Planning, creating, and maintaining a survival food kit is essential if you want to be prepared for a disaster or emergency situation like a tornado, pandemic, an attack, or other.
You can start by buying different types of canned and packaged foods with long shelf lives, or even prepare your own preserved foods for your survival food storage.
But you must remember to create an expiration date list for your stocked up foods and also rotate them in a first in, first out manner over time in order to prevent ending up with spoilt food in a survival situation or throwing out food.
Best Emergency Food
Thankfully, there are some excellent manufacturers who specialize in making emergency food.
You can buy food packages and ready-made survival kits, or others, or you can create your own one-week, two weeks, 30-day, or other emergency food supply storage with a variety of these food products.
Here are the top emergency food companies and emergency foods to add to your survival food supply, as well as how to choose the most reliable ones for your needs.
Features to look for in the best survival food companies
There are some essential features that make some survival food producers better than others. Here are the factors to keep in life when choosing the best food for a survival brand or company:
- The nutrients and ingredients
When you are stacking up food for emergency situations, you need to pick foods that contain the vital nutrients which you and your family need in order to stay healthy and well in case you lack access to a store or other food supplies.
Choosing foods with high-quality proteins and carbs is vital for your well-being. Also, check out the calories per serving, and the overall calories per day, to ensure that you will be receiving sufficient nutrition in case of a disaster.
Also, staying away from meals that contain too much sugar, saturated fat, or sodium is also advisable if you want to stay healthy in a survival situation, especially if it continues for one, two weeks, or longer.
It is recommended to choose foods that contain real ingredients.
- The shelf life of the foods
Look for foods that have a shelf life of at least 5 years for your long-term emergency food storage.
The leading companies offer emergency food supplies and food kits for survival that have a 25-30 year shelf life, which is perfect for such needs and will ensure that you have access to safe and healthy nutrients no matter when disaster strikes.
- The proper packaging
Emergency food should be appropriately packaged in order to endure disasters like floods, hurricanes, water damage, and others.
Plus, it makes sense to choose foods which are offered in individual or smaller sized packages, sufficient for one meal, in order to prevent having to throw away the leftovers.
- The preparation methods required.
Remember that in emergencies, you may not have access to your regular cooking appliances or to electrical or gas power, so check how the food you are buying needs to be prepared. The great foods require only boiling water for cooking or require no cooking at all.
- Consider buying ready-made survival kits.
If you are new to survival prepping, you may want to consider buying a ready-made package offered by one of these emergency food companies. These usually include everything you will need for survival for 1 week, 1 month, or another period of time.
- The taste of the food
Of course, emergencies are not the time to be picky about what you eat, but it makes sense to invest in foods that you and your family like eating.
Just make sure that they are not packed with chemicals and sodium to make them seem tastier.
- The price
Naturally, it would be best if you stocked up your emergency food supply in accordance with your budget. So, make sure to check how much the food costs per portion or package, and also what nutrient value is provided for this cost. It is a good idea to calculate how much the product costs per day and how many calories per day you will be receiving for the price asked.
The best emergency food companies and brands for 2023
Valley Food Storage
Valley Food Storage is a company that specializes in producing, packaging, and selling long-term emergency foods and ready-made, long-term food kits with a shelf life of up to 25 years and offered at reasonable prices.
The foods included in the company’s kits are in wide varieties and offer nutrient-rich meals and options.
You can purchase Long Term Food Kits of 175, 350, 525, 1,050, 2,100, and 4,200 servings, or order your own customized kit.
The survival food kits include a variety of tasty and healthy breakfast, lunch, and dinner options, all fitted in separate resealable bags and packages and are water-resistant and properly sealed buckets.
You can ask the company to create a customized emergency food kit for you with ingredients and meals of your choice and for as many days as you want.
Overall, Valley Food Storage offers affordable, good quality, nutritious emergency food kits, which you can customize in accordance with your specific needs, tastes, allergies, preferences, and intolerances, including dairy-free and gluten-free, vegetarian, soy-free, no-baked, or freeze-dried eggs and more.
The emergency kits you can order are for 1, 3, 6, or 12 months and there are special entrée only kits and buckets with veggies and fruits or freeze-dried proteins only.
Some of the breakfast meals they offer include apple oatmeal, maple and brown sugar oatmeal, whole eggs, multi-grain cereal, and others.
The lunch and dinner options include meals like chicken teriyaki, fettuccine Alfredo, mac and cheese, sweet and sour Asian rice, and many more.
The quality and the nutrition of the meals are excellent as well.
The company uses simple ingredients, which are GMO-free, don’t include artificial ingredients, and have high-quality calories and a shelf life of up to 25 years.
As for the sodium content, even though their emergency meals do contain significant amounts of sodium, they are still within a healthier range of fewer than 2300mg per day.
The prices of the emergency foods offered by Valley Food Storage are very reasonable. They are especially attractive if you buy whole kits, which include foods adding up to about 1.35-1.65 dollars per serving.
The company also offers discounts, a satisfaction guarantee, and other incentives for new and for returning customers.
Readywise
Readywise was formerly known as the Wise Company and is among the leading emergency and adventure food brands in the USA.
The company offers ready-made, long-term food kits with 120, 240, 360, 720, 1,080, 1,440, 2,160, and 4,320 servings of long-lasting, nutritious meals and foodstuffs for survival situations.
It also offers different types of starter kits for 72 hours for 52, 60, 84, and 120 servings for hurricanes and other expected disasters.
You can also purchase kits with freeze-dried meats and servings, kits with freeze-dried fruits and veggies, freeze-dried egg, milk, and whey milk kits, different emergency supplies for filtering water, preparing foods, water storage, and many others.
Readywise has a wide selection of gluten-free and organic food survival kits too.
The reputable company also offers different complete survival backpacks, bundles, adventure bags, even full dog and cat survival kits, and various other products for preppers.
As a whole, Readywise is a top-preferred emergency food company by preppers around the country.
Its kits are long-lasting, include high-protein meal options, and come in a wide variety of options and selections.
The prices are affordable if you choose to buy entire ready-made kits rather than pick separate individual long-lasting foods.
T he shelf life of their meats and fruits is around 20 years, while that of their vegetables, dairy products, eggs, main courses, and morning meals is around 25 years.
In conclusion, Readywise is one of the best options out there if you want to quickly and easily stockpile a year’s worth of emergency provisions. Kits are available to last anything from three days to a year or more in the event of an emergency. In addition, you can purchase premade survival kits that include provisions for both you and your dogs.
Breakfast cereals and granolas, as well as main courses like creamy pasty and chili mac, all have extended shelf life of up to 25 years.
Meals are easily prepared with just hot or boiling water, and all of the packages come with well packed buckets and individually sealed goods in Mylar bags.
As for the nutrients and the ingredients, as you can expect from long-term emergency foods, you won’t receive real meat in the meals. Still, the meals are packed with about 16 grams of protein each and offer a healthy amount of calories per day to keep you energized, full, and well in a survival scenario.
Keep in mind that some of their entrees can contain quite a lot of sodium, which is especially unhealthy for people who need to be on a low sodium diet and have cardiovascular issues.
The company also offers some excellent adventure food kits and options, including outdoor foods, entrees, breakfast, desserts, vegan and vegetarian, gluten-free, cooking and heat foods, which are perfect for camping, hiking, and other outdoor trips.
The prices of the kits offered by Readywise are reasonable, especially if you buy larger kits for longer. But even if you are buying a supply kit for a single month, a meal will cost about 2.30 dollars per serving.
Plus, once you register and become a customer, you will begin receiving reward points and earning redeem points for referrals, purchases, and for signing up.
Legacy Food Storage
Legacy Food Storage is one of the greatest emergency food supplies companies for 2023.
It offers a very wide variety of different emergency food supplies, water, survival gear, fuel and energy products, and ready-made kits for survival.
The company offers kits for 60 to up to 4,320 servings, and you can also choose different types of meals and items only, including proteins, fruits, dairy, vegetables, grains, specialty items, freeze-dried meats, entrees, breakfast, survival seeds, pet emergency kits and many more.
All orders are offered with free shipping and at the lowest cost per serving.
The survival foods in the kits are prepared and packed to last – with a 25-year shelf life.
They are GMO-free, and you can also buy gluten-free foods and kits too.
Even though the sugar and sodium content in many of the survival meals is quite high, which is not too healthy, the products offered are among the best tasting and contain the most calories than the rest of the survival foodstuffs offered on the market.
Their breakfast options include about 434 calories per serving, and the different entrees are about 348 calories per serving and a total of over 1200 calories per day which is essential in emergency situations when you need all the energy you can get.
For breakfast, you can expect to get meals like old-fashioned pancake mix, nine-grain cereal mix, maple oatmeal with brown sugar, or creamy strawberry wheat.
As for the entrees in the emergency kits, you will be able to stock up on delicious and nutritious meals like Stroganoff, Macaroni, and Cheese, Italian pasta with marinara, cheese, and broccoli bake, pasta Alfredo, pasta primavera, and many others.
The foods are packaged in small sizes in resealable bags and in long-lasting, water-resistant buckets.
As for the pricing, the emergency food and meals sold by Legacy Food Storage are reasonably priced and sum up to about 2.50 dollars per serving and to about 17.90 dollars per 2,000 calories.
Of course, the larger the supply kit you offer, the cheaper the cost per meal will be.
Overall, if you want to stock up on high-calorie and tasty food, the emergency food offered by Legacy Food Storage is one of the best you can find on the market.
It is offered in a wide variety of types, sizes, and options, and all of the deliveries are completely free.
Mountain House
Mountain House is a well-known company that has been offering food and food supply kits for backpackers, campers, hikers, and other outdoor adventurers for years.
Now, the company is also preparing and offering emergency foods and kits for survival preparedness.
But since it has been specializing in preparing and selling foods for outdoor adventures, it has a wider variety of selections of different pre-packed meals and foods than any other emergency food company on this list.
This makes Mountain House a perfect option if you want to buy food for your emergency storage separately and stock it up with the foods you prefer rather than purchasing a ready-made kit.
You can buy meals with a 30-year shelf life from Mountain House like beef stew, beef stroganoff, chicken and dumplings, chicken fried rice, chicken teriyaki with rice, chili mac with beef, lasagna with meat sauce, rice and chicken, and other delicious and satisfying freeze-dried meals in pouches, pro-packs, and cans with 10 servings.
For breakfast, you can get packaged biscuits and gravy, breakfast skillet, scrambled eggs with bacon, granola with milk and blueberries, a spicy southwest hash pouch, or other delicious options.
The company also offers mouthwatering and long-lasting desserts, sides, meats, and smoothies, which is something that is not available with the other leading emergency food brands at the moment.
It is one of the few companies which offers long-lasting emergency meals with real meat in them and also adds very few artificial ingredients or added sodium to its foods.
The caloric value of the meals by Mountain House is lower than those of the other companies.
But buying foods and meals separately for your emergency food supply can be quite a lot more expensive than buying ready-made, long-term food kits.
A serving from a pouch or can of food costs about 3.5 to 4 dollars per serving.
The company does offer kits and assortment buckets, but they are with fewer servings as compared to others.
So, Mountain House is probably one of the most suitable options for people with larger budgets, those who are looking for more wholesome meals with real ingredients, and those packing smaller kits or a need a supply for shorter periods of time, like bug-out-bags, or get-home-bags.
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