I had hoped to blog more but I have been rather distracted. My county is in a state of emergency due to incredible amounts of rain over the weekend. Roads are crumbling, bridges are collapsing and being washed away, homes are flooded to the point of being like little islands in an ocean, people are being evacuated and it is getting worse by the day with more rain on the horizon. This picture is an aerial shot of a close by community to show how extensive the damage is. Photo Credit: (November 8, 2010 Aerial Photo by Peggy D'Entremont). Fortunately, I live in town on a hill so we are not in a danger flooding zone unless the ocean rises a few meters.With disaster, my thoughts often turn to having emergency food on hand. My church places great emphasis on being self sufficient and prepared for times of emergency. My family should have 72 hour kits but we currently don't. The premise is you have a backpack for each person with clothes, food, medication and comfort items that would last for 72 hours, which is the average length of an emergency. Water is a good idea too, especially with flooding situations where bacteria counts in water systems may be compromised.
This brings to mind, what real food can one put in a 72 hour kit? It needs to be something that stores well, doesn't take up a lot of room, something that is easy to eat without heat, nourishing and filling. This is my dilemma.
Since I haven't given it a lot of thought and I'm still kind of new to real foods, here are some ideas off the top of my head:
-peanut butter or other nut or seed butters (commercially bought as home prepared do not have a long shelf life)
-soaked and dehydrated nuts/seeds
-canned tuna or wild caught salmon or other meats (maybe less than ideal but still life sustaining)
-homemade jerky
-home dried fruits and vegetables
-soaked flour hardtack (sounds good in theory, would it work?)
-coconut oil
-vitamins, cod liver oil
See, I kind of struggle with ideas. Most real food isn't meant to be stuffed in a backpack for long periods of time to be grabbed in case of emergency. It is meant to sustain life during a time of emergency, not be a long term way of eating. These items could be rotated out ever 6 months (more or less depending on the shelf life of the food item).
So, do you have any ideas of food items that could easily be stored for long term use? Please share your thoughts in the comment section.
