Food items Every Prepper Must Include in their Survival Kit

Whether you are heading for a peaceful hike in the wilderness, or you are a secret prepper, one thing you must not overlook is the adequate supply of food in case you get stranded somewhere and there is nothing and no one around to help you. Following is the list of ten must include items for your prepper bag or even a short trip to the woods.

Meal Ready to Eat (MRE)

Perhaps the most popular food source amongst the preppers all over the world MRE is famous to keep US military fuelled for weeks at a time. MRE has the tendency to be stored over extended periods of times which makes it a perfect companion of a prepper. The only drawback that these MREs have is their bulky size, however, you can only take the entrée portion which contains enough calories to keep you nourished for weeks and occupies small portion of your boot.

Meal Replacement Bars

If you look at it, the protein bars or meal replacement bars are essentially produced for preppers due to their small size and enormous pack of energy these contain: enough to keep your body fuelled and ready for the extreme conditions. Despite their compact size these bars have long shelf life often more than a year. Some hikers and wilderness explorers report that these bars taste just as good even after a year after the best by date mentioned on the packs.

Freeze Dried Meals

If you have enough space in your vehicle that you are planning to take on the journey, then a freeze dried meal will be a perfect choice. The only downside is that you can only have the meal once but the taste is great so you can keep it in your boot for the rare treat that you might want to give yourself in the wilderness. The biggest benefit of the freeze dried meals is that you don’t have to go long distances to buy one or two of these meals, any big supermarket like Wal-Mart have these meals available for a few bucks.

Emergency Ration Bars

Emergency rations bars must be included in your prepper bag along with a bunch of other compact food sources. This source of food is considered an extreme prepper meal due to its tasteless nature. These ration bars are essentially a bland block with no appetizing taste whatsoever, however one bar can provide you with tons of calories; and in an extreme situation you must maintain calorie intake far more than your sense of taste. One package has enough calories to feed a fully grown adult for more than three days with a shelf life of almost half a decade. Another amazing property of the ration bars is that these can withstand extreme fluctuations in temperatures without compensating the energy stored.

Complete meals in a box

Thanks to 21^st century we can now buy a whole meal packed with enough calories and amazing taste in small boxes often called complete meals; Hormel Complete Meals is a good example. As compared to emergency bars and protein bars these meals occupy more space in a prepper’s bag, but the taste and a mix of various flavours compensate for the slightly bigger size. Next time you visit your local supermarket do look around and you will be amazed to see a plethora of various flavours of complete meals with long enough shelf life, making them a perfect item on your doomsday food list.

Chocolate Bars

Chocolate Bars have unfortunately received a lot of negative press in modern health conscious society. This is understandable in peacetime, however If things go wrong and you have to pack for survival, then chocolate bars – loads and loads of them – must be put in your vehicle and bags as these little bars can save your life in wilderness with the burst of calories these can provide.

Beef Jerky

If you look at it, Beef Jerky kind of seems like it was made to be included in a prepper’s bag. It is dried out food with amazingly long shelf life and comes in a sealed bag, everything a prepper looks for in his food source. Although beef jerky makes more sense during peacetime, if included in your doomsday survival kit it can serve you in far more ways than you can imagine. The lack of carbs and a lot of fats is well compensated in beef jerky with a fairly large burst of delicious meaty protein for the muscles; and you will need a lot of muscle power if you are stranded in the wilderness.

Chicken and Tuna Foil Packs

Another gift of the modern lifestyle is the compact packets of food that are produced and sealed in small packs perfect for carrying over long distances. The can food is great, but the downside of the cans is that they carry more weight and occupy far more space than they actually deserve. However, the tuna chunks and chicken bits packed in perfectly sealed packaging with fairly long shelf life occupy close to no space and can even fit in your pockets for a hike in the wilderness.

Mashed Potatoes and Instant Rice

In all kinds of survival situation one thing that you will need to look for is water, if you do, you are pretty much safe, however you will still need your food source. Instant rice and mashed potatoes packets can make an amazing meal for your wilderness experience with enough energy to help you carry on your target. Simply boil some water and put your rice in it and there you go, enjoy it with your mashed potatoes and you are good to go.

Canned Food

If all else fails and you are unable to find the compact food source for your trip you can then resort to the old school prepper’s buddy i.e. the canned food. There is no shortage of canned food in the supermarkets, there are often long isles filled with hundreds of food items in cans with a fairly long shelf date. Choose wisely, don’t overburden yourself, mix and match and first analyse your vehicle for the space and avoid overbuying.