Archive for February, 2008

Feb 28 2008

Survival Food Options – Scored Comparison

Published by Kevin

What is the better choice for survival food? How do MRE, Freeze Dried Food (FDF), or storing canned food and bulk grains from the super market compare?

Below I have scored the options for disaster survival food against these factors;

  • storage life
  • storage space
  • preparation time
  • taste
  • cost (per meal).

The scoring goal is to have an objective calculation. However the ratings are my subjective opinions, and are based on the facts and information I have been reporting in this blog. I have also added a second level score with a weight for each factor. Again, this is my opinion about the factor’s relative importance to a survival food strategy.

The weighted score total for the survival food options is out of 10.

It is also important to note that the scoring was based on a required food supply that will last 6 weeks to 3 months.

MRE would rate better in a 72 hour survival kit comparison with mobility and easy to heat as factors.

Here are the scores;

Survival Food Scoring Comparison

You can see that based on the way I have scored and weighted Freeze Dried Food is the superior choice especially for longer term preparedness of 6 weeks to 3 months. Since you may have different opinions you can evaluate the score and weight outlined here. I will add a poll shortly to get everyone’s opinion on the ratings for each of the factors and the factor weights. Then we can look at the results.

In the meantime I have also posted a link to the original excel file so you can change the weights and scoring your self as you wish and see the results. Here is the file link;

Excel File with Survival Food Scoring Calculations

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Published under Freeze Dried Food,meals ready to eat,MRE,Survival Food

Feb 27 2008

Survival Water Storage – Update

Published by Kevin

I have done some research and have some further comments of my own and clarifications on water storage. Thanks for the excellent article on water storage by Terry Fitzroy of Survival Solutions published in a previous post here on Bulk Survival Food.

There was a suggestion in that article that you should drink 8 glasses or 64 ounces of water a day. This is a myth so pervasive medical professionals sometimes say it. Medical journals found no research supports this anywhere and have traced the myth back to a mis-interpretation of a 1945 medical report.

The fact is most of the 64 ounces of water is contained in the food we eat. That is if what you are eating is a healthy well balanced diet. Read this British Medical Journal article that quotes the 1945 report “One origin may be a 1945 recommendation that stated: A suitable allowance of water for adults is 2.5 litres daily in most instances. An ordinary standard for diverse persons is 1 millilitre for each calorie of food. Most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods“.

Over time it appears most people, even doctors, have forgotten the key second sentence in bold above.

If you are eating MRE food reserve in a disaster, most of the 64 ounces (~2.5 liters) of the water is already in the food. If you use a Freeze Dried Food food reserve , you need store more water to hydrate the food when you eat, but the water you use to hydrate the food all ends up in your body when you eat it.

That said, then what is the real amount water storage needed for emergency preparedness?

The Red Cross and FEMA say one gallon of water per day in their “Preparing for Disaster” pdf (on page 8), but this for a “3 day supply kit”. So perhaps this does not include water requirements for hygiene? Does it assume you have also included in your 3 day kit mostly canned food that has water in the food as opposed dry grains and cereals which will need a lot more clean drinkable water to cook?

www.72hours.org offered this advice on water “Store one gallon of water, per person, per day. This amount will be adequate for general drinking purposes. Three gallons per person per day will give you enough to cook and for limited personal hygiene.”

They also advised to replace unopened stored bottled water once a year.

Perhaps you can plan to replace the water each year the day before or the day after your birthday so you will remember to do it. Or Perhaps we should have a “Preparedness Day” holiday so that we can do once a year whatever needs to be done that year like throwing out the canned food and bottled water and replace it with a new supply for another year. I am sure the food industry will be all for this holiday, they should take the cue from the chocolate and flower people for what they did to create Valentine’s day. Let’s move on.

So the answer, in terms of clean water storage for consumption, appears to be 1 to 3 gallons per person per day depending on whether you are using water for cooking.

If your survival food store is MRE then your requirement will be closer to 1 gallon per day, and 1.5 gallons if you use Freeze Dried Food.

You may think there is an advantage to MRE here but you will need the same if not more storage space for the same period of food support for MRE due to package density of MRE. As well you will always have more options in terms of water resource allocation as the additional water you store for Freeze Dried Food can be used for other purposes if it makes sense, while with MRE the water that is already in the food can’t be practically extracted out.

The best way to safely store water is in food grade containers like the ones below. With stabilizer applied and containers properly sealed water will be good to drink for 5 years. Click on the pictures of the containers to get more information on them;

 
Family Water Storage Package #1 (30 gal. size)<B> S&H Included

30 gallon container, 4 per package at Nitro-Pak

 
Family Water Storage Package #2 (55 gal. size)<B> S&H Included

55 gallon container, 4 per package at Nitro-Pak

What if you did not prepare water before an emergency?

Here is some excellent information from Public Heath of Seattle and King county on “How to prepare safe water after a disaster”.

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Published under Emergency Preparedness Advice,water storage

Feb 26 2008

MRE Videos – What is in an MRE pak?

Published by Kevin

MRE Informational Videos

I looked all over YouTube for some good video clips that show you what is in an MRE and features.

These were the best MRE videos I could find.








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Published under MRE,MRE Videos

Feb 24 2008

Disaster Help From the Government

Published by Kevin

After events like 911, Hurricane Katrina, the H5N1 bird flu scare, you would think our governments would have finally taken action to be ready to assist us when a disaster or emergency situation occurs.

Read this Reuters article from from December 18th, 2007.

Do you think any improvement has occured since then? Will they ever be prepared?

U.S. still unprepared for disaster: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States remains unprepared for disasters ranging from biological attacks to a flu pandemic, and funding for preparedness is falling, according to a report released on….

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Published under Emergency Preparedness Advice,Survival Food Preparedness in the News

Feb 23 2008

MRE’s and Flameless Ration Heaters (FRH)

Published by Kevin

What is an FRH, a Flameless Ration Heater?

Convenience is the best advantage MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) has as a survival food.

This convenience is important in a crisis or mobile “on the go” situation. As the name implies MREs are really “ready to eat” no preparation or cooking required. However you may prefer to eat your main course hot as most people prefer a hot meal.

This is where MRE really shines. The military for years has included an FRH or Flameless Ration Heater with their MRE.

It is a plastic pouch that you can put your MRE into and heat in ten minutes by adding a little water.

How do Flameless Heaters work?

When iron rusts it is oxidizing, that is oxygen in the air is reacting with the metal to form an oxide commonly referred to as rust. This process produces heat. It is a slow process so you will not be able to fry an egg on the rusting hood of a car in the winter.

However if you have iron in the form of a fine grain powder and mix it with sodium, magnesium and then add a little water you have a fast reaction producing lots of heat in a small space. This will heat your MRE main course in 10 minutes.

It is important to note that you should not heat you MRE over an open flame as this will melt the container into the contents. The best way to heat MREs is with the flameless heaters.

Most distributors include the flameless heaters with the MRE they sell but check carefully that they are included. You can still eat MREs cold as they are already cooked and ready to eat, but there is nothing like a hot meal when you may be cold, wet, or injured. It will really lift the spirits of you and your family.

MRE Heater Paks (12 Heaters)

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Published under FRH flamless heaters for MRE,MRE

Feb 18 2008

Platinum Food Reserve Sale Save $366

Published by Kevin

Platinum Food Reserve

4 People for 3 Mo. or one person for a year.

This bulk freeze dried food reserve is on sale now (at the time of this post) for $2789 (regular $3155).

“…will provide over 2000 calories per day for one person for one complete year, or a family of 4 for 3 months! It comes with a total of 168 #10 cans (large resturant size cans) that comes packed in 28 cases for easy storage.”

 
 
**Platinum Food Reserve<br><b>4 People for 3 Mo.

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Published under Emergency Food,Freeze Dried Food,Mountain House

Feb 12 2008

Freeze Dried Food – 45 day Food Reserve for $472

Published by Kevin

 Mountian House #10 Freeze Dried Food

Freeze Dried Meals

 
*

Per Nitro-Pak website;

Our Easy Meal Security-Pak™”
Provides 45 Gourmet Meals… Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner for
One Person for 45 Days, A Family of 5 for 9 Days, or 15 People for 3 Days!

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Published under Emergency Food,Freeze Dried Food,Mountain House

Feb 12 2008

NEW Improved MRE’s for 2008 from Nitro Pak:

Published by Kevin

NEW Improved MRE’s for 2008:

The BEST just got better! The MRE business has been tough for some time with suppliers torn from one disaster to the next and with the war. Supplies have been short and selection has been terrible… until now. We have just contracted with a major MRE supplier to provide our customers with all FRESH component MRE’s and meals (not old scraped together surplus or 2 to 3 year old stock). Unlike some dealers who provide just 2 to 4 different entree choices, we provide SIX (6) DIFFERENT Premium meal entrees x 2! In Addition, everyone of our meals includes a MRE side dish! That’s an ADDED SAVINGS of up to $12 per case you would have to pay if you…….

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Published under Emergency Food,meals ready to eat,MRE,MRE star

Feb 11 2008

Water Storage Tips

Published by Kevin

Water Storage Will Save Your Life Better Than Food

by terryfitzroy
Did you know that it is more important to store clean water in case of an emergency than it is to store food? There are many reasons for this fact, but the first may or may not be obvious to you.

Did you know that if there were a terrorist attack, that water supply would most likely be the first thing that gets cut off? Did you know that your city water supply is at a higher risk to be contaminated than the food in the grocery store is? In case of an emergency, you are going to want to stock up on both food, and water. But if you have to choose one, it needs to be as much clean drinking water as possible.

You can live longer without food than you can without water. This is the second reason why it is more important. The human body needs water like a car needs gas and oil. It is said by some biologist that 75% of our bodies are made up of water. When your body has a lack of water, immediately you will start to show signs of dehydration. Many people feel like food is more important mainly because they can feel hunger pains, and recognize them much better than they can feel dehydration beginning to affect their bodies. Some of the common symptoms of dehydration are muscle twitching, headaches, dryness of mouth, and blurry vision.

In fact, most of your common body aches can be traced back to a single cause: Not drinking enough water.
You should drink 64 ounces of water per day. That equals eight, 8 ounce glasses of water per each set of 24 hours.

That might seem like a lot of water to you, but truthfully, it ‘s the recommended minimum amount. Drinking more won’t hurt. The easiest way to accomplish this is to keep a water bottle with you at all times and as soon as it is empty, fill it up again.
Food is important, don’t get me wrong. But you can potentially go weeks without eating, while you most likely won’t make it one week with no clean drinking water. So what are we to do? Start saving every single milk jug container you can.

Most families go through a gallon or more per week, sometimes two. Instead of throwing them away, wash them out thoroughly, and fill them with filtered, clean drinking water. Start stashing them away someplace safe, like in your basement or in your garage. In a few short months you’ll have a few dozen gallons of clean water, and if you somehow face a crisis, you’ll be prepared to make it for the long haul.

Another thing you can do is start stocking up on it at the grocery store when you see a sale. Water is pretty cheap. Even if you buy the brand name stuff, you can usually find a 24 pack of water for less than five bucks. Many grocery stores also sell jugs of water. Each time you go grocery shopping, make it a point to buy one.

This will also maintain your supply if you build it up over time. 50 gallons or more may be needed if drinking water is contaminated. 50 gallons can get you through for several weeks until you are able to go elsewhere, so make it your goal to save at least that much water. It could save your life, and others you know.

About the Author

Terry Fitzroy is a professional writer specializing in freeze dried food and disaster preparedness To learn more about Water Storage visit SurvivalSolutions.com

Article Source: Content for Reprint

kemct Said;

Water is important and proper preparedness absolutely must include a water storage strategy. A well planned water storage strategy should include proper safe food grade bulk containers or at least containers with food grade liners. Also the water needs a stabilizer if you want it stored safely for an extended period of time.

Per Nitro-Pak’s website on water storage;

“Civil defense experts have for years suggested that you store approximately 2 gallons per day per person for two weeks.”

For their 30 gallon water container they say;

“Now you can purchase a water storage package that comes complete with everything you need. Just fill with tap water, add the 5 year stabilizer, and seal the caps with the included bung wrench. That’s it! For businesses, this package can also supply water for up to 3 days for 36 people. This unit uses 30 gallon size containers that will supply a family of four for 2 weeks. We also offer a 55 gallon size container unit which will provide up to 4 weeks of water for the same family. Both use our heavy-duty water barrels sold in the Storage Barrel Category. Each container is brand new, never used.

  • No water rotation for 5 years!
  • Everything you need including 4 – 30 gallon water containers and 5 year Water Stabilizer!

Included items:

  • 4 – 30 Gallon Water Barrels1
  • Siphon/Manual Hand Pump1
  • 5 Year Water Stabilizer (Oxystabile/Aerobic 07)
  • 1 Aluminum Bung Wrench (for opening & seal barrel caps)
  • 8 Protective Seal Caps (protects caps from dirt & debris)”

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Published under Emergency Preparedness Advice,water storage

Feb 11 2008

Emergency Food Storage?

Published by Kevin

Emergency Food Storage?
By admin
Freeze Dried Food – This type of food is usually stored in #10 can, but is also available in smaller pouches like MREs. Freeze dried foods taste great because the foods retain their taste, texture, and shape of fresh frozen foods.

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Published under Emergency Preparedness Advice

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