In partnership with
Take control of your chaotic inbox
Spam. Promotions. Phishing links. A messy inbox is more than annoying. It’s risky.
Proton Mail shields your inbox from invasive tracking and junk clutter by default. No creepy ad sorting. No surveillance. Just clean, simple organization designed to protect your focus.
You shouldn’t have to fight your email to find what matters. Proton Mail keeps your inbox safe, private, and easy to manage — so you can stay productive, not distracted.
FROM THE DESK
I challenged myself last month to cook every meal for one week using only what was in my preparedness pantry. No grocery store runs. No fresh produce. Just canned goods, dried staples, and seasonings. The result: seven days of meals that were genuinely edible, sometimes genuinely good, and one important discovery. I was missing cooking oil. Five days of dry rice taught me that lesson permanently.
Here's what I've got this morning.
THE BRIEF
Seven Days of Real Meals From Your Pantry
We've covered food storage extensively: basics (Issue 5), long-term (Issue 25), spices (Issue 87), and bulk buying (Issue 91). This week puts it all together with a practical 7-day meal plan using only shelf-stable stored food. If you can eat well for a week from your pantry, you've proven your food storage actually works.
The pantry this menu assumes: rice, pasta, oats, dried beans, canned tomatoes, canned chicken or tuna, canned vegetables (corn, green beans, mixed), peanut butter, honey, cooking oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cumin, and bouillon cubes. All of this was covered in Issues 25 and 87.
Day 1: Oatmeal with honey for breakfast. Rice and canned chicken with garlic and cumin for lunch. Pasta with canned tomato sauce and canned vegetables for dinner.
Day 2: Peanut butter on crackers for breakfast. Bean and rice burrito bowls (canned beans, rice, chili powder, cumin) for lunch. Tuna pasta with canned tomatoes for dinner.
Day 3: Oatmeal with peanut butter stirred in. Chicken soup from bouillon, canned chicken, canned vegetables, and pasta for lunch. Rice and beans with hot sauce for dinner.
Day 4: Granola bars or crackers with peanut butter. Fried rice with canned vegetables and soy sauce for lunch. Chili (canned beans, canned tomatoes, canned corn, chili powder, cumin) for dinner.
Day 5: Oatmeal with cinnamon. Tuna salad on crackers for lunch. Pasta e fagioli (pasta, canned beans, canned tomatoes, bouillon, garlic) for dinner.
Day 6: Peanut butter and honey on crackers. Bean soup (dried beans soaked overnight, bouillon, canned tomatoes, garlic, onion powder) for lunch. Chicken and rice with canned green beans for dinner.
Day 7: Oatmeal with honey and cinnamon. Rice and bean bowl with everything remaining for lunch. Pasta with canned tomato sauce and canned chicken for dinner.
Every meal above uses only stored ingredients and a camp stove or single burner. Total calorie count ranges from 1,800 to 2,200 per day depending on portions, which is adequate for moderate activity.
The lesson from my test week: variety matters more than volume. Having enough calories is step one. Having enough variety to not hate eating by day four is step two. Spices, cooking oil, and at least three different protein sources (canned chicken, tuna, beans) prevent food fatigue.
ONE THING THIS WEEK
Cook one dinner this week using only items from your emergency pantry.
No fresh ingredients. No refrigerated items. Just shelf-stable food from your storage. Eat it. Rate it honestly. Note what's missing for next time.
ON THE RADAR
Grocery Prices Are Up 34% Since 2019 — and the Package Is Smaller Too
Food-at-home prices rose 34.6% between 2019 and 2026, and they never reversed. The rate of increase slowed after 2022’s 11.4% peak, but prices have not come down. The hit is compounded by shrinkflation: a GAO analysis found one-third of common grocery products quietly shrank in size between 2019 and 2024 while prices held or climbed. Frosted Flakes went from 24 to 21.7 ounces. Per-unit price increases from shrinkflation alone ranged from 12% to 32% depending on category. Your $100 grocery cart from 2019 costs roughly $135 today — and holds less food.
LESSON FROM: CREEK STEWART
Creek Stewart’s Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag includes a section on emergency food that emphasizes testing your supplies before you need them. His principle is direct: food you haven’t cooked is food you haven’t verified. Every aspect of your food plan — from the stove to the fuel to the recipe to the taste — should be tested in advance.
Stewart conducts "pantry weekends" with his family where they eat entirely from stored food. These tests reveal gaps (missing ingredients, recipes that don't work, foods nobody will eat) without any real consequence. The information gained from one test weekend is worth more than months of planning because it replaces assumptions with evidence.
Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag by Creek Stewart — about $11 for the paperback.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
Israel and Iran Exchange Missiles for the First Time in Two Months — Ceasefire Hangs by a Thread
Iran launched nearly 30 ballistic missiles at Israel on Sunday night — the first exchange of strikes since an April ceasefire halted two months of fighting. Israel responded with strikes targeting Iranian air defenses and a petrochemical complex in Mahshahr in southwestern Iran. The exchange came on the 100th day of a war that began February 28. President Trump pressured both sides to stand down, and Iran announced a halt to attacks Monday afternoon, warning strikes would resume if Israel took further hostile action.
The Strait of Hormuz remains the world’s most critical oil choke point. Any resumption of fighting puts energy prices, shipping routes, and downstream food and fuel supply chains at risk.
Source: NPR, Al Jazeera
WHAT I'M TESTING
This cookbook is specifically designed for meals made from stored food. Every recipe uses shelf-stable ingredients: powdered milk, canned goods, dried staples, and basic seasonings. I've been cooking from it for about two months.
The recipes are practical, not gourmet. But they're designed for the exact ingredients most preparedness pantries contain. Bread from stored flour and powdered milk. Casseroles from canned proteins and dried pasta. Desserts from sugar, oil, and powdered eggs. The book assumes no fresh ingredients are available.
What I appreciate most: it takes the "what do I do with all this stored food?" question and answers it with 200+ tested recipes. About $15 for the paperback.
Budget alternative: Search "emergency pantry recipes" online and save 10 to 15 that use only your stored ingredients. Print them (Issue 89) and keep them with your food supplies. Free.
Buy it on Amazon — about $15 for the paperback.
OVERRATED / UNDERRATED
Overrated: Freeze-dried "just add water" meals as your entire food plan. They work, but eating them exclusively for a week is demoralizing. A mix of actual cooking from staples and convenience meals provides better morale and nutrition.
Underrated: Cooking oil in your food storage. It adds calories (120 per tablespoon), enables cooking methods beyond boiling, and makes food taste dramatically better. A sealed bottle of vegetable or olive oil lasts 1 to 2 years. Store at least a gallon.
THE LINK DUMP
Cookin’ with Home Storage — The cookbook mentioned above. Purpose-built for stored food cooking.
USDA FoodKeeper App — Verify shelf life of your stored ingredients.
Grokipedia: Food Preservation — Background on shelf-stable food types and storage methods.
NCHFP: Home Food Preservation — The National Center for Home Food Preservation. University-based guidance on canning, drying, and storing food safely.
NEXT ISSUE
Mold prevention and remediation. The silent home threat that follows every water event and thrives in exactly the conditions that disruptions create.
PS: The cooking oil lesson cost me five days of bland rice. Don't repeat my mistake. Check your pantry for oil, butter powder, or ghee (which stores longer than liquid oil). Your taste buds and your morale will thank you.
Your 2028 Take Is Worth Money
Vance at 34%. Newsom at 23%. The 2028 nomination markets are already moving. Trade your political instincts on Kalshi — peer-to-peer, no house, cash out anytime. Get $10 free to start.
Trade responsibly.
Beauty That Starts From Within
Pique's Carrara Marine Collagen combines Type I + II marine collagen, biotin, and micronized pearl powder for smoother skin, stronger hair, and whole-body vitality. All of it comes in a coconut cream base that transforms your morning routine into a ritual. Get 15% off for life.