Hurricane season is here, but it’s not too late to start preparing for the next big storm! If you plan to shelter in place the next time a hurricane hits Florida, one of the most important things to prepare is some hurricane food.
Medical kits, tools, and emergency communication methods like ham radios are all useful, but when the power goes out and refrigeration fails, you’ll need to have a stockpile of food to tide you over until you can safely evacuate or power gets restored.
After all, physiological needs like food and water form the base of Maslowe’s Hierarchy of Needs for a reason!
But, what are the best hurricane foods to prepare for your home? What should you prioritize? Let’s go over some of the basic requirements for emergency food and the top 10 foodstuffs that meet them:
What to Prioritize in Hurricane Food
What are the top priorities for food that you’re going to eat during a hurricane when the power’s out and you don’t have access to ovens, microwaves, and refrigerators? Here are a few things to consider when purchasing food for hurricane preparedness:
1: Shelf Stability
It doesn’t do you much good to stockpile a bunch of food that goes bad before you have a chance to eat it. So, when looking for foods to purchase for hurricane survival, focus on foods that are shelf stable at room temperature.
This often means canned food or other preserved goods, but be aware of the effects of excessive preservatives like salt on nutrition. Speaking of nutrition…
2: Nutrient Variety and Density
Try to pick a variety of foods that have cover a broad range of important nutrients. Don’t just stock up on foods that are empty calories, as this can be bad for your health and ability to take care of yourself.
In addition to protein-rich foods, consider long-lasting fruits and vegetables to keep your diet a bit healthier and more fulfilling.
If you’re struggling to find a good mix of foods to meet your nutritional needs, consider using vitamin supplements to boost your vitamin intake, as these items can last for a long time and provide strong nutritional value.
However, it’s important to consult with your physician before starting a vitamin regimen, as taking too many vitamins can lead to problems such as vitamin toxicity, especially vitamins A and D (Source: OSU Health).
3: Food Requiring Little to No Cooking
During a major storm, you may be facing a prolonged power outage, if that happens, you may not have access to your oven or other modern cooking appliances… which can put a damper on your cooking plans.
Some homes have gas-based cooking appliances, but even then, the burners might work, but the oven may not, since you can manually trigger gas burners with a lighter or other flame/spark source.
Also, if your gas lines are damaged or ruptured by the storm, your stovetop may fail completely.
So, it’s important to choose food that you can prepare with a minimum amount of cooking or that is safe to eat uncooked.
These are some of the major concerns to take into account when getting food to outlast a hurricane, but they aren’t the only ones. In addition to getting food that’s long-lasting, nutrient-rich, and easy to prepare without cooking, you should focus on foodstuffs that you know you and your family will enjoy eating.
This will make waiting out the hurricane more bearable for everyone involved.
Top 10 Hurricane Foods to Get Right Now
So, what are some examples of good hurricane food items that you should go out and get right this minute before there’s a hurricane watch and the grocery stores start looking like a warzone?
1: Bottled Water
This is, hands-down, the most important item to prepare for any disaster situation. Everyone needs water to survive. If you’re stuck waiting out a hurricane and your local water systems fail, you’ll need a supply of safe drinking water.
Plan to have at least a gallon of bottled drinking water per person per day you plan to shelter in place. So, if you have a family of four and want to be able to shelter in place for a week, you’ll need 28 or more gallons of water.
Also be sure to set aside water for any pets you have, though their needs will vary, so ask a veterinarian for more detailed information.
2: Peanut Butter
This is practically a survival situation miracle food… assuming you aren’t allergic to peanuts. The specific nutrition facts may vary depending on the brand and what additives are put into the jar. However, sources such as Healthline note that peanut butter has a high protein content, relatively low carbohydrate content (for a plant-based foodstuff), and is high in “healthy” fats (oleic acid).
Healthline also reports that a 3.5 ounce portion of peanut butter has:
- 60% of your daily recommended value of vitamin E
- 84% of your DV of vitamin B3 (niacin)
- 29% of your DV of B6
- 65% of your manganese DV
Among other important nutrients like potassium, zinc, vitamin B5, folate, zinc, iron, and magnesium.
If you aren’t allergic to the good ol’ PB, you should definitely stock up!
3: Canned/Cup Fruits
Shelf-stable canned fruit or fruit cups are a great way to ensure you get a diverse array of vitamins and nutrients without needing to do a lot of cooking.
However, with cup or can fruits, it’s important to check the label to see what nutrients they supply and whether the fruit is being preserved in syrup or water. Syrup does a great job of ensuring a sweet flavor while keeping the fruit well-preserved, but it can add a lot of sugar-based carbs to your diet.
4: Powdered Milk
Milk is a great source of protein, calcium, and vitamin D, but it tends to spoil quickly when it isn’t kept cold. There’s a solution for that!
Shelf-stable powdered milk can be mixed with water to create a healthy drink on demand. Also, many recipes call for powdered milk, so even outside of a disaster, you can find uses for it!
Some clever uses for powdered milk include adding it as a soup mix or a thickening agent for mashed potatoes.
5: Crackers/Cookies/Bars and Other Shelf-Stable Snack Items
Crackers are a great addition for your stash of peanut butter, giving you a long-lasting shelf life for a filling snack.
Cookies can be another good snack item for when you need a burst of sugar-powered energy or just want a break from other staple foodstuffs. Some protein cookie brands offer greater nutritional value or reduced carbs as well.
Premade candy or food bars can be a good source of carbohydrates that help you fight hunger pangs. However, their nutritional value varies dramatically by brand, so be sure to check the label to see if a particular bar has good nutritional value for you.
6: Canned Meat
Allergic to peanut butter or just need another reliable source of protein? Canned, ready-to-eat meats can be a great source of protein.
Canned tuna is one example of an easy-to-eat preserved meat product. Others include deviled ham, SPAM, and canned chicken. Most of these are relatively easy to put on bread and turn into a sandwich with some mustard or other toppings.
However, canned meats frequently have a high sodium content. If you’re on a sodium-restricted diet, check for “low,” “reduced” or “no added sodium” options for canned meats.
Some canned meat products, like vienna sausages, are specifically designed to be eaten as snacks.
7: Canned Vegetables
Like your parents probably kept saying when you were a kid: “Eat your veggies!”
As with canned or cup fruits, canned vegetables are an important source of vitamins and nutrients. Additionally, canned veggies tend to last an incredibly long time. One Taste of Home article claims that “most canned vegetables can be stored up to two years past their best-by date.”
Another benefit of having canned vegetables on top of canned meat and fruit is that it adds more variety to your diet during an emergency.
8: Canned Soup
Some canned soup brands are not only shelf stable for years at a time, they’re ready to eat even when served cold (though most of them definitely taste better cooked).
When choosing canned soups for your hurricane food prep needs, consider taste-testing them cold to see which soups you and your family can enjoy without having to heat them up.
9: Pet Food
If you have pets, then dry pet food is a must for your hurricane preparation. Having a stock of extra food for Fido is important for keeping man’s best friend healthy and happy during a disaster.
10: MREs (Meals Ready to Eat)
Rather than the grocery store, consider hitting up the Army surplus store! MREs are self-contained meal packs that are designed for soldiers to be able to prepare and consume in field conditions and unpredictable circumstances while still delivering balanced nutrition.
And, unlike previous generations of portable military foods (like C-rations), MREs had flavor being a major concern in their design phase! As noted by Omni Military Loans, MREs have seen “continuous improvement in nutrition and flavor” from the 2010s to now.
Modern MRE’s have ‘flameless’ ration heaters that use a chemical reaction to produce heat to cook the ration packs in the MRE. Basically, you drop a pouch of food in the heater, add water, and seal it. The chemicals in the pouch react, heating up and causing the pouch to inflate.
However, they can be a bit pricey—around or a bit more than the cost of a typical fast food meal (between $12 and $15), though prices vary by store. This makes MREs one of the more expensive options on this list, as most of the other foodstuffs for human consumption listed here cost less than half what MREs do per serving.
Once You Have Your Hurricane Food, What’s Next?
Okay, say you have all the hurricane food you need to weather the next big hurricane and any major power outages it brings… What’s next?
Well, another part of the base of Maslowe’s Hierarchy of Needs (the physiological tier) is shelter. If your home is going to weather the storm and survive it so you can shelter in place, it will need to be reinforced against hurricane-force winds, rain, and flying storm debris.
This is where impact windows can be invaluable. Impact-rated windows are designed to keep out hurricane-force winds without breaking in the face of immense pressure and heavy impacts so the seal of your home is maintained.
One of the biggest risks of structural collapse during a hurricane is if a window breaks. Then, the wind can act on the interior of your home, pressurizing it and potentially lifting the roof off or collapsing interior walls that aren’t made to withstand intense pressure.
If you’d like to protect your home from hurricane damage, reach out to Karoly Windows & Doors to ask for an in-home impact window installation consultation!
