Emergency food for earthquake kit?

HikingMano

HikingMano

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Sep 2, 2008
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I've been piecing an earthquake kit together (live within two miles of the San Andreas Fault) and have come to the issue of food.

(ETA: I already have drinking water, shelter, first-aid, communication/signaling covered since they are higher priority. I'm just working on the food part of the emergency kit now)


Relevant info:

-I live in a small apartment (not a ton of storage space) and don't have unlimited funds, but I need to feed two.

-It's an earthquake kit geared towards 72+ hours survival in an urban/suburban environment, so I'm not sure if I might need to be stingy with stored water (I have enough for a week as it stands now). There are a couple of small streams nearby, but I don't want to depend on them still being there if a serious earthquake hits (for additional water should I run out) .

-I plan on staying put unless the building becomes a hazard, fire forces us to move, or we run out of water. Or we fall into the ocean, in which case I'd need a life raft.... :p I guess lighter or more portable is a plus though, in case we do need to bug out.

-I have some gas to use with a stove, and will have trees/debris around to fuel fires for boiling/heating water. I've also got my little alcohol stove as a last resort.

-I don't really care how it tastes, it just needs to keep me alive. (ETA: I mean in the longer term scenario with regards to this statment. I realize I will not starve to death in a short term survival situation (days, weeks). But since no one knows how long a survival/disaster situation will last, I would like to have some non-perishable food stored).


So the only options I've come up with so far:

MREs
Backpacker food (Mountain House or similar)
Canned goods
Dehydrate and store my own food


I'm leaning towards MREs or Canned goods in my situation. With Mountain House and the like, I don't know if needing water will be an issue. And they cost something like $50 for the 3-days-for-one-person pack. I also have no idea about the dehydration stuff (cost for equipment, how much room it takes up, etc.) but know some of you dehydrate and store your own food.

I'd appreciate any suggestions, thanks! :)
 
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If you look around the web, you can find the MTN house on sale around 45 smackers for 3 days for 2 people. Just got a couple of those. Actually found one in vegetarian, for my wife.

MRE's are expensive, but worth it, in my opinion. They are good to go out of the package, and you can eat them cold, if need be.

Energy bars/ meal replacement bars are also an option. I have been investigating this possibility, as of late.

Yet another choice are those canned meal replacement drinks, like slimfast, etc. Also ready to go, with no prep work.
 
Anything made by this company should work well:
:D
 

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Take a look at these. It would be enough food for 2 people for at least a month, and under $100. Inexpensive and they taste good too.:thumbup:

Below copied from Costco website.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11219554

Basic preparation will impact the probability of your family’s survival in an emergency. Delicious and easy to prepare. Each bucket contains 275 servings of pre-mixed and pre-seasoned 100% vegetarian and vitamin fortified food. With a 20 year long shelf life, this kit is perfect for the preparation of natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes or even for a camping or hunting trip.

Easy to Prepare
Must have water and a heat source
275 Servings
All Meals 100% Vegetarian and Vitamin Fortified
Sealed in convenient Weather-Proof bucket for easy transport
25 Servings - Potato Soup
30 Servings - Corn Chowder
25 Servings - Cacciatore
25 Servings - Western Stew
30 Servings - Country Noodle
25 Servings - Rice Lentil
45 Servings - Whey Milk
40 Servings - Blueberry Pancake
30 Servings - Barley Vegetable

Total Weight: 23 lbs.
For best taste and nutritional value, use product before:
20 years of manufacturing date when stored at 60° F (16.6° C)
10 years of manufacturing date when stored at 70° F (21.1° C)
 
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Living in San Diego -- another earthquake prone area -- I've given some thought to this same scenario. I've stored some canned goods, quick cooking oatmeal, rice and beans. Actually, except for the price, I think MRE's are the way to go for a short-term emergency, but supermarket items like I've listed above will work equally well: they just might not taste as good.

Let's be realistic here though; you're only looking at three days; you could go without food for three days if you had to. Still, any food will be better than nothing, and cheap supermarket food will get you through just fine. For only three days, it's an adventure, and a story to tell later. For longer term survival though, I would investigate some better food items (MRE's, etc.).

You might want to read Cody Lundin's book "When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikes." It deals with just this kind of urban survival situation. It's available from Amazon and other fine (or not so fine) book sellers. Read it: it could save your life.
 
We have dealt with this a lot down here the last few years during hurricane season. Most of the time power goes for 2-3 days, but we went almost two weeks after Katrina.

For short term I would just lay in a stash of Powerade, some peanut butter, crackers, Pop Tarts, Slimfast, beef jerky, dried fruit, canned veggies / fruit, oatmeal and whatever sort of energy bars that you can stand. Not gourmet, not a perfect balance of nutrients but all cheap, easily obtained, long shelf live, most can be eaten with little or no preparation and portable.

If affordable add in a couple cases of MREs because there is a substantial psychological value in a 'real' hot meal some times. Most are ok and some actually taste pretty good. They can have a LOT of salt so make sure that you are aware of that if you have anybody that you are trying to feed that has special dietary considerations. Not such a big deal if you are working or fighting all day long, but for old folks cooped up in a house sitting around it can cause fluid problems.

Good water filtration equipment is important too. Just because water might be safe to drink from boiling doesn't always mean that you will want to drink it. Even a cheap Britta filter setup will help clean up the color and taste.
 
I would lean more towards the rations that do not require water.

I would be very suspect of any water source following a major disaster in any urban environment. Way too many contaminants to leak/leach/spill out. MRE's, canned food and the such would be the way to go. Sure, the contaminated water may get you by but the long term effects could be bad. In addition in a true survival situation you don't want to do anything to weaken your strength and bad water can sure do that. One other advantage to food that only needs heating is that it requires less time, none if eaten cold, and that extra time can be spent on repairs, moving, surviving.

Now having said that I would keep a few freeze dried meals around in case you have to do a quick, walking bug-out since the other items can get very heavy.

By all means stock pile some bottle water and invest in a good filter.

Just my thoughts and this is something I've tried to put a good bit of thought into lately. We don't face the threat of earthquake as much in SE TN but any disaster carries similar risks.

Charlie
 
If you like MREs and happen to know someone active duty or retired Military then you can probably get them to pick you some up at the Commisary or PX or whatever it's being called these days. I just recently had a friend pick some up for me and they were only $4.25 per Meal and one of these has enough caloric value to get you through 1 day. I don't know what the cost would be in your area for the same items or their availibility? The point is they can still be had rather inexpensively.
 
You can buy a box of just the Entree's for the MRE's I think the box is 20 entree's. From there I would buy a case of Mainstay Lifeboat rations. That along with canned vegetables would cover you for 3 days. You should also get yourself a 7 gallon water can.
 
+1 on what Revolvergeek said. Especially about peanut butter. Peanut butter is a great "survival" food. Cheap, easily obtainable, has a ton of calories, doesn't take up much space, lasts a long time.
 
Go to a Costco or Sam's and get you a 50lb bag of rice, and a 50lb bag of pinto beans. and maybe a couple of cases of canned tuna and chicken and you are set for a few months. Don't forget a huge jug of tabasco.:thumbup:
 
Maqua said:
Go to a Costco or Sam's and get you a 50lb bag of rice, and a 50lb bag of pinto beans. and maybe a couple of cases of canned tuna and chicken and you are set for a few months. Don't forget a huge jug of tabasco.:thumbup:
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Well said, add some some cooking oil, peanut butter, flour, spices and multivitamins and you are set for along while.

Canned is good so long as you rotate it. Water is critical spend money on its storage and treatment first.

72 hrs is a joke. Most people can go 72 with nothing.

72 days should be your first starting point.

Skam
 
rksoon said:
-I don't really care how it tastes, it just needs to keep me alive.


So the only options I've come up with so far:

MREs
Backpacker food (Mountain House or similar)
Canned goods
Dehydrate and store my own food


I'm leaning towards MREs or Canned goods in my situation. With Mountain House and the like, I don't know if needing water will be an issue. And they cost something like $50 for the 3-days-for-one-person pack. I also have no idea about the dehydration stuff (cost for equipment, how much room it takes up, etc.) but know some of you dehydrate and store your own food.

I'd appreciate any suggestions, thanks! :)
Click to expand...

MREs and canned goods are heavy - if you have to pack it out you're going to be burdened by the extra weight.

Dehydrated backpacker food (Mountain House, etc) requires water to cook - but more importantly most meals are loaded down with lots of salt (to make it taste better I think). You're going to need plenty of drinking water to deal with putting that much sodium in your body.

For 72hours and something small, packable and not too heavy I'd recommend Datrex or Mainstay food ration bars in the 3600 calorie size.

If you want (and you should IMO) to store more food easily with little hassle - one thing I did is get a box of nine grain cereal mix in #10 cans and a box of dried bananas in #10 cans

https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/food_storage/cereal_nine_grain_mix_honeyville.htm


https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/food_storage/dehydrated_banana_chips_honeyville.htm

shipping is cheap, covers your carbs and fats with a bit of protein - about five bucks and I stuck the two boxes in the back of a closet - if you had to pack the food out just open the cans and pour it into plastic bags and throw it in the pack

invest in a MSR Miniworks water filter and a few nalgene bottles - more important than storing food IMO
 
I too been working on my earthquake kit and supplys. In the car its backpacking food. and a way to boil water. Some hard candy as well. In the house extra rice beans and caned food. As Skammer pointed out 72 hours is not a realy big deal. I worry more about water. Pick up what you would normaly eat just get alittle extra of each and rotate it. Just in case if you have to bail out spend some money on backpacking food. Im not that big on MREs but do keep some. A jar or two of honey would go a long way. Food would be the least of your problems. Clean water, first aid and shelter if your place goes down. are more important. I like that Costco dry food looks good and cheap. I forgot that i also have some dry milk and body building powders. They got everything you need to keep you going. I also have some extra just in case i would need to share. Lots of tea to share at night, I dont drink coffee or alcohol but carry that as well. Making friends is just as important as food. Who knows i just might exchange some food for rifles and ammo when they would be hungry enough lol..

Sasha
 
Regarding water in an urban disaster-you will need a way to purify as filtering is probably not going to be adequate. Most likely the water sources will be contaiminated with viruses and not woods generated bugs. Urban = purify & woods = filtering. Also you will need a good source of grey water to flush toilets several times per day. Check to see how much water is required to flush and calculate accordingly. Trust me you will want to flush!
 
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I agree with sasha, just buy a little more of what you normally eat I load up on chunky soup, because you don't need to add water, low sodium veggies (so yo can drink the juice), tuna in spring water, low sugar canned fruit. Other stuff like spaghettios that you can eat cold, and of course rice and canned beans (I keep canned instead of dried to save on the water I need to store). One reason to keep what you normally use - your body is used to it, so it what cause any gastric stress, something you defenitely don't need in an emergency situation.

Water is huge, I store 1 gal jugs, but you could store 1l or 1.5l bottles and just replace them as you use them for trips or hikes. 3 gal per person per day it what I have heard recommended.

you may want to read Cody Lundin's "When All Hell Breaks Loose"
 
Hey Guys, thanks for all the responses so far. :thumbup:

Don't have time to discuss fully until I have some free time at work, but briefly:

I realize shelter and water are more important, and also that food isn't that important for a 72 hour survival situation. Food is not high on my priority list, that's why I'm only getting to it now. I do want food for a 72+ hour situation though in case it takes a while to acquire food normally or through emergency relief, for it's psychological value as pointed out, and for energy that would enable me to help out in the community if needed post-disaster.

I actually have had both of Lundin's books for a while now, just haven't had time to read "When all hell breaks loose" yet....looks like it's time :D

I'm decently set up for water for now (will be completely set up soon when I upgrade filter system). Yeah, I have been planning on filtering and purifying water before consumption. I do have water stored (enough for me and my GF for more than three days) so my main concern there was in relation to the food (food that requires water vs food that doesn't). I brought up water because of the concern that if a terrain altering earthquake hits, I might not be able to depend on natural water supplies within walking distance because they simply might not be there anymore, or may be severely contaminated. In that case, I don't want food that requires a lot of water, since I want my stored water to be available for drinking primarily.

CShepherd's thought process (just for example) was what I was going for: what food would be best based on the conditions I outlined (where water comes into play). It looks like, just from glancing through, that I should go with a two prong approach - short term stuff that is heavier and has water already (normal food, commercial dry goods) AND long term stuff that is lighter and packable (MREs and/or Backpacker food). Great idea about checking out what Costco has to offer, didn't think about that at all :o.


Sorry if I've done anyone injustice by breezing through, I'll come back later and review in depth. Thanks again for the great response!


ETA: I realize the type of food doesn't matter really; if I don't have enough water to use on food, then I simply won't eat for a while (as you guys said). I won't be performing optimally, but I'll still survive.
 
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rksoon said:
There are a couple of small streams nearby, but I don't want to depend on them still being there if a serious earthquake hits.
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I would be very wary of any urban streams, whether during a disaster or not. Chances are they are not only full of bacteria and viruses, but its quite possible they are chemically contaminated, too. I'm not sure I would trust even the best water filter in such cases. Better to just buy bottled water. It's relativly inexpensive to buy enough.
 
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