Canned food can keep a family alive.
No one wants to imagine herself without enough food. However, since the Y2K scare of 1999, Hurricane Katrina and other disasters, most of us have wondered, "What would I do?" Survival foods have become readily available to the public. Find out the types of available preservable foods and store them.
Types of Survival Food
Foods designed for consumption during natural disasters or in the absence of cooking appliances fall into three basic categories: canned goods such as beans and vegetables; freeze-dried foods such as stews, soups and oatmeal; and "meals ready to eat," or MREs, as military personnel refer to them.
Canned Goods
Eat canned goods at room temperature, and store them in a cool dark place, such as a basement. According to CaptainDaves.com, a purveyor of survival food, "As a general rule, traditional canned foods should be consumed within a year." For canned pantry items, the site recommends a rotation system in which you label your cans and consume the oldest food first.
Freeze-Dried and Dehydrated Foods
Because freeze-dried and dehydrated foods ahave had moisture removed and undergone vacuum sealing in light, portable pouches, you can safely store them at any temperature. Unfortunately, you'll need to reconstitute most soups, stews and casseroles with potable water.
According to Survival Acres.com, "freeze-dried offers [the] best taste and texture, but higher price." In the absence of fresh water, consume freeze-dried fruits, nuts and seeds from the pouch as is.
Meals, Ready To Eat
The U.S. military originally designed MREs as full, portable meals in a pouch. You can store these meals at varying temperatures, and they have a shelf life of five to 10 years. According to LongLifeFood Depot.com, "Over the past 30 years, the same research labs which invented them have continually upgraded the taste and nutritional profile of the pouched meals." MREs contain everything from main dish to dessert, all of which you can eat straight from the container at room temperature. Bought by the case, they currently average about $2.75 per pouch.
Tags: store them, canned goods, room temperature