24 hours of Survival Food

zman308

zman308

Joined
Sep 3, 2007
Messages
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In my day hike bag I always carry enough food to last 24 hours. Assuming I get stuck on the trail for some reason and have to spend the night and walk out the next day. I always carry 2 quarts of water in nalgene bottles. Here are my food items.
1 packet of Gator Aid powder
2 tea bags
2 instant coffee packets
2 2oz. bags of Sam's Mountain Trail Mix.
1 foil pack of Tuna
1 foil pack of Uncle Ben' Ready Rice
2 packs of snack crackers
2 packs of Instant oatmeal
McD's salt and pepper packets.
2 sugar packets
Some Jolly Ranchers

Lets hear from you on what you carry.
 
For day hikes I use my CamelBak Ambush for water; for food I carry a few of the new PowerBars that are part of their Harvest Whole Grain line. I also have two tea bags.
 
I am assuming we are just talking emergency rations here, not backpacking cuisine.

24 hrs. isn't that long. For that amount of time, a couple power bars and water is all I would ever care to lug around.
 
I carry lots of water and a couple of cliff bars in my SAR vest. If I know I'm going to be out on a mission longer than overnight then I add an MRE and my water filter.
 
I have fasted for 10 days and know people who have done much more so I don't worry too much about food. I am more concerned regarding safe drinking water.

It is good to have something to help keep your energy up so I carry a Cliff Builders Bar or 2.
 
i always have a small assortmanet of food with me, while in the woods.... a few bars, a few gu packs, some tea, a few instant soup packs and some hard candy...:D
 
For ultra-light weight I like to use instant oatmeal and 5 minute boil-in-bag rice. I just mix the oatmeal with water and drink it cold, been doing that for years. The rice gets boiled with a bullion cube in the canteen cup and makes a very filling, though boring meal. Either the oatmeal or rice make a good base to add foraged stuff to.

Here in Brazil they sell blocks of raw sugar called rapadura. I get the kind packaged in little 20 gram squares. They give a huge burst of energy. Honey is an excellent human fuel, I often pack those little sealed plastic tubes of it. My daughter scarfs them up whenever she spots them.

The Mainstay bars are a great item for long term storage in a BOB. They get kind of monotonous if that's all you have to eat but it beats hunger. Mac
 
Twenty four hours isn't "survival food". It's comfort food. You can easily last a month or more with no food assuming you have water. Therefore anything you carry is fine. I would add that certain things (tea bags, drink mixes, broth, salt, pepper, etc) are very useful for making the things you may have to drink or eat in a true survival situation more palatable.
 
I usually do not carry food for a short hike. The exception would be that I picked up a Natures Valley Oat n Honey energy bar on the way to the PU.

For day hikes, where I know I will be out for most of the daylight hours, I carry a couple packs of instant oatmeal, some seasonings in case I happen to get lucky with small game, some hot cocoa, coffee singles and tea. Plus, energy bars or trail mix and I always have a pouch of parched corn, just in case it turns into more than a day hike.
 
For dayhikes I take a couple of Cliff bars, 6 tea bags, instant oatmeal in a bag, and 1-2 quarts in nalgene bottles of water. Depending if there is a water source, I may just take my water filter and 1 nalgene bottle. I always carry my stainless steel cup too.
 
nemoaz said:
Twenty four hours isn't "survival food". It's comfort food. You can easily last a month or more with no food assuming you have water. Therefore anything you carry is fine. I would add that certain things (tea bags, drink mixes, broth, salt, pepper, etc) are very useful for making the things you may have to drink or eat in a true survival situation more palatable.
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Well said. After 4-7 days your body adjusts to not eating. Come to think about it I am carrying and extra 15lbs of fuel on the waist line.

Skam
 
nemoaz said:
... You can easily last a month or more with no food assuming you have water.
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I kinda doubt that in most cases ... such as a "survival" situation when one is under high stress, and trying to do various things to survive, it would be "easy" to survive with no food. In such conditions, one needs energy, and energy is generated by food. Without it, one can fairly rapidly lose the ability to think logically, no matter how much water is available.

Not only the brain, but other physical systems in the body begin to deteriorate.

I'm not saying that going for 30 or 40 days without any food, and surviving, has not been done, but I'd bet a lot of money that it is a very rare phenomenon. Very, very few people who find themselves in a highly stressful "survival" situation, will be able to live through 30 or 40 days without any food.

FWIW.

L.W.
 
Leanwolf said:
I kinda doubt that in most cases ... such as a "survival" situation when one is under high stress, and trying to do various things to survive, it would be "easy" to survive with no food. .
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Not only has it been done. Its done in the millions throughout history and today. There are still entire regions of the world who go weeks without a basic meal.

Nazi concentration camps are well documented with starving prisoners for months.

The human body will take punishment beyond imagination albeit a very painful experience.

The body needs energy through calories. If it does not get it with food it will resort to stored body fat, then muscle protein until its eatin itself.

No it would not be easy or comfortable but doable.

Skam
 
Leanwolf said:
I kinda doubt that in most cases ... such as a "survival" situation when one is under high stress, and trying to do various things to survive, it would be "easy" to survive with no food. In such conditions, one needs energy, and energy is generated by food. Without it, one can fairly rapidly lose the ability to think logically, no matter how much water is available.

Not only the brain, but other physical systems in the body begin to deteriorate.

I'm not saying that going for 30 or 40 days without any food, and surviving, has not been done, but I'd bet a lot of money that it is a very rare phenomenon. Very, very few people who find themselves in a highly stressful "survival" situation, will be able to live through 30 or 40 days without any food.

FWIW.

L.W.
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I concure you can survive a month or a little more without food but not function suffiecntly without it for that amounbt of time. Also the more energy you exhaust in a survival situation the more food you need to eat to repalce it. Don't forget too, after not eating for a prolonged amount of time you can do some perminate damage to some of you internal organs; kidney and liver being on the top of that list.

But for the question at hand 24hrs of food. I would have to say 1-2 Cliff bars will deffinatly keep you going; but to be a happy inadvertant camper I would say bring along something that has lots of starch and compond sugars for prolonged energy. I think this would be a winning combo for a 24hrs of oh s@#t food that would sustain you well.
1. 2 cliff bars for lunches day 1 & 2
2. packet of instant mash potatoes (w/ bullion cube for flavoring optional) for dinner + found food
3. packet of instant oatmeal for breakfeast
4. 2 or 3 tea bags or instant coffee for comfort
 
skammer said:
The body needs energy through calories. If it does not get it with food it will resort to stored body fat, then muscle protein until its eatin itself.

Skam
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actually your body will burn through your muscle before it goes for your fat reserves. The human body is lazy and will goes for the easist thing to burn first and this is muscle, fat is harder to burn than muscle...this is why it is hard to loose weight by diet alone.
 
I tend to get cranky if hungry; I've even made poor decisions when I've gone too long without some chow. I carry a couple Clif bars on day hikes. I also pack a little boullion and rice as above. Very comforting during an extended walk. Put 'em in a canteen cup, and heat over one of those nested canteen cup stoves. A little hexamine completes the package. Not much weight for such an important psychological lift.

But I do concur with others who say that potable water is MUCH more important.
 
Bare Rib said:
actually your body will burn through your muscle before it goes for your fat reserves. The human body is lazy and will goes for the easist thing to burn first and this is muscle, fat is harder to burn than muscle...this is why it is hard to loose weight by diet alone.
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Not sure thats correct.

Skam
 
A buddy and I went climbing years ago, and all we carried, other than water and instant oatmeal and cocoa, was a mix of peanuts, M&M's and raisins.

The best part about the trail mix was that it didn't require water or cooking in order to be ready, and one could eat it on the go.
 
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