In the light of the pandemic situation, many Americans have made prepping kits to prepare for the worst. This approach is effective and smart, not only during a pandemic (in which you could potentially find yourself quarantined for long periods of time) but for the uncertain future as well.
In the event of a crisis, there will be many issues related to what you can buy or even if you can get to a store to buy them.
Food is likely to be one of those things that will disappear from shelves quickly. This can lead to major issues such as malnutrition, which leads to increased illness.
Related: When Grocery Stores Go Empty – A Back Door Shopping Strategy
Stocking up on groceries is not always an option as food tends to expire quickly. However, stocking up on supplements and vitamins is an excellent option that has never been easier.
Supplements You Should Stockpile
If you are planning to create a preparedness kit in case of a crisis or you already have one, here are some supplements you should include in order to avoid nutritional deficiencies:
Iron
Iron deficiencies are common, even today, and can lead to anemia, which causes fatigue, weakness, and many other health issues. An iron deficiency and anemia are common throughout the world and can greatly impact your energy levels and ability to survive during a crisis.
Iron is found in many of the foods we eat, especially meat, eggs, and leafy green vegetables.
In the event of a crisis we may not have access to enough of these foods, if at all. Thus, a good iron supplement can help to make up for that loss and keep you healthy.
Related: Can This Be A Better Alternative To Modern Antibiotics?
Zinc
Zinc is necessary for your immune system. A lack of zinc can make you more susceptible to disease or illness and plays a role in a large number of bodily functions.
Diseases, such as heart disease, hypertension, and osteoarthritis – which are common among preppers of increasing age – can be improved with the use of a daily zinc supplement and zinc also aids in healthy growth and development in general. Foods that contain zinc include grains, vegetables, nuts, and meats.
Having a good zinc supplement on hand that provides at minimum 8-12 milligrams can be vital to your health should your access to food is somehow obstructed.
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is crucial to eye health and function, as well as reproductive health in both men and women. It also plays a role in strengthening the immune system to fight infection.
A deficiency in Vitamin A can lead to blindness, a major concern for preppers in the event of a global crisis that impacts your access to food sources.
This vitamin can be found in milk, eggs, green vegetables, orange vegetables, and reddish-yellow fruits.
Vitamin A is important to many aspects of your health and should be kept on hand as part of your prepping kit in the event of a crisis.
Thiamine (B-1)
Thiamine helps your body turn carbohydrates into energy, which can be very handy in a crisis situation. It also plays a role in your nervous system.
A lack of Thiamine can result in weight loss, fatigue, confusion, and short-term memory loss – which is a serious concern in a crisis situation when you must rely on your ability to be prepared and organized. A lack of this vitamin can also cause nerve and muscle damage, which can impact your mobility, and may affect the function of your heart.
While it can be found in eggs, legumes, nuts, seeds, wheat germ, and pork, it is very important to stock up on B-1 as part of your prepper kit to ensure that you are getting the precious nutrients that you need to survive, and to aid your body in creating much-needed energy.
Related: How to Make a Nutritious One-Year Shelf-Life Vitamin Bar for Your Stockpile
Folate (B-9)
Folate, also known as Vitamin B-9, helps your body create red blood cells and produce DNA. It also aids in brain development and nervous system functioning.
Folic acid is also thought to play an important role in memory; thus, it may be beneficial to the aging population.
Folate can be naturally found in beans and lentils, citric fruit, leafy green vegetables, asparagus, meats like poultry or pork, shellfish, fortified grain products, and whole grains.
While most people get enough folate, a crisis that affects your access to healthy foods may mean that you require this supplement. Thus, it is a good one to have stocked in your survival kit for emergencies.
Cobalamin (B-12)
Vitamin B-12 is responsible for assisting the body in making healthy red blood cells. Deficiency in this vitamin is common, especially in those who are vegan, are over 60, have diabetes, or take antacid. Adequate calcium intake is required to assist in B-12 absorption, and so taking a supplement during times of crisis can be vital to your health.
A B-12 deficiency can lead to pernicious anemia and symptoms of deficiency include:
Fatigue- Weakness
- Dizziness
- Shortness of breath
- Weight loss
- Nausea
- Pale or yellowish skin
FatigueRelated: The Antibiotic Honey That Shouldn’t Be Missing From Your Stockpile
Left untreated, a deficiency in B-12 can create many issues, including:
- Difficulty walking
- Muscle weakness
- Depression
- Memory loss
- Dementia
Taking a good B-12 supplement, especially during difficult times when you are not getting it from food sources, can be crucial to your overall health.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D, which is also known as the sunshine vitamin, is important to many aspects of your health.
Research has shown that more than 1 billion people around the world do not get enough vitamin D, and those with darker skin tones are at a higher risk for deficiency.
Vitamin D helps create healthy bones, helps the body maintain the right levels of calcium, and aids in strong teeth.
A lack of Vitamin D plays a role in osteoporosis and can lead to other bone-related issues such as arthritis or joint pain.
This vitamin is found in fish liver oils, fatty fish, mushrooms, egg yolks, and liver.
Stock up on a vitamin D supplement to help fuel your body and combat arthritis and joint pain when food supplies may be low.
Calcium
Like vitamin D, Calcium aids in the creation of strong healthy bones and teeth. It also helps your heart, nerves, and muscles as well.
Calcium has been shown to be very important in aging adults and plays an important role in your overall strength and wellbeing.
During a crisis, foods that are rich in calcium may be difficult or impossible to get.
Things like milk, cheese, yogurt, and some fish have calcium, but these items can be very expensive.
This is why having a good calcium supplement on hand during a crisis is important to your health and can easily be a factor in your survival.
Multivitamins
A good multivitamin is essential. Whether you are creating your preparedness kit or just thinking about everyday life, a multivitamin can make up for all the important things that our diets miss.
Should a crisis of any kind arise, a multivitamin can help to fill the gap and make up for any nutrition that is missing.
You may also want to consider purchasing protein drinks like boost shakes or other protein supplement drinks, as these will fill your belly and provide you with the essential vitamins you need for survival.
It is assumed that in any kind of global crisis – from viral to financial – food will quickly become scarce. This has been seen in recent history during pandemics or times of war.
Having a preparedness kit that contains multivitamins and other supplements can truly mean the difference between life or death.
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It would be nice to see an article about all of the supplies and extra preparedness items that we could purchase using our HSA accounts. It’s tax free money to build up our stockpile.
You can use your HSA account for for most OTC drugs, vitamins and supplements as well as a host of other items and services.
To clarify, not all vitamins are but prenatal ones are. Most vitamins and supplements are pretty inexpensive, so I would rather use my HSA fund’s to pay for larger expenses and just pay out of pocket for the smaller items.
When you suggest stock piling – all of these products have expiration dates. What is your suggestion for managing this so there isn’t waste? What if you do not take supplements on a regular basis, or not THOSE supplements. Should they be thrown out on their expiration date if not used? Which leads me to – do you have an article on how to manage a stock pile to ensure everything is as fresh as possible? Should i be going through my go-bag semi annually? Thanks!
Basically most vitamins and things like that can last years or more. Look online foe experation dates
Minerals really don’t have expiration dates so stock up. Supplements and many vitamins can be held in the freeze until needed. Replacement meal drinks can e life savers. There are many out there, but research and taste test, led me to Dr. Keith’s Ówn protein drink, it is amazing. Doesn’t matter have good a food or drink is for you, if you can’t get it past your gums. This is a delicious drink, can be made with water, milk, and ice cream. Choice is determined by your level of calorie intake.
Sunny: Iodine tends to evaporate. niio
Expiration dates are so they can sell more product. Keep your vitamins and your pharmaceuticals cool and dry and they should be fine in an emergency. Screw the expiration daye
…pretty much…
If you want to be even more sure, and are so equipped, seal your bottles with a moisture and oxygen absorber in multi-bottle packs with your vacuum sealer.
Cool, dry, dark & constant.
No, none of them have expiration dates. They have “sell by” dates. So does bottled water. It is largely a gimmick to get people to throw stuff away and replace it.
If stored properly there will be only a minuscule deterioration of the nutritional value over many many years. That includes most shelf-stable foods. Things with oils in them are prone to going rancid, but most other things can stand the test of time. Color and texture won’t be fabulous in 20 years, but generally they are safe to eat.
Expiration dates only mean that the vitamins/minerals can lose some of their potency and quality. Items don’t “go bad” on or after those dates.
….ahhh how about Vit-C? It’s a great antioxidant, vital for immune function/disease/cold prevention. I’ve been following the advice of Nobel laureate Linus Pauling regarding Vit-C for over 30 years. I’ve not spent more than 1 day in bed due to illness since! The number of days I’ve done that can be counted on 1 hand.
Same here! I don’t remember when I haven’t taken 1000 mg a day of Vit C – at least 30 years. I also take all of these mentioned (plus a few) daily, so I rotate them in my prep storage, which eliminates the problem of having expired products.
At 67, I don’t get sick, and I have never taken prescription drugs, antibiotics or vaccines – except the kid ones in the 50’s/60’s. Personally, I think that taking chemicals to fight sickness/disease makes our bodies dependent on them, and weaker, to an extent. …at least it works for me…
Amen! There are so many people who do not take vaccines, never have and are rarely if ever sick.
Absolute vitamin C, Steve! But Pauling and his work on vitamin C have been slandered — read “The 2 Married Pink Elephants In The Historical Room –The Holocaustal Covid-19 Coronavirus Madness: A Sociological Perspective & Historical Assessment Of The Covid “Phenomenon”” by Rolf Hefti at www dot CovidTruthBeKnown dot com or search for it by title and author.
Lauren, I am deeply grateful to you for this link – I am very familiar with Vitamin C (and other) holistic and supplemental support for health, and knew it was being downplayed (CENSORED) for the entire past 18 months. I had not seen Rolf Hefti’s essay however, and so appreciate your sharing this. I’ll be digging through these links for a few days, confirming more of the ways we are being destroyed… Thank you
I wonder how long after expiration date is a multi vitamin effective. My guess is not very long. Having spent a lifetime in livestock business, the feed companies said that vitamins were the first to go in old supplemental premixes. However they were mixed in with salt and other minerals.
Livestock feeds, being exposed to air/oxygen, will lose effe
ctiveness much faster than capsules and tablets. Or salt-mineral blocks.
I wonder the same thing about the expiration dates and waste.
Good information and good reminder to stockpile these things in case food is short, but I’d like to add a few.
One of the most important vitamins is missing – Vitamin C is a vital part of maintaining health. Even apart from its immune-boosting power, it is important in overall body health.
Your B vitamins are great, but it may be easier to get a good B-Complex supplement, which will include these and fill in a few more.
Personally, I would include Potassium and Magnesium – both important in heart and overall health, and would be missing in an emergency-situation diet.
A bit of caution on the Iron – those with a history of anemia and child bearing age women can easily become deficient, but it is also not healthy to take too much and risk Iron overload – which causes a whole different set of health problems.
Thanks for the article, and the reminder to prep things we may not always think of!
Using Cast iron cookware supplies some additional iron in the diet.
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois must be voted out – wants your vitamins to be by prescription only
we need to fight this and people of illinois must vote this natzi out!! https://www.newstarget.com/2021-07-30-variants-congress-wants-dietary-supplements-prescription-only.html
Thanks, I just signed the petition and sent it to my representatives and senators. So much badness coming from the swamp.
yes so big pharma can add to their profits,
New bill that Washington is cooking up the infrastructure. Has the tax per mile driven embedded in the 2000 page plus bill.
Tax per mile driven is weird, seems impossible to get the info on a national level and would be an invitation to fraud, sounds like Congress to a T. The per gallon gas tax is basically a tax per mile driven. I’m an old man and I can say with some expertise we need to get all the old blankety blanks out of Congress we can, starting with Schumer, McConnell, Pelosi and anybody within 30 years of their age.
Flyover Cindy takes a mega dose of C daily and is never sick. I haven’t had a physical since 1967 and have never taken a vitamin pill, don’t get sick. We’re all so different!
It would be possible to stockpile supplements for a year, but if you’re prepping for TEOTWAWKI you need to put in the time to learn the rich micronutrient sources available from plants. The missing LCC always brought up the pelegra
epidemic of the Depression era caused by an over reliance on corn not treated with lye water or lime to free its nutrients. Many commenters on this site have said pine needle tea is one of the best sources of C there is. The early spring greens are life givers after a long winter, full of vitamin. Peppers are little powerhouses of A and C. The Aztec people had one of the greatest empires of early history and ate very little meat, thriving on 3 Sisters agriculture, corn, beans, and squash.
I’d like people stockpiling for more than a year to tell what they expect in the future, A complete breakdown, a recovery? I’m not sure what I’m planning for, just feel like I need a lot more firewood after last winter.
Exactly – “prepping”, as in piling up supplies is one thing. Prepping to be self-sufficient is quite another. Having stored supplies ready for an “event” is only to help transition to when we are able to supply our needs when we can’t go shopping… Growing and foraging skills, and nutrition knowledge of available food is all part of it.
I’m glad you don’t need supplements Judge – I feel like I’m better for them, but you’re correct, we’re all different! Stay warm this winter!
some people develop kidney stones from taking large doses of vitamin c long term. you wouldn’t want to find out you are one of those people if/when teotwawki strikes…
might ask a trusted doc what he/she thinks. might try large doses now to find out while you can still be treated. or might try a modestly larger dose regularly. i wonder that humans are supposed to need only the relatively small amount that is the rda.
btw, vitamin c helps with absorption of iron, something i learned from an gerontologist. as we age, we absorb less nutrients from our food. and if our food was grown on depleted soils, there may not be the expected amount of nutrients in the food to begin with. of course, trucking all your veg and fruits cross country from calif does not improve the nutritional profile. maybe figure out how you can grow a source of vitamin c–peppers on a sunny window sill. lemons, limes or tangerines on the patio and brought into the livingroom for the winter…
Allergic to peppers, so I’d have to have a citrus tree!
Allergy to peppers is more common than you’d think. In my younger days I was a mighty pepper eating man and would often give myself symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. They are in the nightshade family along with tomato, potato, and tomatillo. Anybody with R.A., IBS or Crohns should try eliminating nightshades and gluten from their diet, might be able to get away from the health destroying Biologics the Docs prescribe.
No citrus tree, grow a pine tree, tea from the needles for C.
New growth tips of fir, spruce, hemlock, larch all have more vitamin C than oranges. Munch them down or make tea with them.
Pokeberry could help relieve pain caused by arthritis
I would add potassium and magnesium to the list, along with vitamin c. Magnesium helps your body absorb calcium properly and I don’t know what I would have done without potassium growing up, helps with leg cramps and charly horses, or growing pains for our younger humans. vitamin c is a must! It’s the one vitamin the body can’t create on its own.
With all due respect: after my first and ONLY kidney stone event, I went home and researched everything I could on kidney stones and their formation. I undertook to ingest 1-2 grams of Vitamin-C per day as a prophylactic (or preventative). I never passed any stone and I haven’t had another attack in over 5-years !!!
Iron, cook in cast iron. Zinc, use brass to cook some things. Too much calcium causes dowager hump. We had a lot of dairymen in the family thru the generations. Mine is the first to not dairy, and the first to not suffer the hump. Calcium is often the first thing to be flushed form the body, and eating too much causes the body to flush it. niio
Most calcium supplements, I have read, are practically useless because your body can hardly absorb the form of calcium in the pills. Get chelated calcium if you buy pills, but it’s much better to eat gristle and cartilage, things such as chicken cartilage, pigs feet & ears, shrimp shells, etc. Also you can eat crushed up egg shells…it works! … though kind of like eating sand. Also take some vinegar or sour which helps your body absorb it.
Pickled pigs feet, calf foot jelly, any bones or shells cooked with some vinegar work. niio
Most of the supplements I’ve supplied up on,
1) .22 LR
2) some good multi’s are .223 as well as 5.56. now the trick is you can take the .223 supplements in an approved .223 AND 5.56 “dispenser”…. But NEVER try to use a 5.56 supplement through a .223 dispenser… Doesn’t work that way.???????
Beyond the that, yes alot of folks seem to forget a good supply of vitamins , especially if nutrition is going to be scarce.
Lol, meant to hit reply but hit unlike, and now it won’t un-unlike.
That sounds like a Pb supplement with a Cu coating to help it go down easier.
witJ: the first thing to eliminate if you have allergies is gluten. When tested prior to quitting gluten, I had 67 allergies. After quitting, most were gone. One daughter had a severe problem with female disorders, but when she and her husband moved to Brooklyn, NY, she went on halal and kosher foods and little gluten. No chemicals or hormones allowed in their foods. She had been told she could forget having kids because of calcification of the ovaries. Within a year, she had a little boy, then two daughters. Get off gluten for a month and see what happens. niio
Vitamin E from capsules – or a bottle of Vitamin E oil – is the best thing for burns – heat or chemical. My paraplegic son can’t feel below the waist, so he didn’t feel the burning when a bottle of Windex, which at that time contained ammonia, fell onto his wheelchair footrest and soaked his socks. He was 4 and helping clean. The MD told his mother he would need skin grafts. I suggested E oil which she slathered on twice a day. The MD was amazed at the result – no grafts needed.
After a hard winter, I was planting in the market garden. Normally I tan fast but this time I got a scorching hot burn on my back. We put vitamin E oil on it and in a few days it was a tan. No blisters, nada. niio