During these uncertain times, you have probably been purchasing more groceries than ever before.
To minimize your chance of getting COVID, you’ve likely been limiting your trips to the grocery store to once a week, bi-weekly or once a month.
This means for each trip, you want to stock up and be prepared.
If you have limited fridge or freezer space, what other options do you have?
One thing you can do is focus on long-lasting foods, ideally foods that don’t need to be stored in the fridge or freezer.
This is an even more important strategy if people are massively stockpiling and the grocery store is not able to fulfill demand before running out of inventory like what is currently happening around the world.
Even if this isn’t happening in your area, it’s always good to be prepared. You never know when you’ll have an unexpected power outage or guests. It’ll also just be handy when you don’t want to go to the grocery store.
Of course you need to store these foods properly – in a cool, dry place so that it keeps for months or years like a cold cellar or in a pantry. The key is for the food to not get exposed to moisture or high temperatures so there should be no direct sunlight.
What are the best foods to buy that will keep for a while?
Here’s a list of all of the long-lasting foods to get. It’s not all rice and beans!
Everything on this list will likely last you for over a year. Many of these items are filling so you won’t go hungry on these foods!
Related: Here’s a list of the best cheap food to buy when you’re on a budget. During these times when unemployment might be happening in your family, this list provides you with how you can save money grocery shopping now.
Now onto all of the best foods that last a while…
15 Emergency Foods That Will Last Over 1 Year
- Dry grains like pasta, rice, oatmeal, quinoa, barley, buckwheat and flour
- Canned goods like tuna and beans (e.g. lentils, kidney beans, black beans)
- Peanut butter
- Dry beans
- Dry vegetables
- Freeze dried meals (This is what astronauts eat. Food is prepared, quickly frozen and put into a vacuum. You usually just have to add water to eat it. Freeze dried meals come in a variety of meals and flavors like curry ad even ice cream.)
- Energy bars, granola bars, protein bars
- Bouillon cubes
- Dried spices like garlic, onion, salt, pepper
- Honey
- Beef jerky
- Nuts
- Powdered milk
- Dehydrated fruit
- Instant coffee
Consider these emergency foods the next time you go to the grocery store. Many of them are already staples in households. They’ll likely be easy to add to your everyday recipes!
A quick reminder: Just because the foods will last a while, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make a reminder to eat them! Put down a potential expiry date on them and perhaps a reminder in your calendar so you don’t forget they’re there!