Emergency food meals

About Emergency foods

It is always advised to keep a stock of foods such as cereals, oils and vegetables as well as your baby and pets'  foods for emergency preparedness purposes. Nowadays, this has become more important and many suppliers have become specialized in this field. Emergency foods have already been in use by military, but now, you may find them in the market.

Types of Emergency foods

The following are three types of Emergency foods: 

    • Food Bars
    • Freeze-dried-foods and Dehydrated-foods
    • Meals Ready to Eat (MRE)

Food Bars:

These are high calorie foods that come in the form of bars. They are delicious and easy to carry.  They come in small pieces of bars of approx 200 calories each, and can be kept for up to five years. They are ideal for emergencies and outings. Equipped with these Food Bars, one can travel with peace of mind.

Freeze-dried-foods and Dehydrated-foods

What are they?

These type of foods are Freeze-dried-foods and Dehydrated-foods. For many of us, freshly frozen foods would be preferable to eating the emergency foods, as they retain the natural taste and flavour. With is in mind, the producers of the Emergency foods have also specialized their skills so as to meet the preferences of consumers as much as possible.

The Freeze-dried-foods emergency foods are prepared by using fresh or frozen foods, then they are cooked in a normal way. After cooking them, then they are freeze-dried. This ensures their natural taste, flavour, shape and texture is retained. The important vitamins and nutrients are also preserved by canning process and this further extends the shelf-life of these foods. These are foods that are processed by taking out the water in them.  This makes them very light to carry, and they take very little space. They are also very nutritious. Furthermore, the fact that they are put in a portable size of cans, this makes it easy to store them.  Most of the common foods that we know, such as pasta, lasagne, fruit, vegetables, herbs, pulses and many more are available in this form. These emergency foods have long been in use by the military, and are now available to public in the market.

How long can you store them?

These types of Emergency foods can now be stored for up to 20 - 30 years, hence are ideal to many preparedness purposes, for example, travel, picnic, family outing, hunting and fishing, disasters, and the like.

What sizes are available?

They are available in different sizes of packs, for example, One-person, Three-day, Three-month, One-year, or Family-size packs. Generally, each pack of emergency meal is designed to meet a complete meal for the day, i.e. breakfast, lunch and dinner. Details of what is included in each pack is usually displayed in the instruction or packaging of the pack, and this may vary from supplier to supplier. A three-day pack per one person may approximately cost about $50 and monthly $200.

How do you eat them?

They are eaten by adding hot or cold water. Some suppliers of emergency foods design them so that the user eats them by adding hot water, and other suppliers design them to go by adding just cold water. There are also versatile varieties that could go with adding either hot or cold water. in either cases, the label of the product shows clear instructions of use, hence would be good for you to look for the instructions before you buy them, and make sure they suit to your intended situation. You may find it best option to buy versatile or those just need adding water,  as these emergency foods are suitable in situations where hot water is not available which is common in emergencies.

Meals Ready to Eat (MRE)

These are full meals that are sealed in a heavy duty heat bags. They have been used by the military since long; nowadays are available for public in the markets. Each meal is packed to cover varieties of side dish, and can be eaten hot without requiring any boiler, heater or firewood. They come with full instructions, and can be stored for up to five years. They are suitable for emergencies, family as well as individuals, for example, hunters, picnic, camping.

Updated: 24 Nov 2013
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By: Yohannes Berhe