Building a Bugout Bag - Food and Water Essentials

• Posted on 9 March 2023
• Posted in Bugout Bag Essentials, Survival
• 0

Once you've decided on the right bugout bag, the fun in building your bag begins. Initially your mind will be flooded with ideas of items to properly stock in your bag. However, while building your bugout bag, it's important to take your time and consider different sorts of situations you may face. After situational thinking is done, it's time to list essential items for each situation. Regardless of the situation, emergency food and water ranks at the top of every list. In this guide, we'll discuss some different emergency food and water options to help your bugout bag come together. 

Emergency Water

A great addition to every go bag or hiking trip is emergency purified drinking water packets. These contain filtered fresh water in a polymer-foil sachet. The high level filtering and protection keeps the contents for a minimum of five years regardless of the environment. Making these a long lasting and trustworthy water source in emergency situations. The packs are compact and small and a few should remain in every pack in case the location of a water source becomes difficult. 

Water Purification

When it comes to water purification, there are several ways to go. Tablets/drops remain one of the more popular options, but having a filtration straw also provides a less complicated and lightweight option. Filtration straws are great when setting up camp near a body of water and give users the ability to drink directly from the source without spending any time waiting for purification. The straw is built with a four stage filtration system that filters out 99.99% of all harmful substances and improves the taste. Straws provide up to nearly 400 gallons of suitable drinking water before replacement is necessary. 

When it comes to purifying water and having it on the go, water purification tablets and drops are by far the most popular option. Purification tablets require two drops to one quart of water and proves to be extremely effective against giardia. Meanwhile the Aquatabs also are effective against giardia cysts, bacteria and viruses, making water safe to drink in just 30 minutes. Each tablet can treat up to 2 quarts of clean water and are a great lightweight emergency use item. 

Meals Ready to Eat or MRE's 

MRE's or meals ready to eat have been used by the military since the Revolutionary War and is a staple amongst preppers, survivalists, military surplus collectors, governments and more. Each meal provides about 1,200 calories which is thought to provide enough calories and nutrition for a meal and in drastic circumstances, a day. Typically each MRE contains a main course, side dish, dessert or snack, crackers, some sort of spread, powdered beverage mix, utensils, a heater and an accessory pack. Stuffing at least one MRE in a bugout bag is both possible and necessary. A great bang for your buck is our SOPAKCO MRE's which contain 16 meals for just $89.99. An amazing price per meal considering most MRE's only contain 12 meals and typically start in the $100s. 

Emergency Food Ration Bar

Primarily used by the Coast Guard and Navy when rescuing people stranded at sea is an Emergency Food Ration Bar. These 12 ready to eat food bars contain 200 calories in each bar for 2,400 calories total in a package. They are completely all natural, made of wheat flower, cane sugar, water and coconut. They are great high energy bars that can also be stuffed in a go bag, making it a great emergency food option. 

Survival Tabs

Another great bugout bag emergency food option are survival tabs. These come with 180 tabs per bottle and are made of non-fat dry milk solids, sucrose and vegetable oils. These are an ultra high calorie food tablet that provides essential vitamins and minerals, protein for strength, fat for endurance and dextrose and lactose for fast energy. The tablets are designed to last for 15 days with 12 tablets to be taken daily to help in emergency situations. 

Whichever emergency food source you choose to go with, keep in mind that something with a long shelf life should definitely remain in your bag. As for water, stocking up with at least a few emergency water packets is a great idea. Filtration methods and purification drops and tablets should also rank very high on every checklist. Ensure you are fully prepared for the two items we must have as humans in order to survive.