NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The code "orange" terror alert issued last month may have been downgraded back to "yellow," but U.S. consumers are showing that they're not taking any chances.

When the Bush administration last month upped its terror alert to signal a "high" threat, it also set off a run on emergency supplies -- not just the duct tape and plastic sheeting mentioned by government officials to seal off windows and doors against a possible chemical attack, but also more exotic survival products, such as freeze-dried food, gas masks and potassium iodide tablets.

"People were driven by obedience," said Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard's Retail Consulting Group. "They were told to take certain measures to protect themselves, and they did just that."

Shawn Coleman, general manager of Coleman's Military Surplus Store, said sales of survival-related items are up about 25 to 30 percent over the last two months at his Millersburg, Pa.-based outlet.

"There's nervousness about the war and people are taking precautions," he said.

The faster-selling items at the store recently have been military-style MREs (meals ready to eat), water containers, water purification tablets and gas masks, according to Coleman.

Cincinnati-based Wornick Co. makes MREs exclusively for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).

MSA Safety Works gas mask hood.

"Typically MREs are military products and don't have a commercial market," said a company executive who did not want to be named. "But in the event that we have a surplus component of the MRE, like a side dish or a dessert that the DOD wanted us to change, we sell the individual components to army surplus stores."

According to Wornick, the shelf life of MREs can be anywhere from 10 to 15 years

Mine Safety Appliances (MSA: down $0.10 to $34.55, Research, Estimates), a leading supplier of gas mask hoods and respiratory masks to retail outlets such as Home Depot (HD: Research, Estimates) and Amazon.com (AMZN: up $0.04 to $22.82, Research, Estimates), said consumer demand for its gas masks shot through the roof immediately following last month's upgraded terror alert.

MSA Safety Works first-aid kit.

The Pittsburgh-based company, with more than $509 million in revenue last year, was also the leading supplier of gas masks and hard hats to emergency workers and firefighters at the World Trade Center site after Sept. 11.

"Sales of our gas masks increased 47 percent in February and our first-aid kits jumped about 37 percent in the same period," said John Quinn, marketing manager with MSA Safety Works, the consumer products division of the company.

First-aid kits, batteries and water purifications kits are hot sellers for drugstore.com (DSCM: down $0.02 to $3.08, Research, Estimates), the online drugstore and provider of health and beauty products with more than three million customers.

"Our two biggest categories for emergency preparedness -- first aid kits and batteries -- are up 95 percent and 115 percent [respectively] year over year," said Walter Conner, senior director of communications with drugstore.com.

Added Conner, "Potassium iodide tablets have also been a big seller for us. The pill prevents radiation absorption."

In 2002, Bellevue, Wash.-based drugstore.com logged net sales of $194 million, up 33 percent from the year before.

Conner said that because of the spike in demand, the Web site will add an Emergency Preparedness section with home emergency essentials on March 17. The date also corresponds with the deadline in the latest draft U.N. resolution that requires Iraq to disarm or face military action.

The increased anxiety caused by terrorism and the threat of war is being reflected in store fronts.

Manhattan-based Safer America is a retailer that specializes in homeland security and personal protection. The company -- with one New York outlet now and scheduled store openings in Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles -- was founded a month after the attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center. It sells a variety of safety kits designed for individuals, families with young kids and one tailor-made for people who work in high-rise buildings.

"The high-rise kit includes an escape parachute and gas masks," said Harvey Kushner, president of Safer America.

The cost of the kits ranges from $379 to more than $1,000.

Safer America's Emergency 72 hrs. Survival Kit. Includes: emergency food ration, 12 purified water pouches, blanket, emergency poncho, survival whistle, flashlight, first-aid kit, pocket knife, AM/FM radio.

Said Kushner, "Business has been brisk for us ever since we had the 'Orange' alert. But what is more interesting is that many of the big publicly traded companies in the insurance and healthcare sectors are coming to us for our safety products and for risk assessment in the event of a terror attack."

New York City's Office of Emergency Management (OEM) has put up a checklist on its Web site titled "Household Preparedness," listing some must-have items that people should have at home as part of a "survival gear."

The list includes items such as flashlights, canned food, bottled water, eye drops, batteries and fire extinguishers. "It's really intended to give people some guidelines about how to put a safety package together in case they are stuck at home or need to evacuate," said a spokesman for OEM.

Discount retailers such as Wal-Mart (WMT: up $0.24 to $47.04, Research, Estimates) and wholesale clubs such as Costco (COST: up $0.13 to $28.21, Research, Estimates) and BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ: down $0.26 to $9.64, Research, Estimates) said sales of those products have been particularly strong in the Northeast over the last couple of weeks, since the heightened terror alert.

"We definitely had a spike in sales of duct tape, plastic sheets, dry food, bottled water and canned food, but it seems to have returned to a normal shopping pattern now," said Tom Williams, spokesman for Wal-Mart.

"With the high terror alert, we also saw a higher reaction from our consumers in the Northeast who were shopping more for products like canned food, water and batteries," said a spokeswoman for BJ's.

But Michael Niemira, senior economist with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi said consumers stockpiling safety essentials is not likely to alleviate the overall retail funk.

"These categories are too small to matter. It's bad weather and terror concerns that are causing sales swings for products like food and water," he said. "The macro issue for retail is that the economy is weak, and now March sales are expected to be affected by the Easter shift [to mid-April]."