> E.g. bags of rice are an easy way to store a ton of calories but aren't very palatable and require you to boil water. On the other hand, survival meals are ea

> E.g. bags of rice are an easy way to store a ton of calories but aren't very palatable and require you to boil water. On the other hand, survival meals are easy to prepare but expensive. This is the basis of how my family does things these days. Post-COVID, we keep about 200# of rice and another 200# of dried beans on hand. We also have corresponding dry seasonings and such on hand. It's cheap, and stores well. We eat quite a bit of both, but the above stay untouched. Once a year we donate it all to our local food pantry (i.e., "soup kitchen") and replace it. We know that it's useful for them because we work a shift at least once a month; we're not just pawning it off blindly. The donation is a tax write-off, and replacing the whole thing is less than $500. Before COVID, we did the same but with small quantities. Our experience there showed us that it was in fact valuable to have food and essentials on hand just in case, and it felt justified to spend a bit more money on it in order to have more.