While some might think that eating berries and roots sounds boring, these foods can be a valuable part of your diet if you know how to prepare them. Berries like strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries are full of antioxidants and vitamin C that help keep your body healthy. Roots such as carrots, potatoes, and sweet potatoes contain important minerals like zinc and magnesium that aid in strong bones and teeth.
These basics survive because they have either been shown to be nutritious or cost nothing to eat. If you’re ever stranded away from civilization, there’s no need to get fancy with your culinary creations. These recipes are easy to follow and do not require too much equipment.
So what is the cheapest way to make sure your stomach is always filled with something edible? Start off by gathering all-important nature ingredients. We’ll talk more about those later.
Cheap Survival Food: Stockpiling On a Budget
If you’re trying to stockpile food for an emergency, you may be looking for the cheapest survival food options on a budget. Prepping for an emergency can be expensive, but there are ways to save money when stockpiling food. Here are some tips for finding the best and cheapest survival food for your budget.
Start with the Basics
Before you jump into stocking up on more expensive items, start with the basics. Dried beans, rice, and pasta are great staples to start with when prepping for an emergency. These items are generally inexpensive and can be used in a variety of ways. For example, you can make a variety of meals with beans, rice, and pasta. You can also buy large quantities of these items and store them in Mylar bags or buckets with oxygen absorbers to extend their shelf life.
Stock Up on Canned Goods
Canned goods are an excellent choice for stocking up on survival food. Canned vegetables, fruits, meats, and fish are affordable and provide a great source of nutrition. Plus, they are easy to store and have a long shelf life. Canned foods are often a great choice for prepping on a budget.
Look for Bulk Items
Look for bulk items like grains, nuts, and seeds when stocking up on survival food. Bulk items are often much cheaper than buying individual packages. Plus, buying in bulk reduces the amount of packaging you’re using and helps you save money.
Consider Dehydrated Foods
Dehydrated foods are a great way to stock up on survival food without breaking the bank. Dehydrated foods are often much cheaper than their canned counterparts. Plus, dehydrated foods take up less space and have a much longer shelf life than canned foods.
Find Local Deals
Take the time to look for local deals on survival food. Grocery stores often have great sales on items like canned goods and bulk items. You can also check with local farmers and food co-ops for deals on survival food items.
Stockpiling food on a budget can seem like a daunting task. However, if you start with the basics, look for bulk items, and find local deals, you can stock up on survival food without breaking the bank. With a bit of research and planning, you can find the best and cheapest survival food to stock up on for an emergency.
Emergency Food Supply Kit
Are you prepared for an emergency? Emergency survival food supply kits are essential to ensure you and your family are ready for any situation. Readywise emergency food and Legacy food storage provide a variety of emergency food kits to meet your needs.
Readywise emergency food
Readywise is a company that specializes in emergency preparedness. Their emergency food kit includes a variety of freeze-dried and dehydrated items that are easy to prepare and have a long shelf life. The emergency kits are designed to provide enough food for 1 person for up to 1 month. They offer a variety of flavors and items such as breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and desserts.
Legacy food storage
Legacy food storage is a Utah-based company that offers a variety of emergency food supply kits. Their kits are designed to feed up to 4 people for up to 1 year. Their kits include a variety of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack options. Additionally, they offer a variety of vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and allergen-free options.
Both Readywise and Legacy food storage provide comprehensive emergency survival food kits. Depending on your family’s needs, you can choose the kit that best suits your needs. Both companies provide high-quality food that is easy to prepare and has a long shelf-life. Additionally, the kits are designed to provide balanced meals and snacks for optimal nutrition.
When it comes to emergency preparedness, it’s important to have a backup plan. Readywise and Legacy food storage provide comprehensive emergency food supply kits to ensure you and your family are prepared for any situation. By investing in a quality emergency food supply kit, you can rest easy knowing you and your family will be taken care of in the event of an emergency.
Foods You Should Eat When Stuck Out In The Wild
While some may think expensive foods are needed to survive in the wilderness, this isn’t always the case. Some of the most inexpensive foods can be lifesavers, especially if you know what to do with them.
Many people believe that dried fruits and vegetables are one of the best ways to stock up before a disaster. However, there are certain ones that are actually cost-expensive compared to others.
Certain types of berries and mushrooms are much cheaper than other similar items.
Water
The one thing we never run out of in this world is water. It’s probably our most fundamental need, after air for example. We always have a supply somewhere or another, either through drinking it directly or by washing ourselves with it.
It is also very important to remember that water does not actually taste good. You would be surprised how quickly you get used to drinking plain old water!
If you are caught without supplies, try to find an area with lots of trees or other natural covers. These can be used for shelter and for drying off wet clothes. Use any litter left behind as a tinder to start a fire.
Avoid using alcohol gel tablets as they contain chemicals that will only make your water even more undrinkable. Stick to purified water packets instead. These do not include salt or caffeine, so don’t ingest them unless there is nothing else available.
Salty foods like dried fruits and vegetables are your best bet if you cannot get rid of the things that contain sugar. Who wants dry fruit anyway?! Nut butter is also a great source of fat but beware of it going bad as well.
Salt
All of us have access to salt at home, so why not use it for more than just making popcorn or baking bread? Adding some sea-salted (ocean) salinity to your water can help you survive in case of emergency water shortages.
Having enough salt in your body is important because your blood does not contain enough as humans consume less sodium than what our bodies need. When this happens, your blood becomes too thin, which can cause death due to a lack of oxygen being able to flow to all parts of the body.1
Most people do not realize that one large glass of plain old tap water has only 1,500 milligrams of sodium! This amount is nowhere close to the 2,000 mg per day recommendation given during an emergency.2
Making sure you are drinking enough water and replacing lost salts through eating foods such as fruits and vegetables is essential to surviving.3 You may also be able to find saline solutions in grocery stores or online shops.
Something simple like rubbing a slice of salty butter onto half a piece of bread and swallowing it can aid in getting needed salt into your system.4 Make sure to drink these beverages quickly to avoid wasting any potential life-saving liquid.
Surprisingly, dried fruits like apricots and bananas can make a good meal when mixed with water and sugar to taste. They both have about 400–600 mg of salt per cup serving.
Potatoes
Best cheap survival foods are not always the most luxurious, but they will help ensure your survival in a crisis. One of the top choices for low-cost eating is the humble potato. Millions of people around the world have potatoes as a staple food item.
Potato dishes can be made both sweet and salty depending on what toppings you add to them. They can also be roasted or boiled; no matter how you cook them, potatoes retain moisture well. This means that even when cooked down, they remain high in taste and texture.
Another reason why potatoes are important survival food is that they are easily transportable. You do not need a special vehicle to eat a potato dish! If needed, you can simply soak it in water and carry on moving. Although they may not look flashy, these qualities are very valuable in an emergency situation.
Beans
While many people may not like them, dried beans are one of the most important foods for anyone to have in their emergency meal preparation repertoire. They are great sources of protein and almost any kind of bean can be used.
Beans come in a variety of colors and textures. Even though they take longer to cook than other foods, they do not need much attention after that. Once cooked, you can either eat them raw or process them into another recipe.
They also retain the nutritional value of both vitamin B and minerals such as zinc and magnesium even when processed and/or re-hydrated. This means they can be made into dishes like baked goods or pasta which add some flavor and nutrition to your diet.
There are several reasons why these little legumes are so crucial to have in an emergency situation. First, they are inexpensive if you buy enough for a week’s worth. Second, they are easy to prepare – just remember how to use a spoon!
Third, you will find lots of recipes and tips online and in various books and gazettes on how to make different types of canned and dry beans edible. These recipes include things like baking, roasting, boiling, toying off flavors, and adding more salt to taste.
Rice
While many people associate rice with being a staple in most countries’ diets, it can also be a cost-effective source of nutrition when prepared correctly. Nutritionally dense, rice is one of the most inexpensive foods you can find.
Rice has several grams of protein per cup which makes it an excellent food to have before bed or for those who don’t eat breakfast. It can also be mixed into a liquid and consumed like bread crumbs, giving you additional nutritional value.
If rice was ever needed for humanitarian purposes, it would be supplied free of charge by markets that sell it. Because it grows in almost any climate, rice is one of the most easily preserved foods as well.
It does require water to cook, making it a valuable resource if you are in a situation where there is no access to water. However, dried rice and pasta help mitigate this problem somewhat.
Peanut Butter
One of the most popular foods for people to keep in their backpacks or car is peanut butter. Many use it as a spreadable snack item, taping it onto some bread or using it as a dip for vegetables or chicken. It is also helpful if you are eating only snacks because you can add them to whatever plate you have!
Peanuts are the main ingredient in most commercial brands of peanut butter. The amount of peanuts used varies between companies, but they all contain around ten grams of protein per two tablespoons (25 ml) serving.
Another important component of peanut butter is fat. The type of fat makes a big difference when cooking with oil or baking with sugar. Coconut oil is one of the healthier fats that will not oxidize while baking.
Coconut oil is about half solid at room temperature, which may require temperatures to be raised slightly in recipes to ensure it melts and mixes properly. You want to make sure to mix your ingredients correctly to achieve the best result.
The Best Survival Food List
While some may argue that dried fruits are not a good food source, they can be if you know how to use them. Dried fruit snacks like gummy bears or applesauce with chocolate chips in them are a great way to enjoy one of their products!
Dried apricots, cranberries, and raisins all make excellent foods when prepared correctly. They do however take a little more time to prepare than many other foods we have mentioned on this list.