Common preparedness foods

that are stored by those who are either getting started in emergency preparedness or by those who don't want to take the time to actually research their options, actually isn't good for you in the long term.

What are those foods?

I'm only going to discuss two of them in this post.

Ramen Noodles and Spam/Luncheon Loaf/Processed Caned Meat

When I first got involved in preparedness back in the mid to late 80's, every "Survivalist" had cases of Ramen Noodles, cans upon cans of some type of Spam either name brand or generic, and buckets of rice and buckets of bans.  I don't know how many times I would meet with another "Survivalist" oriented person and they would have cases and cases of Ramen, 4 or 5 cases of Spam, 2 or three jars of bouillon cubes and a bucket of rice and a bucket of pinto beans.  Coupled with 5 or 6 gallons of water in 1 gallon jugs, they considered themselves ready for the coming take over or Apocalypse or whatever they were preparing for.  These same people who have 8 or maybe 10 rifles, 4 or 5 handguns and 2 maybe 3 shotguns.  With enough ammo to supply an Light Infantry Company.  The spent more of their finances on firearms and ammunition than anything else.  Over time I got away from those types of people and became involved in a website known as Alpha Rubicon.  One of the greatest things Alpha Rubicon taught me was simple.  You need to have at least 10 beans for every bullet, and you need to store foods that you already eat.  That was a doorbell ringing, an alarm clock.  What did I have stored?  Ramen, Spam, Beans and Rice.  If I was lucky I'd have 2 or 3 gallons of water.  These days I have several months worth of food in my house, with prices the way they are getting plus having 7 kids, it's getting harder to keep adding to my food storage, especially as I now have 4 teenagers children and you know teenagers, they can eat a LOT.

But back to those common foods that many people store, Ramen and Spam.

As I said above they really aren't that good for you by themselves.  Which many people might find out in an emergency situation.

Lets look at the Ramen.  On the back of the package is the Federally Mandated Nutrition Facts:  I'll go line by line so you can understand it a little better.

Each one of these packet hold 2 servings, so the nutrition facts for one packet should be doubled.  Don't believe me read the back of your Ramen packet, 1 serving is half a block of noodles.

Calories:  190

Calories from fat: 70

Total fat: 7g  11% of Daily Value

Saturated fat: 3.5g  18%of DV

Trans fat: 0g 0% DV

Cholesterol: 0mg 0% DV

Sodium 790mg 33% DV

Total Carbohydrate 26g 9% DV

Dietary fiber less than 1g 3% DV

Sugars: 1g

Protein: 4g

So if you eat one full packet you are getting 14grams of fat 22% of you daily value, 1580 mg of sodium 66% of your daily value, 52g of carbohydrates 18% of your daily value, 2g of sugar and 8 g of protein, all for only 380 calories of energy that your body can use.

Lets look at the spam now or in my case Armour Treet:

1 can is 12 oz, and the recommended serving size is 2 oz, so each can holds 6 servings.

1 2 oz serving has

Calories 140

Calories from fat: 100

Total fat: 11g 17% DV

Saturated fat: 3.5g 18% DV

Trans fat 0g

Cholesterol: 50mg 17% DV

Sodium: 820mg 34% DV

Total Corbohydrates: 4g 1% DV

Fiber 0g

Sugars 2g

Proteins 6g

So if you 1 can of this you would be getting Fat 66g 102% DV, Sodium 4920mg 204% DV, Carbohydrates 24g 6% DV, 12g of sugar and 36 g of protein, for all of 840 calories of energy.

Do you see those sodium levels?  How good is to survive a disaster only to have a stroke or heart attack from high blood pressure?  Granted when I was younger, for almost 5 months I lived on nothing but Ramen, Spam and Mac & Cheese, which is probably why I was over weight had bad acne and couldn't even get out of my own way with out pounding migraines.  After I moved back to my parents house and started having real meals again, I lost weight the acne and the migraines.  I also was able to become more active and much healthier.

I still need a trip to the store to get some nutrition info of a few things, but you can see where this post is going.

Watch what you store for preparedness food.  If you don't pay attention to what the label says and only pay attention to the price, you could wind up hurting if not killing yourself or your family.