30 Days of Easy Preparedness — Day Two

Check Food Expiration Dates & Shop Your Pantry

Welcome to Day Two of 30 Days of Easy Preparedness! 

Today’s preparedness task is an easy one, and it doesn’t require buying anything.

Take a few minutes and check the food in your pantry.

Look at expiration and best-by dates, move the older foods toward the front, and make a note of anything that needs to be used soon.

That’s it!

But while you’re standing there looking through your pantry, I want you to do one more thing:

Look for Emergency Meals You Already Have

Preparedness food doesn’t always have to be special “emergency food.”

Look at what your family already eats.

Do you see pasta and a jar of spaghetti sauce? That’s a meal.

Rice, canned chicken and canned vegetables? Another meal.

Canned chili and crackers? Dinner.

Oatmeal, dried fruit and powdered milk? Breakfast.

Peanut butter, crackers and applesauce? That could be an easy meal that requires no cooking at all.

As you rotate your pantry, start thinking:

“What meals could I make with this if the power was out or I couldn’t get to the grocery store?”

That little question can teach you a lot about what your emergency pantry may be missing.

Mimi’s Pantry Tips

FIRST IN, FIRST OUT.
You’ll often hear this called FIFO. Put your older food toward the front and newer purchases behind it. Then use the older food first.

Eat what you store and store what you eat.
An emergency is not the best time to discover that nobody in your family likes the food you stored! Your preparedness pantry should include familiar foods your family will actually eat.

Look for complete meals—not just ingredients.
Having 20 cans of something is great, but what are you going to make with them? Start grouping foods in your mind as meals.

Have some meals that don't require electricity.
Think about what you could eat if the power were out. Canned meats, crackers, peanut butter, fruit cups, ready-to-eat foods and other shelf-stable favorites can make life much easier.

Don't forget the can opener!
If your emergency food depends on canned goods, keep a manual can opener where you can find it.

Keep a little variety.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and a few treats can make an emergency pantry much more useful.

Write down what you're missing.
You don't have to buy everything today. If you notice that you have pasta but no sauce, put sauce on your shopping list. Build your emergency meals a little at a time.

Start an Emergency Meal List

While you're checking your pantry, grab a piece of paper and see if you can find ingredients for three easy emergency meals.

For example:

Meal #1: Spaghetti + sauce + canned vegetables
Meal #2: Rice + canned chicken + canned corn
Meal #3: Canned chili + crackers + canned fruit

Bonus points if you can find a breakfast and a snack too!

Now you’re not just storing random food—you’re beginning to create an emergency meal plan using foods your family already knows and enjoys.

Today's Easy Preparedness Challenge

☐ Check expiration and best-by dates
☐ Move older foods to the front
☐ Make a list of foods that need replacing
☐ Find three emergency meals in your pantry
☐ Add any missing ingredients to your regular shopping list

Preparedness doesn't have to happen all at once.

Today we checked a few cans, moved some food around and planned a few meals.

Tomorrow we'll do one more little thing.

Thirty days of little things can add up to a much more prepared home.

You've got this!

Mimi 

One little step at a time.

PackFreshUSA | 30 Days of Easy Preparedness