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Best Survival Food

Last Updated: December 28, 2020

We live in a modern world full of conveniences, but unfortunately, these conveniences aren’t set in stone. It’s essential that you prepare the best survival food kit to ensure that you and the people you’re preparing for, have a stable source of nutrition to last you for at least a couple of days.

Any number of catastrophic disasters could occur. For example, a super-typhoon could strike an island and turn lives upside down for neighborhoods and cities. Or, a terror attack that shuts down power and interrupts transportation and shipping which could result in widespread food shortage.

Recent years show us that a disaster could hit at any time almost anywhere. Whether you’re experiencing a natural disaster or a human attack, you should begin by stocking up on the best survival foods. You should always be ready so you don’t have to get ready.

Our Reviews
1

SOS Food Labs Emergency Rations

If you’re looking for an affordable and long-lasting disaster prepare kit, the SOS Food Labs Emergency Rations is coast guard approved and has a five-year shelf life from the date of manufacture.

This emergency kit is perfect for anybody who’s in the process of building their disaster/emergency kit.

Each emergency container contains 9 delicious bars that provide 410 calories per bar, totaling 3600 calories per package. The non-thirst provoking formula offers the maximum survival capacity with drinking water restriction under all environmental conditions.

These bars are tasty and provide an excellent purpose in short term survival situations. The low price reflects that these bars aren’t ideal for long-term survival.

This bucket provides three bars a day at 1200 calories, so with that in mind, these are true survival bars. For example, these bars would be suitable on a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean, if you’re secluded in your house during a pandemic or if you’re stuck in your car during a blizzard.

The packaging of this product is fantastic. It’s encased in a vacuum-sealed Mylar wrapper which makes it air and watertight. Each bar is individually wrapped in cellophane. This protects them for a few weeks once the Mylar has been opened.

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Pros

  • Non-thirst provoking formula
  • Designed to sustain life in emergency situations
  • Budget-friendly
  • Excellent vacuum-sealed wrapper

Cons

  • Not designed for long-term survival situations
2

Mountain House Essential Bucket

Mountain House Essential Bucket provides a meal assortment kit that’s the ideal setup for RV families and campers.

You don’t have to live in an RV, this essentials bucket provides you with the appropriate necessities for emergency situations.

The 30-year taste guarantee provides an excellent food quality preservation system. Therefore, feel free to grab any of the varieties of food pouches from the bucket and have peace of mind that you’ll experience immediate enjoyment. There are 32 total servings in the container. This provides an average of almost 14-days worth of food at three meals per day.

The container is on the bulky side, so therefore it might not be the best choice to bring the whole thing in your bug-out-bag. The downside to this essentials bucket is the lack of meat in the packets. Most of the packets are meat-flavored rice and pasta, which gives you the taste of meat without actually providing a substitute.

Is time not on your side? Fortunately, these pouches are ready-to-eat in ten minutes so you can quickly prepare, eat, and keep moving. The best part is that no pots or pans are needed, therefore no clean up is required afterward. You can cook and eat from the same package and simply dispose of it once you’re finished.

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Pros

  • Simple and easy to prepare
  • Fantastic durability
  • Great for families and large groups
  • Easy to stack in storage at home or in a vehicle

Cons

  • Bulky container is hard to carry
  • Doesn't contain meat or meat substitutes in food packets
3

Augason Farms 30-Day Emergency Supply

The Augason Farms 30-Day Emergency Supply provides an enormous amount of food in a compact container which is the perfect size for storing in your camper or RV.

If you have more than one mouth to feed, this emergency food supply will keep you prepared for any eventuality. The Augason Farms 30-Day provides 307 servings and over 55,000 calories for endurance without compromising your energy levels.

This emergency food supply includes 35 packets in the container, but be careful because the bags aren’t resealable. Once it’s opened, your food should last you for a couple of weeks. Don’t worry, you’ll get a twenty-year shelf life on the entire container which is perfect for stashing away somewhere that’s easily accessible.

The hard ABS plastic pale and thermal-resistant individual food storage bags will make this your go-to emergency storage if the worst-case scenario happens. Remember, you’ll need plenty of water to hydrate most of the food in this Augason Farms 30-Day.

The range that Auguson Farms offers is truly amazing and included comforting soups, dehydrated vegetables, dehydrated fruits, powdered eggs, milk, meat kits, and vegetarian meat substitutes.

Augason Farms ships nationwide, with orders normally shipped within 3 business days after you place your order. This may depend on the availability of the products.

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Pros

  • Great for families and large groups
  • Well packaged for long-lasting storage
  • Long shelf life
  • Wide variety of food and flavors
  • Excellent value to product ratio

Cons

  • Requires a large quantity of water to hydrate the entire container
4

Wise Foods Emergency Food Storage

Wise Food Storage makes their meals from a blend of dehydrated and freeze-dried components that are sourced in the USA.

The selection, taste, and quality of Wise Foods help you to organize your food storage so you can enjoy it whether you’re rotating through your food storage, going on a camping trip, or eating in an emergency situation.

This company is dedicated to creating great-tasting food that caters to a wide population and also makes specialty items like gluten-free foods. The food in the Emergency Survival Freeze Dried Foods is safely sealed in Mylar pouches and, to avoid waste, each pouch conveniently contains a select amount of servings. The lock-in stacking buckets are compact and provide secure storage without the need for shelving. Plus, the grab and go handles provide easy transportation in an emergency and the pouches have a 25-year shelf life.

These great quality freeze-dried meals can be used for camping trips or during brief power outages due to bad weather. There are literally only three things you need besides the food to cook one of these meals: water, a heat source, and a single pot.

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Pros

  • Suitable for a variety of survival situations
  • Simple preparation
  • Easy storage
  • Great quality freeze-dried meals
  • Versatile

Cons

  • High in sodium
5

Nutristore Vegetable Sample Pack

The Nutristore Vegetable Sample Pack focuses on providing the best tasting nutritional freeze-dried nutritional and emergency food products.

They offer high-quality and nutritious freeze-dried foods by sourcing their foods from the best suppliers and ensure the quality and nutrients in the food is not compromised.

This delicious sample pack offers four, 40-serving cans of tasty and healthy freeze-dried fruits and vegetables, including one can of broccoli, one can of corn, once can of bananas, and one can of strawberries for a total of 160 servings. These healthy snacks are great for school lunches and long-term survival storage. Each can in the pack has a 25-year shelf life.

You will need a can opener for these canned goods because there’s no tab. A useful plastic, flexible, reusable top is provided for once you open an item.

The Nutristore Freeze Dried Vegetable Sample Pack is versatile and can be used as a daily snack, ground into powder for corn cookies, thrown into your favorite recipe, or stored for emergency situations and used as survival good.

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Pros

  • Contains a very low level of sodium
  • Versatile
  • Healthy
  • Budget-conscious

Cons

  • Only contains vegetables and fruit
  • You'll require an additional food kit for more variety

How to Find the Best Survival Food Kits

Here are the features that you need to look out for in your survival food to provide you with the best nutrition and energy source:

Variety

Just because it’s designed for emergency consumption, that doesn’t mean flavor needs to be kept at a minimum. There are plenty of food kits with multiple servings and a variety of flavors and textures to ensure that you don’t get bored with what you’re eating.

Especially in a survival situation, feeling satisfied with what you’re eating could help to boost your morale and make you feel fuller. Where possible, you should look to choose foods that you genuinely enjoy, rather than bulk buying the same foods to eat for potentially a long period.

If you only choose freeze-dried food, it’s likely that you’ll soon start to resent it, hating the taste and dreaming of chocolate. That’s why it’s good to have a few ‘comfort foods’ on hand for a morale boost.

This could be anything that isn’t fresh (as this will perish quickly). While nutrition is key to feeling energized and healthy in a disaster, the occasional soda or candy bar could be a good pick-me-up during crisis times.

Serving Size

It’s important to consider the number of people that will need feeding. While you can’t always know exactly how many people are going to be in your group, you should try to prepare for unexpected members being with you.

Even if you are planning on going solo during a disaster, you should aim to have more than the bare minimum amount of food. You never know when a disaster will happen, so you should try to avoid feeling restricted, as you could be in a survival scenario for a long time.

If you are preparing to keep a large family fed, then you’ll need to stock up on large amounts of food. Bear in mind that this will be more expensive, but if the food has a long shelf-life, then you could see it as an investment that you won’t regret should the worst situation happen.

Shelf Life

You can’t anticipate every emergency, but your survival food should be there for you when you need it the most. If it doesn’t have a decent shelf life, it’s not worth having.

With this in mind, the longer the shelf life, the more of an investment you’ll be making by buying the survival food. If you stock up on vast amounts of survival food that won’t last more than 5 years, you might have to replace them and keep more of an eye on when supplies will run out.

The lifespan of your food will be impacted by its packing as well, so this is a factor that goes hand in hand with the shelf life. If you need to use one packet of food, for example, during a small-scale emergency, you’ll need to remember that the remaining food isn’t going to be edible when the next disaster strikes in a few years’ time.

Larger food kits will typically have longer shelf lives due to the number of servings they offer, so if you’re only looking for a small amount of survival food, it’s not likely to last as long.

Preparation

Most survival food kits are designed to be easy to prepare, but it is still an aspect you should consider before stocking up on survival food.

You won’t want to be stuck in a disaster, ready to tuck into your meal, only to find that it requires all kinds of equipment to prepare.

If you have to leave your home in case of an emergency, then be sure that you pack plenty of water with you. This is not only for your own hydration, but many freeze-dried meals can be prepared quickly when mixed with water.

The water will need to be boiled, so make sure you have the relevant equipment or fire-starting know-how beforehand. It’s advisable to practice preparing the food before disaster actually strikes, as this will put your mind at ease when the time comes and you’ll know exactly how to make your survival food.

As a health and safety precaution, always prepare your food in clean containers. The containers should be easy to wipe and clean down afterward so they can be used again. Containers that are easy to clean will save you from needing to take intensive cleaning supplies with you, and will save you time on the go.

Portability

When purchasing survival food, it is essential that you think about its weight and how much space it will take up.

It’s a good idea to have survival food that you can store at home, and survival food you can take on the go. Choosing survival food to take in your survival backpack means that its weight needs to come into consideration.

As great as it would be to take a year’s supply of food with you, you need to feel comfortable and not be weighed down.

Make sure your food kit has the essential items that will keep you alive and energized, rather than items full of additives.

Keeping your food at home or in a shelter means you won’t need to be as conscious of its size, but the food should be easy to store and stackable for convenience.

Recap

There is more to survival food than just nutritious and calorie-dense ration bars. As you can see, there is such a wide variety of survival food on the market, and it’s not easy to choose this food that could potentially save your life.

However, with this in mind, my pick for the best survival food would be the Mountain House Essential Bucket.

This survival food is easy to prepare, and with its large amount of servings, it will feed the whole family when disaster strikes.

We’re sure you’ll find the best survival food for you from the products on our list. Having the right survival food is a crucial part of survival preparation, so we hope this has helped you to make your decision!

Thanks for reading, and please leave any feedback in the comments section below. If you have any suggestions for future topics, please get in touch with us in the comments, or via our social media pages linked below. We’d love to hear from you!

Good Luck and Happy Survival Prepping!

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