Salted Peanuts

The humble peanut is actually pretty amazing as a survival food. They are tasty, a small amount makes you feel full and unopened they last a long time. They are also very calorie dense and don’t take up much room in your pack.

Humans need electrolytes to function properly and these are lost from the body when we sweat. The salt on peanuts provides Sodium and Potassium, while the peanut provides Magnesium and Calcium.

They also have a decent level of fat, protein and fibre. All of these are essential to keep you going. While the carbohydrate level might look low it’s important to remember that the human body can make all the carbs it needs from protein and fat. It’s a process called gluconeogenesis and the protein level in peanuts is off the charts.

Nutritional breakdown for a small 50g bag:

• Energy: 307kcal (calories) / 1272kJ

• Fat: 51% (8.1% saturates)

• Carbs: 5.6% (5.1% sugars)

• Fibre: 8.5%

• Protein: 30%

• Salt: 1.3%

Emergency Rations

What if you want an even higher calorie density and a much longer shelf life? That’s where emergency rations come in.

They are essentially a super dense biscuit made from flour, oil, sugar and salt. They aren’t the best tasting backup food but they are “shelf stable” and last pretty much indefinitely unopened. Even the Best Before Date (BBD) on the pack is good for 20 years.

One pack takes up a small amount of room in your pack but offers almost 600kcal and they are designed to be easily broken into four pieces.

Nutritional breakdown for a 100g bar:

• Energy: 475kcal (calories) / 1988kJ

• Fat: 19.4% (8.2% saturates)

• Carbs: 67.6% (20.3% sugars)

• Protein: 7.1%

• Salt: 0.2%