Urban Survival: Food Storage for Apartment Dwellers

3-Month's Food Supply in Your Pantry

Are you wondering how you can have even a 3-month food supply, let alone a full array of food storage products because you live in an apartment in the city?

Many people live on farms and have land and the ability to grow food and livestock. But the closest apartment dwellers may come to farming is a bird in a cage. And the only thing they make for dinner . . . is a reservation. Or a home-cooked meal means reheating last night’s leftovers from the Mexican take-out restaurant.

So what can you do about food storage if you eat most of your meals in restaurants or you prefer to stop by the deli or corner grocery store on your way home from work every night?

You are not doomed to be an emergency preparedness statistic if you don’t know how to bake a loaf of bread or have a basement full of food. You will, however, have to put a little more thought into being prepared than someone who is used to cooking from scratch or on a regular basis.

Here’s what you can do to have at least a 3-month food supply:

Choose several recipes that you know your family likes starting with two breakfasts, two lunches, and two dinners. Stock up on enough ingredients times seven. Then you will have enough food for two weeks.

Keep it simple. For example: You might choose oatmeal and pancakes for your two breakfast meals, soup and tuna salad with canned fruit as your lunch meals. Dinner might be spaghetti with canned corn for one meal and homemade pizza for the second. (Yes, there is such a thing as “homemade” pizza – and it’s easy.) You might also want to have some ingredients, mixes or packaged treats on hand. Old-fashioned non-microwave popcorn stores well and is a good option.

Repeat this until you feel satisfied that you’ll be able to take care of yourself or your family for a while. If you follow this process, you can at least be somewhat prepared in an emergency, even if you have no intention of changing your current lifestyle. Set your goal for a 3-month food supply.

A version of this post appeared previously on Family-Survival-Planning.com.

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Joan enjoys learning new survival skills and helping others prepare by researching topics and answering questions from readers on her web site, Family Survival Planning. There are many types of people living various lifestyles, but we all need to be prepared (as the Boy Scouts advocate).