Preparing for difficult times is not about living in fear. While we always hope that the worst-case scenarios remain just a thought and never become reality, it is always wiser to be prepared for anything. And to prepare on your own terms – fearless, grounded and thoughtful.
The crisis that occurs does not have to be only man-made – a thunderstorm, a prolonged power cut, a natural disaster can also cause days to weeks of turbulence until normality is restored.
To make sure that unexpected events like this don’t throw you, your family and society as a whole off balance, it’s wise for every adult to do some preparation. As much as you can afford and as little time as you can spare.
You have nothing to lose by storing food wisely!
In the worst case scenario, you will simply have to use up your own stock over time. Medical journalist Anthony William has also mentioned that food prices will only go up over time, so buying a whole food stockpile today that will last 3, 5 or 10 years is even a financially sound investment.
In this article, I hope to provide a comprehensive answer to the following questions:
- What is the most important thing to prepare for the unexpected/crisis?
- What to stock up on?
- How big should your domestic stocks be?
- Isn’t that a terrible way to live?
- I don’t have the money to buy stocks, what should I do?
- I don’t have space in a small apartment, what can I do?
Normality 100 years ago = horrible living and extremism today?
If you think about it, a hundred years ago, a large part of society, such as the peasantry and farmers, were still able to manage relatively independently. They had their own food in the larder and cellar, their own water in the well, their rooms heated with wood, and so they lived. Household food supplies often amounted to half a year’s supply or more.
These people were not living in fear, it was just a reality, a sensible and sustainable way of living. Why do we nowadays call it living in fear and extremism?
Stocking up on food, especially in our cold climate, is perfectly normal and could easily be part of more people’s lives. Just in a modern way.
2 most important steps to prepare for a crisis
- Step 1: In the first step, it is always worth investing in knowledge, skills and to think over a plan of action and a crisis plan with your family.
It is also recommended to write down the plan on paper, so that at least the paper keeps its sanity in the middle of a crisis 😉. - Step 2 The second important step is to stock up on food, water, supplies and other essentials.
Overall, you’re already better off than 80 per cent of people today if you have at least two weeks’ worth of water and food at home.
You don’t have to run to the store today – do it fearlessly and calmly. I’ll do my best to inspire you with this article, and share good practical suggestions that have worked well in our personal lives.
14 days of food reserves – a good time to target!
Typically, within 14 days, most crises resolve or at least find some clarity. For example, power cuts and storm damage are usually resolved within a few days. And even if a crisis doesn’t go away in 14 days, you’ll still have the opportunity to co-operate with people and come up with new creative ways to cope better.
If it is not possible to keep a 14-day supply at home…
…then talk to friends or relatives about maybe storing your stock with them.
What to stock up on?
I’m sharing a list of things I recommend you consider buying and stocking up on. And at a time when all the things are nicely stocked in the shops.
At the end of the article, I’ll also share a simple solution on how you can create 2 weeks’ worth of food for your family with a one-off purchase of just €100, thereby boosting your family’s confidence.
But before I get to the list, let’s start at the beginning. Namely, at the most basic, physical level, we only need to complete 4 areas to survive.
These are:
- Water
- Moth
- Peavari
- Energy
No 1: Water
When it comes to water, it’s worth knowing that on average, people consume three litres of water a day. This is both for preparing meals and just drinking water. So, for a family of 4, 12 litres per day.
For two weeks’ supply, I would need a large 200 litre drum that can be placed somewhere in a private house if you don’t have your own private well. However, if you live in an apartment building, you might want to think about 3L jerry cans, which you could still have some spare. Whether you need 60 jerry cans is a good idea, but at least 3, preferably 5-10 jerry cans. If you live in a block of flats, you might want to think about where you could get more water if you run out from the tap at home.
As well as storing water, you need to know how to purify it and make it drinkable if, for example, the electricity goes off. Water filters, small gas burners to boil/define water are useful.
No 2: Food
The average adult needs between 2000 and 2500 kcal of food per day, but in times of need we can manage on less, such as 1500 kcal.
When we are doing hard physical work – for example splitting firewood – we need well over 3000 kcal a day. Young children need less ~1000-2000 kcal per day. However, from the age of 13 you can expect a child to eat a comparable amount of calories per day to an adult.
An example of a family of 4 and its needs:
Mum, dad and 2 children. Children aged 4 and 13.
Calorie requirement for the whole family ~7500 kcal/day.
Water requirement ~12L/day (for drinking and cooking).
I’ve compiled a list of healthy, healthy whole foods for you
This list also takes health aspects into account. This means that there is no dairy, gluten, eggs, foods with dangerous additives, etc. on this list.
You certainly don’t have to have all the foods listed. Rather, take this list as a guide (you can also print it out or something) and adapt it to your situation.
Ready for every event in life!
List of long-life foods
- Cereals (calorie source)
- Millet
- GM oat flakes
- Sorgo
- Kinoa
- Tatar, tatrahelbeds
- Rice (white rice keeps better, brown rice is healthier)
- Dried beans, lentils, peas, chickpeas
- Canned beans, lentils, peas, chickpeas
- Pasta products, such as pea macaroni, rice noodles, bean noodles.
- Various flours such as oat flour, rice flour, chickpea flour, potato starch.
- Tomato paste (variant without citric acid and flavour enhancers)
- Sprout/flower growing kit and seeds (fresh food, source of vitamins and cover biocides)
- Honey
- Wax syrup
- Dried fruit, for example
- Datalid
- Pears
- Apricots
- Raisinade
- Figs
- Nuts and seeds
- Dulse flakes, navy leaves and other algae
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- Coconut milk
- Tahini
- Freeze-dried superfoods (regardless of the date of packaging, freeze-dried products will keep for more than 10 years).
- Spirulina
- Barley grass juice powder
- Freeze-dried berries such as wild blueberries
- Freeze-dried pitaya (dragon fruit) powder is a very healing food.
- Dried herbs and herbal teas
- Fruit rolls, fruit purees (without added sugar or citric acid)
- Frozen food. (Not every crisis means a power cut.) And even if the power goes out, you can make a plan to start eating frozen supplies first.)
- Berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, mango, cherries, etc.)
- Vegetables (peas, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, etc.)
- Fresh stuff
- Bananas (fresh and frozen)
- Garlic, ginger, onion
- Potatoes and other long-keeping vegetables (for cellar storage)
- Spices and herbs for health
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Thyme, oregano, sage, rosemary, basil, etc.
- Turmeric
- Coriander
- Paprika powder
- Sea salt
- Supplements (essential for crisis and home pharmacy) – medical care may not be easily available during a crisis. It’s worth knowing how to keep yourself healthy and get well.
- B-12, Zinc, Lemon balm, Vitamin C
- Other essential supplements you need include lysine, magnesium, cat’s claw, liquorice root and curcumin.
- The first aid kit may also include a silver powder (e.g. Sovereign Silver) and a stick (Vimergy PropolisPure).
- Don’t forget your pet’s food supply.
3. Beaver
You probably have a shelter, but this is more of a brainstorming exercise in case the existing shelter/habitat is no longer suitable for whatever reason.
For example, if you can’t heat a room in your house or apartment and need to think about moving temporarily – do you have relatives you can count on and access to a car with enough fuel to get to them?
4. Energy
Mainly fuel and towels. In the event of a power cut, most modern houses will also lose their heating, so think about whether it is worth preparing for the eventuality.
Buying an electric generator, stockpiling fuel or, in some cases, investing in solar panels are the options available today. Wood-fired energy solutions are also suitable.
Other equipment to think about
- Rubber gloves
- Disinfectant wet wipes
- Flashlights and spare batteries
- Candles
- Crisis radio
- Respiraator / mask
- Air cleaner
- First aid kit
- Toilet paper and toiletries
- Cash
In addition, according to the situation
- Prescription medicines (if you need them).
- Travelling gear (if you know you’ll have to leave home safely during a crisis)
Don’t let a long list stress you out. Again, you definitely don’t need all the things on this list – especially if you live in a city. There may not be room in your apartment to store all this stuff.
Our bodies are surprisingly resilient!
Although the above list is quite long, some things in the list only need one jar or one box. Assuming that you are currently eating a varied diet and are not actively battling a serious illness that may be causing your body’s vitamin stores to be low, your body will be able to cope for quite a long time on a monotonous ‘vitamin-rich’ diet. For example, eating only cereals. This is not ideal and it would therefore be a good idea to learn how to grow sprouts and shoots at home.
What do I think about the hiking and crisis food kits?
In general, I do not recommend them. Travel and crisis kits tend to contain unnecessary additives, many of them are of low nutritional value and the cheaper end of the range tastes pretty bad. Why make a crisis situation even more difficult for yourself with food that tastes bad and makes you feel bad?
Hiking food can be 35x more expensive than regular food
You can also find clean and tasty kits in hiking shops, but their prices are quite hefty and they’re not designed for domestic crisis situations. They are mostly for hiking – where the overall weight of the backpack is very important.
For example, one of the freeze-dried honeys available on the market, 100g: tasty, pure and well preserved, contains ~470kcal, but costs ~7€/pack. It would cost €21 to cover a day’s needs. The whole family needs ~84€/day.
Let’s compare it to dried rice, for example. You can get the same energy for €0.15 from rice or €0.20 from lentils. ~35x the price difference if you only measure the calorie ratio. But of course we don’t want to eat only cooked rice. Add seasonings, tomato paste and whatever else is available in the cupboard and you get a decent 500+kcal meal for just €0.50 – €1. The whole family can be fed on a budget of 5-10€ a day, even in the middle of a crisis.
Make your own crisis kit!
I’m sharing with you what I think is the simplest, cheapest and most realistic crisis-prepared meal kit.
Long-keeping cereals in a plastic container with lid.
It will take:
- 20L plastic bucket with lid – for example this bucket
- 15kg of cereals – white rice, oats, lentils, millet, buckwheat
(Preferably in 500g – 1kg packs)
Instructions:
Fill a 20L bucket with the appropriate cereal – for example white rice. Put the food in the bucket in the original packaging, for example in 500g/1kg packs – this will help to maintain the hygiene and cleanliness of the whole store after opening the bucket lid. If something goes wrong, the whole bucket won’t go at once. Once the bucket is filled to the brim with produce, seal tightly with the lid (you can also add humectants/and or oxygen softeners to the bucket, but this is not essential) and label the bucket with what’s inside and the ‘best before’ date given by the manufacturer.
Store this bucket in a dry, dark and cool (~20°C is okay) room, lifted up from the damp floor – for example on a wooden stand, in a cupboard or on a shelf.
Main hazards of long-term food storage
- Pests – mice and food moths. Mice should not be allowed to enter the storage room. Mice will also chew a hole in a thick plastic bucket over time. Moths won’t chew through thick plastic, but they will chew through thin plastic wrap.
- Moisture – high humidity will eventually seep through practically anything. Also, plastic is actually porous, and if moisture gets into food, it can cause the food to go mouldy more quickly.
Why is it not recommended to store such a bucket on a concrete floor or in a basement?
Because even the tightest plastic will eventually let moisture through, both through the walls and through the bottom. A cold and damp concrete floor in an otherwise dry room will shorten the life of the food in the bucket. Lift the food off the floor, even onto a simple table runner, and you’re done.
Under ideal conditions, food will keep for up to 20 years in such a bucket.
Under ideal conditions, white rice will keep for up to 20 years in such a bucket. But realistically, I would renew the contents of this bucket every 3 to 5 years. To ensure that food renewal is natural, it is important to put food in the bucket that your family eats on a daily/weekly basis.
How long will one 20L bucket with ~15kg of food last?
15kg of dried white rice contains about 55 000 kcal. 100g of dried rice – 350-370 kcal. Sounds like a lot, but for a family of 4, that’s about 7 days’ supply.
Lentils, buckwheat, oats and similar cereals contain similar amounts of calories in dried form. 15 kg of carbohydrate-rich food means somewhere between 52 000 – 60 000 kcal.
Perhaps simplified
- 1 bucket = 28 days’ supply for one adult.
- 1 bucket = 7 days’ supply for 4 people.
A family of 4 would need to put together 2 of these buckets in order to get two weeks’ food. For example, one bucket of dried rice and one bucket of dried lentils/beans.
How much does such a bucket cost? (as of spring 2026)
- 2 x buckets with lid ~14€
- 30kg of rice: 15€ – 90€
The cheapest rice is somewhere around ~0.50€/kg. However, I would not recommend it unless you are 100% sure about the taste and quality of the rice.
Normal rice of slightly higher quality 2-3€/kg, organic rice ~4-5€/kg.
NB: Buy grains that you would actually eat during a crisis. :)
With an average investment of €100 and a bit of fiddling, your family will have two weeks’ worth of emergency calories covered (assuming you have a kettle).
It is also possible to assemble two such buckets from lentils, buckwheat, millet, beans and other stuffing for ~100-150€.
To sum up
Rather, it’s a good idea to have at least 7-14 days’ food supplies at home. I would say that 80-90% of life’s more complex cases are covered. But don’t forget to invest in your knowledge and skills. I don’t know about you, but for me, having a small stockpile of food at home gives me peace of mind, boosts my confidence and reduces my fear of future events.
Wishing you a peaceful and fear-free life,
Erki Elusväli from the team.
