The Thirty Day SHTF Test Diet: Day 1

Today was Day 1 for my test of Mountain House food packets as emergency food, The Thirty Day SHTF Test Diet. Lots of preppers recommend storing food for a disaster; this series tests it out. As explained at the start, I'll be eating two of the meal packets - one breakfast, one dinner - and reporting on how the meals go down and the effects.

So far, so good. The freeze-dried food tasted like cooked food, no effect on my health, energy level okay, and I haven't lost any weight. The last is noteworthy because emergency food is supposed to keep you fed; it's not supposed to be a weight-loss plan. In a disaster, you need a full ration of calories to get you through.

The Meals

The breakfast pack I chose was granola with milk and blueberries:

It took a half a cup of cold water to reconstitute. With the half cup in, it looked watery:

but tasted good: it tasted like the real thing.

For the dinner, I picked the lasagna with meat sauce.

Preparing it was a little more complicated. I added two cups of boiling water. Easy in normal times, but it might not be so easy in a disaster that knocked the power out. If I were to rely on it as disaster food, I'd have to secure an off-grid method of boiling water and store up enough fuel (wood or propane) to keep doing so.

I'm glad I found this out in advance.

Below the cut line are close-flaps that stick together with some semi-solid adhesive. These flaps worked.

As with the granola, the lasagna tasted like the real thing. The only difference was that the cheese clung to my spoon evenly like a film. Most probably, because the freeze-drying turned the cheese into fine-grained powder.

If you looked closely at the open packet of granola, you saw a little envelope below the packet. That's the oxygen absorber.

Effects, So Far:

As mentioned above, my energy level did not go down. I was able to do everything I had to do without getting sluggish. If anything, my energy level was higher - but that's probably due to a placebo effect.

'Round mid-afternoon I got the "hungries," but it was not the kind of hunger that brings sluggishness with it.

No adverse effect on my health, either. I was riding a headache as of late afternoon, but that could be coincidental or just part of feeling hungry. It's gone now.

As for my weight, I'm pleased (if a little bemused) to show that my weight is unchanged from the prior day.

As the scale shows, I could lose a lot of weight - but a disaster is not the time for a diet! When things fall apart, you need a full-calorie ration. So far, it appears that I have.

Conclusion For Day 1

It's off to a good start. The food was as good as advertised. The two-meal plan did take some adjusting to, but only to the point of discomfort. I did not lose any energy. Had I been obliged to eat these meals in an SHTF situation, I could do what I had to do without being dragged down.

But I did learn that I'll need a way to boil water, which is also prudent to have as a low-tech water decontaminater.

So far, so good! Thanks for reading.

And feel free to comment below!

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Day 0
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8