Emergency rations aren’t a good permanent option. To last as long as they do, they can’t be very natural. They’ll often also have some slight imbalance to nutrients. That said, they’re a very important part of your short-term survival plan. They’ll easily keep you going for days, months, even years if you’ve got nothing else. They’re an excellent thing to stockpile in places you can prep like houses or cars.

I put together a list here of the best emergency rations I could find to fit a variety of situations. Your 3 day emergency rations shouldn’t look like your 3 month rations! With the ones I’ve got compiled here, you’ll be covered for hunkering down or bugging out!
Best One Month Emergency Rations – Augason Farms 30-Day
I really like how all-in-one this solution is. This 30-day meal kit takes all the guesswork out of picking and planning your meals. That’s what you pay for when you go for kits like these!
Some emergency ration solutions have you on pretty slim diets. This one plans for 1800 calories a day. This is just about the perfect number for a wide range of people and body types.
You won’t be hurting on quality either. Rations are never as good as the real thing, but these come pretty darn close!
One thing to keep in mind is that the foods themselves aren’t packaged on an individual basis. You’ll want to have bags to keep the food fresh as you work through the ~7 day bag.
All of this with a 30-45 day pre-prepared meal plan makes this bucket a slam dunk!
Best Breakfast Emergency Rations – Augason Farms Breakfast
Getting into the longer term, we’ve got the Augason Farms Breakfast pail. Depending on the size you end up with, this could be a 15+ day supply of breakfast. Not only will it last you a long while after you open, it’ll last 30 years before you do!
This is an incredible deal for this amount of food. Trying to put together this much yourself could easily get much costlier.
Not only are these good for survival, but they also make great camping meals!
Splitting up your foods into breakfast, lunch, and dinner is a luxury. You’d think you have to forgo luxuries in a survival situation, right? Not with this kit. This kit will have you eating warm oatmeal and flapjacks well into the end of days!
Best Lunch & Dinner Rations – Augason Farms Lunch & Dinner
I told you about Augason’s breakfast pail, but pancakes aren’t a balanced diet. This lunch & dinner pail rounds out the menu and will keep you stocked with a variety of meal options!
Most people think of simple one-pot meals when they think about prepping. Things like soup, stew, and pasta come to mind. This pail will satisfy that! With survival classics like beef stroganoff and chicken noodle soup, you’ll be well covered!
This is another pail that can easily carry you 15 days, even more if you ration down. By stacking a few of these, you’ll have a lasting food supply that’ll ensure your survival!
If you’re looking for quality survival food, Augason Farms is a name to remember!
Best Emergency Calorie Bar – Grizzly Bear Emergency Rations
I love these crazy things. These are so simple and easy that it’s silly not to try them out. For starters, what are we even looking at? These “Calorie Bars” are vitamin packed calorie cubes that have specific measured sizes. Each pack of these is made up of 9 cubes, with 400 calories per cube. This makes it very easy to measure and plan out your calorie consumption.
You might expect these to be hard to choke down. After all, they’ve basically chewy multivitamins, right? They actually have a crumbly texture and taste more like sugar cookies than anything.
Who doesn’t want to eat sugar cookies instead of survival soup?
In addition to all of this, they last 5 years and can withstand extreme temperatures!
Best 72 Hour Emergency Rations – Readywise 72 Hour
From Readywise we have another great example of an all-in-one solution. This package will easily keep you and your loved ones stocked for 72 hours.
Reviewers even recommend this survival supplies for camping and vacations! If that’s not a glowing recommendation of it’s quality in a survival situation, I don’t know what is.
Like many emergency food packs, these come in big bags for each food, so be ready to re-seal.
That said, those who’ve tried them love the quality. The shelf life is 25 years so these make another good long term solution for food stores. You can buy these, stack them, and forget them until you need them!