When it comes to emergency preparedness, water and food are usually on the top of the list for most people. They may stock shelves with long term food supplies and gallons of water or have a well stocked pantry with a year’s worth of food. These are excellent practices because you just never know when something crazy may happen whether that is nature-made or man-made. But what about if you are not home when disaster strikes? What if you are at work that takes a 45 commute to get to? On foot, that would take you days to get back home and that is only one very likely scenario. It is important to have 72 hours, or 3 days, worth of supplies ready to go in a “Go Bag,” “Everyday Carry (EDC) Bag,” or a “Bug Out Bag (BOB).
For us, we each have an ‘Everyday Carry Bag’ and there is a ‘Go Bag’ in the vehicle packed for 2. In both types the goal is the same: Having enough supplies to keep you going until you get to a safe place. While there are many items in these bags, we will focus solely on food and water in this article. I will not presume to tell people exactly what food to put into their bags! Everyone is different and many have special dietary needs. Some people make their own pemmican, or granola bars. Others buy freeze dried pouches of food and still others will dehydrate and package their own ‘emergency food.’ I will however, tell you what we put in ours! Before we get to that though, there are some things one should consider before tossing some food and a water filter into a bag and calling it good. These include: cooking method, weight, nutritional value/caloric count, taste, and cost.
The Criteria
Cooking Method. How you ‘cook’ the emergency food is an important factor. Is it “open and eat” or do you have to boil water first? Can the food be cooked in the packaging it came in or do you need a pot? Since we are discussing “Go Bags,” going for the ‘easiest method’ can turn out to not be so easy. You may have all you need to make the food but the situation you are in does not allow for a fire. Having a variety of cooked and ‘open and eat” foods is a good idea so you can still eat even if you cannot cook.
Ingredients. “Man cannot live on bread alone” is a saying that has been around a very, very long time. Even if you are not a label reading kind of person, it is important to make sure the food you are packing is meant for high stress, high tension situations that require energy. Having food
Nutritional and Caloric Value. Because this is emergency food, it is even more important that it provides you with the right amount of nutrients and calories to make up for the extra physical labor you will likely be doing in a situation where you have to actually rely on what you have in the bag to sustain you. This is not the time to worry about extra calories or diets. The average person needs 1,800-2,000 calories a day but if you are hiking through the woods or long distances through the urban jungle, chances are good that you are burning far more calories than usual.
Taste. This is something that so many people never consider or they assume that since they will be eating the food when they are really hungry that it will not matter. I could not disagree more with this standpoint. Yes, you will be hungry. Yes, hunger makes food taste better. The taste goes beyond messages sent to your brain by your tongue: it is also about morale. Having something tasty to look forward to after a long day of tromping around to get to a safe spot will help keep a person going. Imagine not having chocolate for a month and then one day, you learn that there is some being given out after the day’s march. It will perk you up, keep you going, and most importantly help give a sense of normalcy. When disasters strike, people go through stages and one of them is just wanting things to ‘go back to normal.’ Being able to eat something you know you will enjoy helps to fill this important aspect to survival. Some companies will send you a free sample and I encourage you to take advantage of it! Get your free sample and then go for a little hike and eat it! Not only are you trying something for free, you are also practicing skills that you will need should you find yourself in a bad situation.
Cost. Some may consider this the most important thing. Good emergency food is not ‘cheap’ but there are companies out there that provide quality without breaking the bank. Some people prefer to break cost down by the meal or by the serving.
Water
Water is life and is more important than food is on a survival scale. Survival experts say humans cannot survive: 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. The rule of thumb for water is one gallon per person, per day. Obviously you cannot realistically lug around 3 gallons of water when you are trying to bug out or get back home in a disaster situation. To increase your chances of ‘making it,’ consider routes you may have to take to get to your safe spot. Is there water on the way? Could you refill? How much can you comfortably carry on you?
Having a solid, refillable container is a must for any go bag. Some can even be used to boil water in but be careful that you make sure no harmful chemical will be released by the metal heating or any outside coating melting. Also, consider the thickness of the container. Most aluminum containers would burn a hole right through it if placed over large flames or directly on coals. It is vital that you have at least one way to filter water. Being able to filter and then boil the water greatly decreases your chances of getting ill from contaminated water. As you will see below, we both carry water to start with filters and boiling water device (that does more than just boil water!) to make what water we do find, potable.
What We Use
The following is what we use in our 72 Hour Go Bags. We use the Sawyer Water Filters exclusively over the Life Straw for several reasons. (Yes, we own both and have used both). We prefer the Sawyer ones because they are smaller and yet filter more water, they come with a pouch so you can store water and makes cooking with it much easier! All you have to do is turn the pouch that is attached to the filter upside down and gravity takes over! You can clean the Sawyer ones and it even has featured compatibility with inline water systems for bikers, hardcore hikers, etc. It also screws onto standardized water bottles. On top of all that awesomeness, you can backwash it to make it last even longer!
We always have one of these with us no matter where we go and yes, we have used them more than once. Yes, they make the water clear and taste good. We head out with a 1 liter reusable water jug that has a screw top lid and the Sawyer systems. Given we live in a rainforest, it is pretty easy to find pockets of water around. Even on hot days (well, our version of hot haha!).
When it comes to food, we researched all sorts of companies from the bigger ones down to the start ups. We got free samples from places or bought a single pouch to try first. It actually made for some really fun hiking trips because we would head out with our hiking packs, including the very awesome Kelly Kettle to boil water in. When we got hungry, we would stop and build a small fire in the kettle and then try out the new food! Most of it was bland and tasted like cardboard. Others were great on taste and ingredients but the method for cooking required a pot with a lid and a steady heat so as not to ‘burn’ the noodles. Really? You sell survival, emergency, long-term food storage but to cook it you have to have steady heat and a pot with a lid? Fail, emergency company, F-A-I-L.
We ended up with Mountain House. We got one of their free samples and it was GOOD. I mean, nothing like fresh and homemade but compared to the others we tried, it was really good. We ended up buying a 72 hour kit and splitting it up between our packs but over the course of the summer….well let’s just say that we need to get another couple packs. *Ahem* I blame it on the convenience of preparing them coupled with my stubborn lazy streak (did I mention they are pretty darn good?) and there you have it. 😉
If you would like some tips and tricks about choosing an emergency food storage company, you can read an article I wrote for The Survival Mom. I wrote about the criteria I personally came up with when we were choosing a company.
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Be sure to check out all of the OTHER articles in The 30 Days of Preparedness Blog Hop!
Take one post each day, learn as much as you can about the topic and make it a part of your preparedness plan.
Thanks for joining the Prepared Bloggers as we work our way through 30 Days of Preparedness. September is National Preparedness Month so you will find everything you need to get your preparedness knowledge and skills into shape.
Take one post each day, learn as much as you can about the topic and make it a part of your preparedness plan.
Day 1 – Ready, Set, Get Prepared! Welcome to 30 Days of Preparedness from PreparednessMama
Day 2 – The Family Meeting Place and Escape from Laughingbear Adventures
Day 3 – I’m Safe! How to Communicate with Family in an Emergency from PreparednessMama
Day 4 – Does Your Family Have a Fire Escape Plan? from Home Ready Home
Day 5 – Preparedness For Pets from The Busy B Homemaker
Day 6 – The Escape Exercise from Laughingbear Adventures
Day 7 – It all Falls Apart Without Mental Preparedness from PreparednessMama
Day 8 – It’s a Matter of Emergency Kits from A Matter of Preparedness
Day 9 – Nine Great Emergency Light Sources Other Than Flashlights from Food Storage & Survival
Day 10 – Cooking Without Power from Mama Kautz
Day 11 – The Importance of a Shelter & Staying Warm and Dry from Trayer Wilderness
Day 12 – The Importance of Having The Right Tools In Your Pack from Trayer Wilderness
Day 13 – Practice Living Without Electricity from Food Storage Made Easy
Day 14 – How We Choose The Right Gear – (including the MultiFlame Tool) from Trayer Wilderness
Day 15 – Water Storage & Purification from The Busy B Homemaker
Day 16 – Food and Water for a 72 Hour “Go Bag” from Homestead Dreamer
Day 17 – 8 Foods You Should Be Storing and How from Melissa K Norris
Day 18 – Planning Your Pantry from The Organic Prepper
Day 19 – Stocking Up on Non-Food Items from Living in Rural Iowa
Day 20 – Dutch Oven Cooking: Off-Grid Before Off-Grid Was Cool from The Backyard Pioneer
Day 21 – Pressure Canning the Harvest from Timber Creek Farm
Day 22 – Personal Protection & Awareness from Living in Rural Iowa
Day 23 – KISS First Aid from Herbal Prepper
I’ve enjoyed your series very much! I’m wondering if you would consider writing about preparing with no budget or low budget. We live paycheck to paycheck, and use the food banks from time to time when cash is scarce. I’d like to know how to start prepping for an emergency when you have very little to begin with.
Funny you mention that Ruth! I actually have one in the works and will provide links to other articles written on the topic as well. Keep an eye out for it! Thank you for the comment and following along!