What should I put in my "emergency food" box

[ThoughtCriminal]

We keep one - mainly in case we get snowed in or other emergency. Late spring we cycled most of the contents to the pantry or food bank.

It's time to re-stock it, and I'm looking for suggestions. I sort of felt that we were a little over-dependent on canned soups and other items that assume that we will have electricity to cook with. A really bad storm could take that out too. I have a small camp stove, but I'm not enthusiastic about using it indoors or going outside to heat something up in those conditions.

This is for two people, late 40's.

Prefer items that can be found at typical grocery store.

Suggestions?

[Oeditpus Rex]

1. Spam and Pop-Tarts

Suckers never go bad and they're good cold. :9

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. Now there's a sandwich from my bachelor days

[grasswire]

19. when, when, when...

...will they put spam in pop-tarts?

[Oeditpus Rex]

22. Probably when

you stop e-mailing threats to Hormel and Kellogg's.

:P

[Tuesday Afternoon]

2. chocolate

:D

[petronius]

4. That's half my list - scotch being the other half. Damn, now I'm hungry...

...and thirsty :(

[Cabcere]

40. You totally read my mind.

:thumbsup: Although in my case, it might be more for everyone else's survival - I can be difficult to live with if I don't get my chocolate fix from time to time. ;) :hi:

[Perseid]

3. 42 thousand Twinkies

do they still make those things?

[Tektonik]

6. nutrient rich stuff that does not require heat or refridgeration

also put a goddamned can opener in the emergency food box! :P

[mwooldri]

7. Peanut Butter and Ritz Crackers. Oh, and Marmite.

I guess the Ritz crackers won't keep that long but the peanut butter probably would keep near enough forever. The marmite will keep forever for sure but would give an extra unusual taste for your emergency food box.

Mark.

[Quantess]

8. Sunflower seeds and pretzels.

They taste good when eaten together in the same bite!

[dembotoz]

9. cans and jars

some bottled water
i would prob go more for canned fruit-don't have to cook that
peanut butter, maybe some spraycan cheese and couple boxes of crackers-
yeah-pop tarts, maybe some canned nuts and snacks...
some more bottled water if pipes freeze or power goes out and you are on a well...

don't know about canned meat that was not cooked--don't think i would get that hungry for a while

[JoDog]

32. Don't forget

the can opener!

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

10. gotta have some........Peeps!

[flvegan]

11. If you eat meat, canned tuna.

You can pop the top and eat it right from the can.

Perfect emergency food, calorie and protein dense.

And yes, I realize the irony of a vegan giving this advice.

[Quantess]

13. Great idea. low fat, high protein,

and LOW calorie, actually.

[otherlander]

12. Bread

Peanut butter
Canned orange slices
Powdered milk
Tea bags (If you leave a regular teabag in cold water long enough it makes iced tea... Those Cold Brew things are a scam.)

[SOteric]

14. Look into one of these:

http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=446567

And some of the votives and tea lights that keep them lit. It can be an effective way to get your food hot without the worry about carbon monoxide poisoning.

For foods, I recommend you look into items by meal. If you've stockpiled water, instant oatmeal is possible. Granola bars are also an option. Keep some nuts and dried fruits on hand for protein and vitamin-rich snacking.

For lunches I recommend the tuna that tends to come in pouches. Many of these items are even suitable for dinner. It's lighter weight than cans and you don't need a can opener to get it to the table. Also look into peanut butter or nutella and crackers, again if you have water, cup-a-soups, Easy-Mac...things of that nature.

Dinners, - hunt down the soups (condensed if you have water, read to serve if not) that have the convenient pull up tops. Campbells even has the Fully Loaded line which offers things such as stroganoff and rigatoni that are more of a casserole than a soup. Heat 'em up in the fondue pot and have yourself a grand little time.


Truth be told, I kind of like roughing it in that manner. For a little while anyway. I even have some oil lamps I can read by. After a while I start to miss my internet connection, but as long as there are books around, I'm good.

:hi:


P.S. Don't forget to stash a few things for any household pets, especially if you could be housebound for a bit.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. Coffee (or tea, if you prefer)

Some of that canned or bottled stuff if you're not going to have water.

[CreekDog]

16. ice cream

mmmmm

[GoddessOfGuinness]

17. If you're expecting snow, you can keep refrigerator items

by filling a cooler with snow. I like to keep boxed milk/soy milk (it has a pretty long shelf life) and dry cereal.

[KitchenWitch]

18. Trail mix

Mixed Nuts, raisins and M&Ms. High protein with complex carbs.

I buy the box of individual sized packages at Costco. I have two boxes of it in my earthquake kit.

[JVS]

20. big mac

[quip]

21. Whiskey

It keeps forever, and makes a good antiseptic, too. :toast:

[qwertyMike]

23. Flashlight

Batteries.
Cookstove is a good idea.
AM Radio with lots of batteries.

Duvets and music

[NMDemDist2]

24. canned fruit

i always have canned fruit

[Redstone]

25. There's lots of canned stuff that can be eaten without cooking, even if it's not

all that appealing until you get really hungry: Canned tuna / sardines / chicken / so on, with crackers to serve it on...

also canned fruit, which is pretty well packed with energy and vitamins.

Redstone

[grasswire]

27. I could eat cold baked beans.

But not very often and not a large amount.

[Connonym]

26. Funions

and Twinkies

[Jamastiene]

28. Beenie Weenies, baked beans, a box of crackers,

canned tuna, salmon, chicken, beans, fruit
dry milk
a couple of MREs are always a good choice
cereal of some kind
extra batteries
Pemmican
Slim Jims
Spaghettios (a must have at my house or I'll go nuts, which reminds me...
Nuts, sunflower seeds, cookies
dumplings (dry) and/or rice and some canned chicken broth goes along nicely with canned chicken as a warm meal

[BrotherBuzz]

29. Everything within three steps of the cash register at any Quicky-Mart

Don't worry about healthy crap, enjoy yourselves by indulging in happy junk food. Oh, remember, most of that junk near the cash register is already individually wrapped and has a very long shelf life.

[MissMillie]

30. powdered milk

canned beans
rice
tuna
jar of spaghetti sauce
pasta
tang
canned fruit and veggies

[SoCalDem]

31. Squeeze peanut butter in tubes is great..

and there is always tuna in foil packets...crackers in tubes..

since you can boil water, you could use MOST of the foil packaged vegetable/soup mixes..

For the few days you would need it, you could survive on an assortment of the things above..

You WOULD be craving some real food afterwards though :)

[AllegroRondo]

33. you can get canned soup and coffee in cans that heat themselves

saw them at the grocery store last week. A little expensive, mabye $1.25-1.75 a can. You just pull a tab to start a built in chemical heater, and after a couple minutes the soup or coffee is hot.

[RebelOne]

34. Don't forget the tuna fish, lots of tuna fish.

And store some under your bed, too.

[sniffa]

35. Slim Jims and Combos

they're guaranteed to survive a nuclear holocaust.

[bikebloke]

36. Macaroni & cheese

If you have a camping stove, it'll work in a pinch. When I was bike trekking, I always carried a box in case I couldn't get to a store along the way (or broke down in the middle of nowhere). Eventually, when the box got too mangled, I'd eat it.

[kid a]

37. peanut butter :)

[CreekDog]

38. Can Opener (nt)

[libnnc]

39. Little cans of fruit and those little boxes of raisins?

Some folks have already suggested peanut butter and tuna.

I'd add crackers and nuts maybe?

[applegrove]

41. Beef Jerky.