When I prep, I store a variety of types of meals. I have a lot of rice and beans, as I can make those into dozens of different meals with very different spice pallets. There’s one type of meal that I do store at least a few of, for emergencies. That’s RTE, or Ready To Eat meals. These require either no prep at all, or just water and heat.
RTE meals are an important part of any prep for any situation. There are simply going to be times when you do not have the time or energy to cook, but you still need to eat. Having meals that require little to no preparation time will save you, time and again. I don’t mean for zombie apocalypse, either, though they work for that too. I mean for that moment when the power goes out right after you’ve finished 3 hours of snow blowing, and you’re exhausted and starving and now can’t use your stove. Or for when you’re backpacking, you get caught in a storm, and you’re stuck under a rock for a few hours for safety’s sake, and you need to eat.
While you can certainly go out and buy WiseFoods or any of the other “emergency bucket” type emergency meal kits, it’s very easy to assemble your own. Job Lots, Walmart, and even Amazon carry many very good options. It used to be that you’d save your cans of tuna for those emergencies, but now the tuna comes as part of an entire meal.
Starkist Tuna Snacks are the gold standard around here. We keep them in our go-bags, eat them as evening snacks, and they always go with me when I am camping away from the house. It’s fast and easy, and requires no heating. Simply slap the tuna on the cracker, and you’re ready to go.
Bumblebee Tuna Bowls are really yummy, and again, require no heating. There are three different kinds available on Amazon, but I’m told you can find a few more if you go looking. These include pasta, rice, and/or beans, and include vegetables as well. You’re getting a whole meal here. At 190 calories each, they’re a quick fix for a hungry person. They also do not contain any added sugars, so they can be eaten by diabetics. They are NOT good for people with Celiac though.
Starkist Smart Bowls are rice and beans with tuna, in a variety of flavors. These are the soft packs, so they stack easily in a backpack or go bag. They’re lower in fat and higher in carbs than the Bumblebee bowls, but neither of those are likely to be an issue when you’re dealing with an emergency situation.
At the slightly more bougie level, we have Cole’s Open and Eat Meals. These are a bit more expensive, but the quality is also higher. You get a larger meal, with more calories (250), and a variety of flavors. The reviews of them are pretty good, with the main sticking point being price. This is definitely one of those “you get what you pay for” moments.
And then there’s the ones I like best: Freshe Gourmet Canned Tuna. They have tuna and they have salmon, four flavors of each. You can buy them in bulk, and the price is a bit less than Cole’s. Each style has a different calorie amount listed, so you have to look at each of the flavors separately. Having eaten these both cold and warmed, I can say they are VERY yummy. I went out and bought a bunch of these at my earliest convenience after a friend introduced me to them.
There are chicken versions and salmon versions of all of the above. I would guess you can probably find ham and Spam ones, as well. I prefer to have the cans in my camping bin, because they can safely rattle around in the bottom of the bin and not be harmed. They will still be good to eat next summer, if I don’t get to them. The flat pack ones are best for backpacks and go bags. I usually slip mine into the front pouch of my backpack or in the interior flat area of my go bag, where they won’t be punctured.
The second type of RTE meals are ones you add water to, but nothing else. Lipton’s “noodles and sauce” come to mind, along with instant mashed potatoes, “just add water” dry packages of soup, oatmeal, and a wide variety of backpacking meals. You can find these at any grocery store, and at places like the Dollar General and gas station convenience stores. Pick meals that only require water for preparation, and are shelf stable.
The idea behind RTE meals is to help you get calories into your body while expending very little in the way of energy. The last time I used RTE meals in an emergency, it was because we lost power in the evening, during a snow storm. Branches took out a local substation, so we knew it would be hours, if not days, before power was restored. I went out to clear the driveway, while the rest of the family got out all the emergency candles, checked all the windows and doors and such, made sure we had water on hand, and brought in wood for the wood stove. When I got back in, I was whipped. All I wanted to do was fall down. The others were busy with their own chores, so I dug out one of my instant soup packets by Bear Creek. I think I paid $4 for the packet, and it fed five of us. All I added to it was water, and two cans of chicken that I had on hand. All that I had to do was add water and the cans of protein, and heat it on the stove. All in all, it took me about 15 minutes, most of which was me standing around waiting for the water to heat.
There’s this … dramatic desire to show the apocalypse with people eating dog food out of tins. Here’s the thing: there are plenty of great people foods available to help you avoid the dog food. It isn’t even all that expensive, if you put your mind to it in advance. I’m not rich by any stretch, but each grocery trip I pick up an extra couple of tins of the instant meals I listed at the beginning of the article. It doesn’t take much, and it adds up quickly. I have several stashes of food, all hidden but relatively easy to get at. I have the ability to throw together quick and simple meals that will give us the carbs, protein, and fat that our bodies need, with a minimum of chemicals and crap.
I will note, I always say, “Prep what you eat, and eat what you prep.” When it comes to these easy one-stop meals, that’s even more true. Make your easy meals something that anyone in the house can make with minimum effort. Make it something everyone likes. There’s a certain level of hope and comfort that comes from having a “beloved favorite” during an emergency.