Best Emergency Food Kits to Stockpile – 2020 Complete Round-up

| Last Updated: March 29, 2021

When it comes knowing the best foods to stockpile or for your bug out bag in an emergency, being a prepper means you kind of have to have this information locked down. But if you don't then you've come to the right source my friend!

We're going to go over the best foods to keep on hand for an emergency, and why they should be a staple in your house hold. Also at the end we'll give you two ways and resources to make your own dried food for storage.

What's the Best Way to Store Meals Long Term?

Well this all depends on what you're storing, but we're going to look at this question from a general bird's eye view. We're going to assume you're storing pre-packaged meals that were shipped to you, or that you've canned some food and it's air tight.

The reason you need to store the food air tight, is because oxygen is what is used to feed molds and plant life that doesn't need to be living in your food before you use it. So you're going to need to do something to remedy that, whether it's using a vacuum sealer, or oxygen packs to remove the air, it needs to happen.

Mylar Bags for Dry Foods (Grains, Berries, etc.)

Mylar bags are great for storing dry foods like rice, flour, dried berries, and the like. These bags are more space efficient than jars, and can hold more as well. And when it comes to ease of sealing the mylar bag is the king!

All it takes to seal your bags is an iron most of the time. All you do is leave about 6" above the food and iron it like you would a shirt, and there you have an air tight seal!

All you have to do is add some oxygen packs inside or use your sealer to pull the air out before you iron that bad boy shut.

Clever Storage for Prepackaged Emergency Food

Depending on which is more valuable to you, time or money, will determine if you choose to buy pre packaged foods from emergency food storage companies. 

If you're someone who chooses to purchase their food instead of making it themselves, you're going to need to get a little more creative, since most of those products aren't exactly built to save space. So finding hiding spots in your house is going to be optimal.

What Determines the BEST Purchasable Emergency Food?

This term is thrown around a lot on the internet, the best this or the top that, but what does that mean and who gets to decide it?

Food Storage board full of emergency foods in Mylar Bags. (Source)

Well we want you to be educated before you spend your money, so we're going to go over OUR criteria for the best emergency food storage options.

Does it Require Reheating?

Science has come a long way, and with all the advances there are ways to not have to microwave or heat your emergency food over an open flame to enjoy a hot meal. Some companies have found a way to use chemical reactions to get your food piping hot with just water!

That's right, what's used to usually cool stuff down is causing your food to be heated.

This may not be a huge necessity to all, but the moral boost that comes with a hot meal is worth the extra expense in our opinion. I mean who wants to have spent a whole day in a bad situation, and sit down to a cold or room temperature meal?? You're going to feel much better if you're able to have a hot to warm meal at the end of a long day.

How Many Ingredients?

It's not a good idea to get anything that takes more than water and some time to make.

If you're spending money on these products you want to know that they've taken the hardest part about preparing a  good meal out of the equation, finding the right combination of flavors. You want to just add water and be good to go.

List of the Best Emergency Food Kits to Stockpile

Pre-Made Dehydrated Meals

We're going to start with the most obvious of facts, if you have food on hand that tastes good then that's what you want to go with. And if your looking for a supplier of emergency foods then we recommend prepare wise food storage, you're not going to beat the taste and price with a stick!

Dehydrated Foods

You might say to yourself that you can't afford dehydrated food supplies, and that's true for most people right now. Thankfully later in this article we will show you how to freeze dry your own foods to get the best flavor and nutritional value.

Just know that there's nothing better and cheaper to keep on hand than some home made dehydrated meats, fruits and veggies!

Meal Replacement Bars

I'm going get a few sideways looks from others in the prepping community for saying this, but I'll say it, MEAL REPLACEMENT BARS AREN'T THAT BAD! I'm not sure why people try to convince others that a product with a multiple year shelf life is such a bad thing to stockpile for emergencies.

It has everything that you'll need and takes up less space than a can of pork n' beans. Our favorite is the Survivallife

Canned Food

This should be your last alternative, not just for health reason but for the fact that store bought canned food takes up more space than it's worth. If you want to keep canned food in the house then that's fine, make sure you can it yourself and get the most out of every jar or can. But it's still not that great of an idea.

Mainly for the fact that should there be any bacteria in can and it's not sealed air tight, then the food you've just worked so hard to preserve is now going to be useless or harmful if ingested.

I'm sure the question that looms in the back of ever prepper's mind at some point or another is the thought that you might run out of food, or that the food you've worked so hard to preserve has spoiled and you're now starting over. To avoid this sinking feeling we're going to go over the facts with you that we've gleaned from experts in the field, such as Offgridsurvival and Survivallife. So get ready for another incredible and informative article!

Sun Drying Foods to Preserve Them

The recent article published by Offgridsurvival on sun drying foods is one of the most useful resources we've found lately when it comes to using natural resource to preserve food. Along with being very low cost, this method is also pretty hands off, all you have to do is wait for a nice sunny day. Now you'll need to invest a little time and resources to build a suitable sun drier to accommodate the produce and meat you'll be preserving, but other than that all this requires is patients.

Sun Drying Tomatoes (Source)

See the article here for an in depth look into the process and how to of the sun drying process. But just know that this is a fantastic way to bring out the flavors in your food when preserving them, and not having to spend time and money on vacuum sealing jar after jar will save you a lot of back ache! As always the authors over at Offgridsurvival are on point with their opinions and facts of what will and won't work. These aren't just whimsical notions of what would be nice to do, these are tried and true practices to ensure that you and your family will have food when the time comes!

How to Cook and Store Food Outside

This amazing resource from Survivallife is just what the modern outdoor bushman ordered! Not only will you learn how to cook in the first place, which is nice considering that most men nowadays don't know how to properly grill a hamburger, but you'll learn the steps to preserve the meat that you prepare and ensure that you and your family will have it when you need it.

In this book the author from Survival Life goes over how you'll learn to cook and preserve ANY type of meat out there. Learning how to build your own solar oven will come in real handy when the grid goes down and you don't have any way to cook some of the larger items you might find, like a turkey from a looted grocery store or a large animal that you were able to bring down. Unless you take the time to learn from the resources in this book all the raw meat in the world wouldn't make much difference to yours and your families survival.

So how much are your families lives worth to you?

Are they worth enough to get you off your butt and take some action to make sure that when the grid goes down or the money runs out, that you and your loved ones won't have to worry and fear like everyone else? If their lives are worth anything then hopefully you'll go visit these experts and put the practices they suggest into action to create a better future. As always it's a pleasure to serve you, have a great day!

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