Global pandemics, natural disasters, civil unrest, weather emergencies: the next urgent situation could be right around the corner, and you need to make sure that your family is prepared. Canned goods and rice may be fine for some, but if you want to make sure your family thrives during any potential crisis, you’ll want to hold one of your most essential emergency resources — food — to a higher standard. Nutrient Survival offers a wide array of hearty, nutrient-dense food that is designed to the nutritional standards of the U.S. Armed Forces.
It doesn’t take long for a disaster to turn our world upside-down – leaving us without the basic necessities of shelter, water, and food. As so many learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, resources can become scarce faster than imagined. However, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Americans are taking fewer preparedness actions now than since the COVID-19 pandemic started. FEMA’s 2022 National Household Survey on Disaster Preparedness reports that nearly half of the country intends to prepare sometime in the future but has not yet started, even though 73% believe that a disaster is likely or very likely to impact their lives.
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Getting ready
Threats can come from many directions, and advance preparation is key to being ready for anything. Assembling a FEMA Basic Emergency Supply Kit is an excellent place place to start. Basic necessities include water and non-perishable food, prescription drugs, an extra cell phone battery or charger, a radio that can receive NOAA Weather Radio alerts, a first aid kit, and a whistle to signal for help. Having a family communication plan is also essential.
When it comes to food, high-quality, shelf-stable goods are a must. In an emergency, the body will likely be expending more energy than it usually would, so high-energy, high-protein foods will help meet the immediate crisis while maintaining overall health. Protein bars, peanut butter, dried fruit, jerky, and trail mixes are all good choices, especially since they are light and portable, though they may lack variety. Packaged survival food is easy to carry – but quality can vary greatly. According to Eric Christianson, a former consumer packaged goods executive at some of the nation’s largest food companies, processed emergency food often lacks needed nutrients.
Nutrient Survival: an answer to “dead calories”
“I’m no stranger to the realities of processed food,” says Christianson, who worked for Procter and Gamble, Campbell Soup Company, and Purdue Chicken. “As a former “Big Food” marketer, I know all too well where nutrition ranks with these large food corporations, and I can honestly say that I’d feel bad feeding my family most of what is on the market today.”
“We would engineer our food,” he remembers. “I’d tell my research and development team, ‘I want you to make this thing taste as wonderful as you can so that people will come, they’ll love it, they’ll buy it again, they’ll crave it,’” he says. “It’s ‘The Dorito Effect.’”
Christianson refers to a term coined by health journalist Mark Schatzker, who says that the corporate drive to optimize food production has led to artificial flavoring that makes food taste good while lacking essential nutrients.
“This is the “bliss point,” says Christianson. “The more sugar you have, the more fat you add, the more sodium you add – it takes the consumer satisfaction, the consumer delight, to a maximum point. We would always try to maximize to that point so that it would be the most crave-able, most delicious food – and if nutrition had to go by the wayside, so be it.”
Christianson says the same process applies to commercially available survival food, resulting in empty-calorie, nutrient-deplete emergency fare. As a West Point graduate and former Army Ranger, Christianson is familiar with the strict nutritional requirements for food used during special operations warfighting missions; those higher standards drive his emergency food and beverage company, Nutrient Survival, where he is CEO.
Nutrient Survival: Special Ops nutrition
Providing “Special Ops Grade Nutrition,” Nutrient Survival designs its meals using nutritional standards specified by Department of Defense publications for rations intended for use on special operations missions. The company offers pre-assembled emergency food kits, buckets, pantry packs, and bundles with up to a 25-year shelf life. Customers can choose from various options, from singles and daily-use packs to stackable cans, including 3-, 14-, 30-, 60- and 90-day kits, available as one-time purchases or subscriptions.
Unlike other emergency food companies, Nutrient Survival buyers can also design their own bundles, choosing from a menu of entrees like Hearty Lasagna and Triple Cheese Mac, along with breakfast and lunch items, meal bars, snacks, and beverages, including powdered Vitamin Milk and Vitamin Coffee.
Each serving of Nutrient Survival foods exceeds the daily recommended intake for essential nutrients – nutrients the body requires that are only available from food.
All items are fortified with key vitamins, minerals, protein, fatty acids, and fiber – providing six times more nutrients per calorie than competitor brands.
Nutrient Survival: quantifying nutrition claims
To verify its nutrition information, Nutrient Survival partners with WISEcode LLC, a third-party data science company that evaluates nutritional claims. Using a science-based methodology that measures a food’s nutrient density and relative nutritional value, WISEcode’s team of independent scientists, technologists, and engineers calculated a Nutrient Score for Nutrient Survival and 75+ alternative survival foodproducts usingdata provided by manufacturers. Points were added to or deducted from the score for related factors, such as amounts of sugar and sodium. Listed as one of the best emergency food supply companies by ConsumerRating, Nutrient Survival has been named the Best Emergency Food for Individuals.
Nutrient Survival: nutrition built on taste
The brand’s journey to superior nutrition begins with taste: the company’s COO is a chef trained at high-end resorts.
“When we design our recipes, we use real ingredients,” Christianson says. “No artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives. This isn’t ’Frankenfood.’”
An end-to-end start-up company, Nutrient Survival manufactures all its products in Reno-Tahoe, Nevada, at its state-of-the-art facility that houses an R&D department, food prep equipment, test kitchens, ovens, and cold baking and freeze-drying technology. Christianson says all food is hand-crafted in small batches, then preserved with a patented freeze-drying process, compared to ordinary dehydration techniques that dissipate flavor and texture. Nutrient Survival has already won positive reviews for taste, including recent praise from Practical Self Reliance. The brand is now available online and at major retailers across the U.S.
Nutrient Survival: everyday readiness
Nutrient Survival was initially born during the supply chain disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, when grocery store shelves ran empty, and waves of new customers searched for emergency food with long shelf life. The global emergency food market has been expanding ever since, reaching U.S. $7.4 billion in 2022; IMARC Group expects the market to reach U.S. $11.5 billion by 2028.
While emergency preparation is still the mainstay of Nutrient Survival’s business, Christianson says the company’s mission has expanded to serve repeat customers who recognize the overall usefulness of survival foods, from camping and backpacking to everyday living. He says that staying healthy through proper nutrition is the best preparation for a crisis.
“If you can’t run up the stairs, if you can’t grab your family and get them out of harm’s way, then, you know, what good are you? You don’t want to wait until that day of reckoning to spring into action. Our food is an everyday type of opportunity to be in a position of readiness, to take on whatever comes your way.”
For further reading:
American Red Cross: How to Prepare for Emergencies
Ready.gov: Plan Ahead for Disasters: Food
The Washington Independent Review of Books: The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth about Food and Flavor
Important Note: The information contained in this article is for general informational purposes only, and should not be construed as health or medical advice, nor is it intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease or health condition. Before embarking on any diet, fitness regimen, or program of nutritional supplementation, it is advisable to consult your healthcare professional in order to determine its safety and probable efficacy in terms of your individual state of health.
Regarding Nutritional Supplements Or Other Non-Prescription Health Products: If any nutritional supplements or other non-prescription health products are mentioned in the foregoing article, any claims or statements made about them have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and such nutritional supplements or other health products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
