We maintain a one-month "autonomous" level of food, dry goods, and fuels at all times. We also maintain 25 gallons of drinking water, and small supply of over-the-counter medications and we try (not always with success) to keep a 90 day supply of prescription medications on-hand.

We buy whatever ordinary grocery store brands that we normally buy. We shop to suit our budget and taste.
Most packaged grocery store items have a very long shelf life. For example, the jars of sauce we bought today are "use by" February 2029. Dried foods have an excellent, well-beyond their "use by" date when kept cool and dry. I routinely eat 8 year old packaged foods.


They go into our "emergency pantry" in the basement.

For food management, we put color-coded dots on each container, each year has a different color, and we write the "use before" month on the dot. Each year has its own shelf. We "shop" from our emergency pantry, using up the stuff that is in the "will expire in the next 6 months" range for our day-to-day.

I no longer keep MRE's