The first hour
- Take a breath. Write down what's coming in, what's due, and when.
- Apply for unemployment benefits right away. Delays can cost you weeks of payments.
- Ask your employer about final pay, unused vacation, severance, and health coverage.
The first day
- List essentials first: food, housing, utilities, transportation, medicine.
- Call your lender, landlord and utilities before you miss a payment. Ask about hardship plans.
- Health coverage: you usually have 60 days to sign up for Marketplace coverage after losing job-based insurance. COBRA is another option.
- Call 211 to find local help with food, rent and bills.
- Check if you qualify for SNAP, WIC, or school meals.
The first week and beyond
- Shop your pantry first. Plan meals around what you have; buy only fresh items.
- Pause subscriptions and extras.
- Use the 'first in, first out' rule so nothing goes to waste.
- Keep a daily job search routine, and rest too. Stress is real.
- Restock later with the 'buy one extra' habit once income returns.
Get ready now: checklist
Your checks save on this phone.
Common mistakes
- Waiting to apply for unemployment.
- Ignoring bills instead of calling to ask for help.
- Putting essentials on high-interest credit first.
- Letting health insurance lapse without checking options.
Keeping kids calm
- Be honest but calm: 'Money is tight right now, so we're doing pantry meals.'
- Let kids help plan 'pantry challenge' dinners.
- Keep fun free: parks, library, walks.
Gear that helps
- Budget notebook
- Rice, beans and oats in bulk
- Shelf-stable proteins (canned tuna, chicken, peanut butter)
- Freezer bags for batch cooking
- Pressure cooker or slow cooker: my pick, Presto 01781 23-Quart Pressure Canner and Cooker
- Garden seeds: my pick, Burpee Heirloom Vegetable Seeds Variety Pack, 35 Varieties
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Sources
Keep going
Prepper tricks for this
Cooking Without Power (8)
Haybox / retained-heat cooking with a cooler
Cost: Free; it can cut fuel use roughly in half or more.
Why it works: The heat already in the food keeps cooking it slowly, like a slow cooker without electricity.
How to do it
- Line a picnic cooler with towels, a sleeping bag or blankets.
- Bring your food to a full boil in a heavy pot with a tight lid: 5 minutes for rice, 10 minutes for soaked beans, about 10 minutes for stews.
- Quickly put the pot on a folded towel inside the cooler and pack more blankets all around and over it. Close the lid.
- Leave it: about 1-1.5 hours for rice, 3-4 hours for soaked beans, 2-3 hours for stew.
- If it's not done or has cooled, bring it back to a boil before eating.
Safety: Food needs to stay hot (above 140°F). Don't leave it overnight, and reheat to boiling if it's cooled. The towel under the pot keeps the hot pot from melting the cooler.
Source: Low Impact: Haybox (retained heat) cooking and food safety
Thermos cooking: oats and rice
Cost: Free if you have a good thermos.
Why it works: A good thermos holds near-boiling heat for hours, so grains cook with no extra fuel.
How to do it
- Fill your thermos with boiling water for 5-10 minutes to preheat it, then pour that water out.
- Add 1/2 cup rolled oats and about 1 cup of boiling water, or 1/3 cup white rice and about 3/4 cup boiling water.
- Cap it tight and wait about 1-2 hours for oats, 2-3 hours for rice. Overnight oats are ready for breakfast.
Safety: Don't overfill; it can spurt when opened. Not for meat.
Source: Low Impact: Haybox (retained heat) cooking and food safety
Soak beans to save fuel
Cost: Dry beans cost about $1-2 per pound, far cheaper than canned.
Why it works: Soaking softens the beans so they cook much faster.
How to do it
- Rinse dry beans and soak them overnight (8-12 hours) in plenty of water.
- Or quick-soak: boil for 2 minutes, then let sit covered for 1 hour.
- Pour off the soak water and cook in fresh water.
- Always boil kidney beans hard for at least 10 minutes.
Safety: Raw or undercooked kidney beans contain a natural toxin that boiling destroys. Slow-cooking alone isn't enough.
Source: Low Impact: Haybox (retained heat) cooking and food safety
Pizza box solar oven (be honest about it)
Cost: Free.
Why it works: Sunlight comes in, turns into heat on the black surface, and the plastic traps it.
How to do it
- Cut a flap in the lid of a pizza box, leaving a 1-inch border. Cover the flap's inside with foil.
- Tape plastic wrap tightly over the opening to make a window.
- Line the bottom with black paper.
- Set it in full midday sun and prop the foil flap to bounce light in.
Safety: Pizza box ovens usually only reach about 150-200°F on a hot, sunny day: fine for melting s'mores, warming leftovers or nachos. Don't use them for raw meat or eggs. Sturdier panel or box cookers with a dark pot get hotter.
Canned heat (chafing fuel)
Cost: About $2-3 per can; each burns about 2-6 hours.
Why it works: It's a compact, shelf-stable fuel that lights easily.
How to do it
- Buy chafing-dish fuel cans like the ones caterers use.
- Set the can under a stand or wire rack and put a small pot on top.
- Use it to warm soup, canned food or water for coffee.
Safety: Low heat; it's slow to boil water. Some fuels burn with a nearly invisible flame, so treat it as lit until you've snuffed it with the lid. Follow the label's ventilation rules.
Cinder-block rocket stove
Cost: Cinder blocks are about $2-3 each, and sticks are free.
Why it works: The chimney pulls air through the fire hard, so it burns hot and clean with very little wood.
How to do it
- Outdoors, on bare ground, arrange 4 cinder blocks so you have a sideways tunnel for feeding in sticks that turns upward into a chimney about 12-16 inches tall.
- Set a metal grill grate on top with gaps for air and smoke to escape.
- Burn small, dry sticks fed into the side opening.
- Set your pot on the grate.
Safety: Outdoors only, at least 10 feet from buildings. Use dry blocks; wet concrete can crack in heat. Keep water or an extinguisher nearby.
Cast iron on the grill, outdoors
Cost: Free if you own a grill and a skillet; a used cast iron pan is often $10-20 at thrift stores.
Why it works: Cast iron spreads and holds heat evenly, making the grill work like a stove or oven.
How to do it
- Set your grill up outside, at least 10 feet from the house, never in a garage or under a porch roof.
- Use cast iron skillets and Dutch ovens on the grill to fry, simmer and even bake.
- Dutch oven baking with charcoal: for about 350°F, use twice the pot's width in briquettes (12-inch pot = 24 briquettes): about 2/3 on the lid and 1/3 underneath.
- Practice once before an emergency.
Safety: Never bring a grill or charcoal inside, even after the fire's out; coals keep making carbon monoxide.
Plan a few no-cook days
Cost: Free using pantry foods you'd eat anyway.
Why it works: The cheapest fuel is the fuel you don't need.
How to do it
- Stock foods that need no cooking: peanut butter, tuna or chicken pouches, crackers, canned beans, fruit cups, granola.
- Make 'overnight oats' with shelf-stable milk or water.
- Save fuel for hot drinks and one hot meal a day.
Safety: Once opened, eat canned foods within 2 hours if you have no cold storage.
Source: Ready.gov: Build a Kit
Food Storage and Saving Money (9)
Freeze flour, rice and grains to kill bugs
Cost: Free.
Why it works: University tests show 0°F for at least a day kills all stages of pantry pests, including eggs. The extra days give big bags time to freeze all the way through.
How to do it
- When you bring home flour, rice, oats or cornmeal, put the sealed bag in the freezer.
- Leave it at least 3 days (72 hours), or a full week for big 25-pound bags so the center gets cold enough.
- Take it out and let it come to room temperature before opening, so moisture doesn't form inside.
- Then move it into airtight containers.
Safety: Freezing doesn't stop new bugs from getting in; airtight containers do that.
Source: University of Kentucky Entomology: Controlling Stored Product Pests Using Low Temperature
MYTH: Bay leaves keep bugs out of your flour
Cost: Bay leaves are cheap, but they're not protection.
The truth: Pantry moths and weevils often come home inside the package. Only cold, heat or airtight sealing deals with that.
What to do instead
- The truth: there's no good evidence bay leaves kill pantry pests or reliably keep them away.
- They can't kill eggs already inside a bag.
- Instead, freeze new grains, store them in airtight containers, and check stored food every couple of months.
Safety: Toss heavily infested food; don't just sift it.
Source: Kansas State Research & Extension: Controlling Stored Food Insects (MF2270)
Buy store brands
Cost: Often 20-30% cheaper than name brands.
Why it works: Consumer Reports taste tests found many store brands taste as good as name brands. Many are made in the same factories.
How to do it
- Try the store brand of the things you buy most: rice, beans, canned veggies, flour, oats, peanut butter.
- If your family likes it, switch for good.
Safety: Check labels if you have allergies; recipes can differ.
Source: Consumer Reports: Taste tests find some store brands at least as good as national brands
Buy in bulk and repackage
Cost: Bulk rice and beans often run well under $1 per pound, versus $1.50-2+ in small bags.
Why it works: White rice, dry beans, oats, sugar and salt can last for years (decades in sealed, oxygen-free packaging) when kept cool and dry.
How to do it
- Buy 25- or 50-pound bags of white rice, dry beans, oats or sugar at a warehouse store.
- Freeze or treat as above, then repackage into food-grade buckets with tight lids, or Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers.
- Label each one with the contents and date.
Safety: Brown rice, whole wheat flour and nuts have oils that go rancid in months. Buy those in smaller amounts.
Source: Utah State University Extension: Get the most out of your food storage
Dented can rules
Cost: Discount and 'dented' bins can save a lot if you check every can.
Why it works: Seam dents can break the seal and let bacteria in, including the one that causes botulism.
How to do it
- Small, shallow dents on the side are usually fine.
- Throw out cans with deep dents you can lay your finger into, sharp dents, or ANY dent on the top, bottom or side seams.
- Also throw out cans that bulge, leak, spurt when opened, smell bad, or have rust that won't wipe off.
Safety: Never taste food from a suspicious can. When in doubt, throw it out.
Source: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Is this food still safe to eat? (dented cans)
First in, first out with a Sharpie
Cost: About $2 for a marker.
Why it works: You eat older food first, so nothing goes to waste.
How to do it
- Write the month and year in big numbers on the top of every can and box when you bring it home.
- Put new items at the back of the shelf and pull from the front.
- Store food in a cool, dark, dry place, not a hot garage.
Safety: Heat shortens shelf life a lot. Avoid storing food above about 75°F.
Source: Utah State University Extension: Get the most out of your food storage
Oxygen absorbers in mason jars
Cost: About $10-15 for 100 absorbers.
Why it works: Removing oxygen stops bugs from living and slows food going stale.
How to do it
- Only use this for DRY foods: white rice, dry beans, pasta, oats, dehydrated vegetables.
- Fill clean, dry jars, leaving about 1/2 inch of space at the top.
- Drop in one oxygen absorber (about 100cc is plenty for a quart jar) and close the lid right away.
- Work fast. Reseal the unused absorbers in a small jar or their bag immediately.
- Within a few hours the lid should pull down tight. Label and date it.
Safety: Never use oxygen absorbers with moist foods (more than about 10% moisture). Low-oxygen plus moisture can grow botulism. Sugar and salt don't need them (they turn into bricks). Store jars in the dark.
Source: Utah State University Extension: Get the most out of your food storage
'Copycanning': buy two, use one
Cost: As little as $5-10 extra a week.
Why it works: You build a pantry from foods you already eat, so nothing goes to waste and it fits your budget.
How to do it
- Every time you open a can or box of something your family eats, buy two to replace it.
- Put the extra at the back of the shelf.
- In a couple of months, you'll have a few weeks of food you actually like, built slowly.
Safety: Keep rotating so the oldest gets eaten first.
Source: Ready.gov: Build a Kit
MYTH: Food past its 'best by' date is unsafe
Cost: Saves food you'd otherwise throw away.
The truth: USDA says product dates are not federal safety dates except on infant formula.
What to do instead
- The truth: 'best by' and 'use by' dates are mostly about quality, not safety (baby formula is the exception).
- Shelf-stable canned food in good cans is safe long past the date, though texture and taste fade.
- Use your senses and the can rules above instead of tossing food just for the date.
Safety: Throw out anything that bulges, leaks, smells bad or looks off.
Source: USDA FSIS: Food Product Dating