It's 1pm and you and a few hundred people are pouring into the local grocery store, grabbing things off shelves, perhaps America is under attack... perhaps Los Angeles just got nuked and dirty bombs have gone off in Atlanta and Chicago... everyone is in a complete panic.
You've got kids at home, and a wife, so it's important to grab key survival foods before they disappear off shelves.
Have you taken the time to consider just what makes the best survival foods for an emergency?
Well, rather than detail every possible high calorie food and it's nutritional value, let's get real for a moment and ask: If an emergency strikes -- a severe emergency, the "big one" and Hell breaks loose as a result across your region -- what are you going to grab in a five minute dash to a grocery store when hundreds of other panicked people are also hitting the grocery store, in a rush for food and staples for their family?
What non-perishable food offers the most bang for your buck?
In the heat of the moment, when it's time to race down the aisles of a grocery store, and grab specific foods before they disappear off shelves, these are important questions to have considered in advance.
An intelligent person of course has planned for this day well in advance, and even started storing food and water before hand. Even so, on the day of disaster, why not make one last trip to the grocery store and spend whatever you have before banks and grocery stores are a thing of the past?
For example, if you only had two survival foods on hand, or in the trunk of your car, to last you two weeks in the event of a major emergency, what would they be? If you can handle the chaos of panicked shoppers with a level head, it's time to go in to action. What do you grab first?
Most importantly -- Which foods can you grab the most of, and get the most out of? It's important to consider calorie count, ease of use / preparation, shelf-life, and even "weight" factored in. Why is weight a factor? What if you and your family have to evacuate an area on foot, and with nothing but backpacks and or suitcases? You'll regret having stocked up on so much canned food when you realize just how much those cans weigh.
I've got some better suggestions for you...
Top Survival Foods, in a Hurry
Peanut Butter - It's packed with protein and essential fatty acids, as well as contains many essential vitamins and minerals (such as copper and iron). For the best health, choose "natural" brands like Skippy Natural Peanut Butter (Skippy offers the best price I can find for buying in bulk off places like Amazon). Just a couple tablespoons a day of peanut butter can help a person survive a period of limited food intake (during a disaster, one of your strategies to survive needs to include an understanding that it's time to cut calories -- most people eat a lot more calories each day than they actually need to survive. Cutting calories means your food will last longer, at the same time helping you lose excess weight, making potential evacuation on foot at some point easier than if you're carrying around extra pounds).
Dried beans - Kidney beans, lima beans, pinto beans, and others are all high in calories, contain a fair amount of protein per serving, as well as many essential vitamins and minerals. Dried beans come in packages bigger than canned beans and for the amount you get weigh quite a bit less. The only difference is you have to add water, and let them soak for several hours before eating. Split peas are part of the dried bean family with many of the same vitamins and minerals. The difference is that split peas have a much shorter soak time and cooking time than dried beans.
Finally, dried beans have a long shelf life. So, these are good in the back of your car, your office survival kit, and of course your pantry of survival foods at your home or cabin.
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Trail mix - A favorite of hikers, trail mix has a variety of ingredients, raisins, peanuts and other nuts, and often pieces of chocolate, and sometimes dried fruit and berries. The simple sugars in the raisins, chocolate and dried fruits can be a quick mood booster and source of short term energy.
Brown rice - High in calories and protein, as well as essential vitamins and minerals. As a dry, non-perishable food they also have a long shelf life. Just add hot water to these guys and let soak for 1 - 2 days, or until the rice expands (always eat rice after it's expanded); or boil brown rice for 30 minutes to 1 hour for fastest edibility.
Sunflower seeds - Look for the bulk seed/nut area of your grocery store, and specifically for unsalted, and un-shelled (you want to choose survival foods not high in salt, as too much salt will make you thirsty and isn't good for overall health). Sunflower seeds are high in essential vitamins and minerals, essential fatty acids, and have a fair amount of protein. They're also conveniently light-weight and a serving size is only a 1/4 cup, so you'll get many servings out of a large bag.
Energy Bars - There's an energy bar nowadays for every taste. Look for brands with a high calorie count as well as plenty of protein and a wide range of nutrients.
Chocolate - High in calories, chocolate candy of many types is a source of quick energy and of course it's a popular mood booster.
Instant coffee - Have you ever tried to quit drinking coffee, after years of counting on it to get you up in the morning and through the day? If not you, someone in your party is likely to consider coffee (or simply caffeine) an essential, and may be tired, lethargic, and have headaches without the stuff. Coffee doesn't have to be a top priority, but being able to grab it will be something more than one person in your party is likely to be thankful for. It's a quick mood booster and good for morale. And it's also something that could be traded like a commodity during a crises situation? For example, you could trade a case of coffee for a couple guns and ammunition.
Caffeine pills - Most people haven't heard of these, but they're sold in nutrition supplement stores, and have been known to be used by athletes for different types of athletic events. You might get 100 pills to a bottle, and at 200 milligrams each they can be split in half and still have more caffeine than a regular cup of coffee. So, when the instant coffee runs out, you and others in your party can still get your caffeine fix. Caffeine pills, for obvious reasons, may prove to be a commodity you're able to trade during a crises.
Cigarettes - Smoking may not be as popular as it was in the past, but just like coffee cigarettes may be a hot commodity that can be traded for something useful someone else may have. Having a carton of cigarettes stashed away just for this occasion may be a smart move. Careful though with all these commodities -- someone may be willing to rob you at gun point, and those don't always end well. Be smart, and be on alert, and don't talk / deal with anyone that you think could be a potential danger. Get to know a person before just offering up that you have things to trade.
So, here are a few foods you can keep on your list of priorities on things to grab from the supermarket when the community is in a panic, and you realize that stores are going to run out of food in just a few hours. These are also great foods for your survival kits / emergency kits that you keep in your vehicle, in your office / work place, and of course in your home.
Are there elderly people in your family? Well, consider doing the right thing and ensuring that they have survival foods on hand as well, and know where they are in the house. You don't want to put your parents / grandparents in a panic, but do let them know that the foods are there "just in case" you're not able to get to them in the event of an emergency.
Racing Through the Grocery Store
What do you fill your shopping cart with first? Though this article is about survival foods, one of the first things you want to grab (unless you already have it in your car or back in your home) is some bottled water. If you're in an area with sources of water that you can boil, etc, then you may not need to grab much right now. Just enough to last you until you can start boiling / filtering your own safe drinking water.
With that said, here's what a race through the grocery store for specific survival foods could look like:
Grab bottles of water, bags of brown rice, tubs of peanut butter. Multi vitamins (if you don't have any), cartons of salt (noniodized salt is said to work best for preserving meat and other foods in the coming weeks), dried beans (high nutritional content); then race for the bulk foods section and start grabbing trail mix (unsalted if possible), sunflower seeds (unsalted, de-shelled), and even other high calories nuts on hand, such as peanuts (unsalted); Tip: Go easy on the Brazil nuts, as these are very high in selenium -- a trace mineral -- and if you ingest too much selenium you can experience negative side effects, such as headaches. So don't eat many of these at one sitting.
Finally, Consider Grabbing Meat
One final thing to comment on here: People in a rush for survival foods might skip the meat aisle, believing that it will cuts of meat will go bad quickly. But what if you know how to salt / smoke meat, to preserve it? It could go a long way.
Finally, what do you have in your freezer at home, that you've already placed there in preparation for a widespread disaster where food shortages may become common place?
If the power goes out to your community, your idea is to let the meat thaw, so you can salt it / smoke it, etc. Salting and / or smoking meat (and other foods) is a way to preserve food for long term food storage for many months and even years. This is how early Native Americans stored food as they had no refrigeration. So, consider this Plan B for your frozen meat in the event of a power outage, where the power is down for good.
Important Survival Tip: Check the expiration dates on food stored in your pantry for emergencies and survival situations. Those freeze dried meals you bought five years ago may be close to expiring, and that canned food you loaded up on three years ago may be many months past expiration. Consider buying foods with a lot longer shelf-life specifically for an emergency situation.
Food Shortages Provide Opportunity to Put Faith in Action
How we treat others in times of conflict can show what kind of character we have deep down. Do we become animals or do we rise up and become men and women of honor, willing to share our supplies with others in times of need, especially the children, the elderly, the sick and disabled and poor among us.
You're on a Christian website that publishes warnings regarding the "last days" and of course we're going to mention here that a food shortage in a community can be a great opportunity for God to increase your faith, as you trust in him to provide for you, even as you share your food stores with others.
The man or woman of God living a Christian life is put in a hard situation, when he or she has to choose between sharing food with others, during a time of crises, or storing it away. The Bible says that God is a rewarder of the faithful, and that God also provides for his people in times of need. The idea is to live without fear, knowing that God will provide what you and your family need for each day. He fed the Israelites with manna and quail. He brought streams of water up from the rocks. So our personal survival tip is to share your food as God would lead you (once you've put your faith in Christ and have made the decision to live according to God's Word), and trust that even if you've given your last bite to eat that He already has the next day written and plans to bring provision perhaps greater than the stores you just gave away.
Next Section: The Top Survival Supplies
