3-72HourKitFoodAlternatives

7/30/2019 3-72HourKitFoodAlternatives

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Glenn Anderson's Preparedness Resources

Installment 3: 72-hour Kit Food Alternatives

72 HOUR KIT FOODS

Some alternatives

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The first thing that one realizes is that due to its weight and bulk,

the years supply of food most commonly set aside for emergencies just has

no honest place in the 72-hour kit.

The second thing one realizes is that the food in a 72-hour kit may have

to be consumed some place like a public shelter, where no preparation or

cooking facilities are available and no open flames are permitted.

This means that you must develop a separate stash of emergency foods

that are lightweight, compact, portable, as non- perishable as possible andrequire either very little or no special preparation for use.

The following paragraphs present some examples of numerous alternative

food sources for you to consider for use in your 72-hour kit. Again, no

product endorsement is implied nor is any preference implied for one

suggested source over the other.

Special Considerations

Some may have a requirement for special foods or medicines to be kept

cold.

There are special soft-sided, insulated cooler bags on the market that

one can use for this purpose. You can also keep small (palm sized) units

of blue ice frozen in your home freezer until they are needed and then

pack them around such perishable items to keep them from spoiling.

THE SUPER MARKET SURVIVALIST

There is a literal cornucopia of 72-hour kit foods available at your

local grocery store. The following list is not meant to be all inclusive,

but gives you some idea of what is available right off the shelf.

Bottled water

Powdered milk

Dry drink mixes

Canned juices

Mixed dried fruit

Small, Variety Pack cereals

Melba toast

Packaged crackers

Dried soup & vegetable mixes

Canned meats

Mixed nuts

Trail mixesGranola bars

Hard candies

Being a super market survivalist just means using common sense. Buy the


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things that are non perishable and require little or no preparation. Buy

what your family will actually eat rather than what is just storable.

It pays to take a walk through your local supermarket and make up a list

of things you know your family will eat. Then buy these items and set them

aside for use in your 72-hour kit.

You should rotate these supplies about every six months by incorporating

them into your regular meals and replacing them as used.

THE MRE GOURMET

MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) are the latest offering from the test

kitchens of the US Armed Forces. When over-runs are made during production

of these commodities, they are made available for sale to the general public

though commercial retailers.

Kept stored at 70 F, MREs will store for about 8 years. Their life

expectancy could easily exceed that due to a built in government fudge

factor, but the life expectancy of these foods will definitely deteriorate

accordingly as the storage temperature rises above the 70 mark. Therefore

storage in an interior closet on the cool side of the house is going to be

much preferable to storage in a hot garage, etc.

The main advantage of MREs is that they provide a hot meal, and can be

prepared without the need for special cooking facilities or open flames ...

see MRE Heaters.

MREs generally come by the case lot, but they can also be purchased by

individual units. Each unit contains a different main dish. Here for

example, is a list of main entrees from one mixed case.

Meatballs with barbecue sauce

Turkey diced with gravy

Beef dices with gravyBeef franks with beans

Chicken a la king

Ham and chicken loaf

Beef stew

Beef patty

Pork patty

Ground beef with spiced sauce

Beef Slices with barbecue sauce

Ham Slices

Additional MRE Offerings.

Escalloped potato and ham

Pork with rice

Spaghetti with meat sauce

Chicken with rice

Tuna with noodles

Pork Chow Mien

Chicken stew.

MRE Heaters.

The MRE entrees can be heated by placing them (still in their containerpouch) in a special MRE Heater Pouch, adding a little water and then setting

the pouch on a slight incline and letting it heat up for about 10-15

minutes.

GIs have discovered that you can also warm them by immersing them in

hot water, laying them on a hot engine block or setting them out in the sun

on a hot rock, etc.

MRE Heater pouches are inexpensive and available from the same resources

as the MREs themselves. You will need one heater pouch for each entree.

Typically you will need nine entrees and nine heater pouches per person for

your 72-hour kit.

MRE Accessory Packages


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MREs generally come with an accessory package which contains such things

as beverage powder, cocoa powder, matches, chewing gum, toilet paper, a

plastic spoon, salt and pepper, tobasco sauce, a dessert bar, etc.

MREs, MRE heaters and MRE accessory packs can each be purchased

separately.

THE BACK PACKER'S DELIGHT

We owe a lot to the backpacking fraternity, who in its never ending

quest for things ever more light weight and portable, has created the marketfor dehydrated, compressed, freeze-dried and vacuum packaged foods.

Such offerings can be found at virtually any local store that handles

outdoor and camping supplies or special outdoor catalog outlets and they can

be purchased as individual meals, or in cased lots.

As in the following example, some manufacturers offer lightweight cased

units, prepackaged in #10 cans of breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

Mountain House Easy Meal Security Pack

This offering consists of 45 breakfasts, lunches and dinners, sealed in20 #10 cans as follows: 1 precooked eggs with bacon; 3 granola with

blueberries; 1 chicken stew; 2 beef stroganoff; 2 rice with chicken; 2 beef

chili mac; 1 vegetable stew with beef; 2 spaghetti with meat sauce; 2 super

sweet corn; 1 green peas; 1 nut chocolate lurps; and 2 pilot crackers.

This combination of foods is meant to sustain 1 person for 45 days; 2

persons for 22.5 days; 3 persons for 15 days; 5 persons for 9 days; or 15

people for 3 days.

Shelf life is given as about 15 years. The storability and versatility

of these units makes them very attractive. Remember that your 72-hour kitis minimal and it might be desirable to prepare for an extended stay or to

share with others if it were necessary to do so.

Preparation

The preparation of the foregoing foods usually requires either

reconstituting them with cold water, and or heating them with warm or hot

water. For this reason, though more palatable, they are less adaptable than

MREs.

Note: Be aware that Mountain House often changes the name and the

compostion of some of its offerings ... the foregoing is typical ... and

remember, if you want to duplicate this package, should it go off themarket, the list of its contents make that possible by buying individual

items.

Alpine Aire Gourmet Reserve

This offering is a 3 day supply of food for one person, packaged in

smaller one meal pull top cans consisting of:

Breakfast: Cereals

1 5-Grain

1 Honey Blueberry Granola w/milk

1 Honey Apple Granola w/milk

Lunch:

1 Alpine Minestrone soup

1 Garden Vegetable Rice Pilaf

1 Multi-bean soup

Dinner:

1 Mountain Chili

1 Country Black Beans & Rice

1 spaghetti marinara w/mushrooms

Again all that is needed to prepare these foods is hot water, but remain

aware that heating water may not be possible in all emergency situations.


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This list is meant to be representative of what is offered in both

freeze dried foods and canned wet pack foods that have been especially

developed for backpackers and home emergency food storage programs that are

adaptable to being used in 72 hour kits. Many other offerings are available

from other sources.

"BETTER THAN NOTHING AT ALL"

There are two categories of foods that while they can be genuine not

to be overlooked life savers in an emergency, also just can not, by nature

of their make up, be classified any other way than better than nothing atall.

These are not so much foods as they are food substitutes, one being a

compressed high calorie food bar and the other a vitamin supplemented food

tablet.

High Calorie Food Bars

The most basic three day supply of food that could possibly go into a

back pack are High Calorie Food Bars.

These bars have a slight citrus taste to them that is meant to activatethe salivary gland and reduce your demand (not need) for water. They also

expand slightly in your stomach to give you a feeling of being full despite

the meager fare they provide. There are two varieties to choose from:

1. 2400 Calorie food bar packages, consisting of six individually

wrapped bars providing 400 calories each.

2. 3600 Calorie food bar packages, consisting for nine individually

wrapped bars providing 400 calories each.

In that your body requires a minimum of 2,000 calories per day, you

would need at least three of the 2400 calorie food bar packages for a 72

hour period. The intended method of consumption is to consume the six bars

from the package periodically throughout the day.

Food Tablets.

Food tablets are another development of the US Armed Forces, for their

Special Forces units.

Food tablets provide very little by way of bulk. They have a malt-ball

like taste and are meant only to provide 100% of the RDA specified

essential vitamins and minerals.

Although they are said to have a shelf life of 8 to 10 years and to be

heat and cold tolerant, it is a well known fact that vitamin C dissipates

rapidly under the best storage circumstances. It would be wise to

supplement these tablets with a fresh source of vitamin C whenever possible.

BOTTLED DISTILLED WATER

Your 72-hour kit water supply is discussed elsewhere. This particular

alternative water supply should be especially marked and kept apart from

other sources of drinking water.

The reason for this is that this one particularly suggested quart ofsterile, distilled, bottled water is meant to serve multiple purpose in

your 72-hour kit.

1. You could drink it without further treatment if necessary.

2. You could make an emergency rehydration solution from it by adding

salt, soda and a little lemon flavoring for taste.

3. It can be administered to an injured person as an instant saline

solution, intended for subcutaneous injection.

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