The use of emergency food packages has grown more widespread recently. Emergency food packs are utilized in various situations, including disasters, survival, and even adventurous camping. There are numerous options for firms that provide emergency food kits. In demanding and challenging times, you should consider which emergency meal kits are the greatest in low sodium content and premium products for you and your family. We’re here to fill you in on everything, though.
Emergency food kits are enormous containers filled with meals that may be quickly made and consumed in an emergency. These containers have a storage life of 10 to 30 years.
Numerous businesses are well-known for their emergency food supply. But, we’ve compiled a selection of the best-tasting low-sodium emergency food kits that are reasonably priced and would be of the utmost use to you in dire circumstances. While maintaining health safety and balanced nutrition should be your first responsibility, we primarily focused on low-sodium food kits.
Certain foods, particularly canned goods with a long shelf life, can be preserved using sodium (salt). Consuming salty food might make you thirstier, leading you to drink more water than you intended when preparing an emergency water supply.
Why is low-sodium emergency food important?
- Definition of low sodium emergency food
There are various reasons why emergency food is vital. It is crucial since, in the event of disasters like storms or floods, these can assure your family’s existence until relief arrives or until the roads to their food source are clear.
Low-sodium emergency food is essential because This emergency meal kit’s balanced salt level, which makes it suitable for persons with underlying ailments, is also one of its primary selling points.
In addition to improving cardiovascular health, a low-sodium meal has numerous additional health advantages for you, including the following:
reduces your risk of developing kidney disease
enhances bone strength
lowers the risk of liver disease
aids in diabetes management
can reduce the chance of stomach cancer
Role of sodium in the body
One of sodium’s primary roles in maintaining a healthy level and distribution of water in our bodies is to regulate blood pressure.
Like chloride and potassium build distinct channels in our cell membranes that perform many essential functions, sodium does the same. For instance, sodium channels enable the transit of particular nutrients and molecules (such as amino acids, glucose, vitamins, etc.) into the cells and assist in regulating the quantity of water that enters and exits cells. Sodium is essential for the contraction of our muscles and hearts and the transmission of nerve impulses between the brain and the body by our nerve cells.
features of sodium
aids our cells’ absorption of water and minerals
aids the contraction of our muscles
blood pressure is balanced, and our body fluids are maintained.
Daily recommended sodium intake
Your daily salt requirements vary depending on your age, sex, and stage of life.
For healthy individuals (over 18), including those who are pregnant or nursing, the dietary reference value (DRV)*
sodium is 2 g per day. This is equivalent to 5 g, or one teaspoon of table salt, the primary sodium source in our diet.
Like chloride, the advised sodium intake is considered safe and sufficient. It can support our bodies’ demands while lowering our risk of specific health effects associated with diets rich in sodium chlorides, such as elevated blood pressure and cardiovascular disease disorders.
Health risks of consuming too much sodium
The maximum sodium consumed daily is 2 g or about one teaspoon of table salt. It’s crucial to remember that table salt is frequently added to many foods during processing, making it simple to consume more than is advised.
We risk developing high blood pressure and renal and heart problems if we consistently exceed this recommendation.
The kidneys typically struggle to handle too much salt in the blood. The body holds onto water to hydrate itself when sodium builds up. As a result, more fluid exists around cells, and blood flows through the bloodstream. A larger blood volume puts more strain on the heart and the blood arteries. Over time, the additional stress and pressure may stiffen blood vessels, increasing the risk of hypertension, heart attacks, and stroke.
Heart failure may result as well. There is some evidence that excessive salt consumption may harm bones and the heart, aorta, and kidneys without raising blood pressure. Find out more about the diseases and risks to your health associated with sodium and salt:
- Cardiovascular disease
- Chronic kidney disease
- Osteoporosis
- Cancer
Low Sodium Emergency Food
Low-sodium and water-packed canned tuna, salmon, sardines, and chicken breast are excellent low-sodium meals. Remember to include a can opener in your emergency supply box: low-sodium, fat-free soups and chilis in cans.
Why traditional emergency food options are high in sodium
Emergency food options traditionally available are rich in salt. Because Processed foods typically have a significant amount of salt added to the food as stabilizers, preservatives, and colorants. Modern life’s greater reliance on processed foods has led to higher salt intake, which has raised the prevalence of hypertension among Malaysian people. As a result, this study sought to analyze the salt content of processed food goods sold in supermarkets and identify the proportion of such products that exceeded the international product criteria reference value.
Benefits of low sodium emergency food
Those who consume less than 5 grams of salt daily have lower blood pressure and a lower risk of stroke, coronary heart attack, and other diseases. The main advantage of consuming less salt is a proportional decline in high blood pressure.
Examples of low-sodium emergency food options
- Canned goods
Several canned foods have historically been low in salt. Canned food is preserved throughout the canning process; salt is not added as a preservative.
- Freeze-dried meals
Because of its high nutritional value and diminished degree of thirst, low-salt freeze-dried food offers you a nutritious option for a meal.
Low-sodium freeze-dried foods indicate that the meal or nutrition contains little salt.
Low-sodium foods are those that quench your thirst less during physical activity.
- Dehydrated fruits and vegetables
any fresh fruit, such as bananas, apples, or oranges
anything new, like spinach, carrots, or broccoli
no butter or sauce is added to frozen vegetables
You can rinse canned vegetables to eliminate some of the sodium if they are low in sodium, or don’t add salt.
- Snack options
Sodium is always one of the first items addressed in better renal care, regardless of the stage or circumstance of kidney disease. When eating a plant-based diet, snacks are frequently consumed when you get hungry in between meals. Packaged snacks can still be incorporated into a renal diet if we hunt for low-salt options.
Tips on Purchasing Low-Sodium Emergency Food
When grocery shopping, consider using only your emergency water and food supplies. How would you provide for your family’s nutritional needs with a meager supply of water and no access to restaurants or grocery stores? Here are a few things to consider while purchasing food for your emergency supplies.
- Reading labels
A printable background with information on the health effects of sodium must contain simple instructions for using the Nutrition Facts label to lower sodium intake and helpful advice for consuming less sodium through wise food decisions.
- Nutritional content
Utilize the salt content of foods to compare various choices using the Nutrition Facts label.
Aim for items with 5% Daily Value (DV) or less; anything higher is considered excessive.
Remember that some lower-sodium items don’t have those labels, so you must check the Nutrition Facts label. Look for foods labeled “low sodium” or “no salt added.”
- Shelf life
The amount of time a product can be stored before losing its suitability for use or consumption is known as its shelf life. The unique product’s degrading mechanism determines the shelf life.
- Taste
Customers frequently rely heavily on taste when determining whether or not they will enjoy a product. Some of the food for survival tastes extremely lovely, believe it or not. It might even have a tastier flavor than anything your grandmother made for you. Food that would often spoil can now last up to 30 years thanks to a technique called freeze-drying. Yet, the shelf life of each type of food varies.
All of these options for emergency food kits are fantastic. They include delicious, low-sodium, high-nutrition food that will guarantee your health and happiness under challenging circumstances. Thus, pick one of our suggestions for a wholesome and secure dining experience to fill up on a fantastic value emergency kit.
