When catastrophe hits, you want to be in the best physical and mental shape possible to keep yourself and your family safe and healthy. It’s important to keep your immune system strong and your body pumped full of vitamins so that you don’t develop any deficiencies.

Some people simply stockpile a basic multi vitamin for survival purposes and this is a good start. You can get multi vitamins for men, women, children and seniors. But is it enough? And how long will vitamins store for survival?

Vitamins aren’t a necessity for a small bug out bag where you plan to accommodate yourself for 72 hours. But if you start looking at long-term survival, where you don’t have access to your usual food supply at a grocery store, then it becomes more important.

They’re especially important if you don’t have proper food stores ready and you’re not getting adequate nutrition from your food supply. There are diseases that result from eating too little of certain vitamins and nutrients.

You might develop rickets or pellagra. Even scurvy could be an issue for you or a loved one if the right foods aren’t available for consumption. If water is limited and you’re not getting enough of that, then some vitamins can make dehydration even worse, so make sure your food and water stores are ample before vitamins are.

You can take a multi, or make sure you have individual vitamins and minerals on hand to support your body. Take zinc and vitamin C for a healthy and strong immune system. Antibiotics and prescriptions might not be available to help you recover, so prevention is key during survival mode. Grow peppers and green vegetables for more vitamin C.

Calcium will help keep your bones strong. This is important for those who won’t be keeping dairy cows for milk and cheese production. Magnesium is another one to store for this purpose.

B vitamins will give you energy when you’re feeling tired, which is very important in a survival situation. You can get some of this from your crops ? spinach, beans and whole grains.

You might also want to consider stocking up on prenatal vitamins if you have someone who is pregnant or is of child-bearing age just in case a pregnancy occurs during a survival situation.

Make sure you go see your doctor and have a simple blood panel run that shows what you might be naturally deficient in when it comes to vitamin levels. You can stock up on extras of that ? and get the same panel done for each of your family members.