Emergency Survival Food - ingredients?

[Nikki2777]

The recent hurricanes in the Southeast and other natural and man-made disasters have got me thinking. Food pantries and charities that try to provide food for people affected by these disasters can't possibly be relied on to get us safe things to eat. So what do we do? I went online and started looking at the ingredients in those survivalist type emergency long shelf life freeze dried meals. Nearly every company has a gluten free option, which is great, but when you look closely at the ingredients most have maltodextrin and/or yeast extract and/or natural flavors. No sources noted.

Now with normal grocery shopping if I see one of these ingredients but also see "gluten free" I feel safe, but I wonder how much oversight these products get and if the manufacturers really know that these ingredients can or cannot be gluten free, depending on source. 

Does anyone know anything about these, or have a safe company to try? While something that tasted good would be a bonus, it's really secondary to getting the nutrition and calories we would need in an emergency. Has anyone bought these?

[Nikki2777]

Ok, I'm going to start to answer my own question - it looks like to get meals that are free of these ingredients, you need to go to backpackers/hikers freeze dried food. Which is a lot more expensive and has a shorter shelf life (the longest I've found so far is 5 years). But I could see getting my own tight seal bucket and storing up a supply of these if I can't find anything cheaper. Does anyone have any experience with these if not the true 'survivalist' food?

[Scott Adams]

Those meals, if labelled gluten-free, should be safe for celiacs. There are also canned foods that you might want to include in case of an emergency, and I personally have at least 2-3 weeks of food in my home in case of emergencies (here in California we've had wildfires in my area that left me stranded locked down in my home for weeks, and we of course have earthquakes).

Don't overlook clean water storage, as clean water in an emergency quickly becomes the number one issue for people, especially if the city water supply is damaged or contaminated.

[Awol cast iron stomach]

Excellent thread topic. In the area I live there is only one food bank to my knowledge that has gluten free packaged foods. So in regular circumstances support agencies have limited gluten-free stock.  For myself I would not be able to utilize likely many of the potential products they would have. I have additional intolerances, Corn is still an issue for me and can be found in many gluten-free packages foods as well. Similar to Scott, I have a pantry with items as well. I keep canned gluten-free proteins  example beans, jerky, fish, gluten-free packaged nuts, seeds,dried fruits, some canned vegetables. Also a gluten-free fruit juice and water as well. Many times there are often gluten-free packaged brands that contain corn, corn starch, or corn derivatives so I am limited which brands I can consume. I still make many baked products myself from gluten-free flours. In the past, when I priced out meal ration kits/ emergency food kits I found they can be quite expensive or limited gluten-free options. So I use the common "pantry" foods or "car trunk" gluten-free protein snacks I grab and go with when away from  home/ gluten-free kitchen  for the day. Best wishes .

[Nikki2777]

Thank you both. I've done a bit more research (and of course, my facebook feed is now fit for survivalist). Thinking to stock in some backpackers food and maybe a couple of the big cans of vegetables that some of the emergency food sites have. That should all be good at least a couple of years and I can eat them as they near expiration. Water is a good point. I do always feel so silly storing water but it's important.