To emphasize the importance of having the best survival food kits, I would like to refer to the popular ‘survival rule of 3’, where you can survive 3 weeks without
Generally, you can survive 3 minutes without oxygen, 3 hours without shelter if you are in a harsh weather conditions, 3 days without water and finally, 3 weeks without food.
When Shit Hit the Fan, how can we best prepare ourselves with enough food supply? Will you be prepared enough to face this adversity? If you have ready to eat food storage and you are in the right state of mentality, you will be able to adapt much faster compared to those around you. This means that you can take advantage of the benefits
In this post, I attempt to give you a comprehensive guide on Survival Food Kits. Consequently, I would do an in-depth review on the best survival food kits for the year. However, if you are looking for individual selections of the best survival food, you can check out our long term food storage list article.
What is a Survival Food Kit?
A Survival Food Kit is basically survival food and supplies that helps you to take care of you and your family’s need for bodily nutrition from 3 days to 14 days.
Why must it be from 3 to 14 days? This is the amount of time required for you to clean-up after the disaster or even bug-out to find a shelter.
It is always better to have more survival food supply as compared to less. When your place is hit with a disaster, you have the option of helping other people out because you know you have sufficient supply for you and your loved ones. Who knows, the person you helped will not only be grateful but will actively contribute for your survival.
Types of Survival Food Kits
Generally, survival food kits are made for 2 situations: (1) If you take shelter at a place after the disaster; or (2) when you bug-out or evacuate.
For the First Type, taking shelter after a calamity is also known as bugging-in. For example, if the power supply at your area was cut-off, you remain in your home for shelter.
Most survival food kits prepare survival meals which are meant for bugging-in. For this kind of Survival Food Kits, you have the option of choosing food which you and your family prefer. The survival food packs you chose must have sufficient nutritional value too.
Without electricity, you need to start consuming food in your refrigerator before it gets bad. Those food which are storable should only be consumed when you are out of options.
For the Second Type, in situations when you want to bug-out, you need to consider more factors before deciding the ideal survival foods. You need to pack
You need to ensure that your survival food kit is packaged well, ensuring that no germs can go in although the kit is tossed around. Remember to open and close your food containers carefully, ensuring that the cap is completely sealed.
Here’s a video to show you how a survival food kit looks like. I didn’t do a review on the Emergency Food Kit by Wise Company. However, I think it’s still an excellent reference on what you can expect.
Why do you need a Survival Food Kit?
Getting sufficient nutrients is vital for your body to function at its optimum condition. Without proper nutrition, your body will weaken and you will not be capable of overcoming obstacles effectively.
Most people don’t realize how difficult it is to get good food, especially when your part of the country is facing a crisis. Only when you understand the value of food and realize the importance of preparing a self-sustaining food source, then you will start being committed to prepare an emergency food supply.
Reason 1: Scarcity of food when met with a disaster
When disaster strikes, food is one of the hardest-to-find basic necessity. Hence, it would be really important for you to stockpile survival food, ensuring that that you have enough supplies to last up to two weeks.
The stores near your home may be closed for weeks, and the roads may be considered unsafe for travelling. Hence, you need a supply of emergency food either stocked up in your home or have it safely sealed in your bug-out bag.
If you live in a place where natural disasters are likely to happen, such as tsunamis and tornadoes, you need to stockpile on the required amount of food.
If you have any extra food, you can consume them too if you do not have the energy to cook.
Reason 2: Putting your mind at ease
If you have sufficient amount of food source, you can ensure that your family members survive until people come to the rescue. Alternatively, it would be until the roads to obtain food sources clear up.
When a catastrophe happens, if you have stored food, you will put you and your loved ones at ease. You know that there will be sufficient food to nourish everyone although you are denied access to local stores for obtaining food.
When you are able to keep this worry off your mind, you will be able to keep your mind calm in most instances. You will have better chances for survival because you can function efficiently. You will be able to make sound decisions although you are caught up in a bad situation.
Reason 3: Maintain financial stability during a tragedy
If you have sufficient long term food supply, you will not need to purchase anything during emergency. When a calamity strikes, most people will be in a panic buying mode which may render the price of food to spike up. This is because there is a sharp increase in demand, and a steep decrease in supply.
If you have sufficient food in the storeroom, such as organic vegan emergency food or even survival meals which are ready to eat. You would already have prepared depending on your family’s needs. Your funds can instead be kept or used for other needs.
During a financial crisis, where the most recent one is the Great Recession in 2008, having survival food supplies can allow you to focus your financial resources on other matters. You do not need to spend a penny on food, and your loved ones can still maintain health because of the nutritious food stocked.
How do you prepare a sustainable and longterm food supply?
To put together an emergency food supply, it often takes some time and commitment. Here are some of the things you can consider while preparing an emergency food supply.
First, you need find out what type of emergencies are you most prone to experience. If you understand what are the possible calamities that may happen, you can put a more specific effort in preparing for such disasters. It’s even better if you know the time needed for you to recover from the disaster.
Second, you need to understand your family’s needs. Depending on the number of members you have in your family, and whether your family member have allergies, you need to select the type of food to stash. If you have made these considerations, you and your loved ones do not need to suffer unnecessarily when SHTF and focus on making sure that everyone is safe!
Third, you need to work with what you have. If you often buy groceries and have some empty cans lying around, you can start stocking up things using those empty cans. Being an excellent prepper means that you need to be creative in assessing situations.
What makes a Good Survival Food Kit?
So, what should you look for in the Emergency survival food? Ideally, they must have a healthy nutritional profile, be suitable for long-term food storage and easily cooked. Of course, whether those survival food packs are easily cooked depends on how well you can cook too, where it has to be easy to cook based on your level of skill.
There is no one-size-fit-all solution. Since everyone’s needs are different, I can only identify important factors to consider before purchasing a prepper food kit. The review on the best Survival Food Kits are based on a comparison on different factors, where I would review them based on the view by the general public.
Here are some criteria to think about for choosing the ideal food storage kit.
Criteria 1: Taste
Even during emergency situations, we still need to consume food which taste good for us. Hence, it would be wise for us to hunt for the best tasting emergency food supply.
The taste is highly dependent on the quality of ingredients used. This means that you cannot be too thrifty in spending when you want to stock up on emergency food kits.
Another alternative is that you can improvise on the food served. You can add some veggies, seasonings or meat to make it taste better.
Criteria 2: Period it can be kept
When we are picking the best survival food kits, we need to decide how long we want them to be kept.
Since there is no one size fit all solution, you need to decide how much survival food you want to stockpile. This is highly dependent on how long you want to keep the food before changing a new one. Do you only intend to keep a 10-year food supply? How about 20-year shelf life food or even 25 year food packs? Some may even aim for a 30-year food storage.
If the food lasts not more than 5 years, it should not be used for long-term food storage.
How long the food ca be kept is highly dependent on the packaging. If the manufacturer uses quality packaging, you can be assured that the food packs can last long. Also, you need to pay attention to how many servings are kept per pack. If you open one of the food packets, the remaining food contained in the packet will not last as long.
Criteria 3: How much survival food do I need?
Practically speaking, it depends on how you want to budget for the best prepper food supplies. If you are willing to spend more cash at this point of time, where you are more willing to spend on things which require a greater amount of initial investment, emergency food with 25 year shelf life may be suitable for you.
However, if you want to prep with a limited budget, survival food kits that last for 10 years is a good start. Although the cost spent may be more in the long-run, it is good enough for keeping you and your family ready for disasters.
The considerations you need to take into account include how many people are you preparing for? Does any of your family member have allergies towards certain types of food?
In considering how much survival food do you need, you must consider the amount of calories and nutrition that is necessary too. Calories are basically the amount of energy your body can obtain from a particular food. In an emergency, you need to add an extra 500 calories to what you usually take because they may be more physical activities involved in completing survival chores.
Nutrition would be the contents of the food itself, which is really important if you want to maintain sufficient amount of minerals in your body which is necessary for a healthy body.
Criteria 4: Nutrition contained
Most of the survival packs are filled with carbs, but they lack other nutrients that are required to nourish your body. Remember to look at the amount of sodium in each pack because they tend to contain more salt as compared to normal meals.
Best Survival Food Kits Comparison Table
Here’s a table that contains all the important information. It should help you cancel out some options which are not suitable for you.
Image | Name | Price | Shelf-Life | Weight | Rating | Benefits |
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Mountain House (14-Day) | Check BEST Price | 30 years | 12.90lbs | 5.0/5.0 | Get a 30-Year Taste Guarantee and food with quality that is hard to beat |
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Augason Farms (30-Day) | Check BEST Price | 20 years | 24.00lbs | 4.4/5.0 | Get a diverse variety of freeze-dried food with 54,670 worth of calories |
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Mountain House Bucket | Check BEST Price | 30 years | 3.45lbs | 4.6/5.0 | Contains enough calories and nutrition for 3 1/2 days |
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Chef's Banquet | Check BEST Price | 20 years | 28.00lbs | 4.0/5.0 | High standards for quality and taste |
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Wise Company Variety Pack | Check BEST Price | 25 years | 7.50lbs | 4.0/5.0 | Stackable buckets filled with food including fruits, veggie and milk |
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Patriot Pantry | Check BEST Price | 25 years | 9.80lbs | 3.9/5.0 | Contain higher carbs food suitable for lunch or dinner |
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Wise Company Freeze Dried | Check BEST Price | 25 years | 19.80lbs | 4.0/5.0 | Really easy to prepare and store in compact & secure buckets |
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Augason Farms Lunch & Dinner | Check BEST Price | 20 years | 13.00lbs | 4.5/5.0 | Get 21,020 calories jam packed in this bucket for main courses |
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Survival Tabs | Check BEST Price | 25 years | 1.8lbs | 4.3/5.0 | Decently priced survival food tabs which gives you all the daily ESSENTIAL Vitamins |
The Best Survival Food Kit
Now, I will move on to talk about the best deals on Survival Food Kits. I will attempt to give a detailed review on each of them.
1. Mountain House 14-Day Emergency Food Supply Kit
Background –This product by Mountain House topped the list because it fulfills most of the criteria above satisfactorily. Not only that, the quality of this product is affirmed by an overwhelming amount of positive reviews, suggesting that most people have the same views about this product too.
Mountain House products has consistently been one of the primary choice of backpackers, survival enthusiasts and hunters. Mountain House has proven its reliability with an excellent track record of satisfying customer’s needs.
This emergency food kit come with a total of 100 servings, where you should be able to apportion 1800 calories per day, based on a 14-day emergency.
Taste – Mountain House is known to produce survival food that taste good. They even backed up this claim with a 30 Year Taste Guarantee, ensuring that it would be the ideal survival food.
You will be surprised how good these packets of food taste. For example, the Biscuits and Gravy tastes really good where you can taste the different parts separately. The biscuits would be really crispy while the gravy tastes real too.
For the breakfast skillet, you can taste separate textures and flavors for each ingredient, such as the egg, hash browns and sausage.
The meat in the kit is savory while the vegetables are crispy too. These meals will taste better than most of the camping meals, containing real meat and vegetables.
Duration – It has a 30 year shelf life which is reaffirmed by the ‘best before dates’ stated on the boxes, which should be 30 years after manufacture.
Storage – This is extremely easy to store because it is relatively small in size. It has an area of 20 inches in length x 20 inches in width.
Also, it is extremely lightweight, weighing only 12.9 lbs. This makes it really suitable for bugging out and travelling in general. If you want to go for a hunt, you can just grab a Mountain House 14-Day Emergency Food Supply Kit and you can be assured that you will have nutritious food along the way.
Preparation – The total amount of water required to prepare the Emergency Food supply kit is 72.25 cups of water. In this kit, it contains 42 of just-add-water meals where you can eat it directly out of the pouch.
These packets are really simple to use, just add some hot water and leave it for a few minutes. You can even eat right out of the pouch if you want to save on fuel and water. If you prepare meals from the Mountain House 14-Day Emergency Food Supply Kit, you need less fuel and spend less time cooking the food as compared to most of its peers.
Contents – The Mountain House 14-Day Emergency Food Supply Kit is packed with a variety of meals, containing meals suitable for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
These meals may have high contents of salt and the proportions of vegetables that comes with it is unbalanced.
What does it contain – The variety of food contained in this Survival Food Supply kits is huge. There is a total of 18 types of food contained in this kit!
(1) 5 servings of Breakfast Skillet – it contains Hash browns, scrambled eggs, minced pork and onions, suitable for breakfast
(2) 3 servings of Biscuits and Gravy – it is buttermilk biscuit with pork sausage gravy, suitable for breakfast
(3) 2 servings of Scrambled Eggs with Bacon – it is made with crispy bacon with scrambled eggs
(4) 2 servings of Scrambled Eggs with Ham and Peppers – Scrambled eggs and smoked ham, mixed with green and red peppers
(5) 2 servings of Granola with Milk and Blueberries – contains dried fruit, fiber and unsaturated fats
(6) 4 servings of Pasta Primavera – it has spiral macaroni, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, red & yellow peppers and green beans
(7) 3 servings of Rice and Chicken – seasoned rice and chicken with savory sauce
(8) 2 servings of Beef Stew – made with beef, potatoes and carrots
(9) 2 servings of Beef Stroganoff – Made with natural beef, mushrooms, onions and noodles with some sour cream sauce
(10) 2 servings of Chicken Fried Rice – Long grain rice, chicken, scrambled eggs, chopped onions, mushrooms, green & red peppers and diced carrots.
(11) 2 servings of Chili Mac with Beef – Beef with spicy chili sauce, macaroni noodles, onion and beans.
(12) 2 servings of Lasagna with Meat Sauce – Pasta with cheese that is rich with tomato meat sauce
(13) 2 servings of Macaroni and Cheese – Macaroni noodles with cheesy sauce
(14) 2 servings of Mexican Style Rice and Chicken – spicy rice, beans and chicken seasoned with tomato, peppers and olives
(15) 2 servings of Noodles and Chicken – Pasta with chicken, and red peppers
(16) 2 servings of Italian Style Pepper Steak – steak with red, green and yellow bell peppers, onions and tomatoes with long grain rice
(17) 2 servings of Spaghetti with Meat Sauce – Spaghetti pasta with beef, with marinara sauce.
(18) 1 serving of Chicken Teriyaki with Rice – Made with dices of chicken, bamboo shoots and rice.
What can you use it for – Hundreds of people consume Mountain House’s products daily. This means that there are no problems for occasional everyday use.
Since it’s called an ‘Emergency’ Food kit, it would be suitable for Emergency Preparedness. This is further shown by the fact that the kit is lightweight and compact, which allows easy storage.
You don’t need to wait until an SHTF situation arrives to enjoy this meal. The emergency food kit is suitable even if you are going for camping, backpacking, hunting or even travel. Just bring some clean water and a burner then you are ready to get your meals ready.
This 14-day supply kit is a great way for you to sample a variety of products from Mountain House too.
Since it is lightweight, even your children can carry a considerable amount of them too in their backpack. As compared to most Meals which are Ready to Eat, they do not lose shelf life fast too. Furthermore, you only need to add boiling water and need not actually cook the food, OR you can even eat them right out of the packet!
These qualities are hard-to-beat and would definitely be useful when you are preparing for an emergency. With this survival food kit, you can satisfy your hunger and get some peace of mind although turmoil has been running loose.
If you are looking for delicious meals which are easy to prepare, you can consider getting this survival food kit.
2. Augason Farms 30-Day Emergency Food Storage Supply
Background – Augason Farms may not be as popular as its peers, but I would say that they are one of your best bet for getting quality food for long term storage. It is one of the best emergency food companies. This company’s products include a diverse amount of freeze-dried foods which you will not find in other brands.
However, Augason Farm’s Survival Food kit does not contain a variety of freeze-dried food such as freeze-dried mangos. You need to customize your own survival food kits if you want that diversity.
Contents – This pail contains 307 servings, which is packed in a total of 35 Food Pouches. This food storage supply has a total of 54,670 calories, which is a huge amount, sufficient for bugging-out or living off-the-grid. If you segregate it to 30 days, you can take around 1,822 calories per day.
During times of emergencies, you need more energy to carry out chores. Hence, you need to consume larger amount of calories for energy.
What does it contain – In this 30-Day Emergency Food Supply Kit, there is a total of 8 kinds of food.
(1) Cheesy Broccoli Rice and Creamy Chicken Flavored Rice – which are rich in taste, satisfying your hunger with a delicious High-Carbohydrate Meal. Simmer it with water and the food should be ready for consumption!
(2) Macaroni and Cheese – If you need some comfort food, you can get the pack with Macaroni and Cheese, which can be prepared really quick.
The Cheese powder and Macaroni are separated. You get 4 bags of macaroni with 7.5 servings each, and 2 bags of cheese with 15 servings each.
Since the noodles and cheese are separated, you can decide how much cheese you want to put in your meal.
(3) Hearty Vegetable Chicken Soup and Creamy Potato Soup – This survival food package is ready to satisfy you even when you are in the mood for a creamy soup or a broth soup.
With a balanced amount of seasonings, you can be sure that this is both nutritious and delicious. It would be especially satisfying to eat this if you are caught in a cold environment.
Since the potatoes are separate from the soup mix, you have to mix it up manually before cooking it.
(4) Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal – This Oatmeal is really suitable for breakfast. Start your day with this maple-flavored oatmeal. It is an excellent source of fiber for you too!
The Oatmeal is topped with some freeze dried fruits too.
(5) Morning Moo’s Low Fat Milk – This is a whey-based beverage, which tastes like fresh milk (which explains why it’s called ‘Milk’). It is rich with calcium, Vitamin A and Vitamin D.
You can eat it even if it’s hot or cold. Be sure to get some chocolate too when you enjoy your Morning Moo’s Low Fat Milk. This is one of the signature product from Augason Farms.
Some may even like this cold rather than at room temperature. You get 4 bags of 20 servings for this.
(6) Instant Potatoes – These potatoes can give a decent amount of calories, and they are really yummy too! There is no need for washing or peeling.
(7) Banana Chips – It is really convenient to snack on some banana chips because you can just get them out of the pouch and eat them.
By consuming banana chips, you can get important nutrients too. After hiking or doing some chores, you can get enjoy some sweet banana chips to lighten your mood.
Duration – This survival food kit has a 20 year shelf life. This means that you do not need to worry that the food will go bad soon if you store them properly.
Even if you open the bucket, the pouches themselves have stated time before expiry too. As long as the pouches are not damaged, the food should be suitable for consumption.
Do take note that the best by date in the pouches themselves will not be 20 years.
Preparation – You only need to add water and heat it up below boiling point to most of the meals ready. Adding water is required only for the Cheesy Broccoli Rice and Creamy Chicken Flavored Rice, Macaroni and Cheese, Hearty Vegetable Chicken Soup and Creamy Potato Soup and the Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal.
The Low fat milk, instant potatoes and banana chips does not require water for preparation.
How much water do you need to prepare the meal? For large pouches, you need 2 to 4 cups of water. It may take around 18 gallons of water to rehydrate all of the food in the survival food kit.
The price for this survival food kit is really hard to beat too. If you try to find this amount of food around your surroundings, you can be sure that it would cost much more than what is priced here.
With this value and taste, you will be impressed with how much you can get from this bucket!
3. Mountain House Classic Bucket
Background – The Mountain House Survival Food Kit is excellent because of its many qualities. This include allowing you to quickly prep, where you only need to add water to the pouch. After adding water, you can eat it in less than 10 minutes. Also, there is no need for cleanup after that too!
What does it contain – The mountain house bucket contains 12 pouches: (1) 2 pouches of Beef Stroganoff with Noodles; (2) 2 pouches of Chicken Teriyaki with Rice; (3) 2 pouches of Beef Stew; (4) 2 pouches of Lasagna with Meat Sauce; (5) 2 pouches of Noodles & Chicken, and (6) 2 pouches of Granola with Milk & Blueberries.
This bucket contains a total of 29 total servings.
Nutrition – The Allergens contained in this emergency food packet is Soy, Milk, Wheat, Egg and Coconut.
Duration – This bucket contains enough food and nutrition to feed you for 3 ½ days.
Furthermore, each pouch of food has a proven 30 year shelf life. This means that this survival food kit is suitable for long-term storage. When you have insufficient food, you can open up these buckets to help feed a bigger crowd.
This 30 year shelf life claim is not only used in Mountain House’s marketing campaign, but they back it up with a 30 year Taste Guarantee. This is to ensure that their customers feel at ease, especially when you know that your family’s needs is covered during calamities.
Although this is a food for long-term storage, you need to ensure that each kit is tightly sealed. Make sure that no bacteria can contaminate your food.
Also, Mountain House has dated the pouches to last 10 or more years, which is an excellent time period.
What can you use it for – The Mountain House Classic Bucket can be utilized for emergency food storage, consumed during camping trips and it is suitable for you to carry around when you are doing backcountry hiking.
For Outdoor Trips, the Mountain House Classic Bucket can help you make planning your next outdoor adventures much easier. You do not need to depend on a camping stove or even purpose find food sources.
The survival food kit does not require any refrigeration too. You only need to add water to it and it would be ready for consumption. (Remember to wait for at least 10 minutes first)
This means that you not only get food packs which are easy-to-carry, you need minimal effort to make them edible. Other food may either take up too much space in your camping backpack or even require more effort to make the food edible.
For Hiking, the Mountain House freeze dried food is a suitable food source. It is lightweight and you can get the necessary nutrition from it.
Taste – You can be sure that food from the Mountain House Classic Bucket will taste amazing. The food has an excellent aroma which you can smell just by opening the packet itself, despite it being in a dry state. Things get even better when you add water. You can be sure that the food you obtained has richness in its taste, and the aroma would be excellent too.
You can be sure that the taste of food contained in the Mountain House Classic Bucket is unbeatable as compared to its peers. Who knows, you may even start desiring for this food just because it tastes so good!
Not only that, Mountain House promises a 30-Year Taste Guarantee. This shows Mountain House’s commitment towards giving you the best Survival Food Kit in the market.
Storage – The Mountain House emergency food is well-stored in the bucket, safely sealed inside it. These buckets are manufactured to allow convenience in stacking and storing them. Therefore, you can be sure that the Mountain House classic bucket will not take too much storage space.
Convenience – The emergency food packs contained in this survival kit is really easy to make! Just add water or even use a burner to heat up your food!
Downside – Products by Mountain House are expensive. You may have to resort to other survival food kits or even customize your own if you do not have the budget for this.
Therefore, if you are really picky on what you eat, the Mountain House Classic Bucket will definitely meet your expectations. It’s really lightweight making it suitable for travel. Be sure to keep this survival food kit in your bug-out bag!
4. Chef’s Banquet 30 Day Emergency Food Supply
Background – Chef Banquet has been setting a high standard for quality and taste, while providing the best food for long-term storage. They are known to deliver a high-quality meals where all of the pouches are prepared with excellent quality ingredients.
Contents – This bucket has a total of 330 servings! The meals that this Emergency Food Kit has is jammed pack with calories, where it can go to a total amount of 2,100 calories per day for 1 adult.
However, for some, the servings in this survival food kit may be too much carbs and provide minimal vitamins and minerals. If you consume this regularly, you may only get minimal amount of vitamins for your body.
You may have to add something nutritious to go along with this bucket. Chef Banquet has a dried fruit bucket which tastes really good, and it can help in providing nutrition too.
Packaging – The emergency kit comes with a durable 6 Gallon Emergency Food Pail, containing high-quality packaging materials. With this careful packaging, the food is made for long-term shelf life.
Of course, you need to make sure that the product is properly sealed to ensure that your food can last long. Since the servings are not individually packaged, you may need to reconsider if you want them to be so.
What does it contain – There are 8 different tasty Food storage meals, packed in the Food Grade BPA-Free bucket.
Here’s a list of what is included:
(1) Oatmeal with 60 servings;
(2) Hearty Potato Soup with 60 servings;
(3) Chicken Flavored Vegetable Stew with 30 servings;
(4) Mixed Vegetables with 30 servings;
(5) Instant Potatoes containing 30 servings;
(6) Macaroni & Cheese with 30 servings;
(7) Beef Flavored Vegetable Stew consisting of 30 servings;
(8) Cheddar Broccoli Rice with 30 servings.
Do take note that the food is packaged as 30 or 60 servings in one pouch. For example, you get 30 servings of pasta in one pouch. This means that you need to measure the total amount of food yourself and try not to waste any food.
If you have several packages open already, this means that it will be difficult to store them.
Duration – If you want to get the best taste and nutritional value out of the bucket, you have to consume the product before 20 years from manufacturing date, PROVIDED it is stored at 60F (16.6 degree Celsius.)
If you store it at 70 F (21.1 degree Celsius), the Emergency Food Supply will only be good 10 years from manufacturing date.
Taste – You can be assured that the taste of each food is good. However, bear in mind that there is no actual meat in the bucket although it does says it serve Beef Flavored Vegetable Stew and even Chicken Flavored Vegetable Stew.
Preparation – You may have to test out different water amount and even time taken to cook some of the food in the bucket. The instructions given mostly underestimate the time taken to boil the food and the amount of water required. The broccoli and rice packet may need more water and boiling time for it to be ready.
One way to reduce the cooking time and heat required is to soak these in water overnight. Once they are softened up, you can easily cook them.
You can be assured that the food will taste really good, once you get the proportions right. You need to segregate the packets in a way where your body gets the required nutrition.
Chef’s Banquet Emergency Food Storage Kit has one of the best value for an emergency food supply. Do note that the food storage kit fluctuates a lot in price, where it may fall as low as $100 or go as high as $200. I suggest that you purchase it when it is around $100.
Even if you want to be thrifty on your spending, this is an excellent product to purchase! This is really good value for the amount of food that you get.
5. Wise Company Emergency Food Variety Pack
Background – the Wise Company Emergency Food Variety Pack contains a variety of tasty food, containing fruits, veggies and milk. This kit contains a total of 104 servings.
Wise company is one of the best survival food company. They are known to offer healthy food that is prepared only in matter of minutes by adding water to it.
Duration – The bucket has a long-term shelf life of 25 years. It means that you can be prepared when you need it the most.
Preparation – The Emergency Food Variety Pack is really easy to prepare, where it does not require cooking. You only need to add water to get most of the packs ready for consumption.
The Rehydration should take about 12 to 15 minutes.
Also, the serving size is extremely good. The so-called 4 servings contained in the bag was large, and you can even say that it is more than 4 servings per bag.
Package – Meals are packed inside pouches to ensure that the quality of the food is maintained. Also, the buckets that store the food are stackable too, taking up minimal space in your home.
The packaging was really great, and you can be sure that the food will lasts for around 20 years.
Taste – I will vouch that the taste of the food is excellent.
What you can use it for – The Emergency food kits are suitable for daily consumption. Alternatively, you can keep them for long-term storage, helping you prepare for an unexpected calamity.
Furthermore, they are suitable for consumption when you are doing some outdoor activities. This includes camping with your family members or hiking a mountain.
Since the food in this survival food kit tastes really good, you can be sure that your camping trip experience is enhanced if you consume this.
What does it contain – There are 11 different types of food contained in this Survival Food Kit.
(1) Pouch of creamy pasta and vegetable rotini with 4 servings each;
(2) Pouch of pasta alfredo containing 4 servings each;
(3) Pouch of savory stroganoff with 4 servings each;
(4) Pouch of creamy tomato basil soup consisting of 4 servings each;
(5) Pouch of freeze-dried peas and corn with 8 servings each;
(6) Pouch of apple cinnamon cereal with 4 servings each and;
(7) Pouch of brown sugar and maple multi-grain containing 4 servings each;
(8) Pouch of butter sauce with 8 servings each;
(9) Pouch of vanilla pudding containing 8 servings each;
(10) Pouch of creamy yogurt with 8 servings each;
(11) 2 Pouches of whey milk containing 12 servings each.
More than half of the meals here are considered as accessories which are meant to enhance meals that are made in the wilderness. This means that you have to consider getting pre-packaged meals that are more suitable to be considered as a main dish if you want more carbo.
If you are planning to bug-out, this is the choice for you. This Grab and Go bug out buckets are made for survival enthusiasts to be able to get their nutritious meal compact in this bucket. I will recommend getting a Survival Food kit from this company if you want long-term emergency food storage.
6. Patriot Pantry Emergency Meals Kit
Background – There are a total of 7 meals, where all of the meals are really suitable for lunch and dinner. The meals in the Survival Food Kit contains higher carbs, making it really suitable for you to consume as a main course.
Patriot Pantry is known to actively support the preparedness lifestyle by testing and using all supplemental food storage products. They will make sure that the quality of the product is adequate for you and your loved ones to survive harsh conditions.
Duration – The Patriot Pantry Emergency Meals Kit has a shelf-life of up to 25 years.
What you can use it for – Since this Survival Food Kit is made for long-term storage, it is ideal for emergency preparedness.
Additionally, you can consume this when you are on your outdoor adventures too! Do note that it is will definitely be a decent side dish, where you can eat it with something else. You will not be really filled with just one serving but you can be assured that the taste is excellent.
Preparation – The meals that come with this survival kit are easy to prepare. You need to boil water and simmer the food for around 10 to 15 minutes.
To get one serving, the approximate calculation for the amount of water required to hydrate the food is that ½ cup of dry food must be hydrated with 2 ½ cups of boiling water. You need a larger volume of water because when you are cooking the food, most of the water evaporates.
Packaging – The Survival food kit comes with the signature slim-line tote, made for compact storage. This packaging design not only saves space, it would also resist damage. This helps keep your survival foods safe and secure.
Be careful, because the seal may come loose and you will not be able to keep the food long-term. Furthermore, the food packages only has manufacturing dates printed on the package and not expiration dates.
All-in-all, it has an excellent storage container which is meant for long-shelf life. The containers are really easy to store and can be stacked to reduce the amount of space you waste for this. This also means that you can easily move the emergency meals kit without much trouble.
What does it contain – There are 7 different meals assorted in the prepper food bucket.
(1) A total of 8 servings of Southwest Savory Rice – It is rice cooked with chicken broth and bell peppers with tomatoes. It’s called the Southwest Savory rice because of its southwestern flair.
(2) 8 servings of Mac and Cheese – It is a dish with semolina elbow noodles and cheddar cheese sauce.
(3) 4 servings of Traveler’s Stew – This is a really rich chicken broth made up of herbs, spices, pasta, lentils, carrots, celery and onion.
(4) 8 servings of Fettuccine Alfredo – Al dente noodles that comes together with cheesy Alfredo sauce.
(5) 8 servings of Chili Mac – A meal that is filled with beans, chili sauce and macaroni noodles. An excellent source for energy.
(6) 4 servings of Black Beans and Rice Soup – it is loaded with protein-rich black beans and it’s filled with rice.
(7) 8 servings of Creamy Chicken Rice – This meal is basically a combination of healthy vegetables and hearty rice.
For some, it may be too many servings per bag. This means that you need to apportion the servings well to effectively get a balanced meal.
It is wise for to prepare for emergencies. The Patriot Pantry Emergency Meals Kit is made to supplement your emergency food storage plan. It is tailored to provide you delicious and nutritious meals during crisis. It would definitely make an excellent addition in your disaster preparedness plan.
7. Wise Company Emergency Freeze Dried Entrees
Background – The Wise Company is well known for producing quality emergency freeze dried entrees.
Packaging – The food is safely sealed in Mylar pouches. Bear in mind that it’s really difficult to arrange the food packs into the bucket once you get it out.
Also, to avoid waste, each pouch conveniently contains 4 servings. This is an excellent apportionment allowing you to keep your food safely stored while allowing you to only take the required amount of food.
However, the servings may be insufficient for some people as their body may need more food. I have listed the calories per serving below.
Preparation – They are really easy to prepare. All you need to do is boil some water and dump the food in. To cook it better, you can work around the food with a spoon to mix it up.
Storage – The emergency food kit comes with lock-in stacking buckets for compact and secure storage without the need of shelving.
The bucket is really secured, and you can reuse it for other purposes. ‘Reusing’ means that the large bucket can be sealed and secured to a reasonable degree, keeping your things tightly sealed.
Contents – this is a value-buy for survival enthusiasts and outdoor enthusiasts alike. You get a total of 26400 calories for a minimal price.
How long can you last with this survival kit? If you are on a 1500 calories diet, it should be able to last 18 days. If you want to consume a 2000 calorie diet daily, it should be able to last 13 days.
Taste – The food is heavy on salt, which is usually the case for most emergency food. Since you will be actively carrying out chores to obtain your necessities, the fact that it is heavy in salt can be a pluspoint too.
Overall, it tastes good too.
What does it contain – There is a total of 13 Different Entrees, where you can get a total of 120 servings too!
(1) 8 servings of Potato Casserole – 2 Bags x 4 Servings per Bag x 210 Calories per serving
(2) 8 servings of Hearty Tortilla Soup – 2 Bags x 4 Servings per Bag x 150 Calories per serving
(3) 8 servings of potato and chicken Pot Pie – 2 Bags x 4 Servings per Bag x 190 Calories per serving
(4) 12 servings of creamy Veggie Pasta – 2 Bags x 4 Servings per Bag x 200 Calories per serving
(5) 8 servings of Pasta Alfredo – 2 Bags x 4 Servings per Bag x 280 Calories per serving
(6) 12 servings of Tomato Basil Soup – 3 Bags x 4 Servings per Bag x 240 Calories per serving
(7) 8 Servings of Cheesy Macaroni – 2 Bags x 4 Servings per Bag x 270 Calories per serving
(8) 8 Servings of Chili Mac – 2 Bags x 4 Servings per Bag x 240 Calories per serving
(9) 12 servings of Chicken Noodle Soup – 3 Bags x 4 Servings per Bag x 180 Calories per serving
(10) 4 servings of Teriyaki & Rice – 1 Bags x 4 Servings per Bag x 270 Calories per serving
(11) 8 servings of Cheesy Lasagna – – 2 Bags x 4 Servings per Bag x 250 Calories per serving
(12) 12 servings of southwest Rice & Beans – 3 Bags x 4 Servings per Bag x 180 Calories per serving
(13) 12 servings of Stroganoff – 3 Bags x 4 Servings per Bag x 250 Calories per serving
All of the pouches generally taste good. Most pouches will give at least 3 good servings, or you can separate it further into 4 small servings.
In general, you get a lot of value considering the price that you pay. With decent-tasting food, long-term storage, and well-apportioned food servings, this is an excellent product. You can definitely purchase this and stash it in your emergency food pile.
8. Augason Farms Lunch & Dinner Emergency Food Supply
Background – This is a new product released by Augason Farms. It is considered to be one of the more popular new releases by Augason Farm.
Contents – It contains a total of 92 servings, stored in 16 food pouches. You can get a total of 21,020 of calories from this bucket! Do note that these packets do not come in a single serving pouch.
This bucket has a lot of servings, but all 8 servings come in one bag of food. So when you open one of the bags, you need to eat the remaining servings before it goes bad.
Also, it is important to note that some of the products may contain msg or artificial sweeteners. If you are allergic to peanuts, you can still consume Augason Farms products because their items do not contain peanuts.
What does it contain – There is a total of 8 lunch and dinner varieties available:
(1) Cheesy Broccoli Rice and Chicken Flavored Rice – simply add water and simmer and you can eat a much-needed hot meal
(2) Vegetable Chicken and Chicken Noodle Soup – it is made with noodles, freeze dried vegetables, chicken broth and flavored seasonings
(3) Corn Chowder Soup – It is easy to prepare, and definitely an excellent energy food in emergency situations
(4) Creamy Potato Soup – Add hot water to this soup mix and simmer for a few minutes. It is packed with potatoes, which has a creamy texture
(5) Macaroni and Cheese – you have to boil the macaroni until cooked and stir it into the premade cheese sauce.
(6) Fettuccine Alfredo and Italiano Marinara – It is made with seasonings, sauces and pasta. You have to mix it into boiling water and simmer it for a few minutes.
(7) Creamy Stroganoff – You only need to simmer it in the stove for a few minutes to get it cooked
(8) Chocolate Pudding – it is really easy to prepare and an excellent comfort food!
The nutritional information are clearly stated on the label. The meals should be sufficient by themselves, meaning it can be your main course.
Preparation – To prepare these food packs, you need to use fuel. Most of the food here require you to mix them with boiling water and it takes around 20 minutes to get it sufficiently done.
Taste – The taste of the food is quite good. In light of the price, it is a really awesome deal!
Duration – This bucket has a total of 20 years shelf life. It may be lesser if you open a food pack or if you do not store the bucket under the specifications required by the manufacturer.
You can get a great amount of quality food at a great price!
9. Northwest Fork – Non-GMO Emergency Food
I thought it would be awesome to include a Non-GMO (Genetically Modified) Emergency food in the list.
This is a gluten-free and non-gmo emergency food kit that is vegan too.
If your stomach is sensitive and you don’t want to consume any gluten, this would definitely be one of the top picks.
Maximum Freshness – The ingredients that is used have maximum freshness and each of them is packed only when order is in place.
Since it is handpacked by locals, you’ll be surprised at how fresh the food is even when it reaches your doorstep.
10-Year Shelf Life – Despite it being a non GMO food, the food still has a 10-year shelf life, which is really impressive. You’ll get the best nutrients from the most healthy food and still get a decent amount of shelf life too.
10. Non-GMO Survival Tabs
This is a product by ‘The Survival Tabs’ where they’ve prepared a range of ‘Just In Case’ food supply which is highly popular.
In fact, it’s often sold out.
Budget SHTF Food – This is a pretty decently priced where you’ll get the calories you need at minimal amount of cost.
Lasts you through the SHTF Period – You’ll be able to get all the 15 essential vitamins and minerals by taking this survival tabs. Also, you’ll be able to get at least 60 days worth of nutrients from this bottle.
Shelf Life – The survival tab has a shelf life of 25 years! You’ll be able to keep it for years to come!
Conclusion
I hope that my review helped you decide which survival food kit you should get! Remember, that food is an extremely important aspect that you must consider as a prepper.
If you are looking for a vegetarian survival food kit, you can check out PrepareWise meals.
If you have any ideas or comments, please share your thoughts below!
Hello, thanks for this write-up, truly informative!