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Food is a necessity for survival. Yes, you can live for a long time without it; however, in an emergency scenario, you will quickly feel the negative side effects of not eating. To keep your situational awareness, mental acuity, and energy level up to an optimal capacity, you will need to consume calories. And maintaining that level of efficiency may make the difference in surviving a dangerous situation. If you find yourself away from home in that kind of environment, your food options will be limited due to weight, cooking requirements, and preservation restrictions. With that in mind, there are three different types of survival food that I integrate into my kits that not only provide nutrition but are low maintenance and require very little preparation.
MREs (Meal, Ready-to-Eat)
MREs are a staple of the United States military and are provided to service members in the field when accessing other food may not be possible. They're extremely popular in the preparedness community, offering complete, nutritionally balanced meals with very little prep work. MREs come in a variety of different offerings, and some even include built-in heating elements that can provide a hot meal without using any outside energy source. Obviously, building a fire or even using a stove can be a dangerous endeavor in certain environments, but these "Flameless Ration Heaters" allow a hot meal without giving away your position. The components of MREs are individually wrapped, which is beneficial for rationing your supply if necessary. I usually get my MREs from brands like XMRE as they are high quality, generally have around a 3-year shelf life, have many options, including their "Lite" and "Blue Line" offerings, and help you avoid ending up with surplus MREs that may be far past their intended date of use.
There are a few considerations to make when adding MREs to a survival kit or cache, depending on your approach. First, they are relatively heavy, as all the included food is cooked and ready to eat. This is also due to everything being individually wrapped, where the packaging adds additional weight and creates more trash. This is why you usually want to break your MREs down before packing them to eliminate as much unnecessary trash and weight as possible. There is also the question of taste, of course. Some MRE meals are pretty decent. Others are, well, let's just say you might have to force it down purely for the purpose of sustenance.
Because of those factors, I personally put MREs into my bug-out bags and assault bags. They fit the form and function of low-maintenance meals while not requiring anything to be cooked. If I find myself in a situation where a bug-out bag or even an assault bag becomes necessary, then there is likely an element of danger to contemplate. Whether that means not having the time to prepare meals or needing to avoid detection, MREs have you covered without compromising on caloric intake. By breaking them down before packing, you could easily ration them out to family members and companions or even use them for barter purposes. The versatility of MREs is why they remain so popular for preparedness.
Emergency Food Rations
Emergency food ration bars are another option that is commonly used in survival kits and offer a lot of great benefits. These bars are used by the U.S. Coast Guard to stock lifeboats with survival rations in case of an "abandon ship" scenario. They're designed to be calorically dense, resistant to environmental extremes, and to last a long time with up to a 5-year shelf life. UST Emergency Food Rations are relatively inexpensive and provide 2,400 calories, an entire day's worth. They come vacuum-packed in a durable foil-like material and hold up well to abuse. These survival ration bars are very low maintenance, do not require any cooking, and are easily packed away for years without issue.
There are some things you might notice if you eat some of these emergency food ration bars. First, they generally have a pretty bland flavor profile. That's fine, though, because we are just eating these to survive. But they are not going to take you far in the department of morale. Another issue you might encounter when eating these ration bars is your body deciding it either never wants to let it go or it needs it all gone immediately. If you know what I'm getting at. I have seen it go both ways, so just keep that in mind. These are just compromises you get with such a calorically dense food that lasts up to 5 years and is environmentally resistant.
My favorite use of emergency food ration bars like the UST Emergency Food Rations are in my get-home bags and vehicles. Especially since my get-home bags pretty much live in my vehicles. One of the biggest reasons for this is that the emergency food ration bars are temperature-resistant. Some even advertise as being capable of withstanding -22F°, which is pretty common here in North Dakota in the winter. However, it's not advisable to freeze MREs as it can damage the packaging or the food product itself. The 5-year shelf life of the emergency food ration bars is another reason why they live in my get-home bags or vehicles. Throw them in there, forget about it for five years and then replace them. This way, I have an expedient food source immediately available if an emergency strikes when I am away from home. You don't have to cook it, prepare it, or worry about it expiring (unless you're behind on your rotations). I suggest that you store the ration bar itself in a large, gallon-sized ziplock bag. That way, if you need to open it but don't want to eat the entire ration all at once (which you will not want to, trust me), you can put it back in the bag and seal it for later.
Freeze Dried Food Pouches
There are a ton of options for freeze-dried food pouches out on the market, and they make an excellent addition to any hiking or camping trip. Peak Refuel makes some excellent entrees high in protein, calories, and nutritional value. Mountain House is another great brand of this type of freeze-dried food. Even though these freeze-dried food pouches are marketed primarily towards backpacking, they most certainly fit the bill of food in a survival application. They are generally very high quality and have a price point to match. But there are some good reasons to integrate these meals into your preparedness inventory.
For starters, they are extremely lightweight. For example, a Peak Refuel Beef Stroganoff entree weighs only 5 ounces. That means you can pack a lot of high-quality meals without a huge weight penalty. Also, they benefit from the fact that the food itself is frozen, which provides anywhere from a 5 to 30-year shelf life, depending on the product and manufacturer. So you can buy these, store them away, and never consider them again until you need them. They aren't susceptible to the cold, but it is advised not to store them somewhere overly hot to get the full shelf life potential. Another great thing about these freeze-dried food pouches is the flavor. These are, by far, the best-tasting food of the three currently being discussed. In fact, some of these meals are actually good. Meaning you'll want to eat them again. And that helps with the overall value of these meals when it comes to morale or bartering situations as well.
Freeze-dried food pouches are great for camping and hiking, thanks to the casual nature of those activities. But what about a survival scenario? Personally, I store freeze-dried food pouches at static locations as part of my preparedness plan. At home, at a bug-out location, at a workplace, or at a group member's home. In my opinion, this is often the best use of this type of food for an emergency, mainly due to its requirement for preparation and cooking and the additional ingredient of water. Since you need to boil water to hydrate these meals, there can be some situations where you're just not capable of doing that based on the crisis unfolding around you. Fire is a magnet for problems, and stoves give off smells and have a short lifespan based on fuel supply. Plus, water is heavy. So, even though you save a ton of weight on the food itself, you still need a way to hydrate it. While on a backpacking trip, acquiring more water is generally not an issue. But during an emergency, water sources can become a dangerous place. There is also the cost of freeze-dried food to consider since it is the most expensive of the three. Storing a Peak Refuel Base Camp Bucket at your hunting cabin, office, and crazy uncle's house would probably be a good approach without going bankrupt by fully relying on freeze-dried food pouches for your entire survival food inventory.
Emergency Food Is A Must Have
Whether you follow my approach to these types of survival food or prefer other methods, we can all agree that food should be a top priority for anyone who takes preparedness seriously. You need to breathe air, then you will need to drink water, and then you will need to eat. Everything else we discuss regarding gear, equipment, and training for prepping resides in the realm of "what if." But you will never say, "What if I need to eat again?" because you will obviously need to eat again. So no matter how you approach an emergency food supply, as long as you are concerned with making sure you can continue to eat, then you are already ahead of the curve by far. Don't get lazy about food just because it's boring. It's one of the very few guaranteed things you will need for the rest of your life.
--Magic Prepper
