The term “survival food” is actually really generic. What are we talking about surviving through?
Is the survival food supposed to get us through a 3 day blizzard?
Or how about a month-long power outage?
Or what if there is a disaster that causes us to flee from our homes and Bug Out in the wilderness?
Each of these situations is going to require different types of survival foods.
In this survival food list, I want to address the types of survival foods you should be stockpiling based on the type of disaster. They are:
These are the most common types of disasters that we come up against. They include situations like blizzards where you are trapped in your home and unable to go grocery shopping. They also include short-term power outages.
You won’t need a lot of survival food for these situations, especially because you will be able to eat through your regular food supply (and will especially have to hurry to consume those frozen foods if the grid goes down!).
But there are some items which are absolutely necessary:
You’ll notice that I didn’t include some of the “obvious” survival foods on this list, like dry beans, pasta, and rice. The reason for this is that they take a really long time to cook. Even with presoaking, you will still need to cook dry beans for about an hour. Rice and pasta are a bit better, but even they take a long time to cook.
In an emergency situation, you probably won’t have power for cooking. You can use one of these off-grid cooking methods. However, if you are trying to cook dry beans, you will blow through fuel very quickly.
On top of that, cooking with fire isn’t always safe after an emergency. For example, during earthquakes, it is common for gas leaks to occur. You shouldn’t light any fire if you suspect a gas leak.
Stick to No-Cook Foods
For short-term emergencies, no-cook foods are the safest bet. Canned foods are ideal because they can survive flooding and other damage.
For your carbs, choose instant mashed potatoes (which can be made with cold water in a pinch) and crackers. I did include couscous on the list because it cooks in just 2 minutes. Also, red lentils are on the list because they, too cook really quickly with presoaking.
These are situations that hopefully will never occur, but you will want to be prepared for them in case they do. For example, if there is an EMP attack or nuclear disaster, we might be forced to hunker down in our homes (bug in) for over a month.
In these situations, our survival food requirements will drastically change. You need foods that:
Are you struggling to keep track of your stockpile or unsure what to store? Our workbook and inventory sheets can help. Read more here.
Many of the foods on this list are freeze-dried. These foods can last for 25+ years when properly packaged. Freeze-dried foods also retain their nutrients and taste great.
If you want to go the DIY approach to survival foods, I recommended reading our post: Food Preservation: A Survivalists Guide.
Specialty survival foods can be a bit pricey but are very convenient. If you want to find out more about this option, read our post on the best emergency food companies.
Just because a food can last “forever,” it doesn’t mean it will survive a disaster. For example, a bag of sugar won’t go bad — but will be ruined if it gets touched by floodwater. The same goes of any food in a box.
The best way to package survival foods (except cans, obviously) is in vacuum-sealed mylar bags which are then put into buckets. Read this article about the most common food stockpiling mistakes to make sure your stockpile lasts.
There are some disaster scenarios that would cause us to flee our homes and bug out in the wilderness. You definitely don’t want to be lugging around heavy cans of food in your Bug Out bag!
Caloric density is incredibly important here. You won’t have a lot of room in your bag, so limit the food you bring. More important is water – – you can go a month without food but only 3 days without water.
Bring:
Yep, that’s all you need for food in your Bug Out Bag!
What sort of foods are you stockpiling for survival?
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Great Content. worthy of special sorting along with food that I may have to take with me. Maggie Richardson Reply
The best prepping I ever did (and I did loads of it) was when I said to myself, now put a 2.25 L in your rucksack. ONLY THAT ! IN FACT, 1/2 OF THAT ! NOW WALK ! When you get it right, add another whatever the next day or next week…until 60 feels like you are still 18. Reply
Diane VukovićExactly! I go backpacking a lot (and have to carry most of my kids’ stuff) and feel like that has been the best prepping practice. Not only do I know how far and fast I can go with gear on my back, but learned to live with just the basics. My kids too. Though they still start whining after the first couple of miles. 🙂 Reply
For the pasta: Barilla sells a packet of pasta that takes 60 seconds in the microwave. I did that once to taste it and it’s not bad. I add it to soups like chicken noodles for a more dense soup. Great for camping or bugging out. No microwave is needed and takes up little space.
Keep frozen food “frozen” for 24 hours. First, always take your meats out of the store wrappers and use zip-lock bags. If you leave your meats in the store plastic wrap a gas will form and dis-color the meats. To keep frozen you need 10 lbs of ice, a gallon of water, and 1 1/2 pounds of Kosher salt. Mix all this in your cooler and add your frozen meats, etc. Kosher salt is usually on the bottom shelf where condiments are. Comes in a three-pound box. That makes it easy to measure the pound and a half. Your frozen veggies are already in a bag but I zip-lock them before adding to the cooler. Reply
They now have pasta that you bring to a boil turn off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes until all the water is absorbed you don’t have to drain the water just mix your spices and sauce into it, and you’re done, Reply
Diane VukovićThat’s how I cook all types of pasta when backpacking. The sauce is dehydrated, so I just add that after turning off the heat, cover it, and let everything sit. Saves fuel and water! Reply
Karman FoodsAbsolutely, instant noodles work best except for the fact that you have to boil a water first. I want to add as my personal choice Calbee Frugra Original. it’s a delicious snack and it’s absolutely healthy. Reply
Diane VukovićYou can actually make ramen without boiling water. Backpackers (including myself) do it all the time. It’s called the “cold soak method.” Other types of pasta have to be cooked though: the proteins need to be broken down in order to make them digestible. Reply
I can highly recommend buckwheat for emergency stockpiling – little-known trick is that you don’t have to cook it at all! It can be just soaked in water overnight and by morning it will be ready to eat, the same as freshly cooked only obviously cold. It is also quite wholesome and nutritious and you can survive on it for extended period of time. Reply
Darron Stonecalories are essential. those worried about vitamins/nutrients – vacuum seal vitamins in mylar bags with O2 absorbers. 15 yr shelf life. Reply
Saul SantiagoIf there is a disaster or multiple disasters then it’s possible internet will be down phones not working etc! These ebooks won’t be useful so it is imperative to have these DIY Food PRESERVATION in hardcover books. Very important. Reply
Primal SurvivorAll ebooks can be printed off for your file and also saved to USB stick for disaster situations. Reply
what I find to be inadequate with most lists, is the source of the food and the fillers in some of the food items, especially when part of survival is to reduce stress on the immune system in general where ever possible. Where ever possible, learn about the ingredients in your food, because you will probably find allot of them will cause your immune system to function less well then you would like in a highly stressful survival scenario and if your innate and adaptive immune system reactions aren’t happening, say hello to all sorts of pathogens you likely don’t need or want. Reply
Pasta takes like 6-11 min to be ready, based on the shape/ingredients. If you cook it longer, it’s not pasta anymore, but glue.
Pasta is so easy to cook, there are instructions on the packaging! Reply
I consider 10 minutes to be a very long time for cooking. It will blow through fuel quickly (especially when you factor in the time it takes to get the water boiling, which is about 3 extra minutes per liter on my canister stove). Some pastas are better though, like thin angelhair pasta or ramen (which did make this list of food :)). You can also pre-soak pasta to shorten the boil time, but it makes it end up all gummy. I’ve experimented with pre-cooking pasta and then dehydrating it (then it can be rehydrated with just hot water). But this admitedly is a bit of a pain in the butt and shortens the shelf life, so is only suitable for backpacking and not disaster prep. Here’s a good article on the amount of water you can boil with canister fuel. Obviously, there are tons of other fuel types but nothing is as fast as canister fuel. https://www.msrgear.com/blog/stoves-101-how-much-fuel-should-i-carry/ Reply
If you have a heat source, to save fuel, boil only a minute or two, cover & let it absorb the water. Reply
Diana DaviesPackets of seeds for microgreens like cress, alfalfa and so on. They only take a few days to sprout and a tiny amount of water, and something fresh can lift a whole meal of canned or packet food. The packs of seeds are small and light too. This would be for bugging out or in more long term. Reply
Quinn Reid-RiceHey Jacob, I was reading your article and was very impressed with how knowledgeable you are! But I was wondering what sources you used to find your info? Reply
Primal SurvivorSources are generally quoted and linked to in the articles. Also have a look here for our favorite prepping books – https://www.primalsurvivor.net/prepping-survival-books/ Reply
Rebecca Campbell So so greatful for all of theses survival lists! Love the water one you emailed me! Thanks! Reply Primal Survivor Awesome – glad it is useful. ReplyIf you are in. a dorm or apartment, what I have found to work is toddler formula ( age 1-3) plus milk flavoring powder and scandi shakes plus powdered whole milk for added calories. One other thing I would add is some form of benefiber type mix in possibly. Reasons: you can get it to be pretty close to filling all the nutrition blanks especially if you mix toddler formula with instant breakfast mix. 2. If you repackaged it it would be really easy to hide flat Mylar bags of it for if you’re neighbors come kicking your door down “ asking for your supplies.” 3. It’s pretty lightweight if you have to bug out 4. Baby formula will likely be very valuable and tradeable. 5. You can by it on occasion without even your cc company realizing you are prepping if it worries you that government etc might um … “ collect things for the common good. If anyone asks you can say it is a donation or for a niece or nephew. 6 Lastly, a key rule in survival is if you don’t have water you don’t eat because digestion takes water so you might as well have stuff that you add water to as a stable. Yes I have other food some but I also have a lot of nutrition enhanced milk powder stuff hidden. Will I be tired of milk after a few months yes but I should still be reasonably healthy Reply
Primal SurvivorFascinating stuff and something I’ve never thought about. Seems like a great idea with many spin off benefits as you have pointed out. Would love to hear more, does anyone else do this? Reply
The one thing to watch is iron content. Every age group has different iron requirements and it’s also different for girls vs guys.
If you are envisioning a situation where this might be your only or primary food for a bit, I would ask your dr how much iron you need in a day and then look at the labels of everything you are mixing together and do the math very carefully and check it 5 times over. On your repacked stuff write how many servings a day is safe. Iron can be fatal if you get too much. If in doubt undershoot. The makers of most baby/toddler formula have a support hotline number for parents. If the label is unclear call and ask. You can just say you are worried that Jr might get into it on his own even though you keep it on top of fridge. Reply
Watch any MRE type food, they can not handle freeze/thaw cycles without going bad. For my get home kits I pack DAYTREX (or similar) as there is a lot of calories in a small package and as they were designed for survival rafts they do not care about temperature. I have taken one of the bars and put it into hot water to make an oatmeal like food to help them go down. Reply
Odallia VargasI am from PR .teaching my student how to be prepare for another huge hurricane like Maria with this awsome information Reply
Jacob HunterGlad you liked it – we also have a great post on hurricane prep which you may find useful:
https://www.primalsurvivor.net/hurricane-mistakes/ Reply
Glad you landed in my in box! Like you I can’t learn enough. But am eger to be prepared. Enjoyed post, keep em coming! thanks Dan Reply
PLEASE remind people to prepare to take pets AND the medicine for each person as needed…remind them if they MUST have clothes, bring just ONE change – bring your check books so you have all the information you may need about bank account.. a hammer and saw, towel, tooth brush, soap AND toilet paper(a small amount); have a list of passwords and bring small valuables like , jewelry to use as “cash” & can wear UNDER clothes Reply
A little bit of aluminum foil won’t hurt for reflective heat, cooking, etc. if you have a small hammer & saw it is wise…I personally plan to bring my rosary for prayer help.–in disaster I may forget to pray (I’m 76 yo I memory not too good)…PASSWORDS too & addresses/phone #s of relatives; pencil & paper for necessary purposes…perhaps valuable jewelry you can wear to use as “money” and bring phone/charging cord incase you get to some electricity or get a solar charger! Reply
