The Perfect Prepper Food Kit for Beginners

Some people like to plan ahead and be prepared for whatever life throws at them. These people are preppers, who are ready for emergencies, natural disasters, and even the basic stresses of daily life. They focus on self-sufficiency. We know not everyone likes to plan ahead. Planning itself can be stressful at times, though we believe it is worthwhile for your peace of mind and safety.

If the most you have prepped is a first aid kit, you’re off to a good start. That’s more than many families have ready! Emergencies can happen in the blink of an eye, leaving you with little to no time to prepare and gather essential items, let alone survival food. This is the whole point of prepping; you are prepared and have more time to focus on the important things, such as your health and keeping your family safe.

One key thing that is oftentimes overlooked when stocking up on items and prepping for emergencies is food. When we think about emergencies, most of us tend to think of physical harm and natural disasters causing damages. But in order to survive an emergency or natural disaster, you’re going to have to eat!

One idea to consider when making preparations for an emergency is creating a food kit. A food kit will contain emergency foods with all the essential nutrients and calories you need to survive for an extended period of time. The unfortunate thing about emergencies is that you just don’t know how long they will last.

It is always better to be on the safe side and stockpile too much food rather than not enough. Typically, you want to have enough shelf-stable food for each person in your household for anywhere from 3-7 days. Of course, it won’t hurt to have more food than that, but 3-7 days worth of food will give you peace of mind and buy you time to acquire more food if need be.

What to Include in a Food Kit

• Protein- You can get protein in several different forms. You can find it in jerky, dried beans, and peanut butter, or our protein shakes. Each shake contains 29 grams of protein. You need protein for energy and to maintain your strength, so it is especially important to eat protein when you are under stress during an emergency.
• Carbs- Carbs can be pasta, whole wheat bread, and starchy vegetables. Bread and starchy vegetables might not be the best choices for a food kit because they don’t have a stable shelf life, and you're looking for things that can survive long term food storage.
• Whole Grains- These include wheat berries, oats, quinoa, and brown rice or white rice. All of these high nutritional value options are great to include in your food kit so that you can maintain a healthy diet.
• Nutrients- You need nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that come from fruits and vegetables. Since you obviously can’t keep fresh fruits and vegetables in a food kit, you can try our freeze-dried fruit and veggie packs. That way, you’re not just eating protein and carbs, and you don't have to bother with a multivitamin.
• Water- Do not forget to include water in your food kit. As important as food is, water is even more important. You can either stock up on gallons of water, bottled water, or, better yet, a water purifier. Given the fact you should have one gallon of water per person per day, you may run out of space for all that water. Our water filtration system removes 99.9% of harmful contaminants. You will never run out of clean water, and you will have enough for you and all the members of your household.

Another thing to consider keeping in your emergency preparedness food kit is a can opener, eating utensils (silverware, cups, plates, etc.), along with a pot and some matches to boil or heat up water. This will be important if you are using freeze-dried food items, as you will need to add hot water to consume it.

Include Freeze-Dried Food in Your Food Kit

Consider keeping only freeze-dried food in your food supply. While the most important thing is that you have an actual food kit, you should also consider what kind of food you keep in it. With freeze-dried food, you never have to worry about food expiring. It has a long shelf life, much longer than standard non-perishables, such as canned food. Freeze-fried food can have a 25-year shelf life!

This type of dehydrated food goes through a three-step process that includes oxygen absorbers removing all the extra air so that it won't spoil. Unlike more short-term canned goods, you don't have to worry about checking the expiration date in your emergency food storage.

Besides the shelf life, our high-quality freeze-dried food comes already portioned out for each person in your household in resealable Mylar bags. You can get breakfast, lunch, and dinner ready to go, along with protein shakes, extra fruits and vegetables, and meal replacement bars. It’s much easier than stocking up at the store and trying to guess how much food you will need for everyone and then trying to plan out entrees with everything else going on.

How To Assemble a Food Kit

If you’ve never made a food kit before, don’t worry. It’s extremely simple and does not take much time at all. First, you want to acquire a durable, water-proof storage bin to store food in. It is very important that the bin is water-proof so that the food won’t be ruined in case of rain, floods, or pipes bursting.

After you have your bin, you need to fill it with your emergency food supply. If you are using our freeze-dried food packs, you will simply organize them in the bin. Consider labeling a pack for each family member. If you are using non-perishables from the grocery store, organize them by food group. This will make it easier to grab things and keep track of how much food you have left. Again, consider labeling foods for individual family members.

Keep the emergency kit somewhere dry and away from anything that could crush or damage it. It would be wise to keep it in the same place as your first aid kit or survival kit so that everything is in one place, ready to go in case of an emergency.

Conclusion

Food kits are an important part of being prepared for an emergency situation. You can customize them to meet you and your family’s specific needs, but there are a few items that should be included. One of the most important items to include is water because we can survive longer without food than we can without water. Also, ensure you have enough food rations for each person in your household.

Sources:

https://www.ready.gov/kit?gclid=CjwKCAiAtK79BRAIEiwA4OskBrDl6sfwHDqWLqrz-jkvOT5muYcMjm5JRWXt5TsdehGM1Zd68sWywBoCRVQQAvD_BwE#

https://emergency.unl.edu/preparation/whattohave.shtml

https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/anatomy-of-a-first-aid-kit.html