Survival Food Supply

Survival Food Supply Includes Nature - Foraging Foods

When it comes to setting up a survival food supply, I think survivalists should open up their thinking a little.

Actually, I'm sure hardcore survivalists agree, but most people still aren't ready to go all the way.

When it comes to emergency foods, there are a large number of potential catastrophes that potentially threaten us. These range from relatively common ones such as temporary electrical blackouts and hurricanes to extensive but limited ones such as a pandemic to something that brings down civilization itself as we now know it -- a nuclear war or comet, say.

We must be prepared for all three types of eventualities. The Department of Homeland Defense recommends everybody keep a 72 hour kit stored for every member of their family, on the theory that any emergency will clear up within three days. Some will, others won't.

However, I wonder how many families do have such an emergency preparedness kit for all members of their family? I'd bet it's not many. And remember we'll need fresh potable water during that period. I suspect that most families, however, could get by on the contents of the kitchen shelves if they really had to. It's not fun to go on an involuntary fast for three days, but it's not a killer, even for small children.

Everyone Should Have a Short-Term Survival Food Supply on Hand

However, the aftermath of Katrina made it clear that some people do not have even these reserves of food, let alone three days of bottled drinking water.

So everybody should keep supplies of emergency food and emergency food bars at their workplace, at home and in their car. Nobody knows where they may be when the next catastrophe strikes. You don't know whether you'll have to throw everything into the car at a moment's notice and evacuate, or be unable to leave your home.

If you're hunkered down waiting for a pandemic strain of influenza to burn itself out, that may three months or more. The 1918 Spanish Flu was most severe for about that period. The communities that escaped were the ones that cut themselves totally off from the rest of the world and lived on their stored resources. This would be difficult for communities in the developed world to replicate today, given our dependence on nonlocal supplies of food.

Most families could buy a three month supply of freeze dried foods if they were determined to do so. The #10 cans of dehydrated foods can last a long time (though not the rest of your life), and can be stored in your kitchen, pantry or basement.

Your Survival Food Supply Should Include Canned Goods and Freeze Dried Foods

You should also have supplies of canned food, enough to last for months if necessary. You can start buying a few extra cans every time you go to the supermarket.

If we need food for survival in the long run, dried foods and MREs won't be enough.

We'll have to combine the gardening of our recent ancestors with the foraging of our long ago ancestors.

If you already live on a farm or in a house with large yards, you have the advantage. You can get started learning how to garden the vegetables and fruits you enjoy, and then how to can and dry them for the winter months.

You can also read the good books you can find, including the classic Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons, on how to find, identify, and cook many wild plants which are just as edible and delicious as the veggies we're using to buying in the produce section of our supermarkets.

And they won't have pesticides sprayed on them either.

Do avoid plants on the side of roads, while automobiles are still running.

I'm sure nobody has done a nutritional analysis of them, but I suspect that they're all just as loaded with vitamins, minerals and polyphenols as the usual foods we eat -- and maybe more so.

The great survival food supply is the Great Outdoors.

Next: survival foods -- because you can't store enough food now to last for the rest of your life.