Sep 14 2008
Pop Tarts as Survival Food
Several news articles during this busy hurricane season have mentioned the popularity of Pop Tarts when storms approach.
While I could easily have tried to slam this pastry into a gooey mess for it’s nutritional value as a survival food, they are actually not all that bad.
NutritionData is good a website to check the nutritional facts on products online rather than looking at small “Nutrition Facts” label on the food container.
Turns out that 1 pastry has about 210 calories (& no trans fat). So if you wanted to eat only Pop Tarts you would need to eat about 10 a day to get to the about 2100 calories the average mildly active adult needs. 10 Pop Tarts would result in an RDA value of;
140% Fat
110% Carbs
50% Protein
Not bad considering some the typically poor diets people eat. So for a few days eating only Pop Tarts would not be that bad, although I am sure most would get tired of the taste if they ate 10 per day.
For longer term survival food needs of a few weeks, a more balanced diet would be preferred.
Also I don’t think Pop Tarts packaging was designed to stand up as well as MRE or #10 cans in extreme conditions.
Published under Emergency Food, Survival Food
