Here at Emergency Essentials®, we really try to focus on educating our customers. Over 24 years of experience have taught us a lot of really good things about what to do (and what not to do) when it comes to food storage and emergency preparation. And we see it as our job to pass that on to you!
So here are what we are calling our "14 Tips for Food Storage Shopping". These are the questions you should ask, the facts to check, and the information you will need to make the best, most well-informed purchase possible for you and your family.
Over the next few weeks we will be covering each one of these extensively. So read over them, and let us know in the comments what you think!
#3: Look for nutritional calories, not empty calories. Try and get calories from a wide variety of sources as possible. A lot of calories from sugar drinks or candy are far less healthy than from balanced meals.
The main point here is that there are good calories and there are bad calories, and there are just worthless calories.
Trying to have a balanced diet can be hard even in your regular life. It can be even more difficult in a disaster. This is why looking at nutritional values becomes so important.
Lets compare a common household product and its food storage analog:
Sugar Drinks VS Fortified Drink Mix
Sugar drinks are a fairly common, very delicious drink mix. And you can even make the argument that there is some nutritional value: a 17 gram serving yields approx. 10% of your daily Vitamin C.
Compare that to a serving of Provident Pantry Fortified Peach Drink mix: a 17 gram serving gives you 30% of your daily vitamin C, as well as 5% of your daily vitamin A. There is also less sugar.
Ultimately, you should store what you eat and eat what you store. But pay close attention to nutritional information, and start making changes in your current diet that will make it easier for you to live on your food storage.
What are some great foods you are storing to help round out your food storage?
3 comments
Becky S.
How do you keep food in #10 cans from spoiling once they have been opened?
There are only two of us, and there is no way we can use the entire contents of ANY can that size in a short period of time.
I've already had to toss several almost full cans that I opened because the contents had gone bad.
Thanks.
Princess of Everything (and then some)
I totally love inSANEmom's comment! LOL
inSANEmom
I totally agree with trying to get good calories every day, and that it is just as important in our food strorage. I know that one area I am lacking is with fruit and am working on getting it stocked in higher quantities.
That said… I wouldn't dismiss "worthless calories" completely. There will be times when those will be extremely important because oftentimes they are "comfort" foods. For example…. peanut butter cups. There's not much to be said for their nutritional value but think about how rewarding one would be after a particularly bad day. Or how appreciated it would be as a "gift" to someone on their birthday when a "real" gift is hard to find. Even better… think of the value some might place on it after not having something sweet for a long time… it might be a good barter item.
Or maybe… I just tell myself all those things in order to justify keeping them stocked up in my food storage closet. :-)