meats and seafood if you have a deep freezer, and canned goods to name a few.

What items do we have in our cellar? Well, here is a short list of categories to get you started. Within each, we have a variety of styles as well (e.g. several pasta shapes, types of rice, etc.) to cover all manner of dishes we like to make:

• Dried pasta, dried beans, rice, and alternative grains (couscous, dal, lentils, etc.).
• Canned tomato sauce, jams, pickled vegetables, canned fruits, canned vegetables, stock, etc. (canned yourself or store-bought)
• Dehydrated fruits and nuts
• One extra bottle of every condiment, cooking oil, sugar, honey, and spice we use (from salt and pepper, to vinegar, all the way to saffron and soy sauce)
• Tinned seafood, beef jerky, Girl Scout Cookies, and other shelf-stable snacks
• Pet food and snacks
• Cacao beans, dried chile peppers, dried mushrooms, green coffee for roasting
• Extra flours, masa, dried egg powder, dehydrated milk, and egg replacer
• Seeds for gardening, yeast packets, etc.
• Water, alcohol, other beverages

We also have a deep freezer with meat, fish, frozen vegetables, frozen fruit from last season, more grains, bones for stock, etc., that we keep full at all times. Yes, canned and shelf-stable may be better for some products, especially if you are prone to power outages, but we also just like having good food on hand either way- which means having a deep freezer, too. That said, there is always a risk with frozen food, and you may want to consider a generator or other solution to mitigate that risk if you are concerned.

All of this comes together for a collection of items that we use regularly. Rather than having enough for a meal or two, we simply have more of everything we can (like having 50 lbs of rice in our pantry instead of 10 lb in the kitchen). Instead of running out of ketchup and making an emergency trip to the store, we have an extra in the basement. Grab it, then you simply replace the extra when you can such that you already have extra at the ready.

Win, win.

What we don't have? Foods we don't actually eat, and that is a key point to keep in mind. The most extreme thing in our pantry is dehydrated milk and eggs, which, while we don't necessarily use dehydrated products regularly, they are there because we use regular milk and eggs a lot and are items we probably wouldn't be able to find as easily in a pinch (see: the national egg shortage in the USA in 2025). We just need to get in the habit of using them once we get closer to the expiration date, which admittedly won't be that hard since we don't actually have too much on hand either way.

If you like to cook, you can probably already see how many of the above items could make a great meal in a pinch. Rice, beans, extra spices, and some meat from the deep freezer? That goes a long way in an emergency. Having saffron on hand is just a bonus because we can. Grow your own lettuce and vegetables, but need a protein source? A high-quality tinned seafood on top with a quick dressing elevates a salad in a pinch.

Sure, we could stock an emergency food pantry with dehydrated MREs and whatever it takes to live off grid for years, but let's be honest, are we ever going to use those if we aren't in the end times? Absolutely not, and that's not the point of having an emergency stock of food.

Our pantry is simply designed to have double, triple, or 10x what we actually have on hand at all times, scaled to how much we use it relative to its expiration, to have a decent stock just in case something goes sideways.

• We are big into preservation to store foods long-term to minimize freezer space. You may want to consider getting into fermentation, canning (both water bath canning and pressure canning), dehydrating, and more.

Label Everything, Keep Storage in Mind, and Use It

Naturally, when you have all of this food together, you have to store it and ensure that no pests can get into it. We lump various categories of food into locking Rubbermaid containers, put them on a storage shelf, place boxes of mason jars on top of each, and maintain a running inventory on our phones. Others may go with even more airtight bins, but this is good enough for us. (And, when we open some products, like rice or beans, we vacuum seal the rest for better storage, and also cycle putting dried grains in our deep freezer for a few days just to kill off any potential pests.)

Every item we buy, we take a marker and write in big, bold numbers the best by date on the front, such that we can't miss it when getting into any of our pantry bins. This helps us keep an eye on what items may expire soon, and we grab those first and replace them to keep a set inventory of products.

Use the old products first, replace with new products with later expiration dates, and now you're cycling through your cellar and ensuring you don't waste any food. Go through certain items faster? Consider expanding that selection to have more on hand as time goes on. Go through certain items more slowly? Consider a smaller supply over time to account for your usage rate, insofar as expiration dates allow. These are special considerations for those who, like us, don't have a lot of space- balancing it all can be a challenge.

It doesn't take much to end up building a month, two months, or six months or more of food on hand, but you really need to track your data in the first few years to see how fast you're actually going through items. Yes, you know what you use regularly when you start. But not having items expire on you is a good goal, so it is worth keeping all this in mind as you actually use the products over time.

Remember, in most cases, the intent is not to have a cellar that will last you years, because most food doesn't last years. But if you buy extra items you use regularly, you may get several months of buffer as a hedge against short-term disaster all the same. 

Non-Food Products Are Just as Important as Food

Most of the above discussion has revolved around food. But depending on the kind of pantry you're looking to build (and what emergency scenarios you may want to account for), there are far more consumable items you may want to have on hand in a pinch. These include:

• Cleaning supplies, trash bags, dishwasher pods
• Laundry detergent, dryer sheets
• Foil, cling wrap, storage bags, vacuum bags
• Toiletries like soap, shampoo, contact solution, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, razor blades, etc.
• Batteries
• Toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, and other paper consumables
• Medicine, isopropyl alcohol, ammonia, bleach, hand sanitizer, first aid supplies, vitamins, etc.
• Canning jars, canning lids, storage containers, etc.
• Other consumable items for household repairs. (Do you have a toolset, screws, replacement parts for that old appliance, etc.?)

Keep in mind that many of the above also have expiration dates, so be sure to mark anything that may need to be used by a certain date for safety reasons (contacts, contact solution, medicines, etc.). 

Ultimately, all of your non-food products in an emergency pantry should follow the same logic as food. Is it a consumable? Do you have extra? How much extra do you want to have on hand to feel safe for various emergencies like a power outage, water outage, gas outage, empty store shelves, plague, etc.? 

We saw how fast toilet paper and paper towels disappeared in COVID. Many of the above items also become scarce when trade wars happen, as many products are simply not made locally. Sometimes you just want to have one more aluminum foil on hand because you just can't stand when you run out and need it right then. That, quite frankly, got so annoying that I always want to have two just because I can. All of these, and more, are valid reasons to have a pantry of non-food items as well. 

Be Sure You Can Actually Use Your Products in an Emergency

Finally, we'd be remiss if we didn't discuss that you also need the means to use all of the products in various kinds of emergencies.

Do you only have dry goods that need water? What will you do if you lose your water supply? Well, they won't be any good to you- you may want some bulk water on hand or have some canned goods that are ready to eat. Lose power but only have an electric can opener, or an electric stove top? Good luck boiling the water you have to cook said dry goods, or even opening a can in the first place.

Think through scenarios where you may lose gas, electric, and/or water (both individually and together!) and work backwards to see if there are any ancillary items you may need to buy to help cover yourself as a hedge. Do you have flashlights in case the power goes out? Candles? What about a secondary heat source outside of your kitchen, like a propane grill, induction stovetop, or wood smoker? Do you have extra fuel at all times? Cleaning supplies? Cooking tools? We could go on.

It may be as simple as getting a manual can opener, corkscrew, or other utility tool to open a can or bottle. You may want a power bank that is fully charged to get extra power to your devices. Or, in more extreme cases, a generator or solar panels, too. We're not saying you need to go out and buy all of these right away, if at all, but if you are building a pantry to be protected in an emergency, you'll do well to have contingency plans in place for everything you buy- because having food and consumables is only one part of the solution, and you must have the means to use them when the time comes, too.

Ultimately, our stance on building an emergency pantry is not so much for an end-times apocalypse or having years of stock, but simply taking a look at everything that you consume regularly and having extra items of each on hand. It could be as simple as one extra aluminum foil just to keep you covered when you inevitably run out. It could also mean a six-month supply of rice and beans, toilet paper, or essential medicine, too.

All of this goes back to the risk we touched on at the beginning- buy products you use, and then actually use them. The last thing you want to do is build an emergency cellar, stock it, forget about it, then find out everything is expired if/when you need it. So build up a stock, go through it, replace it with new products, and build a steady state scenario where items go in and out, and your pantry is simply the buffer in the event of an emergency. 

Do you have any tips for building an emergency pantry we did not touch on? Comment to share!