Rolling stock: how Japanese households keep emergency food without forgetting it

Many emergency food kits sit forgotten at the back of a closet until everything in them has expired. Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) takes a different approach. Its household stockpile guide asks people to treat emergency food not as something special, but as part of everyday life, and to enjoy it. The method at the center of that is the rolling stock method, which MAFF's English materials describe as buying a little more food than usual and replenishing it as it is consumed.

How rolling stock works

You keep a little more of the food you normally eat, use it oldest-first by its best-before date, and replace what you use. Your home always holds a steady amount of food, and nothing sits long enough to expire. MAFF points out two advantages: it fits inside your normal shopping, so it costs little extra time or money, and it only needs a little more shelf space.

MAFF suggests balancing two kinds of supplies: dedicated emergency food, and everyday food that also works in a disaster. It also suggests carrying water and a snack such as chocolate when you go out, in case a disaster strikes away from home.

How much to keep

MAFF's reasoning for the one-week figure is concrete: after past disasters, restoring power, water and gas often took more than a week, relief supplies might not arrive for more than 3 days, and stores could be empty for about a week.

Four steps to start

1. Check what you already have in the fridge, cupboards and closets.
2. Decide what and how much to keep, based on nutrition, the size of your household, and what you like.
3. Buy what's missing, a little at a time on normal shopping trips.
4. Eat it before it expires, and replace it. Repeating this is the whole method.

A food-group checklist

MAFF warns that meals right after a disaster tend to be all carbohydrates, and that people in past disasters reported constipation and mouth sores from a lack of vegetables. Its guide suggests covering every group:

MAFF also recommends taste-testing emergency foods, because flavors vary a great deal, and eating food you dislike when you're already stressed makes things harder. Its guide also mentions traditional preserved foods, from dried bamboo shoots to pickles, as part of a household's stock.

The first day

For the day a disaster hits, MAFF suggests packing 1 liter of water and three meals that need no cooking in your go-bag. Power, water and gas may all be out, and aftershocks may make it unsafe to use fire for a while. See Emergency kit vs. Japanese go-bag.

Water and heat

• How much water: Ready.gov says at least one gallon per person per day for several days, for drinking and sanitation. MAFF uses about 3 liters per person per day for drinking and cooking. The household water and food calculator shows both.
• Tap water: MAFF says tap water stays drinkable for about 3 days thanks to chlorine, if you fill a clean container to the brim, close it tightly, and keep it cool and out of direct sunlight.
• Long-life water: bottled water sold for stockpiling lasts 5 to 10 years, two to five times longer than ordinary bottled water (about 2 years).
• Heat: MAFF recommends a tabletop butane cassette stove, since hot water widens what you can eat. Its guide budgets about 6 canisters per person per week, and gives rough use-by periods of about 7 years for canisters and about 10 years for stoves. Follow the manufacturer's instructions, and note Ready.gov's warning that charcoal grills and camp stoves are for outdoor use only.

Storage tips from the Japanese guide

• Keep food you use almost daily in the kitchen and rotate it there; keep occasional items in a closet.
• Use boxes you can see into, and write the best-before date on the side. Put new items at the back and use from the front.
• Heavy items low, light items high, so nothing falls and hurts anyone in an earthquake.
• Water takes a lot of room: two adults need about four cases of six 2-liter bottles for a week. Spread it around the house rather than in one place.
• One idea from the guide: pack each day's food in its own box, seven boxes for a week, so anyone in the family knows what to eat when.

Common questions

Isn't this just "stocking up"?

The difference is rotation. A stock you never eat expires; a stock you eat from and refill never does.

What about people with special diets?

MAFF has a separate guide for infants, older adults, people who have trouble chewing or swallowing, people with chronic illnesses and people with food allergies, and recommends at least 2 weeks of their special foods.