Sometimes you’re lucky and have a few packs of freeze dried food left in your survival kit when you get into trouble. Of course, it’s not going to be as delicious as one of your favorite baked salmon recipes, or a nice grilled salmon steak on your BBQ, but they will get you by.
Some of this food is actually pretty good these days. I remember years ago if someone told you to bring along some freeze dried food you figured you would rather scrape some pine needles into a pot of boiling water than eat that stuff. But, today most of the freeze dried food is tasty as well as reasonably nourishing. Thanks to substantial advances in quick flash freezing, and increased research related to drying techniques and enzyme decay in foods.
In most cases all you need is some boiling water and a pot to let the mixture sit in for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the recipe. It’s pretty hard to mess up the recipes, even if you have a little too much water or too little.
Some of the more popular brands of freeze dried food include Mountain House, Backpackers Pantry, and Enertia Trail Foods. There are a number of other smaller manufacturers that specialize, but these are the big guys who have a wide selection for everyone.
Mountain House manufacturers and packages a wide variety of dried foods in packet sizes for 2 or more. Some of the more popular foods include Buffalo style chicken, mexican beef, and a lot of very good breakfast entres like Spanish breakfast skillet. The only thing I don’t particularly like are the meals with a lot of meat chunks.
Backpackers Pantry tends to specialize a little more in an organic style of food, although they still have a large selection to cater to everyone. My personal favorites from them include several of their breakfast dishes.
Since freeze dried food is pretty tasty and durable, I always stick a few packs into my survival kit before heading out.
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The food kits can be purchased from a variety of places. Online retailers or army surplus stores carry a number of different MREs for sale that are sure to please every diet preference. A family can build their own emergency food supply with the foods, they prefer the most. Foods like dried soups, chili, and a variety of pasta dishes can be found. Special energy bars are available and require little space to store. The bars are packed with calories and vitamins needed to keep the human body functioning properly.
Typically, the foods are freeze dried and only require a minimal amount of water to make into delicious meals. Foods that have been dehydrated are also available. These tend to have less flavor but are just as nutritious. Food kits are designed to use very little water. Potable water is a precious commodity during any disaster and should be used sparingly.
Most emergency foods have a shelf life that lasts up to 25 years. This makes it easy to continuously add to the food storage supply over a period of time. A food kit should be stocked with enough food to feed the entire family for at least three days. Cat and dog food kits are also available.
Emergency disaster preparation is encouraged by the federal government. In cases of widespread disaster, it may take at least three days before any kind of help arrives. Even then, the help may be extremely limited. A person can ensure their family’s well being by stocking an emergency prepared kit that guarantees their family will have plenty of food and water throughout the extent of the situation.
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These are easy to carry, so service men and women can carry them in their rucksacks. They don’t take up all that much room which is why the military loves them. They have improved the taste and have increased the different things foods that are offered so that there is more of a variety.
So, how do MREs work? What these are exactly are prepackaged dried foods. These are all foods that won’t expire, but can withstand any condition that a soldier might be in. Each one usually includes an entree, a sidedish. A snack is normally included as well. Plus, you have all the utensils that you need as well. They can either eat these cold or they can warm them up. Most soldiers though will tell you that it’s better to warm it up.
While these are to last a long while, MREs just like everything else do have expiration dates. However, while most foods only last about at most two weeks, these can last up to a few months. So, you see that a soldier always has something to eat. Even though these are issued by the military, there are always military MREs for sale at any surplus store and have come in handy for a lot of times where men and women who are getting ready for deployment as they do spend a lot of time in the field. Most people are under the consumption that they are only there for and then used during deployments which isn’t true at all as you can see.
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Even if there are no disasters both natural and man made in these tough economic times that we live in imagine how much better off you and your family would be in if you lost you job and had a few months of food set aside for long term storage. I know what you are probably thinking but I will be able to get unemployment. Well what happens when your unemployment runs out and the economy still hasn’t recovered? You could be faced with a situation of doing what ever you could just to put a few scraps of food on the table. As always it is better to be prepared for hard times when things are good than to be scrambling around with the masses just trying to find whatever you can.
Anyways, I found these great videos on Long Term Food Storage that will help you with the basics of Long Term Food Storage.
For more great movies like the ones above check out the delta69alpha YouTube channel, there are a lot of good videos there.
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