Sugar gives you quick calories and makes plain stored staples like rice, oats and flour easier to eat during a long stretch at home. It also lets you bake, can and preserve fruit when the stores are closed or supply runs short.
Granulated white sugar is one of the longest-keeping foods you can stock. It asks for little more than a dry, sealed container.
- Quantity: Start with a few weeks of the sugar your household already uses, then build toward a long-term supply as your food storage grows.
- Type: Stock mostly granulated white sugar, which keeps indefinitely, and buy brown and powdered sugar in smaller amounts because they harden and clump sooner.
- Moisture: Seal it in food-grade buckets or airtight containers and keep them in a cool, dry place so the sugar stays free-flowing.
- Packing: Seal sugar without oxygen absorbers, which can pull moisture and set it into a solid brick.
- Pests: Use tight lids and store containers off the floor to keep ants and other insects out.
- Rotation: Cook from your stock for baking, canning and preserving fruit, and replace what you use so the supply stays familiar.
