Fast food for an emergency escape

Read the article and then consider how much of this would really be useful in an emergency.

Escape is definitely a good first step but as the recent Tohoku earthquake and tsunami have shown, proper nourishment is a vital part of surviving a disaster.

Take a look inside the evac bag recommended by the Japanese government and you’ll see four well-tested food suggestions: water, high-energy sweets and canned and dried food. No real surprises there. But judging by the bare supermarket shelves of late, people are also stocking up on less wise choices such as bread products, instant noodles and rice balls.

There’s not much dispute about the water — if it goes down to the wire, we can survive longer without food than water. You may also be tempted to take energy drinks or bottled tea, but energy drinks are basically sugar and caffeine, and tea is not really great for cooking. On the downside, water is heavy and durable fruits such as oranges and pears can be a good portable source of both liquids and nutrients.

High-energy sweets can be useful for a quick power blast… followed by an equally rapid crash. Dried fruit is a better option. It has the calories and with a couple of mouthfuls of water will also expand to fill your stomach. Canned and dried food are both good choices but obviously cans are not light and, for example, dehydrated rice products seem to evaporate in your stomach soon after eating them.

What you don’t need
Energy sweets and drinks, etc. are great if you want to party all night but they contain very little actual nutrition, making them less good for survival purposes. And you can basically forget about most commercial bread products — unless there is nothing else — for similar reasons. They can help with hunger pangs and definitely have the calories but that’s about it.

This also applies to instant noodles. If your escape kit includes a small hiking-type gas burner, you can cook them (depending on your emergency shelter), but they are virtually nutrition free and you’ll be hungry again in an hour. Even the boil-in-the-bag curries, hot pots and similar foods available in supermarkets are a better choice, particularly if you throw in a can of beans or tuna for protein.

Rice balls are actually not a bad choice for filling a gnawing hole in an emergency. Buy them from a convenience store and the boatloads of preservatives should keep them safe for a couple of days. Just make sure to pack them on top of the canned food unless you want rice paste. Taking smaller cans or tetra briks will also help to avoid damage.

Foods to prioritize
It’s probably easiest to think of your escape food as post-workout meals crossed with camping dinners. Maintaining energy can be vital after that initial adrenalin rush and the post-exercise meal replacements sold in sports stores are useful for this. Just drop a scoop of powder in a container with water, shake and you’ve got a fortified energy drink.

Most sports stores also have a wide range of power bars, generally with the 2:1 ratio of carbs and protein recommended for effective recovery. Grab any real electrolyte powders or drinks you see as well. They’ll serve you much better than most popular recovery drinks, which are usually just sugar water with a bit of salt.

As mentioned above, the dried apricots, raisins, etc. found in most supermarkets are also good for energy, especially when you combine them in a trail mix. Trail mix can include any assortment of dried fruit, nuts, grains, coconut, dark chocolate, etc. and is an excellent belly-filling source of both short and long energy.

When you reach somewhere safe, then you can pull out the canned and dehydrated items. Camping stores are good places to find better quality, compact food but many boxed products from supermarkets will do fine. A final “food” to consider is a (plastic) bottle of multivitamins and minerals. Keeping up your B and D levels can really help with energy-draining stress.