How MRE Meals Fit Into Your Emergency Disaster Planning

One thing is for certain when it comes to preparing for any kind of natural disaster or catastrophe, food and water are going to be one of your top considerations. No matter what part of the nation, or planet, that you live in there is some kind of disaster in your future. There are hurricanes and tornadoes, earthquakes and floods, not to mention tsunamis and fires that can all cause major devastation to our homes and families. Here are some tips to help get you started in preparing for the next big storm, or whatever it may be that’s coming your way.

You’ll Need a Safe, Secure Place to Store Food, Water, and Other Essentials

You’ll need a place that you can store everything you need and it will be dry, safe from vermin, and secure in case of emergency. You may want to invest in some high-quality waterproof plastic containers that could float in a flood and keep everything dry inside. This is especially true if you are going to store them in a basement location but is even important if they’re stored above ground level in your home as well. If you’ve ever had a house catch fire, you already know that everything gets wet as soon the firemen arrive and you’ll want your emergency supplies to be able to survive that kind of incident.

Of course, all of your hard work can be ruined if rats, mice, and insects can invade your food as they can chew through nearly anything not made of metal, think plastic or glass. A heavy duty plastic container with a snap on waterproof lid should keep them at bay for many years and carefully placed rodenticide outside of your containers is a good idea as well.

When Comes to Food, There Are Many Options

The first thing to keep in mind is you don’t want all of your long-term food options to rest on just one type of food or one kind of storage medium and there are advantages and disadvantages for each. Many kinds of food, such as canned food, can be stored in your emergency food storage area, however, each has a limited lifetime that you should be aware of. But, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take advantage of their long shelf life. Many kinds of canned foods are good for up to a year or more in storage and then they should be rotated out and used then new supplies brought in to replace them.

Other kinds of foods that can last a good long time in storage are rice, beans, flour, and other types of grains. They should be stored in either vacuum packed plastic bags or airtight containers individually for best results and again rotated out and used on a yearly basis replacing them with fresh product at the same time.

Military ready to eat meals or MREs, have substantial benefits over some other kind of foods. They tend to have a much longer storage life, up to 5 years, than many other kinds of food that you can buy for your emergency uses. MRE’s are also lighter weight and easy to carry if you have to make a long journey and bring your own food. In many kinds of disasters, you don’t know the problems that you’re going to face and traveling long distances to get help is just one of those scenarios.

When it comes to MREs, be sure you read the label to see exactly how they are to be prepared, how long their shelf life is, and any extras that you might need to have on hand in order to use them. These types of emergency supplies are available at many different types of outlets including large online stores, large warehouse food stores, and used military surplus stores. Each place you buy them can have different MREs that are better for different purposes so you need to do your homework or you can just choose our XMRE.

Although Military Ready to Eat Meals Were Designed by Chefs Test Them

Before you make any larger purchases of emergency meals you should take the time to test several different brands to make sure they are palatable and you’ll be able to eat them. You can go online, read many different reviews of most brands to help you narrow down the choices on which ones to test. Then buy a selection and try them out at home this is also a good idea so that you learn how they are best prepared and what kinds of extras you’ll need to prepare, and consume them during an emergency.

While it is impossible to guess what the next natural disaster or catastrophe that strikes your location will be there are many similarities on what you need to do in order to be prepared. Food, water, cooking utensils and fire would be a good start. There are many helpful lists that can be found online to get you started and you can always begin accumulating immediately and add a little bit more to complete your list each week when you go shopping.