As a prepper you’ll want to be in the very best shape both physically and mentally. You’ll want to keep yourself and your family safe and healthy so that when a catastrophe hits, you’re ready. You must keep your immune system strong. Your body must be constantly be full of vitamins so that you don’t develop any deficiencies.
Many preppers store up a quantity of basic multi vitamins. This would be a good start. As you know, you can purchase these multi vitamins for a variety of people – men, women, children and seniors. But would these basic multi vitamins be enough? How long to vitamins keep in storage?
Of course when thinking of your bug out bag, vitamins aren’t absolutely necessary to your short term survival (72 hours). But if we are not able to have access to our typical food supply at our local grocery store, then it becomes more important for your long term survival needs.
Vitamins are very important if we don’t have the necessary food stores available. This is also true if you’re not able to get adequate nutrition from your food supply. Did you know that you could get a disease by not eating certain vitamins and nutrients?
You or a loved one could develop rickets, pellagra or scurvy if the right foods aren’t available to eat. Some vitamins could make dehydration worse if water is limited and you’re not able to drink enough. Even before you invest in the proper vitamins it’s extremely vital that you have the proper food and water stores on hand.
There are many ways to stock up on vitamins and minerals. You can use multi vitamins or you can use individual vitamins. You could even have a combination of both in order to maintain a healthy body. For a strong and healthy immune system you’ll need to take zinc and vitamin C.
Prescription drugs and antibiotics may not be available to help you recover or maintain your health in a crisis. So, prevention is the key while you are in survival mode. For additional vitamin C you could grow your own peppers and green vegetables.
In order to keep your bones strong you’ll need calcium, preferably combined with vitamin D for better absorption. If you can’t keep dairy cows for milk and cheese, this becomes even more important. Magnesium is another mineral important to store for the same reason.
When you are in a survival situation and are feeling tired, the B vitamins will give you the energy you need. The B vitamins can be gotten from your own crops again – whole grains, spinach and beans.
Another thing to consider would be to stock up on prenatal vitamins if someone is under your care is pregnant. This could also be true if someone is of child-bearing age and could become pregnant during a survival situation.
In order to know what vitamins or minerals you might be naturally deficient in you should see your doctor. He can run a simple blood panel test to determine your vitamin levels. You’ll need to get the same panel performed for each member of your family. Then you’ll know what items to stock up on in extra quantities.
