It's the zombie apocalypse, and the only items on the menu are a year-old pizza and cockroach sashimi -- which would you choose? Well, if that pepperoni-smattered pie came from the US Army's Natick Labs, you've hit the jackpot. A team of food scientists at the facility are apparently hard at work developing pizza that can stay good for up to three years, specifically for deployed soldiers' pre-packaged meals. In fact, they just finished making a prototype this February.

It took the team two years to perfect the current recipe, because you can't just dip slices in vats of preservatives and hope for the best. They used humectants (ingredients like sugars, salts and syrups) to keep the crust from being soggy and changed the acidity of the sauce, dough and cheese to prevent bacterial growth. While the prototype's nowhere near ready for distribution, the munchie experts' taste testers claim it's as good as something you'd "get from a pizza parlor." They didn't mention if it's more of a Papa John's or a Little Caesar's, but hey, at least it's not made out of pulverized insects.

[Image credit: AP Photo/Steven Senne]