Sardines is one of the best survival foods for your prepper pantry or emergency food supply. Discovering sardines was one of the best survival foods I’ve discovered for stocking in my prepper pantry (and eating on a regular basis because they’re incredibly good). In this post, you’ll learn uses for sardines and why they are one of the best survival foods there is.
I first considered trying a can of sardines after hearing about some of their benefits from an episode of the Tim Ferris Podcast. Before hearing that, I never considered or even thought about sardines. After researching, reading, buying, trying, and experimenting over the past year—here are some thoughts on this food that could qualify as an entire MRE in a small tin can.
People in general are repelled from them in general. They must think something is fishy about them…
Benefits of Sardines
The benefits of these fish are more than enough to convince you that maybe you should consider trying a can or two at least once.
Useful
There are over a dozen different uses for sardines—especially the tin can that you’re left with after eating the fish.
Healthy
As I learned a lot about the specific health benefits from the podcast that’s linked above—they’re loaded with essential vitamins.
Long Shelf Life
Sardines are one of the foods that last forever. The tins they come in are waterproof. It’s as if the fish are inside of an underground bunker protected from nuclear blasts.
Inexpensive
Regardless of what brand you end up trying, the average can goes for a whopping $2.50. Very affordable.
Small
They’re small, lightweight, and shaped in such a way making them even easier to pack.
Survival Uses For Sardines
- Eat Em
- DIY Grease Lamp
- Trap Animals
- Emergency Signal Mirror
- Trap Bait
- Mini-frying Cooking Pan
- Pocket Survival kit
Eat Em
Sardines taste surprisingly scrumptious.
I could eat 10 cans a day and be a happy man.
2) DIY Grease Lamp
You can make a grease lamp by using the tin that the fish come in.
After eating the fish, insert a piece of string for the wick that’s at least 1 inch long inside the can so it sticks out. Sardines with oil is ideal for the candle.
3) Trap Animals
To trap animals with the tin can, place it over a hole after cutting an X shape into the can. Secure the can with a stake. When an animal that’s heavy enough steps on the X, it will fall right through the can trapping the animal underneath.
4) Emergency Signal Mirror
The idea is to make the tin can as shiny as possible. You can use shoe polish if you have any. Using toothpaste works as well. Use a piece of cloth, paper, or leaf to rub the substance on the can.
5) Mini-Frying Cooking Pan
After eating you can use the can as a fryer to cook even more food, kind of an oxymoron isn’t it.
6) Pocket Survival Kit
Similar to making an Altoid survival kit. You can make a variety of small compact survival kit.
Varieties
There’s plenty of varieties you’ll find in the average grocery store.
Here are the different varieties of sardines you can choose from:
- in olive oil
- in water
- in olives
- in mustard
For practical purposes, go with the olive oil. The oil itself is healthy and can be used in numerous ways.
Best Brands
Three words of wisdom when it comes to where and how to buy sardines.
Brand is King.
If there was ever a difference like night and day, it’s with different brands of sardines. I first tried Blue Planet because that’s the brand I heard from Tim Ferris. So I checked them out, did my research and they checked out. I tried them and they were excellent. I wanted to try different brands in case I wanted to buy them while at a grocery store.
This is where things got fishy…
I bought the brand from Costco and they weren’t even comparable to the ones I had before from Blue Planet. They weren’t edible, I had to get rid of them. Next up was King Oscar. Jackpot.
Delicious. I liked and still like them even more than Blue Planet.
Some brands you can’t eat enough of. Other brands aren’t even edible. Here are the ones that are recommended:
Best Sardine Brands:
- King Oscar
- Blue Planet
Try the boneless, whole sardines if it’s your first round trying them.
Conclusion
If you’ve never tried sardines before, give them a shot. You may be shockingly surprised like I was at how good they taste. Not to mention all of the uses for sardine tin cans and health benefits from them.
I hope this article on survival sardines helped you and gave you some good reasons on why you might want to consider getting some cans to stock in your emergency food supply.
Have you ever tried sardines before?