10 Survival Uses For Sugar

Sugar might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you’re refining your stockpile strategy. The media has given sugar a bad name these days as an additive for sweetening foods, which increases the risks of things like obesity, diabetes, and other health complications.

Yet sugar also has a lot of value in a preparedness strategy. You might even be surprised to hear that it can have multiple life-saving applications that reach far beyond the kitchen. From critical energy boosts to fire-starting and fermentation boosting, sugar is a versatile resource that can play a vital role in your stockpile.

In this article, we’ll explore how sugar works in the human body, why it’s worth stocking up, and 10 powerful survival uses where it can save the day.

What Sugar Does in the Human Body

Sugar is broken down in your digestive system into glucose, which enters the bloodstream and fuels cells throughout your body. Not the least of which are the brain, heart, and muscles.

In a survival situation where energy expenditure is high and solid food may be scarce, even a small amount of sugar can provide an immediate boost. Especially if you have a medical condition that causes low blood sugar levels.

Science supports glucose’s role in maintaining brain function, preventing fatigue, and avoiding hypoglycemia. A sudden drop in blood sugar can lead to dizziness, confusion, and even fainting, which can be dangerous when you need to stay alert.

At the same time, you should know that sugar needs to be consumed in moderation to avoid triggering health issues or worsening conditions such as type 2 diabetes. If you’re dealing with such a problem, you can follow a natural protocol like the one found here, and any sugar consumption should be done only in accordance with your doctor’s advice.

Carrying simple forms of sugar in your bug out bag, like little sugar packets, candy, or sugar cubes, takes up little space, but can save your life in a disaster. Bulk amounts of sugar in your stockpile open the door for sugar’s versatile survival uses.

Instant Energy Boost of Sugar

Sugar is as a fast-acting energy source that your body rapidly metabolizes. Unlike complex carbs that take time to break down, sugar gives a near-instant spike in blood glucose. In high-stress situations like hiking long distances, escaping danger, or enduring extreme cold, a teaspoon of sugar might just give you the calories you need to keep you going.

High sugar foods like honey, jams, or even glucose tablets are often included in emergency medical kits for this reason. You could easily improvise your own from things like sports energy drink powders.

Sugar can be used to make long-lasting fruit leather — a simple recipe that can include sugar if needed. Here’s the full list of ingredients you’ll need:

• Ripe fruit, washed and dried (strawberries, blueberries, plums, apples, and pears all work well)
• A little oil (for greasing)
• Sugar

Sugar is especially handy when working with fruit that isn’t naturally sweet enough. You don’t need to add much — as the fruit dries in the oven, its natural sugars will concentrate, intensifying the flavor.

You can find the complete recipe for this cheap, long-lasting treat here, along with 126+ other survival foods to add to your stockpile!

Sugar As a Natural Food Preservative

Sugar has been used for centuries to preserve fruits and other foods. When added in high concentrations, it binds water molecules and creates an environment where bacteria and mold struggle to survive. This process is why jams, jellies, and candied fruits can last weeks longer than the fresh fruits they’re made from.

In a survival situation, sugar’s preservation power means you can extend the shelf life of perishable items. This can even help reduce waste from spoilage while ensuring a steady food supply.

Pro Tip: Store sugar in airtight containers to prevent moisture absorption. Left exposed to the air, sugar can gradually start to pick up moisture from the ambient humidity.

Using Sugar for First-Aid Aid

A growing body of research has found that applying granulated sugar to open wounds can draw out moisture and prevent bacterial growth. This method was used historically in battlefield medicine when antibiotics were scarce.

In a survival situation, cleaning a wound and applying sugar, before covering it with a clean bandage, can help reduce infection risk. When the wound is kept clean, it can even help promote healing. Which is handy when medical supplies are limited.

Emergency Rehydration Electrolyte Mix

Dehydration is a silent killer in many emergency scenarios. You can create a simple oral rehydration solution using sugar, salt, and purified water. This mixture helps the body absorb fluids more effectively and restores electrolyte balance lost through sweating, diarrhea, or vomiting.

The ideal ratio for an effective DIY electrolyte mixture is 6 tsp of granulated sugar and ½ tsp of salt per liter of water. However, the water needs to be warm when you first mix it for the sugar to break its disaccharide bonds.

Pro Tip: Sugar and water have been — and will always remain — crucial in any post-SHTF scenario. We’ve already talked about the many uses of sugar (and there’s more to come next). As for water… as long as it’s clean and in sufficient supply, you’ll have the upper hand in almost any situation.

But how can you make sure you have enough clean water when the grid is completely down and store shelves are stripped of filters? Simple — you produce it yourself. Here are some budget-friendly options:

• The Water Freedom System – an extremely efficient water-generation method, used on some of the toughest battlefields where U.S. Army soldiers operate.
• The Portable Water System – compact enough to fit in a backpack, making it a great choice for bug-out situations.
• The Smart Water Box – another innovative option, with military-based schematics for building your own off-grid water system — no plumber required.
• The Amish Water System – the preferred solution of Amish communities. You can learn how it works, the costs involved, and the step-by-step process in The Amish Ways Book.

Sugar Helps Boost Natural Fermentation

Sugar helps boost naturally occurring yeast to help establish vigorous fermentation. You can then use this to create beer and wine that are safe to drink. Of course, sugar also helps boost the natural fermentation of mash, which can then be distilled.

This will give you access to distilled alcohol and “Moonshine,” which has both barter and medicinal value. Even the hearts and tails of distillation can be refined into alcohol that can serve as a disinfectant or a fire accelerant.

Under the right conditions, sugar can also be fermented into ethanol, which has potential uses as a survival fuel. It can even be used in some vehicles with engines capable of burning ethanol safely.

Sugar Can Be Used As an Emergency Fire Starter

With a little know-how, sugar can be used to help start an emergency fire. When combined with a strong oxidizer like potassium permanganate, sugar creates a chemical reaction that produces intense heat and flames. This method can ignite kindling even in wet conditions, making it an excellent backup fire-starting technique.

Related: Starting a Fire with Potassium Permanganate

Pro Tip: You can buy small quantities of potassium permanganate at some pharmacies or sporting goods stores. Then keep it in a sealed container in your go bag along with some sealed sugar.

Insect Trap Bait

Sugar’s sweetness attracts insects, which can be used to your advantage. In survival situations, setting a sugar bait trap (more details if you click on the picture on the right) can help divert pests away from your camp. In a desperate pinch, you can even eat the edible bugs for protein.

Pro Tip: A simple mixture of equal parts sugar and water can lure flies, ants, or other insects into a container where they become trapped. Ideally, you want to mix the sugar with warm water or keep the sugar trap in a sunny location to ensure the sugar remains dissolved in solution.

Sugar As a Natural Pesticide

In unsanitary survival environments, pests like cockroaches can spread disease. A mixture of sugar and baking soda works well as an effective homemade insecticide. The sugar attracts the roaches, while the baking soda disrupts their digestive systems, eliminating the problem naturally without having to use harsh chemicals.

If you’re interested in natural options, there’s an excellent alternative to sugar that you can use to make wild bread — the humble dandelion. In case dandelions grow near you, you can put them to good use right away. But how do you identify them? Find out all the details here, where you’ll also discover the complete recipe for wild bread with dandelion.

Abrasive Hand Scrub or Deodorizer

When hygiene products run out, sugar can double as a natural scrub. Mixing sugar with oil or a little soap creates a gritty paste that can clean greasy hands, remove dirt, and even help deodorize skin. This is particularly useful when dealing with fish, game, or other strong odors in the wild.

Pro Tip: If you need to remove stuck-on grime or you need a grittier cleaner, “Sugar in the Raw” is my go-to. It’s a chunkier crystallized sugar that will naturally grind down as you scour with it.

Sugar As Bartering Currency

Sugar is universally loved and seen by many as a comfort food, thus making it easy to trade. In prolonged crises, the bartering value of anything sweet will naturally go up. Especially for poorly prepared people who might be willing to trade something of high value, like gasoline, ammunition, or clean drinking water, for something as low value as sugar.

>> How to Make the Ultimate Survival Food with a 25-Year Shelf Life

It’s worth keeping in mind that our grandparents (especially those who lived through the Great Depression, WWII, and rural farm life) treated sugar like a precious commodity. They didn’t pour it into everything like we do today.

It was carefully measured for coffee, tea, baking pies, making jams, canning fruits, and holiday treats. Many remember keeping it in a special tin or jar and stretching it as far as possible, sometimes even substituting molasses, honey, or corn syrup when sugar was scarce. Discover more about this, plus over 1,000 plants Native Americans used for food, in The Lost Ways 2.

Final Thoughts

Sugar isn’t just a convenient pantry sweetener; it can also be a survival powerhouse. From sustaining your body to protecting wounds, starting fires, fermenting alcohol, and even preserving food, its uses are wide-ranging and critical in emergencies. Its indefinite shelf life and high barter value make it one of the smartest items to include in your stockpile.

Believe it or not, you can even use sugar to get rid of hiccups! How exactly — along with many other clever uses for common household items — can be found in one of the four bonus guides you’ll receive when you get The Forgotten Home Apothecary by Dr. Nicole Apelian!

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