Food Storage 101: Shelf Life, Rotation, Calorie Math

Objective

Stock food that you eat, track shelf life, and hit real calorie targets without waste.

Targets

• 2,000–2,400 kcal/person/day baseline; adjust for size/activity.
• Mix of carbs/fats/protein for morale and nutrition.

Rotation (FIFO)

• First In, First Out: label purchase/open dates; consume oldest first.

Category Picks

• Grains: rice, oats, pasta
• Protein: beans, lentils, canned fish
• Fats: oils, nut butters
• Flavor: spices, salt, broth

Menu Planning

Build 7–10 dinner templates and repeat; store what matches them.

Real Example

Household rotated a 30‑day pantry by cooking two “pantry dinners” weekly, replacing items monthly.

Checklist

• Labels/marker
• Bins by category
• Spreadsheet or notebook tracker

Contingencies

• No cooking fuel → choose no‑cook backups (nut butters, bars, canned fish).

After-Action

Review what you actually ate during outages and tune the pantry mix.

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