Survival Chocolate
THE OTHER DAY I SAW ONLINE BBC REPORTING GERMANY WAS ADVISING CITIZENS TO STOCKPILE FOODS.
In some ways I think this is driven to promote sales of consumer goods but I also think it makes sense and it is good sense to have the necessities on hand. Terrorism or bad weather or an act of God could place you and your family in a bad position and having an extra supply of food and water is just good emergency preparedness.
I have been pondering this subject since I saw the BBC article and decided to ask my team of advisors since I spin everything in my life to somehow connect with chocolate. Sometimes I have to stretch to find a connection while other times the connection is easy. I think when it comes to emergency food supplies and being prepared it isn't too far of a stretch to think of chocolate as part of this supply.
CHOCOLATE IS THE BEST SURVIVAL FOOD
Have you ever given it a thought that if there were an emergency situation ever, how will you survive? What are the things you should stock up when it comes to eating? What to grab before it’s all gone? Any number of tragic disasters could occur, be it an earthquake, a hurricane, a cyclone or anything that could turn life upside down. In the heat of the moment, you are going to want something that you can carry easily, stock up and acts as a comfort food during such situations, now you must be wondering what exactly is something like that? Chocolate is one of the best survival foods that one must carry with them at all times during such situations.
Packaging and Weight
During such situations where you have no control of what to leave behind and what to carry along, chocolate acts as a best food item that you can always grab and get some if not most out of it. It is important to keep these factors in mind such as shelf life, preparation time, ease of use and weight during such emergencies. Chocolate, being light weight is easy to eat and is something that won’t weigh you or your kit down.
Calorie Count
Even if you have nothing that could fill you up properly, dark chocolate is something that can give you a quick source of energy and also boosts your morale while being pretty generous in calories. Chocolate is an energy dense product, which means being small in portion size it is high in calories. So having some of it can help you going for a long time. It is also likely to be one of those products that is going to be high in demand when a disaster or such emergency follows.
High Energy Food
Know why chocolate is included in food rations of polar explorers, military people and other adventures? That is because it contains three of the main components of food; protein, fat and carbohydrates. It also contains some vitamins and minerals as well. It provides your body with quick energy to give you a long lasting and effective pick-me-up. Keep in mind, all chocolates are not same. Only carry a dark chocolate with you in such situations to keep you somewhat productive. A dark chocolate contains more cocoa and less additives and sugar that keeps you going and boosts your immune system.
Shelf Life
The shelf life of a chocolate is longer and for such emergency situations, it is one of the best food items you can carry along. Although, if you keep a chocolate in a refrigerator it can extend its shelf life by about 25% and if you freeze it, it can extend shelf life by approximately 50%. But in situations like these, one cannot say anything about having luxuries of a fridge or a freezer. Still, chocolate is a product that has a long shelf life if stored properly but other than that, you must know that like a lot of other sweets, chocolate also has a best before date and not an expiry date. Now what exactly is the difference between the both? The difference is what makes the shelf life of a chocolate longer. One may safely use a chocolate even after its best before date has passed unlike the products whose expiration date have passed.
Antioxidant
Antioxidants are used to help body’s cells from damages that are caused by free radicals formed by normal body process. These normal body processes includes breathing and environmental contaminants that involves smoke through cigarettes. Your body must have enough antioxidants to overcome the damage from free radicals. Good news for all the chocolate lovers! One can find antioxidants consumption from chocolates. Dark chocolate is filled with organic compounds that function as antioxidants and are biologically active. Dark chocolate and cocoa have a great variety of powerful antioxidants, a lot more than most of the other food items.
Comfort Food
Make sure you add chocolate in your list of survival foods because having bland meals for days will become old and at some point you will literally get annoyed. Your stress level will be very high after crises so prepare yourself mentally for it. Chocolate is one of those comfort foods that in situations like these will at least help you have a good mood when worried. Many people turn to comfort food items when they need a pick me up when stressed or when they are depressed. Chocolate is one of those items that is included in such comfort food list. It not only boosts your mood but also gives a different taste to your taste buds, especially when you are so done with having bland food in emergency situations.
We never know when some emergency situation might strike, so why not prepare ourselves and be ready for such situations before they affect our well-being and livelihood. If you are going for grocery shopping and buying chocolate boxes for you as a snack item, you should also consider of buying some more of those chocolates and add them to your emergency preparedness kit.
When a disaster occurs one should not expect everything to go back to normal in less than at least three days, which obviously means you need to keep something to feed yourself and your family. While chocolate may not be the only item you should carry that will keep you and others full but it is definitely one of those items that you should carry as it is easy to eat, easy to carry, is a great source to provide energy, has a longer shelf life, carries antioxidants and has a great calorie count that will provide you with instant energy.
If you are considering buying chocolate as a survival food for emergency situations and starting to keep an emergency preparedness kit, stock up milk chocolate which has the benefits as mentioned above.
