Thursday, 3 April 2014

Learning About Emergency Food Rations

By Linda Cantrell


Some situations can force you not to be able to buy food for a whole year. At such times, survival tactics come in handy, but you can barely survive without foods. Emergency food rations are the way to go when such situations arise. The UK and other parts of the world are frequently hit by natural disasters such as floods, tornadoes, storms and disease outbreaks. Such situations call for disaster preparedness by way of food supply around the clock.

An emergency food-stock is vital as a precautionary measure. There, you can keep foods that can remain fresh for long, meeting all your basic dietary needs. At any given instant, you should at least have an uninterrupted supply for three days. The water and food therein must be sufficient for all your family members. Depending on your ability, your stock can go for a week, a month or more.

Also arrange good storage tools that meet the necessary hygiene requirements. It is not advisable to store foods with high salt content and refrigeration requirements. Your store should be within reach for easy retrieval of items. In case of an emergency, your food should be readily available. Keep the foods far from humidity and away from pests.

When you go for shopping, you do not need to buy everything at once. You can start with those that are on stock or on offer. Consider the prizes also. Some are very expensive while others are cheap. Depending on your pocket, go for what fits you. However, it is advisable to purchase items from reputable and trusted manufacturers.

Use the stock for emergency only. Avoid reverting to it in tempting non emergency situations. Instead, daily ration supplies should be purchased as usual. Replenish the stock pile as soon as possible once you are forced to borrow from it. However, try not to use it at all unless for emergency.

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.

There are many ways of testing the palatability of your stocked items. One way is to check their expiry dates. The nearer the expiry date the faster you should use the item to beat the deadline. For bottled water, you have to rotate the stock every six months even if the expiry date is not pinned on the bottle.

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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