Several Weeks

Once you have an emergency three day supply of the very basics, start planning a strategy that will take care of your family for a full two to four weeks in the event of an extended emergency. All it takes is building upon what you've already started. Expand your emergency food storage, expand your water storage, and expand any medical, heating and cooking supplies you feel may be needed.

Regardless of whether you have chosen to approach your food storage from a rotational, continuous stocking or stock and store strategy, you can build from a three day extra supply to a multi-week extra supply by simply buying more at once or buying extra for a longer period of time. If for example, you're spending an extra $5 or $10 at the grocery store each week, continue that habit for however long it takes you to have at least two weeks’ worth of extra basic foods on hand.

Since many perishable items do not last two to four weeks without refrigeration, concentrate on adding shelf stable food items such as canned and jarred goods or dry goods.

Even if you have meat in the freezer, be sure to include canned meats as part of your emergency stockpile. If the electricity goes out and stays out for an extended period of time, frozen foods will go bad after the second or third day. Canned meat includes chicken, tuna, Spam, canned ham, corned beef, roast beef and different types of seafood. Most canned meat products are expensive, so it's a good idea to include canned beans as an alternate source of protein in the event of an emergency. Canned soups and pasta meals sometimes have small amounts of meat in them as well, so stock up on as many of those as you can.

Canned fruits and vegetables aren't as tasty as fresh but they store well, are relatively inexpensive and provide you with nutrients in the event of an emergency. Other canned goods to consider storing include evaporated milk, gravy or sauce to liven up pasta or rice, broth and cream soups for cooking. If you have children you may want to consider stocking up on canned fruit juices and canned chocolate sauce as comfort foods.

Many dry goods can be stored for years if they're in sealed packages and kept in a cool, dark area of your home. The best dry goods to keep for emergency storage purposes are staples such as flour, sugar and salt. Packaged dry goods keep well too, but some need to be sealed into a plastic bag to prevent moisture from ruining the food. Dry packaged goods include rice or pasta meal mixes, dry breakfast cereal, crackers, nuts and dried fruits.

As previously mentioned, the type of food you store for emergency purposes depends on your and your family's personal likes, preferences and allergies. The best approach is usually to just buy more of the same types of things you already eat.

Getting together a full two to four weeks’ worth of extra food can seem daunting both in cost and in storage space. Buying a little extra at a time is the friendliest approach for your budget, and the easiest to find storage space for as well. If you bring home ten extra boxes of cereal from the store you may have a difficult time figuring out how to fit all of them on the cereal shelf in your kitchen. If instead you bring one or two extra boxes at a time, you can fit them into the current storage system more easily.

If you plan to store your extra food away from the everyday food it may not be as difficult to find places to store the extra, since you already have a separate designated space.

Don't forget to add more water to your emergency supplies while you're adding extra food. Put aside at least one gallon for each person in your household. A two week supply of water for a family of four is 56 gallons.

As part of your longer term emergency planning, don't forget to stock up a little more on emergency first aid supplies, blankets, and cooking or heating fuels.