A survival food kit is essentially non-perishable food that will outlast the apocalypse, so it can help you navigate a tight spot or tricky situation. Made for emergencies, these survival food kits can prove invaluable in certain situations.
What separates these survival food kit from your typical survival food stockpiles is that these survival food kits comes in pouches, can be rehydrated with just water, and have ridiculously long shelf lives due to the way they’ve been stored. These aren’t just a secret stash of dried foods like beef jerky or berries and so forth – they’re often full meals and have multiple varieties of dishes included.
The closest comparison that most of these food kits have is the food packs you might expect the military to use while out on a nighttime mission, they can keep you satiated through the night and take care of those pesky hunger pangs which can impede your ability to focus and your decision-making ability. They’re similar to certain kinds of military rations (not MREs, which don’t require water). Being able to avoid hunger and starvation are obviously very important in any survival situation, especially if you are out into the wild and need to keep your wits about you to survive.
At the end of the day, even if you aren’t likely to encounter a desperate situation while out and about, you can still use a survival food kit as a good way to carry food around without worrying about it going bad. Most of these products have shelf lives of 25, even 30 years – so it’s a set it and forget it type of thing. Buy it once, and the next time a disaster hits your region, you can hunker down and know you have plenty of supplies available, and you won’t need to worry that they’ve gone bad.
Why do you need a survival food kit?
Whether it’s a hurricane, flooding or a large power outage, if you are suddenly left without a means to get hold of food, you’ll want a survival food kit handy to sustain you until it all blows over. Or perhaps you are the adventurous outdoor-type seeking exciting experiences in the wild, and camping out in the wilderness. In which case, you never know when a survival food kit might be useful (you could also choose to take it along as your campground food).
As you are well aware, I’m sure, disaster can strike at any moment. A giant storm rolls in, you get lost in the middle of the forest, you watch too many Bear Grylls shows and end up stranded in the wilderness alone. Any of these scenarios could feasibly occur, so you need to make sure you have your emergency contingencies in place, and a survival food kit is the best place to start.
Aside from the practicality of having your back covered should everything go haywire, there is a great comfort in having a backup food supply.
It can’t be stressed enough how important it is not to panic if things don’t go as planned, so just the fact that you have a survival food kit handy should alleviate stress and help you keep your cool if disaster strikes. This is especially important if you are with family or friends, since the extra responsibility will cause an undue amount of stress if you don’t have a safety net in place.
One thing to keep in mind with these survival food kits is that they are relatively expensive compared to building your own stockpile – so what we recommend is that you buy a couple of these products to get a ‘headstart’ on your stockpile of emergency supplies, then start working on building your stockpile based on our article about the best survival foods. Your entire stockpile doesn’t need to be comprised of these emergency food kits – having a few of them in storage is sufficient to sustain you through a shorter hunker down period (e.g hurricanes, blackouts, and so forth) – and for your more long term, “end-of-the-world” stockpile, you can slowly build up other kinds of survival food supplies.
Features:
- Quick preparation
- 3.5 days of food
- Contains a variety of flavors
- 30 year shelf life
Starting with arguably the best product on the market, the Mountain House Classic Bucket is everything you could want from a food survival kit, packaged usefully in a handy bucket. This product is super easy to prepare, and you can do it in no time. All you need to do to enjoy your food is add some water to the pouch, and within 10 minutes you’ll have your meal ready to go.
Boasting as many as 50 servings (12 meals or ~3.5 days of food), the Mountain House bucket will keep you going through an emergency hunker down. The Mountain House bucket comes with a variety of flavors, with something for every meal time. Most impressively, the bucket has a 30 year shelf life and doesn’t require refridgeration. That means you can use it to get through a hurricane (along with a blackout) next year or 20 years from now!
Check price of the Mountain House Classic Bucket
- Quick and easy to prepare
- Pretty good value for 12 meals
- Tastes good (not just by the standard of survival food)
- Refridgeration not required
- Needs hot water for best preparation
Features:
- Includes 307 servings in total, with 35 individual food pouches.
- There are a wide variety of flavors.
- Produced in-house for higher quality.
- 25 year shelf life
Possibly offering the best value of the bunch, this emergency food supply from Augason Farms will have you covered for a staggering 30 days. This emergency food supply from Augason Farms comes with a whopping 307 servings. That’s more than enough to keep you, and your family, at ease in case there’s a weather emergency.
With a variety of flavors, you won’t get bored with this food supply, and you may even feel like a bit of a chef as you’re preparing all kinds of different meals. Augason Farms prides itself on producing their freeze-dried and dehydrated foods in-house, meaning they don’t outsource the job, and instead focus on maintaining high standards in terms of quality.
Check price of the Augason Farms 30-Day Emergency Food Storage Supply
- 307 servings, rougly 15 days worth of food for one (they say 30 days but that’s an exaggeration)
- Good variety of flavors
- All food produced and freeze dried in house
- Comes with 30 day meal planner
- Needs hot water
- While it’s excellent value regardless, the ’30 day claim’ implies a caloric deficit
Features:
- Includes 100 total servings.
- Lightweight packaging.
- Small and easy to store.
- 30 year shelf life
The Just In Case food supply kit from Mountain House will help you get through a rough patch with minimal fuss. This product is ideal for getting through a 2 week stint, and the quality shines through. The different meals are tasty and premium quality, making them ideal for hiking or camping, as well as backup supplies for the house.
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Due to the design of the packaging, this food supply won’t take up too much space in the cupboard. This product is also incredibly easy to use, just add boiling water and you’ll be good to go.
Check price of the Mountain House Just In Case 14-Day Emergency Food Supply
- Excellent shelf life
- Easy to store
- Excellent variety including meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Sometimes when you add boiling water to the bag, you may find that not all the food is completely re-hydrated.
- Requires hot water for best result
Features:
- Includes 60 servings total.
- Individually packaged meals means you can separate or keep together as needed
- 25 year shelf life
- Good variety
This food supply from Wise Company is a good option for any emergency, providing that essential nutrition and sustenance when you need it most. This one comes with a variety of entree style dishes, which are a great supplement for your emergency kit.
The meals are sealed in a way that’s conducive to hiking and camping, making them easy to carry around and have with you at all times. Has pretty good shelf life at 25 years
Check price of the Wise Company Emergency Food Supply, Entree Variety
- Good variety, with lunch and dinner options
- Stackable and portable containers
- 14 days of food for 1 (2 meals a day)
- The taste of the meals perhaps isn’t as good as the top 3 survival food kits in this list, which can be an important factor for some.
- Requires hot water for best results
Features:
- Includes a variety of survival kit essentials, such as food, and a bag to carry it in.
- Contains light sources as well as water – not just food
- 12 total servings of food.
This survival kit from Sustain Supply Co. is all you’ll ever need if you get caught up in a sticky situation. This is an extensive all-in-one emergency survival kit. Everything you could possibly want in the first 72 hours after disaster strikes is right here.
As well as plenty of food, the package also includes all-important water, and even light sources, so you can find your way around at night.
- Includes more than just food – water and other good survival essentials are included
- Comes in a backpack so it’s ready to use as an emergency bag immediately – super portable
- Thoughtful inclusion of light sources including flashlight and fire kit
- Quality of each individual item – including the food – are not the highest.
- Will only last you 72 hours or so
- Only 5 year shelf life
Features:
- Quick preparation.
- 32 total servings/12 meals
- Individual food pouches
Another offering from the ever-reliable Mountain House, the Essential Bucket aims to have you covered for your next emergency hunker-down in a blackout/storm or for outdoor adventures. Great for both survival/emergency scenarios and hiking trips, road trips, or camping due to the ease of use, and convenient bucket storage.
Offers great value as a collection of various meal pouches. Excellent 30 year shelf life and 3.5 days worth of meals
Check price of the Mountain House Essential Bucket
- 30 year shelf life
- 12 total meals, 3.5 days worth of meals for 1 person
- Excellent value
- The portion sizes may add up to less than you expect due to the calories of the meals, so bear this in mind when calculating how much time the bucket will last.
- Not as good as the ‘Classic’ bucket in terms of taste
Features:
- Contains 15 essential minerals and vitamins.
- Includes 720 chewable tablets of various flavors.
- Compact tablets make for excellent portability
Designed to contain the necessary minerals and vitamins your body needs in times of crisis, this food ration from Survival Tabs is great to have at home just in case. This is a great option if you want something to have at home in case of an emergency. With the essential minerals and vitamins, you will be able to function at your highest capacity when you need it the most.
Small tablets means no preparation is required, so they are perfect for emergency situations when you have limited resources. they are also extremely portable. The main drawback is unsurprisingly, they don’t taste great, and these tabs are a little evocative of the whole ‘soylent green’ thing. Also, their claim that this will last you 60 days is far off the mark – realistically this amount of calories would last you 10 days or 20 if you stretch. They shouldnm’t advertise it as 60 days worth. Because of this, it’s also not the best value.
Check price of the Survival Tabs 60-Day 720 Tabs Emergency Food Ration
- Designed to be the smallest possible volume means they are super portable and storable
- Water not required
- Gluten free and non GMO
- 25 year shelf life
- 60 days is a big exaggeration for the amount of calories this has
- Not the best value
Features:
- Includes a variety of flavors.
- Contains enough food for 144 meals at ~200 calories per meal
- 25 year shelf life
- Non Soy, Non GMO, no MSG
- Realistically will last ~20 days, 30 days at a stretch
An emergency food kit which comes in a handy, relatively small storage container, this one by NuManna is a solid choice to have around the house. This product offers a fantastic variety of food with great flavors.
It’s more expensive than most and is most appropriate for those with dietary requirements. Realistically enough food to last 15-25 days.
Check price of the NuManna INT-NMFP 144 Meals, Emergency Survival Food Storage Kit
- This product offers a fantastic variety of food with great flavors.
- 25 year shelf life
- Caters to those with special dietary needs
- The price point may put some people off, especially if you’re just looking for an emergency food kit to last you a week at most.
Features:
- Contains 20 bars of 3600 calories each
These emergency, high-calorie food bars from Mayday are great meal substitutes for when you need something fast. It’s much easier to reach for a bar when in need, so these ones offer great convenience for when there’s an emergency and you need some calories quick.
Check price of the Mayday Food Bars Emergency 3600 Calorie Food Bars
- Simple no frills survival food
- Large amount of calories for the price
- The bars are not re-sealable, so if you are unable to finish it in one sitting, you will have to find a way to cover it.
- These are truly emergency food – not the healthiest to eat over the long term unless abslutely neccesary
Features:
- Contains 12 meals at roughly 1250 calories each.
- Includes a flameless heater to warm up meals.
This military-grade food supply crate from MRE includes an assortment of different meals to keep you going when times get desperate. Great for backpacking or camping, with light packaging that’s easy to carry.
Check price of the MREs (Meals Ready-to-Eat) Box B, Genuine U.S. Military Surplus
- Convenient and portable
- High quality, nutritious meals designed for soldiers
- It’s what served in the military for a reason
- The downside to these MREs is that the flameless heater can fail on occasion, meaning you might be left with cold meals.
- MREs aren’t known for being the best tasting food
What makes a great survival food kit? A buyer’s guide to emergency food kits:
So what exactly makes a great survival food kit, and what should you look out for when considering which one to go for with all the options out there?
Quantity
First things first, if things take a turn for the worst, you’re going to want to be sure you have enough food to last as long as it might take to get back on your feet. This duration of time can be anywhere from just a few hours to a few days, or even more.
As a result, when deciding what survival food kit would be best for you, think about how long you and/or whoever is with you are likely to want to be sustained.
Say for example you are heading into the woods alone. You could be fine with a supply that lasts a couple of days or so, since it’s just one of you to look out for. However, if you’re planning on being the one in charge of a family expedition for example, make sure you have enough for everyone to survive off for at least a day.
Convenience
Again, depending on what situation you are anticipating, convenience is a key factor.
If you are going to use the food kit as your main source of food while camping for example, you don’t need to worry so much about the time it takes to prepare, or anything along those lines.
On the other hand, if you are using the kit strictly for emergency situations, then perhaps you will want to go for one that is more readily accessible. One for example that doesn’t require much work, and can be consumed rapidly if need be, with minimal fuss.
The first 72 hours after a disaster are the most critical for survival. Enter your email below to get a checklist of essential items you need in your 72 hour emergency get home bag…
Taste
Admittedly, the taste is much less relevant for emergencies, but if you’re looking for a product that you can use as your go-to food source in the great outdoors, then it should definitely factor into your decision.
While taste shouldn’t be given as much priority as the quantity or convenience, it’s still worth taking into account if you are fussy about food or have strong preferences.
Portability
Depending on whether or not you want this food to be part of a bug out bag of get home bag, the way that the food is packaged and how individually separated the meals are could make a difference to which emergency food kit you end up choosing. If this is purely part of a stockpile and you don’t need it to be transportable, then portability isn’t an issue. On the other hand, if you want to use this food kit as a way to supplement your preparations for bugging out, then having a food kit that breaks down into smaller pouches of relatively small serving sizes is more appropriate.
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The first 72 hours after a disaster are the most critical for survival. Enter your email below to get a checklist of essential items you need in your 72 hour emergency get home bag…
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