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91K views 116 replies 94 participants last post by  gatekeeper2earth 
#1 · (Edited)
Don’t want to stockpile 1,000 pounds of dried rice and beans? Want something that taste a little better then MREs? Want something that you don’t have to worry about rotating out?

One of the main problems with stockpiling survival food preps, is that people sometimes stockpile what they do not normally eat. So the food stocks sit in a closet, expire, and have to be thrown out. In the long run its easier to stockpile what your family normally eats so rotation is handled in a natural manner.



What are the requirements for a survival food prep?

Nutrition content
Calorie content
At least 1 year shelf life
No special storage after opening / or, serving size so that the whole thing can be eaten after opening
No special cooking requirements – open and eat, or heat and eat
Something your family normally eats
Considerations for special diets
Price



1. Honey – Stores for long time without refrigeration, can be used as a topical anti-biotic ointment, can be added to other foods, does not have to be cooked or re-hydrated, contains trace minerals.

Honey should not be given to children under 2 years of age. People with certain allergies should not eat honey due to allergic reactions.

2. Peanut butter – only stockpile what might be considered “organic” or “natural” peanut butter. Some types of peanut butter on the market contain partially hydrogenated oils, which has been linked to coronary heart disease. In 2006 the New England Journal of Medicine published a report linking trans fat consumption and coronary heart disease. So be sure to read the labels of your Peanut Butter – if it has partially hydrogenated oil listed as an ingredient, do not buy it.

My family stocks up on Jif Natural and Skippy Natural peanut butter.

Jif Natural Creamy 18 ounce jar:
Serving size – 2 tablespoons about 33grams
Servings per container – about 15
Calories – 190
Calories from fat – 130
Total fat 16g
Saturated fat – 3g
Trans fat – 0g
Cholesterol – 0mg
Sodium – 80mg
Total carbs – 8g
Dietary Fiber – 2g
Sugars – 3g
Protein – 7g
Calcium – 2%
Vitamin E -10%
Iron – 4%
Niacin – 20%

Skippy Natural Creamy 15 ounce jar:
Serving size – 2 tablespoons about 32grams
Servings per container – about 13
Calories – 190
Calories from fat – 140
Total fat 16g
Saturated fat – 3.5g
Trans fat – 0g
Cholesterol – 0mg
Sodium – 150mg
Total carbs – 6g
Dietary Fiber – 2g
Sugars – 3g
Protein – 7g
Vitamin E -10%
Iron – 4%
Niacin – 20%

Notice that the Jif Natural has 80mg of sodium, while the Skippy natural has 150mg of sodium. My family will probably be phasing the Skippy Natural Creamy peanut butter out of our food stocks in favor of the lower sodium content of the Jif Natural.

3. Some kind of canned fish – whether this is tuna fish or canned salmon, its left up to the taste buds of whoever is going to be eating the stuff.



Eating a lot of fish is a double edged sword – due to our dependence on coal fired power plants, most of the waterways around the world and fish are now contaminated with mercury. Its not recommended that pregnant woman (or anyone else) eat a lot of tuna these days.

Due to the mercury in tuna, and other fish, I'am kinda leery of listing it as part of a survival food stockpile.

Fish is a good source of protein, with tuna having about 10 grams of protein and 100mg of Potassium per serving.

Tuna also stores for a long time – the can I’am looking at right now has an expiration date of August 2013, which is 2 years and 7 months from when this article was posted.

Canned fish usually comes in 2 serving cans, which makes it ideal for adding to noodles or something else.

4. Nutritional Drink – Often overlooked are survival food preps that contain a lot of nutrients. One simple solution is to stockpile a supply of nutritional drinks. These can be drank before or after a workout, or as a meal replacement.

To keep my supply of drinks rotated out, I will drink one about 45 minutes – 1 hour before my workout. I feel that the drinks give my body fuel to run on during the cardio and strength training parts of my workout.

Currently my family stocks 3 different types of drinks – Ensure muscle health, Equate nutritional shake and Jillian Michaels ultimate shake.

Ensure muscle health expiration date – September 2011, which is 1 year and 8 months from when this article was posted.

Equate nutritional shake plus expiration date – December 2011, which is 1 year and 11 months from when this article was posted.

Jillian Michaels ultimate shake expiration date – August 2011, which is 1 year and 7 months from when this article was posted.

All of the listed drinks do not require any kind of special storage, besides being kept at room temperature, they are packaged in single serving containers, and they are jam packed full of nutrients.

For a list of nutrients, lets take the Ensure Muscle Health drink for an example:

Vitamin A 25% • Vitamin C 50% • Calcium 35% • Iron 25% • Vitamin D 40% • Vitamin E 25% • Vitamin K 25% • Thiamin 25% • Riboflavin 25% • Niacin 25% • Vitamin B6 25% • Folate 25% • Vitamin B12 25% • Biotin 25% • Pantothenic Acid 25% • Phosphorus 35% • Iodine 25% • Magnesium 25% • Zinc 25% • Selenium 25% • Copper 25% • Manganese 60% • Chromium 25% • Molybdenum 50% • Chloride 4% • Choline 15%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 Calorie diet.

With a storage life of over 1.5 years, nutritional content, convenient packaging, no special storage requirements,,,, all of this makes nutritional drinks a good option for the survivalist food stockpile.

5. Canned beans or canned fruits -Not only for the fiber, but also for the nutrients and protein of the beans. The important topic is to stockpile what your family eats all the time, so that your survival food stocks are rotated out on a natural basis.

The drawback to eating canned foods is the sodium content. As an example, the 15 ounce can of Ranch Style Beans I’am looking at right now has 700mg of sodium per serving – and there are 3 servings in the can. If someone were to eat the whole can, your talking 2,100mg of sodium for single meal.

On the opposite side of the Ranch Style Beans, an 8.5 ounce can of Del Monte Pear Halves has 10mg of sodium, but the pear halves also have 23g of sugars.

Great Value cut green beans – sodium 390mg per serving, calories per serving 20, potassium 150mg, vitamin A 6%, Folic Acid 4%.

Great Value whole kernal corn – sodium 310mg per serving, calories per serving 60, dietary fiber 3g, sugars 4g, Iron 2%

Great Value pinto beans – sodium 410mg per serving, calories per serving 90, dietary fiber 7g, sugars 1g, Iron 10%, sugars 1g

Conclusion:

So there ya go, a short and simple list of foods that people can stockpile for SHTF, and also eat on an almost daily basis. I just do not recommend eating canned foods everyday due to the high sodium content.

There are lots of other good survivalist food preps options, such as mountain house, or storing rice and beans in mylar bags, but in this article I wanted to focus on food stocks that can be bought from just about any grocery store.
 
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#113 ·
one thing you may wish to stock is multivitamins. if a situation does happen and you have to live for some time on your food stores they may go beyond the expiration date.
Don't freak out about that. all it means is that the vitamins contained in the food will not be as high as in new food. the food beyond the expiration date will still have all the protein & crabs as it always did but the older it gets the less potent the vitamin
content will be if you have a supply of multivitamins you are covered!
 
#114 · (Edited)
Day to day I primarily eat fresh food that I prepare and cook.

My emergency storage is basically the exact same food but just the canned version.

I eat a lot of salmon and sardines for the omega 3's and heart health and I have good canned stocks of these stored. Sardines in springwater or tomato sauce are extremely cheap and easy to store long term.

I loathe fruit canned in syrup as I feel, for me personally, it tastes revolting and the syrupy gloop detracts from the nutritional value and alters the texture of the fruit. Syrup also rots your teeth and tooth problems are not something I need in an emergency situation where no dental/medical services may be available. I buy it canned in natural juices even if it costs a little more. The few cents extra is worth it - you get the fruit plus the fruit juice. This replaces the fresh fruit I eat.

Other things I eat daily that I have canned are just your standard canned chicken and beef, canned green beans, peas, carrots, water chesnuts, potatoes, bean sprouts, baby corn, mushrooms, beetroot, capsicum, tomatoes, beans and pulses etc etc.

I also use copious amounts of tumeric, hot paprika, cayenne pepper, cinnamin, curry and chilli every day so I have these stored in dry form as well.

I have a few naughty foods packed away in my stores even though I don't generally eat any kind of junk food. They're mainly a few bags of instant custard powder and a box of pure cocoa for making hot chocolate. I also have some canned sausages because I enjoy the odd home made sausage curry.

I did try buying a few packs of those instant pasta an cheese and instant fried rice packs but I thought they were revolting, over-processed and full of msg and crap after trying them. My money would have been better spent on more canned veg.
 
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