Did you know chocolate is essential in emergency situations and in your emergency kit – not just for Valentine’s Day? Well read on, and then you’d better go and stock up (for safety’s sake).

High energy & Calorie dense

There’s a good reason chocolate gets into ration packs: lots of energy in a small space. And when you have to keep going on just what you can carry, you want it to be high energy – so choose chocolate for your emergency kit, not just for Valentines Day.

Easy to carry

Hand in hand with the comment above – you want to be able to carry it easily. If you’re putting together an emergency kit which is good for 72 hrs, you may be packing a lot of heavy water. So it’s great if you can get all your calorie needs in a light-weight form. Ounce for ounce, chocolate does pretty well, so pack it (along side other choices) in your emergency kit.

Boosts Mood

Chocolate contains serotonin, which could be regarded as a natural anti-depressant. It plays an important role in anxiety, impulsiveness and irritability as well as mood. And as it is Valentine’s day, you should know Serotonin also influences sex and appetite.
Chocolate also stimulates endorphin production, which helps you to feel great. Just what you need in your emergency kit when you’re worried about earthquake damage.

Relaxing

Along with all the chemicals it contains, people just associate chocolate with a good time (which may be part of the reason we share it on Valentine’s Day) – which gives you an overall ‘good feeling’.

Good for you

Oh yes – did we mention chocolate will also reduce your blood pressure (which is great if your valentine was making it a little high) and will reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke. Sounds almost too good to be true until you realize the work was published in the British Medical Journal, where the researchers said:

“The highest levels of chocolate consumption were associated with a 37% reduction in cardiovascular disease and a 29% reduction in stroke compared with the lowest levels.”

To get the best health benefits, go dark.

It has to be eaten

Here’s our bonus tip. The Red Cross recommends that you check your emergency kit every 6 months (you do have a kit, right?) for things that might be expiring. If something is close to expiring it needs replacing. Now what to do with chocolate that will be out of date soon? Shame to waste it.