With the price of food always rising, looking into this...

[Wyldk2]

25 Year Shelf Life

Plus they offer an up to 25 year shelf life without the need for rotation. Might be a good and tastier alternative to MREs and such.

They offer a free sample, I've already submitted the form for mine. If it tastes as good as they say, i'll sign up for least a month's worth. Which, since i'm single and no kids should be able to be stretched into 4 months. This for emergency food if a disaster hits.

So what do you all think?

[Mike]

You should keep at least a years worth of food on hand. Prudent in times past and still prudent today.

I've heard good things about the source you listed. I'd go for it.

Mike

[Guest pfries]

$1.54 average per meal if you buy the 4320 serving set up. I f its eddible it is somthing to look into; thanks for the link.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I bought a "one bucket" 60 serving pack of that Wise Foods stuff from Cabelas last christmas. Kept meaning to crack open a sample fer testing but ain't got around to it. Reviews are mixed regarding the taste. The same time also got a test 12 pack of supposedly 5 year shelf life self-heating MRE's, but haven't tried any of those yet either. The self-heating MRE's have more calories and should be preparable under worse conditions, which is why I figgered some of those might be useful for really bad situations. Was planning to get a few more buckets of that Wise Foods stuff, thanks for the reminder.

Cabela's: Emergency & Camping Food

On the 720 serving pack, the cabelas price is $50 lower than the Wise Foods direct price, but strangely the 1440 serving pack is the same price both places.

One thing of note about those Wise Foods servings-- On their nutrition page a serving of breakfast or entree varies between 200 and 300 calories with perhaps an average around 250 calories. Even if it tastes awful of course it would beat starving, but 2 servings per day is about 500 cals and the 3 servings per day is about 750 cals. At that level, it would be a fabulous weight-loss diet even if you are just laying around waiting for the gubmint to re-open Walmart and MacDonalds. If you do physical labor all day on that many calories it would be a more effective weight loss plan than gastric bypass surgery or the best fat farm money can buy.

The shelf life and relative portability has good advantages though. We have a supply of beans and rice, and enough ramen noodles, kraft macaroni, soup, tuna and spam to die of sodium poisoning if we don't die of MSG poisoning first. That is not real healthy and has a shorter shelf life, but cheaper and provides enough calories to actually work all day without getting unhealthy thin. A cam of spam has more calories than 2 days rations of the Wise Foods stuff. Use that can of spam to flavor up a big pot of beans, rice or pasta and the calorie count gets way bigger. Split it into 250 calorie starvation rations and feed half the neighbors.

Just thinking out loud. Not trying to make any particular point.

[Murgatroy]

I bought a "one bucket" 60 serving pack of that Wise Foods stuff from Cabelas last christmas. Kept meaning to crack open a sample fer testing but ain't got around to it. Reviews are mixed regarding the taste. The same time also got a test 12 pack of supposedly 5 year shelf life self-heating MRE's, but haven't tried any of those yet either. The self-heating MRE's have more calories and should be preparable under worse conditions, which is why I figgered some of those might be useful for really bad situations. Was planning to get a few more buckets of that Wise Foods stuff, thanks for the reminder.

Cabela's: Emergency & Camping Food

On the 720 serving pack, the cabelas price is $50 lower than the Wise Foods direct price, but strangely the 1440 serving pack is the same price both places.

One thing of note about those Wise Foods servings-- On their nutrition page a serving of breakfast or entree varies between 200 and 300 calories with perhaps an average around 250 calories. Even if it tastes awful of course it would beat starving, but 2 servings per day is about 500 cals and the 3 servings per day is about 750 cals. At that level, it would be a fabulous weight-loss diet even if you are just laying around waiting for the gubmint to re-open Walmart and MacDonalds. If you do physical labor all day on that many calories it would be a more effective weight loss plan than gastric bypass surgery or the best fat farm money can buy.

The shelf life and relative portability has good advantages though. We have a supply of beans and rice, and enough ramen noodles, kraft macaroni, soup, tuna and spam to die of sodium poisoning if we don't die of MSG poisoning first. That is not real healthy and has a shorter shelf life, but cheaper and provides enough calories to actually work all day without getting unhealthy thin. A cam of spam has more calories than 2 days rations of the Wise Foods stuff. Use that can of spam to flavor up a big pot of beans, rice or pasta and the calorie count gets way bigger. Split it into 250 calorie starvation rations and feed half the neighbors.

Just thinking out loud. Not trying to make any particular point.

That is something I have taken into consideration a lot when investigating these methods of food storage, caloric intake.

MREs offer a much higher caloric intake, and do not require water to prepare, but the trade off is a much shorter shelf life and a higher price.

I have been thinking of a combinations of dehydrated food, MREs, rotated canned meats and pastas and then bulk rice and beans.

I was raised as a Mormon, I haven't practiced in years, save your opinions on the religion, but one thing that was ingrained in us, be prepared. LDS is big on the survivalist movement, from Boy Scouts to long term food storage and prep. One of the things that was taught was to always have a year's supply of food on hand for your family.

[UncleJak]

Sounds like a pretty good deal. I need to try some. I have a lot of rice and beans paired with canned veggies in my supply. I really don't like beans or veggies (canned), so this might be good to add to my rice...Thanks for the heads up

[Wyldk2]

Forgot to mention. For a limited time they are offering free shipping and an additional discount if you use the code FTL.

FTL = Free Talk Live, a open phones discussion talk show that is aired nationwide. it is where i heard about Wise foods storage.

www.freetalklive.com

[Guest Baron]

I mix/match and use my own buckets. Unfortunately, my buckets do not hold as much as theirs because my food is stored in vacuum bags. They are more like MREs, but with a thick plastic shell to keep out the critters. I will say they are cheaper than both.

I now have 6 months at my home and another 6 months at my cabin (the grey buckets do not contain food). My plan is to slowly rotate what I have out and replace my supply with the similar buckets you can sometimes find at Costco for around $99 on sale.

[Oh Shoot]

...One thing of note about those Wise Foods servings-- On their nutrition page a serving of breakfast or entree varies between 200 and 300 calories with perhaps an average around 250 calories...

Nowhere can I find the actual weight of the rehydrated meals, so they must be really small.

But you're right, those are starvation rations over time for most men even if they're not overweight at all, and wouldn't take long to take its toll, especially if you were expending a lot of energy daily.

- OS

Edited November 17, 2011 by OhShoot

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Nowhere can I find the actual weight of the rehydrated meals, so they must be really small.

But you're right, those are starvation rations over time for most men even if they're not overweight at all, and wouldn't take long to take its toll, especially if you were expending a lot of energy daily.

- OS

Hi OS

The nutrition info for the breakfasts and entrees are here (click on each meal to see the info)--

Breakfast

Lunch and Dinner Entrées

It looks like 1 serving for about all the meals is 1 cup volume (not much but beats an empty bowl). Some of the packages only contain 2 servings but most contain 4 servings. If a single person was eating thru the stock, and things are so bad that there is no refrigeration, dunno how practical it would be to actually eat 4 discrete meals out of one package. If one were feeding 2 or more people then it wouldn't be a problem.

The breakfasts are decently low in sodium. The entrees are not insanely high in sodium but if one were to eat 1000 cals of the entrees per day, it looks like you might get 150% to 200% daily value of sodium. If somebody was sweating or working a good bit then perhaps it would be desirable a little high in sodium.

I'm a big guy but not very active and have real slow metabolism. I try to keep daily calories around 1200 to avoid getting incredibly obese but 500 cals per day is pretty slim.

A person with normal activity and metabolism might want to buy about double what the Wise Foods advertises? If you want a year of "practical" food per person, buy 2 years food per person?

Or the Wise Foods meals could be used to flavor up brown rice, and keep a bunch of brown rice in stock and rotated before it gets old.

Except for shelf life, wonder how different the Wise Foods are from the cheap bagged dehydrated meals at walmart? Strogonoff, hamburger helper, potato casseroles, mac and cheese, etc. Of course the typical grocery store dehydrated meals are incredibly high in sodium and MSG.

The advertised "up to 25 year" shelf life seems a big advantage. Many survival foods are not what one would want to routinely eat, or too much work to prepare.

If one had a pantry of a year's diet of walmart cheap staples, with average shelf life of 2 years, then half of one's meals would have to rotate out of the stored stock. Or alternately discard the unappetizing food when it gets too old. With sufficient discipline one could inventory the pantry every year and donate the nearly-out-of-date stuff to the food bank.

If one's year supply of food has a seven year shelf life then you would have to eat that stuff at least one day per week to keep it rotated and avoid waste. I like rice and beans and canned veggies but am not much of a cook. Popping something in the microwave is easier. Its hard to eat the stored stuff often enough to keep it rotated. Inventoried the pantry a couple of months ago and separated out a bunch of beans, brown rice, and canned veggies that need eating within the next few months.

That is something I have taken into consideration a lot when investigating these methods of food storage, caloric intake.

MREs offer a much higher caloric intake, and do not require water to prepare, but the trade off is a much shorter shelf life and a higher price.

I have been thinking of a combinations of dehydrated food, MREs, rotated canned meats and pastas and then bulk rice and beans.

I was raised as a Mormon, I haven't practiced in years, save your opinions on the religion, but one thing that was ingrained in us, be prepared. LDS is big on the survivalist movement, from Boy Scouts to long term food storage and prep. One of the things that was taught was to always have a year's supply of food on hand for your family.

Hi Murgatroy

I've been "off and on" about food storage. Around 1970 the Whole Earth Catalog had an article about food security and a reference to a Utah Mormon outfit PermaPak. I think the place is still in biz. They sold a years worth of food for a family of four storable in a closet. Floor-to-ceiling five pound nitrogen-packed cans of freeze-dried goodies and unprocessed whole grain red wheat. It was a good plan predicated on at least one person in the family spending hours per day cooking and food prep. In a traditional stay-at-home-wife family that would be no problem.

It had a nominal 5 to 7 year shelf life. We got about a half closet full of the stuff. Tried to eat it often enough to avoid it going bad, but didn't succeed. We managed to choke down the textured vegetable protein, dehydrated milk, eggs, and cheese before it went bad, but ended up discarding about half. Ferinstance I don't think we even opened the can of freeze-dried salad. Maybe it would have been delicious! I actually liked some of the stuff, especially the powdered eggs, but didn't have time to prepare it. The wife and kids generally refused to eat it and would complain loudly if I would cook and try to get em to eat it.

[Oh Shoot]

$1.54 average per meal if you buy the 4320 serving set up. I f its eddible it is somthing to look into; thanks for the link.

I'm thinking that with the further consideration of serving size, and more importantly the calorie count on these servings, you would need to at least double that for most women and children and triple it for most men.

- OS

[Guest pfries]

I'm thinking that with the further consideration of serving size, and more importantly the calorie count on these servings, you would need to at least double that for most women and children and triple it for most men.

- OS

I can see that,

especially since physical exertion is likely to increase under circumstances when this would be needed.

[bbeck]

I requested one of their trials packages. I guess I'll see how good it is.

Sent from my Droid X using Smoke Signals!

[Wyldk2]

Just got my trials packages( it's a big one big enough for 4 adults). I'll try it and see how it is, but it's just me here right now. Might see if i can just use enough for one person, see if it any count and then order some more.

Remember free shipping with code FTL (free talk live). Least until december 24.

[Timestepper]

Just got my trials packages( it's a big one big enough for 4 adults). I'll try it and see how it is, but it's just me here right now. Might see if i can just use enough for one person, see if it any count and then order some more.

Remember free shipping with code FTL (free talk live). Least until december 24.

Got my sample yesterday - the Stroganoff - four, 1 cup servings, 250 calories per serving. Haven't tried it yet and this being turkey week, probably won't try it for a while. Might be a good thing to bring along if we ever end doing the survival meet-up, campout thing...

...TS...

[Oh Shoot]

Got my sample yesterday - the Stroganoff - four, 1 cup servings, 250 calories per serving.

Sounds like this may be a good temporary SHTF option, but storing for sustained nourishment not so much. Or at least, not so much for the price. A 5'10" 170lb man doing only light exercise daily would need about EIGHT daily servings of that just to maintain body weight.

- OS

[Timestepper]

Sounds like this may be a good temporary SHTF option, but storing for sustained nourishment not so much. Or at least, not so much for the price. A 5'10" 170lb man doing only light exercise daily would need about EIGHT daily servings of that just to maintain body weight.

- OS

Agreed. If nothing else, it would be wise to use this to supplement a diet, rather than try to live on it exclusively.

...TS...

[Murgatroy]

Hi Murgatroy

I've been "off and on" about food storage. Around 1970 the Whole Earth Catalog had an article about food security and a reference to a Utah Mormon outfit PermaPak. I think the place is still in biz. They sold a years worth of food for a family of four storable in a closet. Floor-to-ceiling five pound nitrogen-packed cans of freeze-dried goodies and unprocessed whole grain red wheat. It was a good plan predicated on at least one person in the family spending hours per day cooking and food prep. In a traditional stay-at-home-wife family that would be no problem.

It had a nominal 5 to 7 year shelf life. We got about a half closet full of the stuff. Tried to eat it often enough to avoid it going bad, but didn't succeed. We managed to choke down the textured vegetable protein, dehydrated milk, eggs, and cheese before it went bad, but ended up discarding about half. Ferinstance I don't think we even opened the can of freeze-dried salad. Maybe it would have been delicious! I actually liked some of the stuff, especially the powdered eggs, but didn't have time to prepare it. The wife and kids generally refused to eat it and would complain loudly if I would cook and try to get em to eat it.

I was raised on powdered milk and eggs. You kinda get used to it after a while.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I found this place that sells a higher-calorie, what appears lower-priced fare. Utah likely mormons.

Food storage and gluten-free food products - Augason Farms

Reminiscent of what PermaPak used to sell (and probably still does but its hard to find the company on the web). Maybe this augasonfarms is a descendent of PermaPak.

It looks like one could eat that stuff for a longer period without malnutrition or going insane from the monotony, but most of the stuff looks like it would require a lot more work to prepare than just mix in hot water. Some of it is 5 to 7 year shelf life, other stuff longer shelf life. Probably need to eat it semi-regularly to keep it rotated.

Berkey sells an organic kit that looks pretty solid, though it looks like a lot of daily cooking. Maybe most people spend a lot of time cooking anyway, but it ain't something I usually do. If it won't fit in the microwave then I probably don't eat it very often!

Survive2Thrive Orgranic Food Storage

[Murgatroy]

I found this place that sells a higher-calorie, what appears lower-priced fare. Utah likely mormons.

Food storage and gluten-free food products - Augason Farms

Reminiscent of what PermaPak used to sell (and probably still does but its hard to find the company on the web). Maybe this augasonfarms is a descendent of PermaPak.

It looks like one could eat that stuff for a longer period without malnutrition or going insane from the monotony, but most of the stuff looks like it would require a lot more work to prepare than just mix in hot water. Some of it is 5 to 7 year shelf life, other stuff longer shelf life. Probably need to eat it semi-regularly to keep it rotated.

Berkey sells an organic kit that looks pretty solid, though it looks like a lot of daily cooking. Maybe most people spend a lot of time cooking anyway, but it ain't something I usually do. If it won't fit in the microwave then I probably don't eat it very often!

Survive2Thrive Orgranic Food Storage

Good find, I have something to discuss with the wife now.

[Guest ochretoe]

What about just dehydrating veggies and then vacume packing them? I would think good and dry and sealed they should be good for quite a while. Throw them in a freezer and that extends the life even longer. I just got a food sealer and plan to try some basic veggies as well as dried meat like venison jerky. I'll do up several packs and try them out every 3 months or so and see how they hold up.

[Mike.357]

Good for food security if the world goes crazy but not so much for a hedge against rising food costs

[Timestepper]

What about just dehydrating veggies and then vacume packing them? I would think good and dry and sealed they should be good for quite a while. Throw them in a freezer and that extends the life even longer. I just got a food sealer and plan to try some basic veggies as well as dried meat like venison jerky. I'll do up several packs and try them out every 3 months or so and see how they hold up.

There are several good "dehydrating groups" on Facebook with a lot of really good info. I'm not on FB anymore, but my wife is and even as long as we've dehydrating and preserving we continue to learn new things. Oh, and recently I was going through some stuff in our storage shed that I hadn't touched since I moved from Kansas (4 1/2 years ago) and found some jerky, dried pears and homemade fruit leather wrapped (separately, of course) in wax paper envelopes and stored in a canvas bag. I'm thinking that it has to be at least 5 years old, since I remember it as part of a batch of stuff I made up for primitive fall & winter trekking but never got around to using. The fruit leather strips had kind of fused together, but everything was still good and tasted great. (I guess the fact that I'm still alive to type this should be evidence that none of it went bad.)

...TS...

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Dunno nothin about food, but was studying something unrelated which explained that foods VERY high in sugar content can't hardly go bad because hardly any bacteria can live in extremely high sugar saturations. I think it said the concentrated sugar explodes bacteria cell walls or something. Examples given were natural honey or very sweet fruit jams.

Maybe the same applies to your dried fruit? If the sugar concentration is what prevents rot, guess if it accidentally got wet it would dilute the sugar concentration and become palatable to bacteria?