You can buy complete meals that include entree, side dish, dessert, drink mix, and utensils all in a pack. Or, you can stock up on individual entrees, side dishes, and desserts separately. These meals are designed to be heated, but can be eaten cold since they are already fully cooked. Place the meal pouch in boiling water to heat, or you can purchase special MRE heaters - for a price. Notice that you don't need to add water to the meals - that's a plus over dehydrated meals in the "easy to prepare" area but a minus in the "reduce weight" area.

MREs are an excellent emergency food choice, but take a deep breath before checking out the prices. Full meals cost around $5-$7 each and are typically things like barbeque pork, spaghetti, chicken ala king, and ham omelette - quite a few choices. They are compact and nutritious and would be a good addition to your Grab and Go kit. A 3-day supply for a family of 4 would cost a little under $200.

camping food Camping Meals - very light-weight, compact food that is reconstituted with clean, hot water. These meals are very popular with backpackers due to their light weight and good taste. They have a 2-year shelf life and cost around $4-$6 per meal, once you add in side-dish and dessert. A 3-day supply for a family of 4 would cost around $150.

If you want to "Go Big", AlpineAire has a kit that feeds 2 people for 1 year, providing 2100 calories/day, weighing 1200 lbs. and costing just $6700 - see SuperPak System. (that is $18/day or about $3/meal).

food in emergencies Do It Yourself - a lower-cost alternative to specific camping products is to put together your own meals from similar pouches you can buy right in the grocery store. Knorr/Lipton has dried rice or pasta side dishes to which you can add canned tuna or chicken for very tasty, inexpensive meals. It is easy to make meals for less than $2.00 each. A 3-day supply of "do it yourself" meals for a family of 4 would easily cost less than $100. Another advantage of going this route is that you can use the emergency food supplies food in regular meals as it reaches its expiration and replace it with fresh packages. The cost will be no more than normal meals.

comfort food Comfort Food - be sure to include some favorite foods and snacks in your emergency food supply specifically for the effect of raising spirits. Eating somewhat bland meals for more than a couple days will become old. Make sure you stock a spice wheel so folks can add a little zip to their meals.