How Much Emergency Food and Water Should a Facility Store?

Planning emergency food and water for a school, workplace, warehouse, or public facility can be challenging. Safety teams and administrators must determine how much to store, where to store it, and how to ensure it supports occupants during a shelter-in-place or extended emergency.

Most emergency planning frameworks use a 72-hour baseline for food and water storage when evacuation or normal utilities may not be available.

The 72-Hour Planning Standard

A common planning guideline is:

  • One gallon of water per person per day
  • 2,000–2,400 calories per person per day

For a three-day period, this means each person requires approximately:

  • 3 gallons of water
  • 6,000–7,200 calories

Facilities responsible for 50, 100, 500, or more occupants must multiply these numbers across their population, which quickly becomes difficult to calculate and manage without a structured approach.

Why Many Facilities Struggle With These Calculations

Organizations often purchase food and water separately and try to estimate quantities on their own. This can lead to:

  • Underestimating needs
  • Overstocking some items while missing others
  • Difficulty organizing supplies across rooms or buildings
  • Confusion during an actual emergency
  • A Practical Way to Plan for Large Groups

Many schools and workplaces simplify this process by storing:

This removes the need for manual calculations and allows safety teams to match supplies directly to occupant loads.

Why Emergency Rations Differ From Daily Nutrition Guidelines

Emergency planning guidelines often reference one gallon of water and 2,000+ calories per person per day as ideal targets. In real shelter-in-place situations, however, emergency rations are designed to maintain hydration and basic energy levels while occupants remain largely inactive.

Emergency food bars and water pouches are intended to stabilize occupants for a short duration, reduce stress, and prevent dehydration until normal services or assistance are restored. They are not intended to replace full daily nutrition.

For this reason, many facilities store compact emergency rations for immediate use and may also maintain larger water storage supplies elsewhere in the building as part of their broader preparedness plan.

Where to Store Emergency Food and Water in a Facility

Emergency food and water are commonly stored in:

  • Classrooms and administrative areas
  • Supply rooms and preparedness closets
  • Offices, warehouses, and staging areas
  • Centralized storage for larger group supplies

Distributed storage across buildings or floors helps ensure access during an emergency.

Supporting Shelter-in-Place and Extended Emergencies

Food and water supplies are most often used when occupants must remain inside a building without access to normal food service or water utilities. These situations may include:

  • Lockdowns and active threat situations
  • Natural disasters and power outages
  • Infrastructure disruptions
  • Delayed evacuation or reunification

Having properly calculated supplies helps maintain safety and order until conditions improve.

Related Emergency Supplies

Facilities often store food and water alongside:

Together, these create a complete emergency preparedness program.