Which Survival Food is Best?

Can you rely on government support, especially food, within 72 hours or even a week of a major disaster? Or during a prolonged economic depression?

Most everyone agrees now that depending on government support alone is unwise. But only 7% of have taken action to be prepared, according to the American Red Cross. Why?

What people really need to be prepared is a food reserve that is easily purchased & stored, stores a long time, and is ready to eat with no preparation or cooking equipment required.

Preparedness experts recommend that an emergency food reserve should not be food that is radically different from the types of food we regularly eat, nor should preparing it require a huge effort.  It should not be rotten, rancid, or otherwise barely edible when you may need it, next week, or years from now.

What type of food reserve is best for survival preparedness?

I have sorted through the pros and cons of various survival food options below with these needs in mind.

Two options that you may not be as familiar with are MRE (meals ready to eat) and Freeze Dried Food. MRE is what the military uses for mobile activities, but it is available from the same manufactures as civilian MRE.

Freeze dried food is a more longer storing type of food reserve that is also used by the military and government agencies.

Both freeze dried and MRE are often overlooked. When we first start thinking about food preparedness, we think bulk food storage such as bulk rice, bulk wheat, bulk flour, bulk sugar, and canned food reserves. These bulk foods have some real drawbacks. So you would be severely limiting your choices if you did not consider MRE and freeze dried food.

Freeze dried food and MRE have long to very long storage life for emergency food reserves and most importantly require little or no preparation, water, and no cooking equipment.

Here are some commercial examples of MRE & freeze dried food;

See Examples of Various Freeze Dried Food Reserves

See Examples of Various Bulk MRE (meals ready to eat)

If you take just a few minutes to read below about the advantages and disadvantages of survival food options to make a wiser more well informed choice.

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Survival Food Options

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What are the options for food emergency preparedness?

The conventional wisdom offered by our governments and dedicated survivalists is to go to your local supermarket or big box store and buy canned food and dry grains and carefully store them. There are limitations to this survival food strategy that are highlighted below.

Survival Food Option - Buy Canned Food and Dry Grains

Buy the canned foods, grains, and bottled water as many government agencies recommend. Store in your house or apartment.

Advantages

• Can be done in a few hours or less for a 72-hour or one week reserve.

Disadvantages

• Most will forget and some will not store it properly so it will be useless when it is needed. Did you do this years ago? Go look at this food now and check the expiry dates on canned goods and check grains for mold infestations, rodent invasions, etc.
• Canned foods are bulky and heavy, space is often limited people will not be able to store much
• Grains need a lot of water to cook to eat and water may be unavailable or scarce in a disaster.
• You will need to spend a lot of time preparing food
• Canned foods destroy appetites and morale quickly. Even unexpected allergic type reactions can occur if the types of food in a diet are drastically changed.

Survival Food Option  - Buy Canned Food and Dry Grains and use them regularly on an “inventory cycle” plan

Same strategy as the first option, except you actively manage storing and ‘cycle’ inventory of goods. As you buy new food you use up the old canned food so that the food store is less than the expiry date of the canned food.

Advantages

• Food will not be bad when you need it

Disadvantages

• Most people do not have the time, space, or inclination to do this
• Grains need a lot of water to cook to eat and water may be unavailable or scarce.
• You will need to spend a lot of time preparing food
• Canned foods will destroy appetites and morale quickly

Survival Food Option - Buy MRE’s

See Examples of Various MRE (meals ready to eat) Reserves

Advantages

• Easy to store and lasts upto 5-7 years in a cool dry place.
• Easiest and fastest preparation time possible and can be heated fast with “MRE heaters”
• Can be ordered online in minutes, delivered to your house. You will only have to spend less than 30 minutes storing it.

Disadvantages

• Relatively expensive per meal ($6-$7) and for extended reserve of 6 weeks, 3 months, or a year a lot space required to store.
• Lasts only 5-7 years so you will need to buy a replacement reserve relatively soon. Hopefully you do not live in a place where there is a disaster that often.
• Tastes like canned food which will destroy appetites and morale quickly

Survival Food Option - Buy Freeze Dried Food

See Examples of Various Freeze Dried Food Reserves

More Freeze Dried Food Examples

Advantages

• Easy to store and can last up to 30 years.
• Fast simple preparation just add water. But only water that is needed to hydrate the food, much less than cooking.
• Once hydrated, freeze dried food taste is very close to original food taste.
• Light weight easy to store large qty (Mountain house #10 cans) of food for reserves of 6 weeks, 3 months, or a year. A 6 week food reserve can fit under a bed!
• Can be ordered online in minutes, delivered to your house. You will only have to spend less than 30 minutes storing it.
• Good economical choice - cost can be less than $3.00 per meal.

As you can see there are a lot of benefits to Freeze Dried Food over the other options making it the superior choice as a bulk survival food.

KT

Bulk Emergency Food - Freeze Dried Food and MRE Options

Freeze Dried Food
Family One year Food Reserves

Group Food Reserve 50 people X 7 days or 10 people X 35 days

45 day - 6 weeks Freeze Dried Food

MRE
Bulk MRE (meals ready to eat)

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Freeze Dried Food Reserve Packages

Mountain House 4 person 3 month “dinner Entree-pak”

True food preparedness means;

1. A food reserve with variety that tastes good so people can eat and be satisfied
2. Food that is simple and easy to prepare even in a disaster
3. Food that is easy to store and transport

The new Mountain House 4 person 3 month “dinner Entree-pak” meets all of these conditions and at low price per meal.

Priced at $1190 this package offers an affordable peace of mind for preparedness for your family that easy to use.

So you don’t need to be a dedicated trained survival enthusiast to be prepared. You just need to make the right prepardedness choice.

Platinum Food Reserve
Food supports 4 People for 3 Months or one person for a year.

This bulk freeze dried food reserve is (at the time of this post) for $3375 , with free shipping and a 120-day ‘no-risk’ guarantee.

“…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 restaurant size cans) that comes packed in 28 cases for easy storage.”

Nitro-Pak is where you can get;

• Mountain House Freeze-Dried Food

• 72-hour Survival Kits

• MRE (meals ready to eat)

• Free Shipping on orders over $100

• 120-Day ‘No-Risk’ Guarantee

The ReadyStore has;

• Freeze Dried Food
• MRE food reserves
• 72 Hour Kits

KT

Mountain House #10 Cans Versus Pouches

The image on the left shows boxes of Mountain House #10 cans. The image on the right shows Mountain House pouches.

Pouches are popular with hikers, rock climbers and back-packers. Mountain house also sells them in cases as a food reserve.

They are a meal in pouch, just add water.

A Mountain House pouch can be used as a survival food reserve and are specifically packaged as such in the “just in case unit” 7 day food supply box pictured above.

This is comparable to MRE with the distinction they taste better, are easier to digest but require more preparation since you need to add water.

When you compare a pouch to a #10 can the main difference is that pouches are an individual meal. Mountain house #10 cans are a bulk, 8-10 serving food reserve unit.

More important however, pouches will store for up to 7 years at 75° F (24° C), while #10 cans will last 25 years under the same conditions.

While it is more convenient to have the pouches and they are a good alternative to MRE if you can’t stand the taste or digest MREs, #10 cans are a much longer lasting and better investment for disaster preparedness.

The exception are those people who find the contents of the pouches comparable enough to fresh food, and will consume pouches periodically for regular meals and continuously re-stock them as a food reserve for disasters. Then the 7 year shelf life is not an issue.

Finally a food reserve of the same duration in #10 cans will store in a smaller space than the pouches due to the cans being a bulk (less packaging) food supply.

In summary;

Mountain House Pouch

• More convenient package as a meal
• taste better than MRE
• Store for up to 7 years

Mountain House #10 Can

• bulk, 8-10 one cup servings of one item
• store for up top 25 years
• store more efficiently than pouches

Buy Mountain House Just In Case Unit

Buy Mountain House #10 can Food Reserve

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MRE Information

MRE or “Meals Ready to eat” are military style food rations.

Some reasons why they are a popular choice for survival food;

• MRE’s paks are a complete meal with main course, side dish, crackers with spread, dessert, and a powdered drink mix.
• MRE packs last 4-10 years depending on storage temperature, longer than most canned food.
• They are pre-cooked and in a pouch “ready to eat”, nothing needs to be added
• Usually you buy MRE with flameless heaters so you can eat your meal hot (cold is ok too)

USAGE

You can best use MRE for emergency situations where you “are on the go” . Also if you do not want to waste time cooking or do not want the hassle of bring cooking equipment with you. MRE’s are the most convenient survival food choice.

MRE cost is about $6 per meal plus shipping for a case of 12. You can get discounts if you buy larger quantities.

MRE cases and food reserves can be found online at The ReadyStore, Nitro-Pak, Emergency Essaentials, and other merchants.

For a food reserve for periods longer than a week however, a “freeze dried food” reserve is better in terms of space and cost per meal. You will need water for freeze dried food which, although hydrates quickly, is nevertheless is not as “ready to eat”

Worth Repeating 

Survival and the Next Big Disaster: Rely on Yourself, Not the Government

Emergency kits and first aid supplies can keep your family alive when food, water, gas, electricity, or medical services are disrupted by disaster

(PRWEB) November 29, 2005 — Think you can rely on the government for your family’s survival after a disaster? Consider the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma, and the Kashmir earthquake in the last year alone. While governments strive to help, downed gas, water, electric, phone, and medical services, not to mention roads, may delay help for days or weeks. And government services may be overwhelmed. Meanwhile, you and your family must fend for yourselves. Will you be ready?

“The country is really just not prepared for a major catastrophic event,” said Dr. Irwin E. Redlener, the director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, in a recent BusinessWeek cover story. “Whatever it is — the Big One in San Francisco, a terrorist attack — it doesn’t matter. The unfortunate truth is our ability to imagine and plan for catastrophic disasters is woefully inadequate.”

It’s 2:00 a.m. and a flash flood forces you to evacuate your home — fast. There’s no time to gather food from the kitchen, fill bottles with water, grab a first-aid kit from the closet and snatch a flashlight and a portable radio from the bedroom. You need to have these items packed and ready in one place before disaster hits.

A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) brochure puts the burden of preparedness on individuals. “It’s 2:00 a.m. and a flash flood forces you to evacuate your home — fast. There’s no time to gather food from the kitchen, fill bottles with water, grab a first-aid kit from the closet and snatch a flashlight and a portable radio from the bedroom. You need to have these items packed and ready in one place before disaster hits.”

While most disasters can’t be avoided, you can prepare for them. According to FEMA, there are six essentials you should stock in your home: food, water, first aid supplies, emergency supplies, tools, special items, clothing and bedding.” FEMA suggests at least a three-day supply of food and water, adding that food requiring no refrigeration, preparation, or cooking is best.

MRE, or “Meals Ready to Eat” — a staple of US military and rescue operations for decades — are a popular way to provide survival food supplies. “Because the MRE are pre-cooked, they’re ready to eat right from the pouch,” says Thomas Sciacca, a former marine, outdoorsman, and President of CampingSurvival.com. “Unlike freeze dried alternatives, the MRE are designed to retain moisture, gravy, and sauces with maximum nutrition, variety, and a five to ten year shelf life.”

Since evacuation or travel may be necessary, it’s also wise to include emergency kits or survival supplies in each car, as well as the office, school, or wherever significant time is spent, suggests Sciacca. The best kits are lightweight, avoid duplication, and suited to the users and environment used in.

While emergency kits and survival supplies can be assembled one item at a time, Sciacca understands that few people set aside the time to do an adequate job of it. “Important items get left out, items get scattered or get old and need to be replaced,” he explains.

Sciacca designed CampingSurvival.com as a one stop shop for survival supplies and emergency supplies — from pocket sized kits to The SuperArk, from family first aid supplies to organization-sized trauma kits, from rain ponchos to solar powered wind up radio. For free Disaster Analysis and promotional pricing, visit the CampingSurvival website at www.campingsurvival.com.

For More Information Contact:
Tom Sciacca
Phone: (800) 537-1339 ext. 222
Fax: 315-592-4796
28 W First St South
Fulton, NY 13069
sales@campingsurvival.com
www.campingsurvival.com

Emergency Food - What are the options?

Emergency Food Option 1) Buy the can goods, grains, and bottled water as many government agencies recommend. Store in your house or apartment.

- Good, can be done in 2 hours or less

- Bad, most will forget or not store it properly so it will be useless when it is needed

- Bad, Goods are heavy, space is often limited people will not be able to store much

- Bad, grains need a lot of water to cook to eat and water may be unavailable or scarce.

- Bad, you will need to spend a lot of time preparing food

- Bad, can goods can destroy appetites after awhile

Emergency Food Option 2) Same as 1 except be more careful in storing and ‘cycle’ inventory of goods buying new food so that food store is always edible.

- Good, food will not be bad when you need it
- Bad, most people do not have the time, space, or inclination to do this

- Bad, grains need a lot of water to cook to eat and water may be unavailable or scarce.

- Bad, you will need to spend a lot of time preparing food
-Bad, can goods can destroy appetites after awhile

Emergency Food Option 3) Buy MRE’s (military style - Meals Ready to Eat)

- Good, easy to store and lasts upto 5-7 years in a cool dry place.

- Good, fastest preparation time possible and can be heated fast with “MRE heaters”

- Good, can be ordered online in minutes, delivered to your house. You will only have to spend less than 30 minutes storing it.

- Bad, relatively expensive per meal and for extended reserve of 6 weeks, 3 months, or a year a lot space required to store.

- Bad, lasts only 5-7 years so you will need to buy a replacement reserve

- Bad, tastes like can food which can destroy appetites after awhile

Emergency Food Option 4) Buy Freeze Dried Food

- Good, easy to store and lasts up to 30 years.

- Good, fast simple preparation - just add water. But only water that is needed to hydrate the food, much less than cooking.

- Good, once hydrated, freeze dried food taste is very close to original food taste.

- Good, light weight easy to store large qty (Mountain house #10 cans) of food for reserves of 6 weeks, 3 months, or a year. A 6 week food reserve can fit under a bed!

- Good, can be ordered online in minutes, delivered to your house. You will only have to spend less than 30 minutes storing it.

MRE’s, freeze-dried / dehydrated foods, storage containers and more!
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This blog provides news and information on food preparedness for survival in the event of a natural disaster where food is not easily available for more than 72 hours.

Some emergency situations such as epidemics may require 6 weeks to 3 months of reserve food supply for an individual or family.

The lesson of Hurricane Katrina is that you can not put your hope in the government to provide adequate support in a timely fashion. In extreme cases it is even unrealistic to expect any relief organization to be able to provide needed support to everyone within 24 hours.

Preparedness is an investment and the advice of storing a supply of dry grains and can goods and replenishing them every 2-3 years is a recipe for disaster as most do not have the time or diligence to manage this kind of an inventory process carefully.

Basically most people will forget. They will have rancid food when they need it or even nothing because they did not remember to buy the replacement survival food when they threw the old food out.

Stored under right conditions MRE (meals ready to eat) like what the military uses can last 6-7 years or more.

Freeze dried food, which needs water to re-hydrate, can last up to 30 years. A 3 month supply can easily be stored in homes in a relatively small space.

Although the up-front cost of a 6 week or 3 month survival food supply for you or your family may seem more, it definitely will be a much better value.

Freeze Dried & MRE - Survival Food provides news and information on food preparedness for survival in the event of a disaster where food is not readily available for more than 72 hours.

Some emergency situations such as epidemics may require 6 weeks to 3 months of reserve food supply for an individual or family.

The lesson of Hurricane Katrina is that you can not put your hope in the government to provide adequate support in a timely fashion. In extreme cases it is even unrealistic to expect any relief organization to be able to provide needed support to everyone within 24 hours.

Survival planning is an investment and the advice of storing a supply of dry grains and can goods and replenishing them every 2-3 years is a recipe for disaster for most us who do not have the time or diligence to manage the kind of inventory cycle process required properly.

Basically most people will forget to replace expired food. They will have rancid food with little or no nutritional value when they need it or even worse, nothing, because they did not remember to buy the replacement survival food when they threw the old food out.

Stored under right conditions MRE (meals ready to eat) like what the military uses can last 6-7 years or more.

Freeze dried food, which needs water to re-hydrate, can last up to 30 years. A six week or 3 month supply can easily be stored in homes in a relatively small space. A six week supply should be more than enough to cover all the likely scenarios you will need survival food. You may want 3 months for extra peace of mind or to help others who may be in dire need.

Although the up-front cost of a 6 week or 3 month survival food supply for you or your family may seem alot, it definitely will be a much better value in long term since you will not need to replace it every 2 years, or worse, you forget and have nothing when an emergency situation arises.

Freeze Dried & MRE - Survival Food is not a store or seller of survival products.

We do have affiliate relationships with the following suppliers of survival food and products;

• Amazon.com
• Bass Pro Shops
• The ReadyStore
  
• American Family Safety
• Nitro-pak
• U.S. Cavalry