Although it will be up to your personal preferences, today’s post will be about food/water that you’ll store for the zombie apocalypse. If you’re planning to stay in one spot, this will be easier than if you’re going to be a roamer. Canned food can be heavy, so for those of you deciding to use the thick forest as protection, I suggest you take some notes from Katniss and learn to hunt. Also buy a good reference book showing which plants/berries are edible in your area of the country.
Even the staying-put crowd should have some back up plan for the day the canned food runs out. There are no guarantees as to how long it will take to knock down the bulk of the zombies, so be prepared to outlast them. If you have plenty of food to eat, it will lessen the chances that your brain will be their food. (Side note: A good tip I found online today? Cut your hair short. Less for them to grab onto. Or as the website put it, “Lose the Mullet, Save Your Life.” Words to live by.)
Obviously you need to have plenty of protein-rich food on your list. This will give you long-term stamina. You can’t have too much peanut butter, and honey is the only food source that has no shelf life. That means your little hunny bear will be your best friend when you need something sweet a year from now.
It’s hardly necessary to bring up Spam. I know our Hawaiian readers are already stocked up on lifetime supplies of the yummy stuff but the rest of us have to catch up. Don’t like Spam, you say? Tough luck. It just might be the secret ingredient that keeps the survivors alive.
There is another food that could be valuable to you in the long run, especially if you have children you’d like to see grow up healthy despite the zombie invasion. Load up on the powder mixes of Slimfast type products, Carnation Instant Breakfast, and any vitamin powders you can get your hands on. Don’t put the Slimfast shakes and powders in a box, thinking they’re only for dieting folks. They are actually packed with condensed vitamins. And quit worrying about the sugar content in the Carnation Instant Breakfast. Sugar is fuel, don’t forget. Although many of these products are meant to be stirred into milk, unless you own a cow, you won’t have any past the fifth day of the invasion. Water works just as well. It’s the closest thing to chocolate milk your kid will get, and you’ll be getting those critical vitamins in them at the same time.
Speaking of water: there’s lots to cover when it comes to the basics of hydration. First, I’d recommend hunkering down someplace that’s not more than a half mile from a stream of significant size. It will be a challenge to try to reload on water without running into zombies, but at least it will be available. And remember, you can probably outrun their staggering gait when you’re carrying empty jugs, but once they’re full it will be a test of your physical fitness.
There are many ways to make water safe to drink. Here’s a great article by zombieprep.net. It basically comes down to five options.
1) Boiling, which is effective but tricky if you don’t have access to fire easily.
2) Iodine tablets which sterilize your water, but leave a pretty nasty after taste (hey, when you’re dehydrated and thirsty, water is water).
3) Household bleach. Small amounts can make water safe to drink but if you’re on the run, hauling along your jug of Clorox might not be a good option.
4) Water Filters. Great option until your filter gets dirty and you don’t have a replacement. Stock up on filters and then be ready to go to plan B when the filters run out.
5) This is a new one for me. UV light water purifiers. Supposedly you stick this glowing light into your water and it sterilizes it in about one minute. The only real down side to this one is that some versions require power–as in batteries, lots of batteries over the long haul. If you can get a solar powered version, snatch it up.
And if you decide you want to use the boiling water method, check out this handy tutorial showing how you can successfully boil water in a plastic bottle.
Another great tip from the folks at zombieprep.net: don’t rely on unsustainable resources. Again, it basically comes down to learning how to make water safe to drink and having some knowledge about what’s growing in the wild that you can turn into your own personal salad bar.
I’m so saddened by the fact I can’t recommend Twinkies. In the years my boys have been making our family survival plan they always knew there would be Twinkies in the mix. I’m not a huge fan of the yellow cakes but wouldn’t turn down a Ding Dong if it was offered to me.
Freeze dried meals and MREs may be another option. MREs (military meals: Meals Ready to Eat) are a bit heavier but I’d think would be a bit more filling/satisfying. Freeze dried options are not cheap but for those of you on the run, they make a great back up plan if you’re having trouble finding natural plants to eat or you’re just plain tired of salad every day. Don’t forget dried fruit, either. More critical vitamins for your kids and you can almost pass them off as candy.
One more great list for you: This gem is from a Sandy hurricane survivor, and although it’s tips for how to survive a catastrophe like a hurricane, many of the tips cross over into being helpful for hiding from zombies too.
Time is of the essence… do you have enough food, and an effective food plan, so you can be a survivor?
