What makes a particular survival food reserve the right choice?
How can we best compare one food reserve to another to decide?
Fortunately, we consumers have a ton of information on food reserve contents and their nutrition information to help us. How can you gather info and compare it effectively without spending many hours researching and note taking?
We decided to look at and analyze some six-month food reserves, do some calculations and put the results in a chart for you!
What we wanted to do is provide some simple information but with enough details that you can get a feel for how food reserves are different. A chart to understand how satisfied you would be when you actually needed a food reserve.
One approach is to look at the calories for various types of meals and drinks. People’s eating habits are different so you want to have the reserve with the correct calorie balance for you.
Other considerations, like how flexibility, variety, and morale are supported by a food reserve can be understood better from a calorie analysis.
As always, the cost is a critical part in any decision, but what really matters is value, so the calorie chart includes cost per 1000 calories of each reserve. Seeing how the calories are spread out will help you decide which reserve has the best value for you.
Six Month Food Reserve Calorie Content Percent
| Nitro-Pak Gold 6 Month | ReadyStore Readyprep 2000 | Legacy Premium 720 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 41% | 12% | 42% |
| Entrées | 16% | 22% | 45% |
| Soups | 0% | 10% | 13% |
| Rice/Potato/Pasta Sides |
7% | 17% | 0% |
| Fruit/Vegetable Sides |
6% | 4% | 0% |
| Snacks/Desserts | 8% | 0% | 0% |
| Crackers | 6% | 6% | 0% |
| Milk | 9% | 5% | 0% |
| Vitamin C Drink Mix | 6% | 24% | 0% |
| Total Calories | 324,870 | 355,338 | 301,360 |
| Container Type | #10 Cans | #10 Cans | Mylar Pouches |
| Price with Shipping (on Feb 24, 2015) |
$1612 | $1518 | $1430 |
| Cost Per 1000 Calories | $4.97 | $4.25 | $4.75 |
| Ordering / Info Page | Gold 6 Month | READYprep-2000 | Legacy 720 |
We chose six-month food reserves because they are a good baseline: the food lasts six months for one adult person, three months for two, two months for 3 people and 6 weeks for four people.
There are many different six-month reserves packages available, these particular three from Nitro-pak, ReadyStore, and Legacy Premium well represent different approaches to contents of a reserve.
Morale is critically important in emergency situations so variety and flexibility in a food reserve should not be overlooked or minimized. You may have additional ways to supplement these food reserves with other resources available addressing these concerns, but think about the total costs and risks of your choices.
Also, think about how the readiness aspects of your plan will be easily maintained before an emergency situation as well sustained during one.
These food reserves consist mostly of freeze dried food. Meals are very easy to prepare only requiring water, hot or cold, and about ten minutes to hydrate thoroughly.
We will be adding more comparisons in the future with different size food reserves, but the ones in the chart provide good initial perspective. We will also be looking at different types of food reserves (MRE, canned food, bulk staples) in future posts.
We hope you found this comparison useful, and we would very much appreciate you sharing or linking to it if you did!