A major survival skill is to be able to take everyday items that are seemingly insignificant and then repurpose those items into a variety of different uses to aid in your survival. And who says that you can’t repurpose food such as chocolate?

Chocolate is something that almost anybody loves, and while it’s definitely not a top priority to store as part of your disaster preparedness plans or anything, there are still many reasons for why you will want to include it as at least a small part of your stockpile.

Let’s go over those reasons in this blog.

Ten Reasons Chocolate Should Be in Your Survival Kit

Alleviate Stress

Chocolate won’t just help to alleviate stress because it tastes good. It will also alleviate your stress because of the chemicals it contains. These chemicals essentially act as a mild stimulant, and the result is that they can enhance your blood circulation and also be good for your mood as well. In a time of crisis where you’re going to incredibly stressed out, chocolate is something that can temporarily relieve at least some of that stress.

Eat It

This is the primary reason we have chocolate, right? Beyond the fact that consuming chocolate will help boost your morale and alleviate stress like we just talked about, the average chocolate bar contains about two hundred calories of fat and sugar each, which can provide you with a quick burst of energy or help to temporarily satisfy your stomach when you’re hungry.

Drink It

Chocolate has been used as a beverage for literally hundreds of years, and that’s not going to end when a disaster strikes. In a survival situation, the number of beverages that you have available are going to lower significantly. Soda, juice, any alcoholic drinks, and of course, hot cocoa are all going to become rare and therefore highly desirable in a time where water may be the only thing we have available to drink (if even that).

Trading Commodity

Chocolate may not be an essential survival item, but no one can deny that it is going to become a precious commodity due to the fact that there are so many people who crave it. In a scenario where paper money becomes worthless, everyday items that we take for granted today will become the new currency.

If you’re running low on a particular item, the only way you may be able to get more of that item is on the bartering table with someone else. But you better have something valuable that you will be able to give them in return, and as long as the person you’re bartering with likes chocolate, a few Hershey bars are definitely going to be appealing to them.

Toothpaste

Wait, you can use chocolate as toothpaste? Isn’t chocolate supposed to cause cavities instead? Yes, but only large amounts of chocolate. Chocolate has abrasive qualities that help to wipe away the gunk on your teeth, and the best part of it is that you get to eat it after use! You may not want to tell your children about this one now, or else they may never use normal toothpaste again.

Fire Starter

With a beer or soda can, some chocolate, some tinder/kindling, and a bright sunny day, you can easily get a fire going even if you don’t have other fire starting devices with you such as matches, lighters, or magnesium flint strikers.

What you need to do is to first prepare a small pile of tinder, such as moss and small sticks. Then, take your chocolate bar and rub it against the bottom of the can. You may think that this would only make the bottom of the can messy, but the reality is that it will make it shiny.

Once the bottom of the can is as shiny as you can make it, position it between the sun and the tinder so that the sunlight will hit the can and then reflect down to the tinder. Be very patient and hold still. Eventually, smoke will start to appear on the tinder and hopefully an ember or two as a result of the heat. Blow on the tinder pile gently to convert the smoke and embers into a flame, and then add more fuel as appropriate to build your fire.

Signaling Device

Use the same principle above, only for signaling purposes rather than to get a fire going. Since chocolate makes the bottom of your can shiny, you can just as easily hold it up to the sun to reflect light back to either a pilot in the sky or hikers on the other side of a valley.

Lubricant

Chocolate can be used as an effective lubricant because of the fat content it contains. As far as survival is concerned, this would be great for the fire bow drill method (an alternative way to use chocolate for getting a fire going when a soda or beer can is not available).

Take a very small, dime-sized amount of chocolate and squish it into the socket of your fire bow, and then drill away. This strategy is guaranteed to make the fire bow method A LOT easier.

Bait

We all know how much people like chocolate, but the truth is animals like it almost just as much, especially rodents. When setting up traps and snares to catch small game, simply use a small amount of chocolate as the bait.

Rust Preventer

The last thing you want in a survival situation is for your firearms, knives, axes, hatchets, machetes, saws, and other tools to become ruined as a result of rusting caused by moisture and humidity. Fortunately, chocolate acts as a very effective rust preventer. Simply apply a very light coating of it to the metal surface of your chosen tool; oily chocolate works best for this method.