If you are anything like me than you LOVE food. I’m not sure if I’m a ‘foodie’ per se, but I believe in the importance of a tasty meal.
Are you prepared to go 10 days without power?
Are you able to feed your family for 7 days without leaving the house?
When preparing for an on the go scenario or a natural disaster food should be one of the top things you prepare. Most people can only go up to ten days without eating and survive. This is not factoring in all the energy loss that comes along with not eating food. I personally could not imagine being in a survival situation without food. Even the current Red Cross guidelines suggest that everyone have 3 days worth of non-perishable food per person stored in your home. I personally believe you should have MINUMUM of at least a week’s worth of items ready to go.
I have compiled the essential survival food list to help ease your mind and help you prepare appropriately so you will not initially have to worry about where your meals will come from when a survival scenario arises.
Importance of a Survival Food List
Preparing and compiling a long term food supply is one of the essential components to being prepared for anything. You can be prepared in many ways, but if you do not have a food supply you are putting yourself at risk of survival when a situation occurs.
DIY vs Premade Survival Food Kits
There are three main ways to prepare you survival food stockpile.
One way is to DIY (do it yourself). What I mean buy this is going to the grocery store and purchasing items to make food that can store for a long time. This could be buying items to can your food or to dehydrate items to store for later. It could also mean buying ingredients that are non-perishable such as dry beans, honey, rice, or flour that you can use to make edible items in the future.
Another way is to make your own essential survival food kit by purchasing various non-perishable items. This would mean buy a lot of canned items, water cases, and other items that have a long shelf life. This is a great option, but might not always be the most cost effective approach. When purchasing your items from the store, you must ensure that each item has a long shelf life as you do not want to be stuck with a bunch of expired food that can make you sick if you eat it.
The third option for an essential survival food kit is to purchase a kit already made up. Some people purchase MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) bags which are ready to eat meals that are sealed into individualized rations. Most MRE bags can last up to 10 years when store properly. There are also companies that sell survival buckets that contain several weeks worth of food prepared in them. These are great because the calories and nutritional contents are already compiled for you so that you know you are getting a proper amount of nutrition each day.
Essential Survival Food List
Now that we have discussed the various essential survival food list options, I have compiled an idea list of types of foods you should prepare whether you are preparing for a few days or months worth of food.
- Water- I personally prefer filtered water straws, but having a few gallons of water ready is very helpful.
- Canned items- beans, fruits, vegetables, potatoes, soups, fish, and other meats.
- Granola Bard
- Nut butters
- Honey
- Lard
- Nuts
- Pickles and other preserved items
- Crackers
- Instant Mashed Potatos
- Flour
- Sugar
- Dried Meats
- Salt
- Dried Fruits and Fruit Leather
You may have noticed that I didn’t include certain items such as pasta, dried beans and rice. This is because it can take a long time to make these items due to the need to boil the item before consuming it.
Sticking to non cooking foods is best because you do not want to be in a situation where you only have foods that need to be cooked without a way to cook them.
Recipes
Here are a some fun and simple recipes to make with the items from your essential survival food list.
Hardtack
(Makes about 10 biscuits) This recipe is also known as survival tack and can last forever. Most people soak it in liquids such as milk or soup before consuming.
Ingredients- 2 C flour, 3/4 C water, 1.5 tsp salt
Instructions- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix the flour, water and salt in a bowl. Spread dough out until it is about 1/2 in thick. Cut dough into 3 in squares. Poke holes using a fork into each square. Place on a baking sheet and bake in oven for 30 minutes and then flip each hardtack and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Place into an airtight container and store with your other survival food items.
Pemmican
This recipe was a staple for Native Americans. It stores really well and it is very nutritious for you. This would be a great item to include in your on the go bag and your at home survival food stock.
Ingredients- 2 C dried crushed meat, 2 C dried crushed berries or dates, 1 C melted fat, 1/2 C crushed nuts, 1/4 C honey
Instructions- Make sure all the moisture is out of the meat and berries then crush them. You can do this with a food processor or with pestle. Add the nuts; they can either be chunks to add texture or finely crushed up. Add the melted fat to the mixture so that it sticks together. Next, add the honey and mix all together. You can roll it out and cut it into bars or you can roll it into balls and then store in an air tight container.
Let’s Take Our Food To-Go
Now that you know more about the different type of survival food essentials and have a list of items, I suggest you begin purchasing and storing the items in a safe place. You never know when you will have a power outage or will be unable to go to the grocery store due to a lock down. It is better to be prepared than hungry and unprepared for a future situation.
Do you know any recipes using the survival essential ingredients?
Are there any other items you suggest people include in their survival food preparation?
We are in this together,
Lily W.
