SHTF food (short term for evacuations)

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Carl Brutaninadilewski

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Hi,
This question may seem a little remedial, but I'm having trouble finding a satisfactory product.
Anyone have any suggestions for cheap, ready-to-eat food with a long shelf-life that is available at the grocery store?
Where I live, the greatest threat is a tsumani wave. If the alarm ever goes off, I plan on grabbing my rifle, LCE and rucksack and walk 1 mile inland to an elevation of 200+ feet above sea level in 20 minutes (I'm making the assumption all the roads will be too traffic-clogged to drive).
I'd like to pack a couple days worth of food in my rucksack just to sustain me until a get out of the affected areas.
MRE's are expensive in my neck of the woods, so are those pre-packaged backpacker's foods at the Sports Authority, and I'd rather eat my own barf than an MRE anyway.
I've been up and down every aisle in the supermarket and can't find anything that meets these criteria:
1) Doesn't cost more than a lobster dinner in a nice restuarant.
2) Won't bust open in my rucksack and make a mess.
3) Doesn't have excessively heavy packaging (i.e canned goods)
4) Can be eaten right out of the package with no preparation/utensils (other than a pocket knife)
5) Has a decent nutrional/caloric value (a rucksack full of Pringle cans doesn't satisfy this requirement)
6) Won't turn into a package of googey glob on a hot summer day.
7) Has a shelf-life of at least a few months

any ideas?
thanks
 
Please don't be offended but, I think you need to rethink priorities. You are packing to survive, not live the high life. Also you are shopping for a Lexus and want to pay for a Kia.

Good survival food is going to cost more. You want good nutritional food that is going to survive the disaster with you, can be eaten cold, and will definately be fresh and healthy when you open it because it's your only option. Survival food is processed to a much higher standard than regular groceries. It is also packed in a sturdy lightweight package that will maintain the freshness of the food for a long period of time under harsh conditions. Of course you're going to pay more. If you don't want quality and reliability, buy a can of spam and take your chances.

Survival rations will not be your favorite foods, prepared just the way you like it and taste like Moms home cooking. It is intended to keep you alive! MRE's are a good ration. I've lived on them for more time than I like to think about. They're not fantastic but, they keep you alive.
 
I got a backpack full of beef jerky that I replace every 6 months.
Those processed summer sausages have a long shelf life, too.
Pack what you thing you'll need for one person in one day in a ziplock bag.
I keep at least 6 bags ready.
The nice thing is that you won't eat all the jerky too fast.
It's too salty and your jaw gets sore from chewing it.
Once you need it, open bag#1 and contents, stuff a damp paper towel in it, that will soften up the jerky a bit. Or you could just let it soften up in your mouth.
It's prolly not the best option, but it works, I had to use it once.
The local sav-a-lot once or twice a year sells it for $2 a 6 or 8 oz. bag.
You could also buy a food dehydrator and make your own jerky.
It's a lot cheaper to make than you think, esp. if you hunt deer, etc.

Bring some gatorade or pedia-sure, too.
And at least as much water as other liquids.

There are also civilian equivalents of MREs.
I think they call them heater meals, or something like that.
You don't get the matches, cocoa, coffee creamer, tobasco sauce, etc., but they're not bad.
Better than chewing on a tomato worm.
 
Met-Rx bars

The bigger, high calorie ones.
Goo dnutrition and calories, while being durable, portable, and barely palatabl eenough to eat but not enough that you will eat them all at once!
C-
 
"...cheap, ready-to-eat food with a long shelf-life that is available at the grocery store..."

You can have two out of the four qualifiers... that's about as good as it's gonna get.

lpl/nc
 
Here in earthquake country, I keep from 3-4 weeks worth of food around the house. I don't get any "special" food. I go to Costco and get stuff that I like to eat anyway: chili, beans, rice, noodles, canned corn, etc.

I just rotate the food by eating it along with the more perishable foods I like to eat.

Now if they made freeze-dried tactical survival custard filled doughnuts, I'd spring for those. :)
 
buy a mountain bike or dualsport motorcycle- if a tsunami is your main concern, speed and agility are your main defense. MRE's are DESIGNED for exactly what you describe- why eschew (this could be a pun?) them just cause you don't like the taste of barf?- I mean, as long as they have tabasco sauce you can't go too wrong...
 
Water is going to be a BIG needed item.

Staying with the Grocery Store as being the only source:

I agree with Derek, Peanut Butter, raisens, dates. The foil packages of Tuna and Salmon are good.

Even just having a metal GI canteen is very valuable. One can boil water, add rice toss in some tuna/ salmon. Still having a means of water/ purify water is going to be huge factor. So add a pc of plastic sheeting or tin foil to catch water. Box of Bisquik to make biscuits, one can make "tuna biscuits" , portable to toss and eat on the move.

Using a GI metal canteen and mess kit, tin foil, with utensils and knives... and if can make a fire....

Mix up the Bisquick, I have cooked many a biscuit by slapping onto a rock facing the coals. Cooked eggs from a hen house in the rind of oranges or grapefruit, fresh caught fish from a pond. Peanut butter sandwiches using that morning's biscuits ( just cut off the rock) and with raisens hiked to next point during lunch. I have baked a pizza using the foil as a reflector out in the middle of nowhwere...make a pizza pan using the foil and flat rock above the coals.

The pizza will never allow one to sell franchises, but the rabbit, squirrel or fish, some tomatoes and green onion from a garden, paramsan powedered cheese for toppings - well it'll eat and boost one's self esteem in the middle of nowhere, sustain them and give energy for the hike tomorrow...

Pears and apples off a tree are a treat, so are persimmons. If you are not sure if the persimmon is ripe - once you bite into a green one - you will know forever what is ripe and what is not.

Peruse the Grocery store - one might be real surprised what is available.
 
You don't do much backpacking, do you? ;)

The criteria that gets in your way is "requires no preparation." That adds a lot of water weight to food. If you can stand to boil some water, then Top Ramen style noodles move to the head of the list. They are my favorite backpacking food and meet all other criteria. "Cuppa Noodles" is even better, but they are tricky to pack because the cup packaging takes up space, and is fairly fragile.

Any dehydrated backpacking food is also a good thing. Some of them can be pretty tasty. Expensive? Where I am, they go for $5 a serving or so. Cheap by comparison to fast food or any other "eat out" items.

sm is right, water is the big concern. That stuff is heavy, and you have to have it. So plan your route to keep you by a river, creek, or other source of water. Then carry a portable water purifier like a Katydyn Hiker ($60 or so).

I think the load you're looking for is:

-A Katydyn hiker or other portable water purifier.
-Plastic bottles or some other kind of canteen to store 1-3 quarts of water
-A backpacker's stove
-A backpackers mess kit or other lightweight set of pots and utinsels.
-2 packs of Ramen noodles per day, or 2 cuppa noodles. per day. Or 2 freeze dried backpacker meals per day.
-2 packs of instant oatmeal per day.
-Several sticks of beef jerky per day
-Several cheap granola bars per day.
-Several kinds of snack food per day. I like dehydrated banana chips. The potassioum in them is good for muscles and nerves. Granola is good. GORP is good (mixture of peanuts, raisins & M&M's or equivalent.)

That's all you need. Its remarkably light. Each meal only takes 10 minutes to prepare, and tastes much better than MRE's. You won't make any smoke, because the backpacker stove is really clean. All you have to do is boil water, and mix into your meal. Cost should be no more than $10 per day.

With the water purifier, you pump 1-2 quarts of water 1-2 times per day, and you're set to go.

If you want to make this easy and fun, go into an REI store, tell them you want to get into backpacking, and want to plan meals for 3-4 days. You'll get all the help you need.
 
In your hypothetical situation, I'd advise you save most of the space for water, water purification supplies, and other essentials. Throw a couple of food items in to keep you going until you find other sources. Water will be your biggest concern, though. Believe it or not, you can actually survive a few days eating one or two MRE's a day, but you'll not last more than a day or two without potable water.

Hate MRE's that much? Go with beef jerky, peanut butter, and some of the bars described above. It ain't gourmet, but it'll keep you alive.

And, while you're at it, throw a survival book in the pack, describing natural safe food sources in the bag. Just in case.
 
I think all this guy needs is some fruit cake. Round compact shape - easy to pack or roll (with four and an axle make an SHTF ride). It will survive any environmental calamity as well as nuclear fallout at any level (much like a cockroach but not as tasty). Lord knows it never spoils! I think it fits his original requests very well.
 
I would suggest some dehydrated campers food- delicious stuff really, considereing its dehydrated.

But, obviously, that takes water- not a good thing when water is scarce.

So, i suggest you find some MRE's that you might like. They run 8$ for the meal, matches,moist towlette, utensils, salt+pepper packet, sugar, coffee, cider, and two snack bars, two slatine packs with jelly, all packaged inside thick plastic bag. The Meal itself is packaged in its own tough little wrapper, and if you want you can heat them up by putting it into hot water or just taking it out and heating it in a pan.

And seriously- they taste OK. Not great, but if your hungry they will taste delicious, and if your not they will taste alright.

At my army surplus store they are available in-
Grilled chicken breast (Best of them all, not messy, tastes allright)
Turkey and potatoes
Chicken noodle...uhm...stew?
Beans and pork
Shrimp jumbalya stuff
Mexican rice, beans, etc, burrito like thing

Theres sokme others but i cant remeber what they are at the moment.

ALso, they last 4 years i think.
 
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The only thing that meets all your requirements is non-chocolate food bars like the Cliff bars. At 4 a day you can get 1,000 calories. Stay away from anything "salty". Considering that you're only looking for a couple of days food you could even do without. What you can't do without is water. You're going to have to carry a 3/4 gal. a day for each person. At 8lbs/gal (2lb/.25 gal) you'll be carrying 18 lbs of water for a 3 day jaunt. The food bars won't even be noticable. The bright side is that the weight will drop 6 lbs a day as you use it up.
 
canned meat- make sure the "key" is attached. no need to harm yourself when in survival mode.
also, prior military we had what was referred to as "MORES"... basicall the plastic tray of Denty Moore beef stew and other items like that along with the ready to eat can of soup (NOT condensed).
just "food for thought" I could not resist that!!
 
Dinty moore is good.

If only they made it in a more...comnvientent package.

Lasts several years, is delicous, and hasa variety of item in it, also doesnt need to be mixed with water or anything.


That, a foldable compressed fuel stove, and mess kit and you have yourself a delicous meal.

They need to make them in sqaure cans or something though.

Oh yes, and make sure to geta p-38 or p-51 can opener.
 
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