Survival Food - Freeze Dried & MRE

I found this great food storage calculator at;

LDS Food Storage Calculator

As I mentioned previously LDS has alot of knowledge on preparedness and many survival food stores main customers are members of LDS who are looking for a year supply of food.

Fortunately the calculator allows you to input decimals for number of people. If you want to know how much for for one person for 3 months, just enter 0.25 into the number of people box and select calculate.

Now as readers of my blog know that for disaster preparedness for most of us, freeze dried food is the better choice.

Most people do not have the time or inclination to start storing staples listed on the site and spending 4-5 hours a day cooking with them regularly while you use up and replenish your storage. Eating one year old food all the time does not appeal to me nor is it necessary. However some may have a lifestyle that supports using stored staples and that is great for them.

Some however may not be able to afford the amount of freeze dried food and MRE they desire to be prepared. There is also some value in diversifying your food storage. So you may want to consider some stored staples that you can reasonable consume and replenish without it going bad and throwing it out.

So the LDS food calculator is a good tool for your calculations. Please note however that you should be accustomed to the food diet that the staples will provide as many survival experts agree a significant change in diet can cause severe health problems under stress in a disaster or desperate time.

I did a calculation on one year for a family of 4 with children over 7 years. The results were ;

Total Grains     1200 lbs

Total Fats            52 lbs

Total Legumes    240 lbs

Total Sugars       240 lbs

Total Dairy         300 lbs

As you can see foods with the water in them are quite heavy. With freeze dried food 98% of the water is removed and can either be stored separately or gathered from rainwater over a year, there is much more flexibility and portability options. The calculation on the website indicated only 56 gallons which way off, you will need a ton of water to prepare and cook these food staples.

Freeze dried food as a survival food is a better choice for most.

Here is a great comment on being prepared from Tricia. We all learn from experience, and those who have experienced the worst are wisely the best prepared. Thanks for sharing, Tricia.

Hi, my husband and I have been building up a supply of food for about 8 years. After Hurricane Ivan hit and left us with nothing we had to start over. Red Cross didn’t get to us for over a week, when the military came in they passed out mre’s and water. We ate the mre’s and going on the second week I was having trouble getting them down. I found it very hard to continue eating them. When we finally found a home (8 mths later) we had been lucky enough to have a whole lot of space (we had to start over). We purchased freezed dried #10 canned ( Honeyville) of veggies (onion, carrot, celery, peas, corn, potato flakes) fruit (strawberries, apples, peaches, raspberries, blue berries, bananas), eggs (egg whites, egg yolks, whole egg). I filled the pantry with alot of things like Olives, large can chicken, tuna, #10 canned tomatoes, chili, all kinds of canned fruit, baked beans, our thing was we need enough for family, our animals and neighbors. We buy rice in 50lb bags and we vacuum seal gallon size amounts along with oxygen removers (this is very important), we do this for noodles, sugar, flour, grits, dry milk, etc… Next is the beans, every kind, beans go along way we put them in a quart size zippie bag and again we vacuum seal with oxygen removers. We stocked up on everything we use from bathroom supplies, toliet paper, toothbrushes, soap, shampoo, etc… to cases of canned bread (special order) & cases of canned butter (special order) I think you get the point. We vacuum seal everything but the cans. I have everything we need to enjoy our meals. I bought Bulk Foods (sams club & other stores that sell the #10 cans). We have the convenience of not needing to go shopping for 7-10 years. Since we lost everything we started over with furniture, we did not buy any end tables, etc.. instead we bought those nice big blue buckets with lids. I have stacked (2 high) 8 full containers behind my sofa (the fit was perfect just under the full length of the sofa) my husband cut a pcs of plywood to fit the top next I put a nice cover (sheet) over it and put some nick nacks on top so you don’t even know its there, did the same thing with the love seat and my end tables are containers. When our pantry was loaded and my laundry room cabinets where full I had to put the food some place. I also use a dehydrator for jerky and fruit (short term). For the question about how would we move this if we had to move no problem, because of Hurricane Ivan we had to purchase an RV (30′) it would be easy to move these items into the RV. Anything major hits us either by Mother nature or by Man we have our list, Animal & Things (every day items), Medication, Cleaning Supplies, Emerg 1st Aid, Emerg 1st Aid for snake bites, bathroom items, Lots of Bleach, Food, Water Purifiers (2), Rechargeable Batteries, Extra Gas, Elec & Duct Tape, Flash Lights & Lanterns, Propane, Propane Heater, RV and/or Tent & Supplies, Tools, Solar Panel, Camouflage Clothes & Nets, Generator, Oil/Gas, Candles, Matches, Batteries AA, AAA, D’s, C’s,
Extra Water Filters for Purifier, Entertainment (brd games, dice, cards etc…), Protection (ect….). We do expect the worse to happen and I have an evacuation plan list that we sent out to our close friends and family that is more detailed (a place to meet up, road maps that are marked and several ways to get where we need to go. Some people may think this is really bad but thats okay because there are a whole lot of people like us doing the same thing (food for thought).

Nitro-pak’s owner, Harry R. Weyandt has written an interesting article on how to prepare for a depression or severe recession.

It goes beyond just food preparedness but survival food is a key element.

I have looked at a lot of preparedness & survival websites recently on this subject. I have read many articles on preparing for a depression and this article has very good advice, covers a lot, but is a quick read.

Here is a link;

How Do I Prepare for a Severe Recession/Depression?

Thanks Harry.

KT

I monitor keywords that visitors to this blog use to end up here.

Just now I saw someone was searching on “survival plans for depression”.

Is a three month food supply for 4 people a good idea as insurance in hard economic times?

Yes I think now more than ever it is a good idea to be prepared for a disaster and at the same time be ready for hard times.

Many years ago I was a volunteer for a food bank and there I discovered that a wide variety of people can suddenly find themselves in need. Some people go weak from hunger first because their pride makes them hesitate to ask for support.

As we saw with the recent “peak oil survivalist” run on Mountain House freeze dried food causing shortages for months till a few weeks ago, it may be a good idea not to wait until things get worse to get a survival food reserve.

Freeze dried food is not as cheap as say bulk rice, but at about $10 per person, per day, for a balanced diet it is not far off from typical grocery budget.

Getting a one year food reserve supply for one or more then is a good investment especially considering rising food costs. Since it lasts 25 years it is a better value than other food reserves.

I personally don’t believe we are headed for a depression now, however it is a much greater possibility then at any time in my life. There are many people in the highest places of the finance world who at this moment are not sure what the course of events will be next.

September is National Preparedness Month sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security;

DHS’ Ready Campaign and 2,700+ Coalition Members Urge Americans to Prepare For Emergencies During Fifth Annual National Preparedness Month

Release Date: August 26, 2008

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Ready Campaign (www.ready.gov) is sponsoring the fifth annual National Preparedness Month (NPM) in September with support from more than 2,700 NPM coalition members, the largest amount to date. NPM coalition members, consisting of national, regional, state, and local organizations, will combine efforts throughout the month of September to encourage all Americans to take steps to prepare for emergencies before they happen.

“National Preparedness Month is an important reminder about each American’s civic responsibility to prepare for emergencies,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. “Those with the capacity and wherewithal to help themselves must do so in advance, so that in the event of an emergency, responders can first assist those who are unable to tend to themselves. From wildfires and earthquakes in California, to hurricanes and tropical storms along the Gulf Coast, to flooding in the Midwest, recent events remind us more than ever that we must prepare ourselves and our families for a disaster. This is the time, each year, when every American should ask the question, ‘Am I ready?’”

The Ready Campaign and Citizen Corps (www.citizencorps.gov) are encouraging individuals across the nation to take important preparedness steps that will greatly improve their ability to survive and recover from all types of emergencies, whether natural or man-made. These steps include getting an emergency supply kit, making a family emergency plan, becoming informed about the different emergencies that may affect them, and getting involved in community preparedness and response efforts.

NPM coalition members are encouraging Americans to prepare for emergencies in their homes, businesses, schools, and communities by hosting events such as seminars, fairs, community outreach events, workshops, webinars, and trainings. For a complete list of events, please visit www.ready.gov.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph I. Lieberman and Ranking Member Susan M. Collins, along with House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson and Ranking Member Peter T. King, will serve as honorary Congressional Co-Chairs of NPM 2008. They will lead the effort to increase public awareness about the importance of emergency preparedness on Capitol Hill and throughout the country.

For more information on the Ready Campaign and NPM, please visit www.ready.gov or www.listo.gov. Individuals can also call 1-800-BE-READY or 1-888-SE-LISTO for more emergency preparedness information.

February 2008 marked the Ready Campaign’s fifth year at the Department of Homeland Security. Launched in 2003 in partnership with The Advertising Council, Ready is designed to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to emergencies, including natural disasters and potential terrorist attacks. It has proven to be one of the most successful campaigns in Ad Council’s more than 65-year history. Since its launch, the campaign has generated more than $756.5 million in donated media support. Individuals interested in more information about family, business and community preparedness can visit www.ready.gov.

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Nitro-Pak offers several food reserves but their premiere food reserve is the Ultimate-Pak™.

The Ulitmate-Pak™ is a one year supply for one person or 3 month supply for 4 people. It consists of 204 #10 cans, about half of which is Mountain House freeze dried food. FYI - #10 cans are 5/6th of a gallon restaurant size cans that most long storing food reserves come in.

The Ultimate-Pak™ supplies an average of 2440 calories per day which is above the RDA requirement and much higher than most other food reserve packages sold online.  As you can see from the analysis chart below the diet is a big breakfast, light lunch, and large dinner.

Ultimate-Pak

One thing that sticks out in this food reserve is it’s completeness and variety. It has good variety of vegetables and fiber as well as carbs and protein. There are 18 #10 cans of Nutty Breakfast Granola, 12 Cans of  6-Grain Cereal Blend, and 12 Cans of Quick Cooking Rolled Oats in the breakfast part of the reserve. This variety also lowers the average daily sodium intake that other food reserves run into trouble with (Detailed contents of the food reserve are list on Nitro-Pak’s website).

Also important is that it has 20 cans of beverage mixes, something that other food reserve packages overlook or have too little of.

The 38 cans of dinner entrees come in 18 different varieties. Having variety will help keep morale up in a stressful situation and this amount of variety is probably as much as most people eat normally. However to take advantage of this variety of entrees it will be better if you are using the food reserve for 3-4 people. Once you open a #10 can, it will last only a few weeks. So if you are using it for one person don’t expect to have cans of each of the 18 varieties open at any one time and expect the reserve to last a year.

Especially of great value is that all the contents of the food reserve are no-cooking, no-preparation foods that can be ready in a few minutes. Your time will be much more valuable in a disaster to be used in other activities than cooking meals.

Other food reserves choose lower cost raw ingredients so may have a lower average cost per #10 can, but have an enormous total cost in terms of your time.  Also a food reserve of raw ingredients instead of fully prepared Mountain House freeze dried food will require cooking equipment and energy (gas, oil, electricity)  that might not be continuously available or even desirable to use in some situations. Mountain House freeze dried food requires only water to prepare the food. If hot water is available so much the better but it is not necessary to have anything else other than water.

The Nitro-Pak supplied contents (indicated by “NP”) of the food reserve that are not Mountain House freeze dried food will have a shorter shelf life than 25 years. Most of these NP items being sealed in #10 cans will have 10-15 years shelf life. However items such as the breakfast grains mentioned above are items you can consume periodically (8 -10 years) and re-order with the cost not being much more than what you would buy from the grocery store. As indicated in the chart above all these “NP” items are also instant no-preparation foods other than adding water or hot water which is what makes the food reserve so useful.

Overall I can easily say that the Ultimate-Pak™ food reserve from Nitro-Pak offers the most complete food reserve online and has the highest value of food reserves I have looked at to date.

When I started this blog I wrote about food preparedness for disasters, both natural and man-made.

And I still write about food preparedness. But in the last eight months there has been an enormous increase in people interested in survivalist food planning.

What is the difference between preparedness and survivalism?

Food Preparedness is about having a food reserve to ensure no hardships or difficulty during temporary interuption(s) of normal business process’ affecting the local, regional or national food supply. Hurricanes and earthquakes are the most common disasters where a food reserve is important for you and your family.

Food supply coverage required for these disasters is a matter of a few weeks to at most a few months. Three months food reserve is more than suffcient for any disasters up to and including a pandemic of the highest severity.

Food Planning for Survivalists - focus is on dealing with a total and long term disruption of the food supply and economy. A total collapse of the economy from causes such as “peak oil” or other such “tipping point” events will require a long term as well as short term survival strategy. Some desire to live in rural and secluded areas with an emphasis on skills for sustaining food supply locally. With an expectation of no municipal or regional power and water utilities, there is a need for initially stored food to support a transition back to a sustenance lifestyle until a long term recovery occurs. Food supply coverage sought is six months to one year or more.

While preparedness advocates and survivalists have similar interests their food needs, as you can see, are not exactly the same.

For preparedness it is straightforward to recommend MRE for regional events like Hurricanes and Earthquakes and a combination of MRE and freeze dried food for wider, longer term disasters like pandemics.

However for survivalists, food strategy has more complexity and decisions on food reserves like MRE and freeze dried food must be customized to the overall strategy of where you will live, how you will support food needs in the short (2-3 weeks), middle (2-3 months) and long term and if any travel is required during this time.

There are several resources online to help for survivalist food planning and in general. The most popular and by far most valuable is SurvivalBlog.com which has a large following (50,000 plus vistors per month) and frequent Q&A posts from readers on the subject.

I continue to write on food preparedness.

For the same reasons as hurricanes, and a few more, the best Earthquake preparedness food is MRE.

MRE (meals ready to eat) or military rations are just that - ready to eat. They are a complete meal with no water needed to prepare.

Most importantly they can be heated with “flameless” ration heaters which is much safer than using an open flame or other cooking equipment after an earthquake.

Since you may not have utilities for weeks in some areas after an earthquake it is much more convenient to have ready to eat meals for this period.

Since you can buy MRE in 12 meal cases with 6 different meals in each case, the variety offered makes them a better choice.

MRE is not the tastiest food and some people have difficulty digesting them so I don’t recommend using MRE as a survival food longer than 3 weeks at a time. This however is hopefully much longer than you will need an emergency food reserve after an earthquake.

According to Nitro-pak, each of their MRE’s typically include;

1. Soda type crackers and a spread, like cheese, peanut butter
   or jelly as an appetizer
2. A main course entree, like beef steak, chicken & noodles, turkey breast, etc.
3. A complementing side dish like fruit, rice, soup or potatoes
4. Some type of dessert, snack or candy
5. An accessory packet which includes: matches, spoon, wet wipe, salt, pepper,
   coffee and sweetener (some may include an alternative beverage powdered
   drink, too).
6. Military versions also include a mini roll of toilet tissue.

MRE lasts 5-7 years if stored in cool place below 80 degrees fahrenheit.

If you store a few cases in a basement, it would be best to have them under a table near an external door that you can break down if need be. That way you can access the MRE meals after an earthquake.

Three places you can order MRE online;

Nitro-Pak
The ReadyStore
Amazon

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I have seen reports on various sites that say that Mountain House will not be selling #10 cans on their website until the end of 2009.

This statement is correct.

I called Mountain House customer service and they confirmed this is the case. An updated notice should appear on their website soon.

However it was also being said that dealers only had limited supply of Mountain House #10 cans and after that dealers could be out of stock for as long as 20 weeks!

The above statement is not correct!

Mountain House customer service confirmed that they would continue to supply their TOP DEALERS.

The supply is limited and on allocation to these dealers due to high demand.

I called Nitro-Pak customer service and they confirmed that they will continue to take orders and shipping lead times are at present 2-4 weeks and will continue into the foreseeable future. This applies to #10 cans sold by themselves and special food reserve packages.

However since the supply of #10 cans from Mountain House is on limited allocation to dealers, if demand increases even more, the lead times will only get longer.

However you will still get freeze dried food in #10 cans if and when you order from their dealers, the question is just on how long it will take to get delivery.

Awareness of the need for pandemic flu preparedness came 2 years ago when the risk of a pandemic outbreak from the avian flu virus (H5N1) escalated.

Fortunately, a flu pandemic did not materialize and the risk has abated somewhat.

However there is always that risk present as there were 3 pandemic outbreaks that occurred in the last century. And present conditions, even with the technology and medical knowledge available today, make the occurrence of a pandemic flu no less likely nor the impact less severe than in the past.

From a preparedness point of view what can we expect and plan for?

Here is a statement from the PandemicFlu.gov website;

A pandemic may come and go in waves, each of which can last for six to eight weeks.

An especially severe influenza pandemic could lead to high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts can range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

With possible reductions in the food supply and a general desire to limit your exposure to other people and thereby risk of infection it would be highly desirable to have a food reserve of up to even 3 months for you and your family.

While it may be tempting to think that you will have time to prepare if the threat escalates again in the future, the fact is many preparedness food options will quickly become difficult to obtain.

Recently with the awareness of food price increases and as well as the threat of food shortages, which for the US became somewhat exaggerated for a time in some circles, the result was survival food quickly went out of stock with long lead times of 6-8 weeks.

While the availability of freeze dried food in #10 cans has come down to 2-4 weeks lead time now, based on this recent experience you can imagine what will happen when a future pandemic flu threat escalates and starts to get more and more news coverage long before the actual pandemic occurs.

So why wait?

Freeze dried food reserves for 3 months can be had for as little as $2.90 per meal.