When it comes to preparing your emergency survival food supply, we personally like separate our supplies between short term emergency supplies (72 hours) and long term survival supplies (2 weeks or more).
Historically, an emergency situation happens with a moments notice (earthquake, tornado, fire, etc) and once the immediate crisis is over, the next 72 hours are a critical time period for people to keep safe and hold out for or seek help.
For the purpose of this article, we are going to focus on emergency survival food to have on hand for the first 72 hours after an emergency has occurred.
Buy or put together a 72 hour emergency survival food supply kit:
You want your food supply to be as portable as possible. When we say kit, we mean something that has been consolidated and contained in a backpack or duffle bag so that you can toss it in your vehicle if you need to leave your home – whether that’s just for travel or you need to leave your home because of an impending or active crisis.
You can purchase pre-packaged foods that can safely be stored for long periods of time without expiring.
For example, available through Amazon:
- Mountain House 72-Hour Emergency Meal Kit
- 32 Serving Family 72 Hour Emergency Food Supply Kit – 8 Lbs
- Life Gear LG567 Wings of Life Emergency Survival Kit Backpack with 72 Hour Food and Water, Yellow
- And many more options are available
Many of the prepacked 72 hour emergency survival food supply kits are enough food for 1 person, so be sure to purchase enough to effectively cover everyone in your immediate family.
Most prepackaged meals need water, so also be sure to store enough water – general rule of thumb is 1 gallon, per person, per day – to make the meals.
If you don’t want to buy a pre-assembled emergency survival food kit, you can also put together your own food storage supply.
Look for foods that have a long shelf life and are still easy to carry in case you need to leave the comforts of your home.
Emergency Survival Food Supplies:
- Jerked meats
- Foil packets of tuna
- Canned turkey, ham, vienna sausages, etc (protein)
- Protein bars with a high calorie count
- Some nuts store well
- dehydrated fruits
- Powdered milk
- Instant soup packets
- Millennium Bars Assorted 24-Pack
- Don’t forget the water
- And so on…
Just remember to do the math for your needs. If it’s just you, allot for yourself, if you have more people in your family, be sure to prepare each person their own emergency kit. Feel free to use as many separate packs as needed per person, as long as that person (a child) can carry it.
Use hikers and backpackers as inspiration to the way you arrange your short term emergency survival food supply.