Calculators Food planning
Plan familiar foods around the cooking setup you can actually use.
About 3 minutes You’ll need: people, days, and cooking options
Emergency food storage calculator for household meal planning
Calculations run in this browser; inputs stay out of analytics. A draft saves here after your first change unless you turn saving off. You choose separately whether to save a result to My Household Plan or copy a permitted share link.
Emergency food planning baseline (2,000 kcal/person/day reference)
A standard 2,000 kcal/day planning baseline helps organize shelf-stable groceries before adjusting for children, active adults, medical diets, and no-cook constraints. Always pair dry or canned supplies with a tested manual can opener and separate drinking/reconstitution water.
| Household size | 3-day baseline (72 hr) | 7-day outage plan | 14-day resilience target | 3-day meal slots (3/day) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 person | 6,000 kcal | 14,000 kcal | 28,000 kcal | 9 meals + snacks |
| 2 people | 12,000 kcal | 28,000 kcal | 56,000 kcal | 18 person-meals |
| 4 people | 24,000 kcal | 56,000 kcal | 112,000 kcal | 36 person-meals |
| 6 people | 36,000 kcal | 84,000 kcal | 168,000 kcal | 54 person-meals |
The output is a planning framework, not a prescribed diet. Choose familiar foods, account for allergies and preparation limits, and pair the result with enough safe water.
Start with a short plan your household can afford, eat, and rotate, then extend it. A smaller usable supply is more reliable than a large stockpile of unfamiliar food.
Build the plan around foods that are already safe for each person. For medical nutrition needs, ask the relevant clinician or dietitian how to plan for an outage.
Treat it as a short-term layer, not the whole plan. Keep appliance doors closed, use a thermometer, and follow current USDA food-safety guidance after an outage.
Plan first. Buy what is missing.
If the foods you chose need a can opener, try the one you own first. This documented example is optional buying research, not a recommendation based on your calculator answers.
OXO Good Grips
When to consider another option Ready-to-eat pouches, pull-tab cans, or other foods that do not require this tool.
Read the fit and limitations