The top foods you should keep in case of an emergency

Real Simple Magazine via Yahoo ^ | 7/16/10 | Vanessa DiMaggio

[Kartographer]

Natural disasters--such as a flood, hurricane, or blizzard--often come without warning. Stocking non-perishable food items ahead of time (and choosing wisely what you include) will help you weather the storm with less stress.

By: Vanessa DiMaggio

Fueling your body during an emergency is very different from your everyday diet. Because you’ll probably expend more energy than you normally would, you should eat high-energy, high-protein foods. And because you have a limited supply, the higher-quality foods you eat--and the less of them--the better. “In a disaster or an emergency you want those calories,” says Barry Swanson, a food scientist at Washington State University . “You want some nutrients and some fiber—something to keep your diet normal.”

[ASOC]

The coffee is the essential item.

You soak the hardtack in the coffee to kill the weevils, they float to the top, scoop them off - and bingo - breakfast porridge. Corn and pemmican soup! It's the best - better than SPAM!

[Plutarch]

Dry milk yes, but not the nonfat stuff that tastes terrible. Dried whole milk, found in the ethnic section at Wal Mart.

Goes well with Meusli, which is dense, keeps, doesn't need to be cooked, can be mixed with other foods, and can be bought in quantity from Bob's Red Mill (25 lb bag!)

[PA Engineer]

Oh lord!!! Living in Panama, I did not know those wonderful freeze dried foods existed!!!

I recently just found out about the peanut flour from the ReadyStore. You gotta try it for making peanut sauce. Mega thumbs up on that item.

Email beprepared.com and ask them if they can ship to you. I have used them many times in the past. My only complaint is they appear to be a high volume outfit and at times run out of product. This will usually result in a shipping delay of a week or two.

[mylife]

Or you could use those bags from a box of wine for free.
It wouldnt have a handle though.

[PA Engineer]

You might like this. Got into roasting my own beans recently. Click on the image and it will take you to MREDepot. Good firm.

[Jed Eckert]

I’m totally stocked up on dehydrated water.

Me too!

[pyx]

Why do we have to be told what to keep in case of emergency?

It's possible that everyone on Free Republic doesn't know which foods to keep in preparation for an emergency. As an example, I don't seem to see home dehydrated and vacuum packed foods on the Yahoo list and these foods can help home owners a lot in their preparations because dehydrated foods that are vacuum packed can generally keep quite a bit longer than other foods.

I mean, you obviously know and I know, but it's possible that others don't know.

[MS.BEHAVIN]

The only problem I would have is staying out of it to keep it for an emergency!
The only thing that bacon doesn’t make taste better is ice cream!
;0)

[meadsjn]

soda bottles that I have filled with tap water in the garage

Several 2-liter soda bottles of frozen water in your chest freezer will save your frozen food for several days when the weather knocks out the electricity.

At the very least, it will give you more time to further process what you have frozen before it all turns green and purple.

[PA Engineer]

We lose power here so often. Batteries are essential, and because we have a well, once power is off everything dies. It’s difficult, and must be planned for.

I had the same problem and 12 years ago I installed two stacked invertors with 8-L16 Trojan batteries. I use the generator to charge the batteries for water and refrigeration. I do have 6 Kyocera solar panels stored away for the worst (power for water only). The first time our power went out I really began to think about how important toilet flushing was.

I do not know your situation, but if you want a quick idea and material list for such a setup, let me know your pump Horse Power and service voltage. Our well was deep so we had to go with a high power stacked invertor arrangement to handle the inrush current.

[libertarian27]

We lose power here so often. Batteries are essential....

We lose power a lot too, mostly for short times- but too many, 1-7 hour stints(bad electric system on street+storms)and I've resorted to the plug in night lights that charge when it's on and will stay on for 8+ hours without - the crank flashlights are great and I've been using my BayGen radio - Y2K purchase - even when the electricity is on - very convenient for outside 'Rush' listening, etc. 50 cranks and you have 30 minutes of radio. Crank-tech is cool.

[Repeat Offender]

You may want to invest in a hand pump that fits on your existing well head. They even have them for deep wells, although an entire kit (pipe, pump, etc) will cost about $1800 or so (shallow well pumps are cheaper). That is one of the next big ticket purchases for us..... although we have a river about 1/2 mile from us.

I would also recommend getting some Brita filters and a spare pitcher or two if your water isn't as good as it should be.... water purification tablets can be had from th Wal Mart camping section for about $2; I believe it is equal to 20 quarts, or 20 gallons (memory fails and I don't want to walk to the basement).

Another possibility is to consider getting rain barrels. They can connect to your downspout (a roof can shed incredible amounts of water even if it is only an inch of rain) and some come equiped with the spigot already installed.

Anyhow, those are just some ideas that will probably outlast a battery supply.

[Ramius]

Yes... a stockpile of cash comes in handy for a whole lot of different possible needs. As much as you can afford to just let sit in a safe. Think thousands, not hundreds, if you can.

And something about that that I’ve learned: ~don’t~ have it all in large ($100) bills. That’s what I did, since they take up so little space. But a couple of years ago during a particularly bad winter storm, the power ended up being knocked out for several days (very unusual for this area). I was pretty well set but I figured I’d run to the store for some more milk before it all went bad... and gas up the jeep. I’d already heard that ATM’s and store POS systems were all out, and everybody was down to just cash purchases. No problem! I grabbed some stash money and went. The businesses were all open... and they were doing cash transactions... but what they didn’t have any more was ~change~... small bills. Of course, it doesn’t take too many people coming through with $100 bills for a $10 purchase and their small bills get wiped out.

So now I make sure that a big chunk of my cash stash is in 20s, and even 10s and singles.

[meadsjn]

The best way to freeze your 2-litre bottles of water is to leave a couple of inches of air below the cap, put them in the corner of your freezer with the caps loose for a couple of days, then tighten the caps when the water has frozen and pushed the air out the top.

When the electricity goes off, the frozen water will melt faster than your meat, and you can still drink the water.

[NonValueAdded]

Team Randall approach? Get ready for Hot Fudge Sundae (which falls on a Tuesday this week)?

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Thank you.

My problem is going to be customs. They are getting very strict about everything…sending and receiving.

One of many examples, up until a couple of years ago, I could mail something as innocent as boxes of microwave popcorn to friends in Italy. It is no longer allowed. The list goes on and on.

I will start working on this tomorrow.

Thank you so much for all the information.

[trisham]

LOL! That’s awful! :)

[trisham]

LOL!

[trisham]

I am bumping this to read tomorrow!

[castlebrew]

think tactical...

Tactical Bacon