1 Year Emergency Food Supply for a Family of 6
Supply Plans · Targets follow FEMA and Ready.gov guidance · Prices checked July 2026
Quick answer
A family of 6 needs about 4,380,000 calories to cover one year, plus 84 gallons of stored water, which is the two week target rather than the 2,190 gallons one year would otherwise call for. The checklist below hits that with sacks and tins that outlive the plan, for roughly $5,400 at current prices, and stores in about 72 five gallon buckets, which in practice means shelving rather than a closet floor.
Targets: 2,000 calories per person per day, and 1 gallon of water per person per day for two weeks
Every combination has its own page, so the numbers are always exact and the link you share always shows the right plan.
4,380,000
Calories to cover
84 gal
Water
≈ $5,400
Est. cost, July 2026
72 buckets
Storage space
The shopping checklist
| Item | Quantity for 6 | ≈ Calories | Lasts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grains and staples | ||||
| White rice | 720 lb | 1,188,000 | 25 yrs sealed | |
| Rolled oats | 240 lb | 408,000 | 2 to 3 yrs | |
| Pasta | 180 lb | 306,000 | 2 to 3 yrs | |
| All purpose flour | 150 lb | 247,500 | 1 to 2 yrs | |
| Proteins | ||||
| Dried beans and lentils | 300 lb | 465,000 | 8 to 10 yrs | |
| Peanut butter | 72 large jars | 475,200 | 1 to 2 yrs | |
| Canned meat and fish | 360 cans | 82,800 | 2 to 5 yrs | |
| Fruits and vegetables | ||||
| Canned vegetables and fruit | 600 cans | 108,000 | 2 to 5 yrs | |
| Dried fruit and nuts | 90 lb | 225,000 | 6 to 12 mo | |
| Fats, dairy, and extras | ||||
| Cooking oil | 60 qt | 462,000 | 1 to 2 yrs | |
| Powdered milk | 150 lb | 270,000 | 2 to 10 yrs | |
| Honey and sugar | 210 lb | 362,250 | Indefinite | |
| Salt, spices, coffee, cocoa | 1 set | 48,000 | Varies | |
| Water: 84 gallons stored, the two week target | ||||
| Bottled water, 24 packs | 11 cases | n/a | 2 yrs | |
| 5 gallon jugs | 9 jugs | n/a | 1 to 2 yrs | |
Totals land slightly above the 4,380,000 calorie target on purpose: quantities are rounded up, and appetite goes up in a real emergency. Swap freely inside each category to match what your family actually eats. to take it shopping. No email required.
In the app
Turn this list into your family's number
Add these items once and Provision Planner counts it for you: how many days you are covered, what expires when, and what to restock. About 2 minutes, and the free plan is enough to start.
See how many days you haveDays covered
365 days
White rice, 720 lb
+99.0 days
Peanut butter, 72 large jars
+39.6 days
Dried beans and lentils, 300 lb
+38.8 days
1 year goal reached · 15 items tracked · expiry warnings on
A year is a different skill, not a bigger pile
Twelve months of food is not fifty-two grocery runs stacked in a garage. Crackers, shelf-stable milk and most tinned meals are gone inside a year, so a year plan is built from the staples that outlive it: rice, beans, oats, flour, oil, sugar, powdered milk, salt. Sealed in mylar with oxygen absorbers, the grains and legumes here keep for decades.
That means acquiring a skill as well as a stockpile. You need to be able to cook from raw staples, you need a way to heat them that does not depend on the grid, and you need to actually like eating them, because a year of food you find joyless is a year of food you will not rotate. Start by cooking one meal a week from the list before you buy the rest of it.
Six people move through a plan faster than the arithmetic makes it feel. Storage leaves the closet and goes onto shelving, the largest sensible package of everything becomes the right buy, and it is worth splitting the supply between two places in the house. One burst pipe is a realistic way to lose all of it, and losing half is a much better outcome than losing the lot.
What one year actually looks like
Day 30
AM Oatmeal with dried fruit and honey
Noon Tuna and crackers
PM Rice and beans with canned vegetables
Day 180
AM Peanut butter on crackers, canned fruit
Noon Chicken and rice bowl
PM Pasta with canned vegetables and oil
Day 350
AM Oatmeal with peanut butter
Noon Bean and vegetable stew
PM Chicken, pasta, and canned fruit
Frequently asked questions
Is 2,000 calories per person per day enough?
It is the standard planning baseline, and it is what this page uses: 4,380,000 calories total for 6 people over one year. Young children need less, teenagers and adults doing physical work need more. If your household skews either way, size up or down one step with the selector above, or let Provision Planner calculate it per person.
Why only 84 gallons of water for one year?
Because a gallon per person per day over one year comes to 2,190 gallons, and that is 40 fifty-five gallon drums. Almost nobody has the floor for it, and stored water needs rotating anyway. So the honest target is two weeks stored, which is 84 gallons, plus a way to keep making more: a filter rated for pathogens, unscented bleach for chemical treatment, and a known source you can reach on foot. A plan this long is really a plan for a situation where the taps come back or you move.
Why does this list look different from the two week one?
Because a year of food is not fifty-two grocery runs stacked in a garage. Crackers and shelf-stable milk are gone in six to twelve months, so a year plan is built from sacks and tins that outlive it: rice, beans, oats, oil, powdered milk, honey. Sealed in mylar with oxygen absorbers, the grains and legumes here keep for decades. The tinned and dried food carries the variety, and you rotate that part.
The list is the easy half. Knowing what you already have is the other one.
Most households own more of this than they think and still miss one thing that matters. Provision Planner counts what is in your cupboards against this plan and tells you the days you genuinely cover, and what to buy next.
See how many days you coverRelated plans
Go deeper: The 1-Year Food Supply: What It Really Costs · Mylar Bags for Food Storage
Calorie and water targets follow FEMA and Ready.gov emergency planning guidance. Cost estimate reflects typical U.S. grocery prices for July 2026 from our monthly price check. This is general planning guidance: adjust for allergies, medical needs, and what your household actually eats.