Making a menu plan for the emergency stock

Agencies such as the BBK in Germany or Ready.gov in the USA recommend keeping a stock for a certain number of days. That number is abstract: nobody eats “ten days of stock”, people eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. The menu plan therefore translates the recommendation into very concrete meals. How many days make sense is stated in your national agency's current recommendation – the figures differ by country and are adjusted from time to time.

The easiest format is a table: write the days in the rows and the meals and snacks in the columns. For the first days, plan what is already in the fridge and spoils quickly. Only after that do the shelf-stable supplies take their turn. This way you first use what would otherwise have to be thrown away.

Next to each meal, write what it needs: cooking or not, how much water, which tools. This shows whether the plan also works without electricity. From the finished table you then derive the shopping list and compare it with what is already in the cupboard.

The best stock consists of things your household actually eats. Ten tins of a dish nobody likes will sit there until they expire. Also look for variety: anyone who eats the same thing for days will eventually eat less – especially children. Familiar favourites and a few small treats do people good in a stressful situation.

Do not plan only calories but also protein, some fruit and vegetables (for example from tins or jars) and drinks. Many stock foods need water: pasta, rice or instant soups for cooking, dry food to wash it down. This water must be in the stock in addition to the drinking water.

Do not forget the tools. A manual can opener, cutlery, plates, rubbish bags, kitchen paper and, if needed, fuel for a stove belong in the plan. Also note who in the household has allergies, a special diet or particular needs – including babies, older people and pets.

At least part of the meals must work entirely without cooking, for example tinned bread, crispbread, nut butter, tinned fish, tinned fruit or ready-cooked beans. The reason: anyone improvising cooking quickly reaches for a grill or camping stove. These appliances give off carbon monoxide, a gas you can neither smell nor see. In a home, basement, garage or tent it can become life-threatening. Such appliances belong outdoors only.

Without a fridge, opened packs are a problem. So plan small tins and single-portion packs that are finished in one meal. Whatever has been cooked is eaten soon and not kept lukewarm for hours.

Hygiene also needs a place in the plan: when water is scarce, disposable gloves, wet wipes and soap help you work cleanly. Food that became too warm in the fridge during a power cut follows separate rules – when in doubt, it is thrown away.

Try a “stock day”: for one day the whole household eats only from the plan, without cooker, microwave or fridge. Afterwards you note what was missing, what did not taste good and where things were awkward. Many people only notice then that the can opener is missing or that breakfast was forgotten.

To keep the stock from spoiling, it is built into everyday life: you regularly eat things from the stock and replace them on the next shopping trip. New packs go to the back, older ones to the front. That way everything stays fresh without you having to think about it specially.

Once a year the plan is reviewed – and whenever something changes in the household: a baby, a new pet, a new allergy, a move to a home without a gas cooker. Some agencies offer checklists or online calculators that help with planning quantities. The plan does not, however, replace dietary advice for medical conditions.