The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us that there’s two types of people during every emergency. On one hand you have the doctors, nurses, first responders, healthcare workers, caretakers, and public service workers working hard to keep us safe, informed, and healthy. On the other hand you have the fearful, misinformed, stockpilers and oportunists looking to benefit from desperate situations.
One thing is for certain: When it comes to your own well-being you should only depend on yourself. Some may disagree and have failth in strangers and their fellow neighbors, but have you ever watched those Black Friday videos? Yeah, those aren’t the people you want to trust to take care of you or your loved ones.
When an emergency pops up, they’re going to grab the toilet paper and canned foods for themselves before making sure you’re taken care of.
You’re always going to need a stash of shelf-stable foods and meals on hand for any type of emergency. If its not a highly-contagious disease, it might be a natural disaster. It’s still early and 2020 isn’t looking too good right now.
So with that in mind, here’s a list of stored foods that should be in your survival kit. If you don’t already have one maybe you should make one when this whole thing blows over.
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Healthy Eating
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<p class='slide-count'>1 of 6</p><img width="1109" height="614" src="/uploadfile/2024/1217/20241217163301521.jpg"><p class="photo-credit">Sam Barnes / Getty</p>Carbohydrates
In any emergency situation, preparation is key. From a nutritional standpoint, you’ll need to efficiently prepare your body. You don’t know what conditions you’ll run into. If a situation arises where you need to leave your home, you’ll want to slightly up your carb intake along with your protein and fat. This will make room for more carbs in the next loading phase.
During the next phase, increase your carb intake to almost 60 percent of your daily calories. While you’re upping the carbs, cut back on the fats and make sure to get a substantial amount of rest. Your body will need the additional energy to keep pushing forward. Loading up on carbs is a smart strategy to increase the amount of energy that’s housed in your muscles.
On the go, you still need about 45 percent of your daily caloric total to come from carbs. To help maintain that, be sure to have dry cereal, granola bars, crackers, energy gels, and evaporated milk. Evaporated milk has an extremely long shelf life and eight ounces of it contains 26 grams of carbs. As for energy gels, they’re made with a carbohydrate blend that can be easily digested.
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Protein
Your emergency survival kit should also include high-protein, non-perishable foods. Look for protein powder, canned beans, canned meat, nuts, protein bars, and peanut butter. Canned meat doesn’t sound pleasant, but when you’re presented with limited food options it’s a valuable protein source. Stock up on canned white albacore tuna, salmon, chicken, turkey, and even beef. All non-perishable food products are easily transportable and can last for several months to years until they’re opened.
You might also want to look into diversifying the types of meat you eat. Deer, rabbit, fish, or squirrel — the list goes on. Venison is lean and rich in protein, which has an array of health benefits.
Four ounces of deer contains about 170 calories and 34 grams of protein, and that protein is packed with B-complex vitamins and iron. Both iron and B-complex vitamins work to help balance energy levels in the body. When your stomach is rumbling, you won’t think twice about eating wild game. Rabbit is another high protein meat that’s also abundant in B-complex vitamins, and it also has some powerful antioxidants. Squirrel is another solid choice: three ounces contains 25 grams of protein.
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Fat
In a situation where you need to be on the go, you’ll need an adequate amount of fat stored up from your diet. 20 percent of your caloric intake should come from fat — that’s still the same amount of fat you would be consuming pre-emergency, and you shouldn’t just limit your fat intake to the healthy fats.
Saturated fats can positively impact your testosterone levels. When your testosterone levels are enhanced it becomes easier to build muscle. So make sure five to ten percent of your total caloric intake comes from saturated fats.
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Antioxidants
Survival mode means “bring on the stress.” Stress can greatly impact your health, making it harder to survive. It can fog your thinking; hinder your immune system; and decrease overall physical performance. That’s why it’s important to either find food or have food that’s rich in antioxidants.
Antioxidants can help counteract any free radical damage, especially any damage caused by stress. In the wild keep an eye out for the following: blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, dandelions, and asparaguses. Stock up on canned and dried vegetables and dried fruit. A dried vegetable is any root vegetable like a sweet potato or beet. Also, make sure to add multivitamins to your pack — they can provide that extra boost of nutrition that you need.
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Water/Electrolytes Tablets
You can last a month without food, but only three days without water. Have a stockpile of bottled water. The recommended water intake is about three liters per day. A good sign that you’re dehydrated is if you have extreme thirst and can’t shake off a headache.
To prevent dehydration consider carrying electrolyte tablets, they easily dissolve in water.
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Emergency Situation Menu
Breakfast
- Protein shake
- Dried cereal
- Evaporated milk
Snack
- Beef Jerky
- Dried fruit
- Nuts
Lunch
- Canned tuna
- Crackers
- Protein shake
Snack
- Granola bar
- Canned chicken
Dinner
- Venison
- Canned vegetables
- Canned beans