15 Pantry Staples Alaskan Households Buy in Bulk. All Under $5 at Walmart

When a winter storm closes the roads, the shelves go bare before the first flake lands. Here are the 15 plain store brand staples Alaskan households buy in bulk at Walmart, what each one asks of you when the power is out, and how to keep them so an older back and stiff hands can still reach, open and eat them. The State of Alaska asks every household to keep two weeks of supplies. This is how you fill them. I was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, and I spent 66 winters there, most of them fixing oil furnaces. I'm not a doctor. The 15, counting down: 15. All-purpose flour, the most food for the least money, split into jars you can lift 14. Dried pinto beans for the good weeks, and cans for the dark one 13. Long grain white rice, and cook only what you'll eat at one sitting 12. Quick oats, breakfast without a flame if you soak them overnight 11. Instant mashed potatoes, supper from a kettle 10. Evaporated milk, three cups from one can 9. White sugar, fuel in a jar with a tight lid 8. A plastic honey bear, never for babies 7. Plain table salt, the canister with the pour spout 6. Vegetable oil, the shortest clock on the shelf 5. Canned green beans, the no-salt-added kind, and keep the liquid 4. Canned chunk light tuna, two or three times a week 3. Canned wild Alaskan pink salmon, with the soft bones left in 2. Saltine crackers, the closest thing down here to Alaska's pilot bread 1. Peanut butter, the one food that asks nothing of you Safety, said plainly: never use your stove or oven to heat your home. On some gas ranges you can light a burner with a match, but check your owner's manual first. With no refrigerator, cooked food and an opened can follow the two-hour rule, so cook and open only what you'll eat at once. A bulging, leaking or deeply dented can goes in the trash. No honey for a baby under 12 months, not even a taste. If you're being treated for blood pressure, your heart or your kidneys, or you're managing diabetes, how much salt and sugar belongs on your shelf is a question for your own doctor. A closed refrigerator keeps food safe for about four hours, a full freezer about 48, a half-full one about 24: fridge first, freezer second, this shelf last. Nothing heavy above your shoulders and nothing on the floor. Which of these 15 do you already have in a bulk size? Drop the number in the comments. I read them. #pantrystaples #winterprep #poweroutage #winterstorm #emergencypreparedness #foodstorage #seniorsafety #alaska #walmart #blackout