I have noticed that most current survival recommendations seem to have moved away from bouillon cubes as an element. Even though John McCann's book, "Stay Alive, Survival skills you need" (1st ed) does mention them for smaller kits. While Len McDougall's book "Practical Outdoor survival" does not mention them. Bradford Angier's book, "How to stay alive in the woods," Casually mentions broth or soup, while Creek Stewart's book, "Build the perfect Bug out bag," does not. .


What is the current thinking on Bouillion cubes? How many for a small or medium kit?

Food is not a priority for short term survival. A pocket sized container does not offer much room for luxury.
For a small or medium sized kit my answer would be zero. The room could be used for more imoprtant things like matches, water purification or water containers. In a medium sized kit, I´d rather include a space blanket. That will save more calories than the same volume of boullion cubes can provide.
Boullion cubes should be kept cool for storage. Carried on the body they tend to go bad fairly fast and they sometimes leak some fat too. IMHO it´s just not worth the hassle.

A bouillion cube might save someone from hyponatremia.

I am unaware of any peer reviewed, double blind study not financed by the bouillon cube cartel that has assessed the efficacy of cubes in a survival context, so the jury is still out, or, rather, hasn't yet been selected...

While food in of relatively less priority in most short time survival contexts, dehydration and electrolyte balance is critical, as is morale. I usually have room in a carefully packed kit to insert packets of tea, coffee (Via is preferred), sugar, or what have you. Bouillon cubes are just fine, provided you have water, but they aren't critical.

I had always thought of bouillon cubes as more of a morale issue, as hikemor mentioned above. In a wilderness or outdoor situation, the ability to sit down and have a cup of broth as an excellent way to "Relax and refresh" while taking a mental break. Tea is also an excellent possibility.

Just looking at the nutritional info on Wyler' brand of bouillon cubes:

1 cube
6 calories
<1 Gram protein
<1 Gram fat
1 Gram carbohydrate
Sodium 930 Mg.

Have to agree with jshannon, an amazing amount of Sodium.

More comfort than survival necessity/supply

it seems to me the cubes made their way into kits when there was not really much else to be had in the way of a survival "food".
in the 50's when kits really got started there were no power bars or energy gups on the market.if you were lucky surplus military life boat or bail out kits could be broken down for the compact rations in them.i take the larger bouillon cubes on canoe trips and every few years boil one up on a nasty wet and cold day to go with a MRE cracker and like it was said they can be a comfort food if you happen to have developed a taste for them.the hassle with them is of course you need to "cook" them for best results and that means a pot,water and fire all of those are a survival problems in themselves.
sorry,another 1:30am ramble.

Hypothermia is always a real consideration for my survival kits, even in the summer, and especially around the water. I like to have a tasty hot brew up at the ready in all my kits.

Bullion cubes or cup-o-soup are lightweight and take up little space, ditto tea, instant coffee/hot chocolate/cider/Koolaid. I suspect my hot chocolate or 3-in-1 coffee provide me with more benefit than a bullion cube, so they are my basic short-term emergency go tos these days, rather than bullion, except in my fishing kit emerg kit. I've got one of each in there! Bullion goes great with fresh fish and I can't imagine a better survival meal than that, frankly!

(FYI - I keep a sachet of koolaid in my kits too, for fighting hypothermia in the kiddos, and also for cool re-hydration.)

Ditto, these are the small packets you can pack inside your favorite cup (Snow Peak 700) with a box of matches/lighter and tinder; put it all in one place. Then just get a fire going and add water. As MAX indicates in the second post, bullion cubes are not exactly stable in warmer temps. But then if it's too warm for a bullion cube, hypothermia may not be an issue. If it's cool enough, carrying a bullion cube should not be a problem. This is one of those things that changes with the seasons.

I keep a small 2 ounce thingy of gatorade powder in the car in the summer. Flavor + calories + salts. I used to just carry those little sugar free lemonades, but I figured it made more sense to get something more out of it..

I agree with Bacpacjac completely on the coffee thing- have a few of those powdered cappuccino things in the winter; close enough to coffee for me, close enough to hot chocolate for the kids

The best instant coffee I've tried -- Starbucks Via

I do the same with koolaid and tang. A little more flavour and some added energy seems like a good idea to me too.

Agree on both! VIA is really good instant coffee. I like cream and sugar in my coffee, so three-in-ones are a simple solution, but they're not exactly good coffee. If I hard to make a hard choice, I'd probably pack a powdered latte. Sweet and extra creamy, feels a little more decadent than a regular cuppa joe.

Warning: Don't let anyone wipe your cup out with a baby wipe right before you make you coffee, even if it's yourself because you got no sleep in a tent with three kids all night. BLECK!!! Keep your coffee and your wipes separate. LOL!

Many years ago a friend recommended a 50:50 mix of Tang and instant tea. Sugar, orange flavor, caffeine -- not quite all the basic food groups...

hhhmmmm..... that's either going to be really good or really not good. I had an Irish babysitter when I was a kid. She made us drink tea and toast with marmalade for breakfast. I liked her but I hate tea now, except herbal and chai. Not sure what type of reaction the tea-orange combo would elicit. LOL!

So, what would be a really ideal small item to stow in your minimalist PSK? I would tend toward VIA and a pack or two of sugar (which assumes that I have a fire and access to water). What other item might be worthwhile?

Carrying coffee and sugar separate makes them multi-purpose, and that sugar becomes a more valuable first aid item. SMART!

Instead of something made with hot water? I usually grab a sachet or two of instant koolaid or Tang. You can make both with hot water as well.

or single packets of Gatorade

Use the "flavor packets" from ramen noodles. They are essentially bullion cubes in powder form, store flat in kits, more "shelf stable" in temp swings than cubes, and the powder mixes better in varying temps of water. You can mix them in a plastic water bottle warmed in the sun if that's all you have. I usually also carry Gatorade, Via, and other mixes in my bigger kits.

try the noodle packs first! I bought a bunch of them to see how they would work out for camping and ending up tossing some out.
hot,heavy fish taste or just a flavor that a Midwestern guy found yucky.some have olive oil and the red pepper in their own small plastic packs so you can take what tastes right for you.

Sadly many have been forced to change as Bovril stock cubes are no longer made. Atleast not in their original form, which was perfect.

And no more Mummery's blood.

"mountain elixir (that) consists of equal parts of navy rum and Bovril, served boiling hot. Its effect on both mind and body is nourishing, warming and strengthening; it lowers angles, shortens distances, and improves weather." - W.H. Murray

I keep food separate from other gear. Other things - water, insulation, signaling - are much more important and...Bears. Food attracts bears.

I carry a couple Miso soup packets in my GHB not necessarily as survival "food" but as a moral booster and warmth inducing drink. Completely sealed so won't get moist like some of the older bullion cubes. I've got a couple Via packets as well both cold and hot coffee.

Reminds me of breakfasts as a kid, with sweet and milky but super strong tea, and marmalade on toast. Bleck! LOL! I had a strict Irish woman as a babysitter and I've hated that combo ever since. LOL!!

I acknowledge that it sounds GREAT in theory so encourage everyone else to try it.

Great idea!

Side note: I used to love Miso soup, until I got pregnant the first time. I haven't been able to stomach it since, but my kids are a great trade-off. (Pregnancy does weird things to women's bodies so have patience guys. LOL!)

Knorr makes a variety of just add water soups that are pretty tasty and only slightly larger than a package of hot chocolate. Creamy Potato and Cream of Leek are my faves, and my kids really like the chicken noodle - though they complain that there aren't enough noodles, which they always do. LOL! Minestrone is in third place.

I'm always looking in the ethnic foods section at the grocery store and Wal-mart. We're also lucky enough to have an Asian food market around the corner. Great selection of un-traditional stuff (read that as "not the same old boring thing") and lots of light-weight easy to make beside the trail stuff.

Kinda side note: I recently tried the new Knorr concentrated liquid stock cubes. They are wet instead of dry, so a puncture is a little more problematic if you don't plan for it and pack wisely, but REALLY good!! I just wish they could package it differently, like Justin's Peanut Butter squeeze packs, which we can't here either.

Protein bars or calorie bars (Those high calorie bricks). I can carry two days worth of food in a pocket.

Bacpacjac,

I put all of my bars and gels in ziplock freezer bags or sealed, (but not vacuum sealed), vacuum seal bags. I've had messes before and both bags give an extra layer of protection and are much tougher material than most food packages.

Justin's Almond Maple squeeze packs are AMAZING if you can find some by you.

I do the same, ziplock everything with the potential to leak, and double bag serious threats.

Right now my peanut butter is a little Rubbermaid container, that holds about 4 big tablespoons worth. It's probably better for the environment, but I hate the weight and bulk. Wetcanoedogs once showed us refillable tubes that he uses, but I haven't been able to find them around here yet. I've got a little 4oz SAK collapsable flask that I've considered for peanut butter, but getting the PB out of it would be a challenge so it's relegated to holding olive oil instead.

Every time friends and family head South of the border and ask if we'd like them to bring anything back, I ask for Justin's PB packs and SPAM singles because we can't get them here. I'm pretty sure they think I'm kidding because I've had no joy yet.

Those are both available on Amazon.

All this talk of peanut butter made me hungry so I did a little experiment:

I put some PB in a sandwich bag. To get the PB out I squeezed it into a corner, cut the corner off and twisted and squeezed it out like a cake frosting bag. It worked well. I did the same to some jelly, (PB without J makes for very lonely PB ).

If you put both sandwich bags into a thicker freezer bag you can more safely transport them and still save a lot of weight vs using the Rubbermaid container.

Great idea, QL!! Instant DIY single serving packs. Nicely done!

EDIT: Canoedogs' tubes have removable clips on the bottom. I wonder if you could use a chip clip on the ziplock bag to the same effect, changing a single serving into multiple servings...