How to choose a week’s worth of survival rations

Survival rations are easy to come by and can be bought in any quantity, with freeze-drying companies offering a year’s supply for a family of four that comes on a single pallet. Getting hold of them isn’t the problem and they all claim to be the best choice, but when it comes to lugging it around for an entire week on your back, it’s worth putting some thought into which type will be best for your journey.

Here are the different types of what is considered survival food and why you should, or shouldn’t choose them. The following estimates are for one week’s supply of food.

1) M.R.E’s

£180 – £210 (3 meals per day for 7 days)
10.5 kg – 15.75 kg

Stands for meal ready to eat and is the most commonly recognized name for this type of ration. Most countries have their own version but they are all similar and contain a full meal and normally a few sides and drinks.

They contain the most variety and come with a flame-less ration heater so a hot meal can be had with a small splash of water, and the condiments pack contained in some of them sometimes has things like salt and chewing gum. Since they aren’t dehydrated and there are numerous smaller packs within the main bag they can be quite bulky and heavy.

Advantages:

• More variety than any other meal type
• Includes drinks and extra condiments
• A hot meal can be made with no more than 50 ml of water
• Designed for soldiers in the field so typically contains high levels of carbs and calories
• can be eaten as they are and don’t require water before becoming edible

Disadvantage:

• The heaviest ration type out there for a single meal. They normally weigh between 500 and 750 grams per meal, of which you’ll need three a day hiking through the wild making a day’s worth of food weigh between 1.5 and 2.25 kilos.

• The contents aren’t matched up very well in the American M.R.E’s and you normally end up with random items that don’t go with anything like a large pouch of apple sauce or three different jams to go with a small pack of pretzels.

• They last up to five years from the date packaged which is fine for a trip into the wild but makes them a bad choice for long-term emergency food.

• They are the bulkiest of all options and haven’t had any space removed such as the removal of water to make them smaller. They also contain the most amount of packaging and therefore the most amount of litter and air space in between items.

• They can be very expensive, with the average meal being sold online for around £15 each, though you can get discounts for buying them by the box.

2) Dehydrated food

£120 – £150
4.2kg to 5.4kg

(A re-hydrated meal, one of the options available to make at home if you’re willing to buy a machine)

Dehydrated food is made by cooking a normal meal and then putting it through a process that removes most of the water, giving it a very long shelf life. They usually last around 10 years from the day they were made and come in a sealed pack with an oxygen absorber, so as long as you don’t get them too hot or open them, you have food that’s guaranteed to be edible for a very long time.

Since most of the water has been removed they are very light and pack down to a fraction of what an M.R.E would, but the process of removing the water also removes some of the taste and often makes them quite bland.

Advantages:

• Very light with the average meal weighing between 100 and 120 grams, but due to the generally low amount of calories per meal you’ll need six a day in the wild, making a day’s worth of food only 600 grams.

• Can be packed into small spaces and since they normally come in a thin pack, they are great for stuffing in gaps in-between clothing in your backpack.

Disadvantage:

• Can be expensive since you’ll need more to make up your daily calorie requirements.
  Cannot be eaten without adding water first
• Generally quite bland and don’t offer the moral boost of feeling like you’ve had a good meal

3) Freeze-dried

£210 – £250
4 kg – 5 kg

(Freeze-dried meals are a noticeable upgrade from dehydrated meals, but are more expensive)

Similar to dehydrated food but done in a much more advanced way. The meals are prepared as normal but are then frozen down to a very low temperature, usually between -30°C and -50°C. While frozen a vacuum is created within the machine to suck out all the moisture, which not only removes more of it and makes the product last longer, but leaves in all of the taste.

The process can take hours to complete which makes freeze-dried food more expensive than the others, but it’s also the lightest of them all and one of the tastiest. You’ll need four pouches per day to hit your calorie requirements, depending on your own body and which meals you choose.

Advantages:

• The longest lasting of all ration types, with some meals lasting for up to 25 years from the date they were made.
• They contain all of the original flavors and are better tasting than any other ration type (in my own personal opinion)
• They are the lightest of any ration type.
• Since they are quite thin and small, a week’s worth of food can easily fit into a standard-sized backpack.
• A huge variety of meals, with everything from fruit cereals with cream to all kinds of pasta and continental meals.

Disadvantages:

• Expensive for the amount of food you get and a week’s worth can set you back more than any other type.
• Cannot be eaten without water
• Cannot be eaten instantly like M.R.E’s or ration blocks, as the water needs about 10 minutes to properly soak through the contents.

4) Survival blocks

£40 – £80
3.5 kg to 5 kg

These are the kinds of rations that you could expect to find on emergency rafts on ships and in aircraft survival boxes. There are many different flavours and brands but they generally split into two main types, sweet or savoury. They contain a whole day’s worth of calories and nutrients and are designed to stop you from dying as opposed to providing you with a hearty meal.

The savoury ones can be dissolved in water to make a soup but apart from that there isn’t much you can do with them. This is the kind of thing that you should carry in the event of an emergency instead of eating nothing but them for an entire week.

Advantages:

• They are very small for the amount of calories they contain and take up little room in your pack.
• Quite cheap in comparison to other types.

• You can pick up a day’s worth of calories in a single bar for as little as £5.
• The sweet ones are very tasty, kind of like someone put a sponge cake on top of a cheesecake and compressed it into a little bar.

Disadvantages:

• Very limited flavors and they don’t last well when opened, leaving you to a single flavor for an entire day.
• They contain everything you’ll need for the day in terms of calories and nutrients, but they aren’t very filling and can leave you feeling hungry which makes it tempting to eat more rations than you need.