A good  emergency storage contains flashlights, a knife, a knife sharpener, an axe, a GPS and of course food! Food is a top priority in any survival situation, which is why that storing lots of it in your home is a great responsibility to take for yourself and your family. At the same time, it’s important that you choose foods that are long lasting and will remain fresh in your pantry for many years. You never know exactly how long a disaster is going to last, which is why long lasting foods should always be the only kinds of foods you consider for survival purposes.

In this article, we are going to explore the top five foods that will stay fresh for a long time. We’ll mention approximately how long each food will last and then describe why that food will be a good choice to be in your survival pantry.

Also worth reading best freeze dried emergency food

Beans

You probably expected to see beans on this list when you first read the title to this article. Beans are the classic survival food, after all.

That being said, there’s a reason why beans are so often recommended as a staple in a survival pantry. Assuming that you store them in a location that is dark and dry, they can last you for anywhere from ten to thirty years. Let that sink in. Ten to thirty years where you don’t have to do any kind of rotation.

What’s more, is that this holds true for any kind of beans: black beans, pinto beans, lima beans, kidney beans, and so on. Each of these are also rich in essential nutrients and proteins, which you will need in a survival or disaster situation to keep your energy up.

Beans can be either eaten on their own or merged with another meal. Either way, they truly are a great survival food and belong in any prepper’s pantry.

Honey

Honey is also often recommended as a stable survival food because it lasts indefinitely. To prove this to you, honey has been recovered from the tombs of Ancient Egyptian pharaohs and was still in excellent condition.

That being said, honey should not be the only food you stockpile for survival. Whereas you can live off of just eating beans, you can’t live off of just eating honey. The reason why is because it doesn’t contain all of the essential nutrients that you need in order to survive.

Still, honey can be used to sweeten the taste of practically any other kind of food imaginable. What’s better, is that it also contains strong medicinal properties that make it worth storing as well. Honey can help to alleviate allergies, or it can be applied directly to open wounds or burns to help calm down the pain.

While honey has an indefinite shelf life, it only remain in its gooey liquid form if stored in the right conditions. The best way to store honey will be in a container with a tightly shut lid, and then store the container in a cool and dark location. Otherwise, the honey will crystallize into a hardened form. This crystallized honey is still safe to consume, but it won’t taste or feel the same as the liquefied honey does. To reverse crystallized honey, you’ll need to open the container and then place it in a bowl of warm water. Use a spoon to stir until the crystallized form is dissolved.

Peanut Butter

This one won’t apply to you if you or anyone in your family has a peanut allergy, but if you don’t, then peanut butter will be a truly great food to store for survival. Peanut butter is already a mainstay food item in the pantries of most Americans, and when stored in dark location with low humidity, it can last for up to five years or more. The reason why peanut butter will last so long is because of the high levels of Vitamin E it contains.

Peanut butter is an excellent source of proteins and can be added to practically any other kind of food imaginable. Definitely plan on stocking up on a few jars of it in your survival pantry.

Rice

Another often mentioned survival food is rice. The reason why rice is an excellent survival food is because it’s cheap, is very easy to make, and can last in the shelf for up to twenty to thirty years. In fact, when stored free of all contaminants, white rice can have an indefinite shelf life much like honey does.

The only type of rice that is commonly not recommended as a survival food item is brown rice. Brown rice contains higher levels of oil content, and as a result does not last near as long as other kinds of rice do such as white rice or basmati rice.

As with other foods, store your rice in a dry and cool location. The rice should be sealed in airtight bags or containers.

Many people consider white rice to be the ultimate survival food, or the one survival food to stockpile if you could stockpile only one. It works great either alone or as part of another meal.

Sugar

Brown, powdered, and white sugar all have an indefinite shelf life. Granted, they will harden up over time, but you can break hardened sugar down into individual pieces and then continue to break them down into their original form.

It’s important that you store sugar in airtight bags or containers and in dark and dim locations to keep it in good condition. In addition to consuming sugar directly or using it to sweeten it an existing meal, it also contains medicinal properties: you can sprinkle clean sugar over an open wound to help kill bacteria and promote healing.

Conclusion

Each of these five foods are very long lasting and should be included in your pantry as part of your overall disaster preparedness plans. While there are many other foods out there as well that would be worth including, such as canned meats and vegetables, these five are the longest lasting.