Buzz
Planning to build your own nuclear fallout shelter? You’re not alone: the civilian bomb shelter construction market has been expanding for the last decade, driven by various events that sparked a surge in demand, including the pandemic and political turmoil.
Whether you decide to build it yourself or go for a professionally designed shelter equipped with blast doors and air filtration systems, food storage is key. Your shelter's pantry should be kept cool, dark, and well-ventilated, stocked with a variety of dried bulk foods, canned items, and ready-to-eat meals like MREs. Here’s how to begin.
Ensure you have a sufficient water supply
Water is essential to life, so the first thing you need for your fallout shelter pantry is an ample supply of bottled water. How much is enough? Likely more than you imagine: estimates suggest a person can consume up to one hundred gallons of water in a single day. A sophisticated water purification system won’t help if you run out of bottled water and can't access another water source, so it's crucial to carefully calculate your needs. Double-check your estimates, accounting for all potential usage, and stock your water reserves accordingly.
Focus on dried foods
Properly stored dried goods are among the most durable food items you can keep. Options like rice, dried beans, whole grains, powdered milk, and jerky offer incredibly long shelf lives. Your selection is entirely up to you, but there are some important storage practices to follow. Invest in a vacuum or heat sealer to seal dried foods in foil bags with oxygen absorbers*, store the sealed bags in food-safe plastic buckets, and build enough pantry shelving to keep your food above the floor. Dried food will be useless if it’s submerged in a pool of radioactive waste.
*A quick note about oxygen absorbers: never use these with high-moisture dried foods (over ten percent moisture), as this could lead to botulism. Always check the labels of your storage containers and follow the manufacturer’s guidelines.
Choose a cool area for storing canned foods
Protein is an essential part of the human diet, and many canned foods are rich in protein. Canned beans, stews, chili, soups, and fish are all easily accessible and can be safely stored for up to five years. Condensed or evaporated milk also makes a good choice, as well as sodium-heavy canned meats like corned beef, Spam, and Vienna sausages. Canned food shelf life is shortened in hot environments (80ºF or higher), so it’s important to keep your storage area cool, well-ventilated, and ideally at 60ºF or lower.
If you’re doing your own canning, be sure to carefully follow the USDA guidelines for home food preservation for safety. In addition to high heat, anything stored in glass jars needs to be shielded from light, so factor that into your storage setup as well.
Reserve space for cooking oil, salt, and sugar
A fully stocked spice cabinet can take up unnecessary space in your bunker, but don’t skip the essentials: without cooking oil, salt, and sugar, you won’t be able to cook much. Olive oil lasts around three to four years, while coconut oil and vegetable shortening can stay good for about two years; salt and sugar last indefinitely. Like your other food stores, keep these tightly sealed and safe from heat, moisture, and light to extend their shelf life.
Stock up on pre-made meals
While I’m no fortune teller, it seems doubtful that a post-apocalyptic lifestyle will often offer the luxury of cooking dried beans. This is exactly why you should stock up on MREs and other quick meals. Authentic MREs can be found in most Army surplus stores, but I’m particularly intrigued by Mountain House's offerings for backpacking. How about a “just-in-case” breakfast bucket? Or maybe a ten-pound can of biscuits and gravy? Even if your bulk foods are well-stocked, I still suggest getting some emergency rations, like these 3,600-calorie bars. Trust me, there’s no worse time to be hangry (or literally starving) than during the dead of nuclear winter.
Stock up on a few carefully selected indulgences
Let’s face it: no matter how well-prepared you are, the chances of surviving in an underground shelter for more than a couple of years are pretty slim. Whatever can offer a brief escape from the misery of daily survival—whether it's whiskey, gin, chocolate, wine, or even Vicodin—stash it away for those especially tough days. Cigars and pipes are probably best avoided unless you're eager for a quick demise via tobacco smoke inhalation, but hey, I’m not your supervisor.
As an apartment resident, I’ve come to terms with the fact that survival in an apocalypse isn’t likely for me; my plan is to bring plenty of wine to the overstuffed, underground End Times party. Homeowners, what’s your fallout shelter situation like? If you’ve built one yourself—even if it’s just a corner of your basement—I'd love to hear all about it.
