Been prepping for just over a year. Did an inventory today, would love advice.

Posted by Prepsandgunsred@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 40 comments

I started prepping when Hurricane Helene hit. I had started considering it early that year and built basic go bags and car emergency bags, but the wife got on board after the hurricane. We are not close per se but not far (we were able to drive there and back to give supplies).

My personal goal was to get enough food on hand for the two of us, to last 31 days inside. One thing to note is I live in a 2 bedroom apartment and only have one closet so spare for most storage.

I have yet to find a good way to cook inside without power. This poses an issue cuz a large amount of the calories I listed below (pasta rice dried beans oats etc) require cooking. Gotta figure that out.

I have over the last year just stored canned goods by the "buy 1 put 1 away" rule or sometimes if there is a sale, like 10 for 10 ill grab that and put some back. Theres also a few things we don't regularly eat, that we would either donate when it gets close to the expiration date or eat. Not a lot on purpose, but we have maybe 10 cans of chef boyardee that we don't usually go for but it's a lot of calories in a can.

I just organized all this in containers by expiration date. All of the numbers are calories cuz my first goal was to get 31 days for me and my wife at 4500 per day. I believe I've hit that but where I'm weak is:

Water: I have 63 gallons broken down in to 27 gallons stored long term the rest in plastic gallon jugs/water bottles. My next purchase is 10 water bricks so I'd have 62 gallons stored "long term" and I can have less water in plastic jugs. But this number does not include any water put aside for cooking...

Way to cook without power. this is a big one because a lot of this (probably over half) its beans pasta oats and rice. That adds to the water issue...

Variety and meals. I notice other than the canned meals (like the chili, soup) theres not a ton of meals I can make just with the canned ingredients. Sure I can eat a can of chicken and a can of black beans for lunch, but thats not gonna be morally fun after a few days.

Grains: the lack of cooking has me unsure how to get bread or make bread if the power is out. Tortillas maybe but those don't have a huge shelf life. we have lots of peanut butter but nothing to put it on.

Other stuff: I'm focused on food here but I have a separate goal of getting a camping toilet, more toilet paper meds sanitation stuff etc cuz all of that I'm lacking. I do a lot of shooing and will be cutting back on that this coming year to invest in that other stuff.

Here's what I've got, I'd love feedback and tips. Numbers next to them are calories.

Roasted red peppers- 80 

Beef Jerkey: 2 bags 460

Pasta: 51,200

Oats: 33,900

Peanut Butter: 38,950

Instant Mashed Potatos: 1,440

Pancakes: 7,040

Protein bars: 2,640

Quinoa: 8,960

Canned chicken: 12,060

Canned fish; 1290

Corned beef hash: 3960

Pasta sauce jars: 1200

Canned fruit: 2260

Soup: 4,960

Canned pasta: 5200

Chilli: 8000

Canned beans: 16,257

Pealed Tomatos: 1260

Canned tomato sauce: 1785

Diced tomattos: 1155

Canned potatos: 4000

Canned green beans: 1120

Sweet corn: 1400

Peas: 1760

Rice: 10 lbs (5914)

Dried Beans: 20 lbs (various)

Various Spices

Thats kind of it. Any tips and help is appreciated going into the next year of this, and yes, we rotate all of this so right now I have everything expiring before August 2026 in a pile that we will use and replace. On the 4500 calories a day taking way the dried goods it seems I have 24ish days of canned goods.