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Plan the pantry: how much to store and how to rotate

Decide how many days of food you want to hold, then store what you actually eat and rotate it. A pantry you rotate is insurance; a pantry you forget becomes waste.

How

1. Choose a target, for example 30, 90 or 365 days, based on how remote you are and how often roads close. Ready.gov's minimum for emergencies is a several-day supply of non-perishable food.
2. Estimate daily energy needs per person. The US Dietary Guidelines 2020 to 2025 give roughly 1,600 to 2,400 calories a day for adult women and 2,000 to 3,000 for adult men depending on activity. Humanitarian planning uses 2,100 kcal per person per day as a standard.
3. Use the pantry calculator below to turn people, days and calories into kilograms of food, using the energy density printed on your own food labels.
4. Store what you eat. Build menus from stored foods and buy or preserve to replace what you use.
5. Rotate first in, first out: new stock goes to the back, oldest to the front. Label every home-preserved jar with contents and date.
6. Keep canned food in a cool, dry place, and store dry boxed foods in tightly closed plastic or metal containers to keep out pests, as Ready.gov advises.
7. Review the pantry each year and when your household changes.

Do these first

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Sources

1. Estimated Number of Calories Needed Based on Age, Sex, and Activity Level (from Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020 to 2025). Merck Manual Consumer Version, accessed 2026-11
2. 2100 Kilocalories. FEWS NET Livelihoods Explorer, accessed 2026-11
3. Build a Kit. Ready.gov (US FEMA), accessed 2026-11

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