Three Month Low Cost Survival Food List: How To Prep Your Pantry On A Budget Starting Now

When it comes to putting extra food in your pantry for a rainy day, natural disaster, or otherwise, fear sells, and they know it. It's difficult to create a 100% year-round complete diet for a family in a preppers pantry, but in my opinion, what you can grow and store for yourself is the best source of inexpensive survival food.

There are a few tricks to putting together a pantry you can actually eat out of, and stocking it full of $500 buckets of freeze dried food isn't it. I'm talking about typical grocery store items and food you're already buying and eating. This strategy seems to be effective for a medium-term plan for inexpensive survival food.

It's easier than you thinkPhoto byRichelleg

Not that emergency freeze-dried food packs shouldn't be included in your planning and preparations; they can absolutely be essential in keeping you going and your belly full. Long-term food storage solutions are important, but this is about putting a little food away right now, for cheap. I don't know many who have extra money right now to throw at 30-year food storage bins.

Let's go over the secrets to actually starting a survival food cache on a budget.

Rule 1: If you never eat your cheap survival food, it gets expensive.

I purchase the same stuff for daily consumption as I do for storing. It's so simple, but it's true. It's easy to get caught up in all the hype of trying to put a little away of everything. Just because there is an emergency does not mean that you and your children will suddenly take a liking to turnips from a can. GET WHAT YOU ALREADY EAT.

This also means supply rotation. As you get new items like beans, rice, or canned food, everything should be stocked in FIFO order (First In, First Out). Purchasing food that you find gross but buy it "just in case" leads to FISH—First In, Still Here.

Buy what you'll eatPhoto byRichelleg

Rule 2: Get Food That Doubles As Ingredients To Other Meals

Yes, you can eat those beans right out of the can. But, you can also make a billion other things with them, too. Food exhaustion is a real thing, you will get tired of eating the same thing over and over again in a survival situation. Buying things that go together in other recipes ensures you have a great rotation of emergency eating.

By nature, all dry beans have a lengthy shelf life. The opportunity to replant dry beans from your own storage is another benefit of this. Yes. Growing fresh beans from dried ones will have a huge attitude and nutrient boost if you've been eating out of cans all winter. I have cultivated several varieties of Navy beans, Black Turtle, Dutch Brown, and Vermont Cranberry.

Let's dive a little deeper.

Low-Cost Survival Food: The Three-Month Supply

Start with this simple list if you want to stock up on a lot of calories for cheap. This list is for two adults and can feed them well for three months on a budget in a mild-medium survival situation. This means you aren't hoofing it from one city to the next, all day burning calories. You will have to adjust this for allergies and the number of family members you have. Don't forget pets.

Depending on sales, you can purchase a few things from this list each week to complete your pantry in no time. Your local grocery stores, bulk stores, farmers markets, online food pantries, and church food kitchens are where you want to look. Remember, the idea is to get just a few items at a time; don't let this overwhelm you. Additionally, keep in mind Rule 1: swap anything on this list that you dislike.

Beans and ricePhoto byRichelleg

Dried

Bags of beans: A dozen 2-pound, bags of various dried beans and peas, such as kidney beans, navy beans, black beans, split peas, and lentils.

White rice: six five pounders.

Flour: Eight five-pound bags of white all-purpose flour.

Pasta: Six assorted macaroni, fettuccini, spaghetti, or your other preferred pasta, in two-pound boxes or bags

Oats: A dozen 2-lb containers of rolled oats for easy, quick cookies and breakfasts.

Potatoes: 8–10 pounds (4-5 kg) of instant potatoes. Quick potato soup or bread can be made with instant potatoes.

Dry milk powder is typically sold in 1-2 lb bags or jars; purchase 20–25 lbs.

These consumables keep perfectly in their original packaging for the short term. If stored in a dry place away from excessive heat, they will last for at least a year. You may want to place them into 5-gallon buckets for extra protection, depending on where you store them.

Alternatively, you might vacuum-pack these things in 1-2 pound bags to begin a longer-term supply. Remove the beans, peas, and pasta from their original packing and vacuum-pack them in a quantity that you will consume within a couple of weeks.

Foods with finer grains, such as rice, flour, instant potatoes, or dry milk, should be kept in their original bags. Make a few holes in the bags so that air may be drawn out, then vacuum seal.

Canned beans will keep you fedPhoto byRichelleg

Canned products

Fish: Fifteen cans of tuna or salmon, depending on your choice, are perfect for short-term survival.

Meats: purchase twelve cans, 10 to 12 ounces of various sausage, spam, corned beef (one of my faves), beef, chicken and ham.

Veggies: 25 cans of mixed beans, corn, and peas.

Canned fruit: 25 different cans.

Soup: 25 cans of various canned soups.

Jams: four jars of your favorite jams.

Tomato: 25 jars of variously flavored and styled tomato sauce. Cans don't hold as long as glass jars when it comes to acidic goods like tomatoes. The jars can also be used again.

Beans: 20 cans of mixed kidney, black, navy, or "chili style" beans can be eaten right out of the can.

PB: Four 1-pound jars of your favorite nut butter, such as almond or peanut.

Dont forget to preserve your own food if you can!Photo byRichelleg

Kitchenware and condiments

Sugar: Six Two-pound bags

Salt: Two 2-lb 900g boxes of salt, at least.

Pepper: one to two 2-lb, whole peppercorns. You'll need a grinder, but whole peppercorns are for more than just seasoning, they're medicinal.

Powder: 1 lb of baking powder.

2 pounds of baking soda. You may want extra of this for other helpful survival uses.

Yeast: 1 lb of yeast in jars or packets.

Cocoa: 2 lbs of cocoa powder.

Oil: 3–4 1 quart or 1 litre containers of olive oil.

Honey: Six two pound raw honey jars or containers. You may want to increase this number also, as raw honey is good for so many things medicinally as well as food preservation.

Syrup: 2–3 one-quart or 1-liter jugs of pure maple syrup.

1 quart of molasses; black strap is best, but any will do.

Vinegar: Six 1-gallon jugs of vinegar. In addition to cooking and canning, we use it for cleaning and disinfecting.

Ingredients that play into mealsPhoto byRichelleg

Attributions:

Tabs, S. (2020, June 19). 10 Best Survival Foods At Your Local Supermarket. The SurvivalTabs. https://thesurvivaltabs.com/blogs/news/10-best-survival-foods-at-your-local-supermarket?srsltid=AfmBOooFA8te13Zcu2Mcr-dWdWdzar3kwl1EsLqa0utDXERaJJ8flU8R

https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/spending/articles/cheap-foods-to-buy-when-youre-broke

Richardson, R. (2023, July 18). 60+ Long-Term Survival Foods You can Buy at the Grocery Store. Off Grid Survival - Wilderness & Urban Survival Skills. https://offgridsurvival.com/survivalfood/