Sunday, March 23, 2014

Learning About Emergency Food Rations

By Linda Cantrell


There are times when you cannot go out to buy food forcing you to retrieve from your stores. Such are the times when survival tactics apply. Food is crucial for human survival. Situations require emergency food rations. Floods, tornadoes, storms and disease outbreaks are natural disasters that normally hit the UK and other parts of the world. Disaster preparedness by through adequate foodstuff supply is therefore very important.

An emergency food-stock is needed for circumstances of that nature. They enable you to keep foods fresh for long and be in a position to get all the dietary requirements in your meals. For a start, you should strive to always have a continuous ration supply for three days. The store should contain sufficient water and foods for all your family members. You can choose to have a stock that can go for a week, a month or more.

You also require good storage equipment. Necessary hygiene requirements should also be met. The foods stored here should require no refrigeration and should have low salt content. Do not put your store very far as to avoid inconveniences when retrieving the items. Remember a prolonged search is inconvenient in an emergency situation. Humidity and pests are dangerous to stored food and should therefore be kept at bay.

You can do your shopping in bits. No need to hurry!! Begin with foods that you can easily purchase at an affordable price. Consult widely so that the items you buy are those within a reasonable price and quality. Affordability is also a factor to consider as well as the manufacturers. Some manufacturers are untrustworthy and some companies make counterfeit goods.

The stock is only meant for emergencies. You should not yield to any urge whatsoever to turn to it. Continue purchasing your daily food as usual. If you are forced to borrow from your stock pile, replenish it as soon as possible. However, the ideal is not to touch it at all unless in an emergency situation.

From time to time, replenish and reshuffle your stock pile. Discard the items that will have expired before their use. Reshuffling implies interchanging the items so that those recently purchased ones are kept at the bottom. It enables you to utilize the ones that have neared their expiry date to avoid the great loss that comes with disposing them off.

You have a continuum of options for detecting the freshness of your food items. One way is to check their expiry dates. An item that has not expired is edible unless if it was not stored well. Restock your bottled water every six months because longer than this can be harmful; in addition, the nutrients in them become useless in regards to adding vitamins to the body.

Fruits and other foods that have high acid content should be stored for a maximum of a year to eighteen months. Meat, fish and most vegetables can be stored for two to five years since they have low acid content and thus last longer. Storing the foods for too long should be avoided.




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