Calories in Survival Foods

(ModernSurvival.org) – When Purchasing Emergency Food for Your Family, the Most Important Rule to Go by Is

• Servings

• Calories

• Ingredients

• Price

Answer: Calories. Here’s why…

There are a lot of companies on the market offering survival and emergency food. Most people will just purchase the items that sound like they might taste good without giving a thought to how effective the meals will be at keeping them alive. This could be a big mistake.

Don’t Assume

Nearly all survival foods come with suggested serving sizes, and one would assume these would provide enough calories to sustain the average person. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case.

There isn’t a specific set number of calories or nutrients that make up one serving; therefore, these suggested serving sizes can vary wildly. This is why it’s crucial to examine the nutritional value included in the package — finding out it takes far more food to survive than one thought means running through supplies a lot faster.

What to Watch For

Pay attention to the calorie count specifically. Some companies will list calories per package, and others will list them per serving. For example, company A’s package states their package contains 2000 calories worth of food. Company B, however, states 500 calories per serving, with a total of 4 servings in the package. Both companies provide the same number of calories even though the labeling is different.

Using the above as an example, if company A charges $19.99 for their product and company B charges $15.99, company B provides a better deal for the investment. However, if the nutritional value of company A’s product is superior (more vitamins, for example), it might be with the extra money to purchase it.

Here are some other factors to consider:

The recommended serving size may not be enough to keep everyone alive. Humans come in all shapes and sizes, and what may be enough calories for one person may not be enough for another.
Calories are great, but the human body needs daily vitamins as well. Look at the ingredient list to see what percentage of daily vitamins the product provides.
If anyone in the family suffers from food allergies, it becomes even more important to check the ingredients list. An allergic reaction to a meal can complicate a survival situation in a big hurry.
Just because a product is pricey does not mean it is high quality. Increased price could be attributed to branding and/or flashy packaging — not necessarily quality ingredients.

Having a stockpile of emergency food is a good idea, but it’s important to know that it will keep the family alive when needed. To be sure one has enough food to last, one must first know how many calories each person will require each day to survive. For information on how to find out how much that is, check out our article on how to plan survival calories.

~Here’s to Your Survival!