Don't buy a $10 cookie

Not actually Erin.
Picture by KJ Photography
& is used with permission.

Last week I talked a bit about building up a food reserve, and in the upcoming Episode 8 of the Gun Blog Variety Cast I expand on the best ways to do that.

One of the things I mention is that, while MREs and other forms of survival rations have their place, they aren't ideal for building a prepper pantry -- in fact, one of the first things I mention is that you need to store what you're used to eating. 

But that is for the podcast; this article is for the other side of things, where I will, in fact, talk about survival rations. As far as I'm concerned, there are only two uses for them:

1. Bought in bulk for use if your pantry runs out
2. Put in your BOB and eaten if you become a refugee

In the former case, you have several options; I actually have two buckets of food from Wise Company that are put back in case of a hurricane that destroys so much infrastructure we run out of food before resupply is possible, but there are many other options out there, such as #10 cans from Emergency Essentials or crates from Augason Farms. Be warned, though, that long-term food storage can get very pricey very quickly.

(As a point of interest, I'd like to mention that earlier this year American Mercenary did a series on his blog where he and his family subsist on one of those aforementioned Augason Farms crates.  The series isn't properly tagged, but you can find the first post here.)

As stated, these are bulky and expensive, not well suited to bugging out unless you possess a vehicle you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, will work when SHTF.  The rest of us will have to rely upon inexpensive, lightweight, and most importantly nutritious survival rations, and when it comes to that our options are greatly limited.

I'm not an expert on nutrition by any means. However, I've been doing some research and I believe I can trust the views of the Maine Prepper. He says he is/was a professional soldier, a bodybuilder and a marathon runner, and while I obviously cannot verify any of these claims, he has a good reputation online. And regardless of whether or not you agree with his philosophies, it's rather hard to argue about these particular videos, especially when he starts reading the ingredient lists out loud.

Now on one hand, I feel a bit bad about making a post that consists mainly of someone else's videos. But on the other hand, I want to share this information -- which is the entire point of this blog -- and so rather than talk out of my own rear end, I'd rather defer to someone else who has a good reputation for knowledge. If he turns out to be incorrect, well, I expect that my loyal readers will let me know.

Which leads me to the title of this post: I'm going to confess that I did, in fact, buy not one but TWO $10 cookies back in '09 when I had just started on my prepping voyage.  In my defense, all I can say is that I was new at it -- and this video hadn't been released.  Learn from my mistake, watch Maine Prepper's videos on what makes a good portable survival ration (and what you should stay away from), and put good quality survival food into your get home or bug out bags.

Do not buy Datrex rations for your BOB.

I have tasted Datrex rations. They're... not horrible, but not tasty. A dry, crumbly, mostly tasteless cookie that has a bit of a coconut flavor.

LRP freeze-dried rations: Good, but expensive. 

Here's the link to the store that sells them.  I haven't tried these.

Do not buy Mainstay rations for your BOB, either. 

I haven't tried these, either.

Assemble your own "Poor Man's Rations".

Maine Prepper keeps mentioning a good multivitamin as a supplement for your BOB, and I agree. These are the vitamins I use, but really any decent multivitamin ought to serve as a short term supplement/"food multiplier" for getting from Point A to Point B.