Today's post is the sixth in the prepping series. The first post outlined the five inexpensive and versatile foods to stock first, the second post gave some tips on how to ensure easy access to fresh fruits and veggies during a crisis, the third discussed how to navigate power interruptions, the fourth got you geared up for gardening and foraging with resilience, and the fifth listed out the essential items to pack in a go bag.
This post will discuss some additional foods you may want to layer into your long term pantry, but in a smaller amount than the five staple foods. These would be foods you frequently eat. So, you would purchase just a little bit more than normal. And, as you cook on a regular basis, you would pull from your long-term pantry, continuing to replenish back what you use.
Oats - In addition to making oatmeal, oats can be turned into oat milk if regular milk isn't available and can be ground into flour to be used in baking overall, and making crackers.
Pasta - A non-whole wheat elbow macaroni might be a good primary type (pasta without wheat will last longer) and potentially a smaller amount of egg noodles to be made into comforting chicken noodle soup and lasagna noodles for something hearty.
Beans - Black beans and garbanzo beans were already part of the five essential foods to stock first. Consider expanding to other beans as well in smaller quantities, such as lentils, chili beans, and a bean mix.
Rice - Brown rice doesn't last as long as other types, yet still a good option. Furthermore, white, basmati, wild rice, and quinoa (technically a seed, not a rice) offer heterogeneity.
Tofu and tofu alternatives - Shelf stable tofu lasts six months to a year in a dark pantry, textured vegetable protein one to two years in a pantry, and tempeh six months in the freezer. These are great meat alternatives in tacos, sloppy joe's, and chili. Vital wheat gluten, another great protein, lasts six months in a pantry and even up to ten years if not opened, or stored properly after opened. It can be made into seitan, a really delicious faux chicken.
Canned meat/fish - Chicken, tuna, salmon, kipper snacks, and jackfruit (factually a fruit, but used as a faux chicken) all last for a long time.
Canned vegetables - Despite having dried beans and dehydrated potato flakes on hand, it is wise to have canned goods on hand as well. If there is no water to rehydrate dried and dehydrated foods, you will want the ability to open a can of vegetables to serve instead, besides having the option of eating cold if needed. Diversity in the state of the food in your long-term pantry is key in order to be covered in any type of emergency. Canned beans, corn, carrots, and even pumpkin and sweet potato puree's are great options.
Canned fruits - Similar to the reason that canned vegetables are good addition to your long-term pantry, canned fruits are great to have at the ready. Fresh fruit may not be an option during the Winter and frozen fruit may go bad if lengthy power outages occur. So, canned fruit will be a necessary back-up. Keep not only canned pineapple, pears, peaches, and fruit cocktail, but also jarred applesauce. Dried berries are also a nice addition.
Canned tomatoes - The easiest is to purchase all the variations - chunk, whole, paste, sauce (pasta and pizza), all both plain and seasoned. However, if limited on space or need, you could just purchase plain canned whole tomatoes and turn those into all of these other versions. Dehydrated tomato powder also can be made into sauces and pastes, the thickness depending on how much water you add.
Broths - Cartoned vegetable, chicken, and beef broths are handy to have on hand. Dehydrated vegetable powder can also be mixed with water as a stand in. Or, make your own from discarded vegetable pieces after cooking other meals. Faux chicken and beef broths can be made by mixing herbs from your spice cupboard with water (I'll share recipes for these at some point).
Salt - Don't purchase a twenty-five pound bag of this, just ensure you have enough in your spice cupboard to make bread frequently and use for seasoning other foods.
Spices - Audit what you have on hand and replenish if needed. Spices could be something that are in short supply if trans-Atlanta trade is disrupted.
Other baking/cooking ingredients - Check the rest of your spice cupboard as well to certify you have enough on hand of baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, arrowroot powder, yeast, oils, vanilla extract, and vinegar (ideally, both white and apple cider). When exacting how much you'd like to keep on hand, ponder what you might also make from some of these ingredients, necessitating keeping a little higher quantities - cornstarch can be mixed with white sugar to make powdered sugar, it also can be mixed with all purpose flour to make cake flour, white vinegar can be mixed with milk to make buttermilk and cottage cheese, etc.
Liquid sweeteners - White sugar was part of the five essential items to stock and maple syrup and honey were suggested as liquid sweeteners to source from someone in your local area. You might also assess whether you'd like to keep on hand molasses, sorghum, and/or corn syrup. Molasses, for example, can be mixed with white sugar to make brown sugar when needed.
Nuts - These will need to be kept in the freezer so they don't go rancid if you don't work through them quickly enough. However, are still a great component to a long-term pantry since they are a protein and can be eaten whole as well as made into flours, milks, and butters.
Condiments - Keep extra of your favorites on hand, if desired (pickles, dressing, mayonnaise, mustard).
Coffee - If you're a coffee drinker, I would keep more in stock than the above foods. On average, coffee has gone up 20-40% between 2024 and the end of 2025, although the coffee I was previously buying went up higher than the average to 66% more in this time period. There are multiple pressures on the coffee trade the past few years, including environmental, labor shortages, and tariffs. It is possible at some point in our future, if issues aren't addressed, we will be priced out of being able to routinely enjoy coffee. I stocked up on coffee in January 2025, proceeding to replenish my stock as the prices have continued to increase over the past year. Think about starting to making a habit of coffee alternatives such as mushroom or dandelion coffee or caffeinated teas.
Chocolate - Facing similar pressures to coffee, chocolate has increased in price 200% in the last ten years. I've noticed the bags on the shelf have gotten smaller and smaller and the prices higher and higher, to a point where I have actually not bought chocolate on certain occasions because I couldn't justify it. Growing up, my mom frequently baked with carob, so I have added both carob powder and carob chips to my pantry and have been testing out different recipes to get accustomed to it again. Carob certainly has a distinctive taste, one that can't necessarily be compared to chocolate as a one to one. Yet, it is a delicious option for sweet treats that can start to stand in for chocolate in an increased way.
In building your long-term pantry, be mindful of how long things last. You don't want to overstock an amount of food you will not be able to work through. Peanut butter, for instance, is recommended by preppers as key to stock up on. However, many are surprised of its short shelf life. As with any nut based product, it has a lot of oils that can turn rancid. I will say most things last much longer than companies outline. Yet, something to still keep top of mind. Additionally, note that not all freeze dried and dehydrated food lasts twenty-five years. Only those specially prepared and packaged in a particular way will last that long, and therefore comes with a high price tag. Restrain yourself from buying large quantities of freeze dried or dehydrated food that is much cheaper, thinking you're getting a fantastic deal, without checking on the storage life of these items first.
Besides food stock levels, assess the inventory of either essential household items, potentially including:
- first aid and medicine
- face and body wash/bar soap
- lotion
- laundry/dishwasher detergent
- hand soap
- cleaning supplies
- toilet paper
- facial tissues
Can you think of anything else to add to this list?
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