An Emergency Pantry on $20 a Week

A 10-week shopping plan that builds two weeks of no-cook and low-cook meals for a family of four.

You don't need a $900 freeze-dried bucket kit. Twenty dollars a week, ten weeks, done.

The plan

1. Week 1: 2 cases of water, a manual can opener
2. Week 2: peanut butter x2, crackers
3. Week 3: canned chicken and tuna
4. Week 4: 20 lb white rice
5. Week 5: dried beans, lentils, bouillon
6. Week 6: canned fruit and vegetables
7. Week 7: oats, powdered milk, honey
8. Week 8: pasta, jarred sauce
9. Week 9: salt, oil, spices, coffee or tea
10. Week 10: buckets and oxygen absorbers to store the rice and beans

No-power meal ideas

Tuna salad on crackers, peanut butter oats, three-bean salad from cans, canned peaches. Keep a camp stove and fuel for rice and beans.

Write it down

Tape an inventory sheet inside the cupboard door. When you use something, cross it off and put it on next week's list.

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