Done with Survival Food. Anyone Else?

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Inner-Confidence99@reddit

I put my dry goods in mason jars. I can my vegetables. Ramen noodles last forever.

Also there is a syrup called Golden Eagle. I’ve only found it in the south. It never expires/goes bad. It’s honey, molasses, and cane sugar.

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Ancient-Claim-5487@reddit

I got a #10 can of sugar/honey from Auguson Farms. Does any one have a suggestion for freeze-dried maple syrup?

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Dadd_io@reddit

I'm prepped for an earthquake. I don't put anything in Mason jars.

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Inner-Confidence99@reddit

I understand that. The New Madrid Fault is pretty close to where I’m at.

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Agile-Peace4705@reddit

Short-term (0-7 Days) my plan is to eat my pantry/fridge and overstocks.

Medium-term (7-14 Days) my plan is to dig into my Mountain House stash + things like pre-seasoned noodle packs.

Long-term (14-30 Days) my plan is to stock lentils and rice. I'm about here wrt what I keep on hand. Am I better off buying in bulk from Costco and going the Mylar bag route or is there a company who offers these ready to go for a reasonable upcharge?

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Oldebookworm@reddit

Costco and Mylar bags is the route I’ve gone. I haven’t package up the beans or sugar yet, just the rice and pasta. And I haven’t been able to find large bags of iodized salt yet

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Ancient-Claim-5487@reddit

I would just get the 1 lb Morton's iodized and pack several into 1 mylar bag.

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Kvitravn875@reddit

I'm a noob to this stuff, but curious as to why canned food isn't an option.

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carlyhaze@reddit

Hikers aside, what are people prepping for? All this prepping for and talk of XYZ disaster happening at a certain date, then it never happens. What is it about conspiracy theories that bring so much bloody comfort to people?

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Suspicious-Essay219@reddit

Windstorms, floods, and earthquakes in my part of the world can knock out power for days.

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Ancient-Claim-5487@reddit

Augusta GA hadn't been hit by a hurricane in so long that people forgot about prepping for one. They stopped telling people to prepare. We prepared so we would have supplies to take to family in Charleston if THEY got hit. We gradually quit doing that because they developed the habit of driving out to Ohio or PA if one was coming.

2024 was the first year that I had nothing prepped. I didn't stock up on batteries. I had little cash in the house. I was just expecting the usual rain. Helene hit my neighborhood at 4 AM. By the time I left my hospital after 8AM, the town looked like a bomb went off. Thank God, Lowe's had its own generator and could take cards; no one else could. I could get supplies, a cold bottle of water and cash back to purchase items at other retailers that could only take cash. I only had one unused can of Sterno. I located some on the other side of the county at a Party City that was miraculously open. Electric came back a week later. I had to wait another week for an electrician since I had wires hanging down into my destroyed bedroom.

That is what people prep for.

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Damean1@reddit

What is it about conspiracy theories that bring so much bloody comfort to people?

I have to deal with both hurricanes and ice storms. Power can be off for weeks at a time. Having a supply of food and water, and the means to prepare it during that time is a considerable comfort.

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Excellent_Set2946@reddit

Yeah they’re all trash. Being able to sustainably produce your own is the key.

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TheStephinator@reddit

Never been into them. I started in the camping and backpacking arena where those types of foods never appealed to me, as well as the being ridiculously overpriced. I’ll take a cup of instant ramen any day over the Mountain House type stuff.

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TwiLuv@reddit

To each his/her own, every time I read a label, if it doesn’t say simple things like Durum Red Wheat, Jasmine Rice, Green Beans/Salt-

I am NOT buying it, which is why I am more interested in either canning, dehydrating or freeze-drying my own food.

Jiminy Crickets! Read the label on most Instant Ramen noodles😳😳😳

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TheStephinator@reddit

I think you missed my point about the cost difference between the two. No doubt that either a cup of instant ramen or one of those pouch meals aren’t health foods, but one costs significantly more than the other for the same kind of convenience. I never understood the appeal to the backpacking community where those really got their commercial beginnings.

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TwiLuv@reddit

I get the point of the difference in costs, I just happen to think most instant ramen noodles are no healthier than the LTS packaged meals often are. I care more about the ingredients on the label, to base my decisions upon.

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Ancient-Claim-5487@reddit

I have high blood pressure and cardiac issues. There are healthier ways to do Ramen noodles. There are Bamnut noodles and Real Naturals noodles. The Bamnut noodles are a bit pasty, but have twice the calories and taste nutty; alas, they seem to have no stock. They are also more pricey. The Real Naturals are made from rice and cook up just like instant ramen. I add vegetables and Knorr chicken buillion (3/4 top =540 mg sodium) to get the comfort of noodles in the same amount of time. I have dehydrated veggies that I can add. Real Naturals are $20 for 10 packs. They are gluten free and much healthier than the standard ramen.

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chunwookie@reddit

Most serious long distance backpackers have ditched mountain house style freeze dried meals and started using quick cooking rice and pasta meals and other shelf stable foods. A knorr rice meal is a 10th of the price of a freeze dried meal, normally has more calories, and was made to at least kind of taste good. I used to go through tons of freeze dried food when backpacking but I do all my supply shopping at a normal grocery store now.

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NaggerGuy@reddit

I've got some Auguson Farms individual ingredients (freeze dried or dehydrated) stacked but haven't tried any. That's my last resort set it and forget it stuff.

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Ancient-Claim-5487@reddit

The powdered whole eggs are decent for baking. We seldom eat eggs alone and a dozen will sit in our fridge for months. The texture on baked goods is very crumbly until the goods fully cool. I'm stocked up on their veggies, fruits, and bread mix to get us through 4 weeks beyond what is in the pantry. If a panic about the supply chain sets in, I'm covered so I don't have to try and shop in the madness.

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Ancient-Claim-5487@reddit

I have been reading through this thread and have found different options that I was not aware of like OvaEasy and Harmony House. I have been focused on Auguson Farms as a better option than the 4Patriots and ReadyWise.

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dantheman_woot@reddit

MRE's don't last as long as say Mountain House, but I've ate only MRE's for a month or more many times in my life. Yeah some of them are gross, but you can still rat fuck em.

I've not done Mountain House for months only a weekend but they are better than any of the wise meals or whatever they rebranded too.

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Nufonewhodis4@reddit

The military recognized the importance of still being palatable enough to get a soldier calories even if it's all they have. That's why there's so many small options to include the entree. Even then, I believe the military recommends supplementing with 1 prepared hot meal per day when logistics allow. I've never wanted some frickin salad as much as when I was living off of MREs for a prolonged time

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SpiritualHiker@reddit

I am packing an onion, maybe even some carrots, next long hike. Not to mention garlic, have to scare the vampires.

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Wise-Mango-1486@reddit

MREs last a pretty long time. I promise you.

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JRHLowdown3@reddit

+1. Yes, a lot longer than these chart commandos that worship the Nattick charts would have you believe.

Here is some more long term food storage RESULTS over 30 years with foods stored in hot humid climates, with pics, etc.

https://survivalandpreparednessforum.net/forum/the-basics/116013-some-more-long-term-food-storage-results-and-some-new-mre-choices

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dantheman_woot@reddit

Lol yeah I've seen enough Steve1989. When I was eating them for a months at a time they were pretty fresh lol.

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cjbartoz@reddit

Just make your own survival food.

Pemmican is often called the “ultimate survival food” and rightly deserves its title as a “superfood”. Pemmican was likely first invented by the Inuit tribes living in Arctic areas and Alaskan tundras, but it was also eaten by many Native American tribes throughout the northern continents.

These tribes were nomadic and would often go out on long hunts. They would need a lot of energy to sustain these hunts but wouldn’t be able to carry a lot of food with them nor search for food along the way. Their solution was to make pemmican to carry with them. Since it is so nutritionally dense (lots of energy without a lot of weight), it was the perfect food to put in their survival backpack.

Pemmican is a complete food in the sense that it will keep a hard-working man in top form for any length of time in any climate. It is the only concentrated food whichever has been tried out by large numbers of men for long periods.

Also on April 28, 1947, Dr. L. L. Savage, of the University of Chicago, started a 40-day trial of an all-pemmican diet. Two months after the study is initiated, he concludes:

Pemmican came as close as any to the ultimate ideal of a concentrated “pill” diet.

Pemmican is basically a mixture of dried meat, fat, and sometimes dried berries. It is very easy to make yourself without any special ingredients or tools necessary, just follow the simple instructions below. You can adjust the recipe however you’d like, such as by adding dried berries, unsalted nuts, spices, herbs, and honey. So long as everything you add is dry, then the pemmican won’t go bad.

Ingredients:

- lean beef meat

- beef tallow

- 100% unrefined sea salt

Set the oven to the lowest possible temperature (around 150 degrees Fahrenheit).

Cut the meat into really thin strips and put them on a baking sheet. You can also put the strips directly onto the oven rack, but some drippings might get inside your oven.

Generally you will lose 80% of your beef’s weight in water during the dehydration process. So if you want to end up with 1 pound (454g) of dried beef you’ll need to start off with 5 pounds (2270) of trimmed lean beef meat.

The meat will need to dry in the oven for about 15 hours – keep the oven door slightly open to prevent moisture buildup. The meat is done when it is very crispy and breaks apart easily. It is very important that the meat is dry or else the pemmican will not last as long.

Turn the dry meat into a powder: A meat grinder is best but you can also use a mortar and pestle, blender or food processor. It needs to be almost a powder with no big chunks in it. Place your powdered meat into a mixing bowl.

Heat the fat on low heat until it liquefies.

Pour the liquid fat over the powdered meat mixture and mix together. The ratio of fat to dried mixture is 500g meat powder, 500g beef tallow and 10g salt.

Press the mixture into a baking pan lined with parchment paper. When cool, cut it into bars, wrap in wax paper or plastic bags and store in a dry air-tight storage container. The key to maximizing the shelf life of pemmican is to store the pemmican in a cool, dark place away from oxygen and moisture.

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Rheila@reddit

When we used to do a lot of hiking we started out with MREs and Mountain House. But even for that we quickly switched to black bean flakes, Asiago or Parmesan and tortillas for burritos, powdered eggs, quick oats, home made jerky etc.

I have NEVER stocked MRE style meals for prepping. For us it has always been an ingredient based deep pantry (dried beans, lentils, chickpeas, rice, flour, rolled oats, tomatoes, and a spice collection that exceeds what you would find in a typical grocery store.

And I cook with it essentially every day. So in an “emergency” situation whether it’s a day or many months, it’s going to be “life as usual” as far as cooking goes. I’m 100% comfortable cooking on the BBQ or fire pit if electricity is out.

About the only thing we would want for is dairy. Powdered cheese just isn’t the same. I’d actually prefer nutritional yeast flakes to it for a lot of things if real cheese isn’t available. Whole milk powder is okay. So much better than skim. But ya, none of it quite hits the spot the same.

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ronniebell@reddit

In case you are interested, you can purchase freeze-dried shredded cheese. When rehydrated or reconstituted, it melts like fresh. We purchased a freeze dryer pre-Covid and I’m using the cheese I freeze dried six years ago and it’s delicious.

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Rheila@reddit

That is a great solution. It’s good to know. Thank you!

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RoseNDNRabbit@reddit

You can also buy powdered butter.

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ronniebell@reddit

I’ve purchased it, but haven’t yet really started experimenting with it. I’ve used it in a dry mix, like pancake mix for flavor. Have you tried to mix it with some neutral oil and used it as a sub for fresh butter?

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Ancient-Claim-5487@reddit

We've played with the powdered whole eggs and they are fine for baking, but the goods tend to have a crumbly texture. I bought a small bag of the butter to play with as well, but I haven't tried it yet.

My big focus has been on getting products that might be difficult to get because of supply chain issues: bread mix, dehydrated fruits and veggies, instant yeast, canned and dehydrated meats.

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ronniebell@reddit

Did you purchase powdered eggs (which I believe is spray powdered) or did you purchase freeze dried whole eggs? Like perhaps the OvaEasy brand, these are freeze dried raw eggs and they come back exactly like beaten raw eggs and are eggselent (🙄 sorry couldn’t resist) in dry mixes and they cook up just like fresh scrambled eggs.

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Ancient-Claim-5487@reddit

Oh wow, those look amazing! I'll have to order a pack.

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ronniebell@reddit

I freeze dry my own now, but before we bit the bullet and bought the freeze dryer I kept a stock oh the OvaEasy eggs. High quality and you can’t tell the difference from fresh eggs.

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Ancient-Claim-5487@reddit

They were the Auguson Farms freeze-dried whole eggs. I'll have to look at the OvaEasy brand.

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wishinforfishin@reddit

Bean flakes like these? Never heard of them before. Are they good with just water & spice added?

https://www.harmonyhousefoods.com/products/black-bean-flakes?variant=42180209737822&country=US&currency=USD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=23460895154&network=x&device=m&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23460928694&gbraid=0AAAABCZo1z17Knt_tmYrIje8FS8bLZwH-&gclid=CjwKCAjw1tLOBhAMEiwAiPkRHhe7HbT_ZnVbqYH5bcUjOy7Nv-Z5u2TKyjjeGhk9tA0-PKvMRot2phoCHH0QAvD_BwE

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Rheila@reddit

Yes like those. I don’t use them day to day, but they are great hiking. They rehydrate very quickly in hot water.

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BigBlueWookiee@reddit

I am 100% with you on this.

My SO and I do a lot of camping in general. A few years ago, we started down the Prepper path. Camping seemed to be a great avenue to test out what MRE style food is worth while.

Credit to those companies - they do a great job marketing their products. Many of them look good, or at least sound edible. Out of the (literally) 78 different meals we tried, only like 6-7 were palpable - of those only 3 we would consider stock piling. Even then, those would need something added to them to make them a decent meal.

A few of the things I found:

Spice - Most brands try to hide their lack of flavor and texture by making them spicy as hell. Likewise with Black Pepper - always too much.
Directions - most are off. Yeah, you have to boil so much water, but either the quantity of water is off (too much creating a soup/slime or too little leaving bits crunchy that should not be) or the "sit-n-soak" time is off, usually too short. To be fair, after a long ass hike, you may still eat it... but only just.
Water - Due to the spice, salt and pepper levels, you will be drinking a lot of water with even the "good ones".

Honestly, I felt better going with some of the just-add-water items from the grocery store. Things like Viggo Red beans and rice, or Alessi noodles or risotto. Seemed like same basic cooking instructions, just without the water proof pack to "cook" the food in.

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Granadafan@reddit

Which are the ones you recommend?

I got suckered into buying 4Patriots and Readywise. Those were downright awful and I am not a picky eater.

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wishinforfishin@reddit

Peak Refuel. So yummy. Always rehydrate well for me too.

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iamliberty@reddit (OP)

This is what I hate to see. 4Patriots is the worst brand I ever tried.

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The_Latverian@reddit

4Patriots is so, so bad 🤢

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Oldebookworm@reddit

I am so sad you said that. Do you think the individual meat packs from there (chicken and beef) really suck too?

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Ancient-Claim-5487@reddit

I hope not. I just bought a meat bundle from them.

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Granadafan@reddit

Lesson learned. Never buy anything with Patriot or tactical in the name.

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BigBlueWookiee@reddit

The two I can recommend no matter what are:

Backpackers Pantry - Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken

Big Horn Mountain Food - Chicken & Mushroom Marsala with Pasta

As a heads up, stay away from anything with hatch chili's (way overdone) or anything that is mashed potatoes or biscuit based. The texture is like snot.

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Johnny_d01@reddit

Love backpacker’s pantry! My wife and son always grab the Fettuccine Alfredo before I can get some.

Their Beef Stroganoff is really good too.

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BigBlueWookiee@reddit

Agreed the stroganoff is one of the better ones. Not sure I would stock up on it though.

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JRHLowdown3@reddit

I'd avoid these johnny come lately companies and stick with tried and true long term players in the game- Mt. House, Rainy Day (who private labels for a ton of other places), etc.

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Granadafan@reddit

Readywise has been around for a while and is sold at Costco. I bought a big bucket of Readywise with a coupon. I tasted a few and donated them to the local Boy Scout troop for one of their camping trips. I’m pretty sure I’m banned from dealing them ever again. LOL.

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JRHLowdown3@reddit

Guess it depends on how long you think a long time being around is. No one heard of that place back before 2000. IIRC you didn't hear anything about them in the 2006-2010'ish new "prepper" fade either. Back then new folks were pee'ing themselves over the "free pouch" from "Wise"- most of which they never opened, the ones that did beotched about the food LOL.

I think the other place you mentioned is the one that pushes little plastic totes?? Another clue...

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Mule_Wagon_777@reddit

Thanks for the recommendations. That's helpful.

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TenaciousNarwhal@reddit

I feel like 20 minutes of simmering would use a lot of cooking fuel in an emergency situation.

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Ok-Scar7729@reddit

Thermos cooking is something I have been experimenting with to reduce fuel costs and time spent watching a stove.

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wishinforfishin@reddit

I love it for cold weather camping. Pout in boiling water in the morning, get back from hiking to hot scalloped potatoes.

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shikkonin@reddit

Done properly, it doesn't. Heat retention cooking is the name of the game here.

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davidm2232@reddit

Depends. It's 'free' if you're simmering on the woodstove you use to heat the house

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TheStephinator@reddit

There’s ways around it, like soaking your ingredients for before cooking. But still, the taste and cost of those ready meals aren’t worth it, imo.

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gonyere@reddit

This is why I have never stocked them they're awful.. Eat what you store, store what you eat.

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FreshestCremeFraiche@reddit

Agreed storing + eating real food is much healthier, tastier, cheaper. Once thing is don’t sleep on spices and condiments as part of the prep. Imagine all you have is salt? I’d go nuts

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baardvark@reddit

You can get a large jar of ranch powder at any restaurant supply store. That would work wonders for making grub palatable. I’m also experimenting with popcorn cheddar powder, but it has longevity issues.

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FreshestCremeFraiche@reddit

Ranch powder is great and much more cost effective than buying ranch dressing (also lasts much longer). Just need to keep it dry as it will aggressively suck moisture out of the air if you give it a chance

I keep extra of all the most common dry spices like black pepper, garlic powder, etc. Dry spices lose potency over time but won’t go bad, and they can still be used after years, you just need more of it. Hot sauces similarly won’t go bad as they are mostly vinegar and chili. Anything dairy or sugar based is going to be limited time only

In a true SHTF situation honestly one of the hardest things will be cooking oil and fats. Butter needs refrigeration and oil goes rancid after a couple years max. I don’t really have an answer for that one other than a multi year disruption being very unlikely and that we would have a couple years to figure it out

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baardvark@reddit

Growing sunflowers for oil seems like the most promising long term solution to me.

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Opcn@reddit

Do you have the equipment to press the oil? Back when they were hune by hand an oil press was a major piece of capital equipment.The high forces needed make them very difficult to just DIY out of a few logs with hand tools.

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ronniebell@reddit

A hand crank oil press will only run you about $250’ish and it works well on sunflower seed, any nuts (toast them first for the ultimate flavor), hemp if you grown it (I don’t). I’ve just bought one in the past couple of months and am just now starting to experiment with it. Gotta get those sunflowers growing first, though.

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Opcn@reddit

Buying a mass produced industrial product from China is very easy right now, but not guarantee to remain easy, was more what I was getting at.

There are preps that can wait, but if you are planning on growing your own cooking oil the pressing part probably can't.

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ronniebell@reddit

Luckily, I’ve already purchased the oil press. It was not manufactured in China, it is manufactured in the Netherlands. It’s going to be a bit of a learning curve, just like other things. But I’m trying to get things in order before I have to depend on it.

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baardvark@reddit

50 slime 20 hardwood 1 gold bar

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IckyBodCraneOperator@reddit

Properly rendered and stored beef tallow lasts for 12–18 months at room temperature, 12–18+ months in the refrigerator, and 2–3 years in the freezer.

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Rhondasempire@reddit

Ghee essentially has no expiration date and can be kept on the shelf without refrigeration after opening. It is a great long term food option for fats and cooking oil.

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IckyBodCraneOperator@reddit

Ghee is highly stable and typically lasts 1–2 years unopened in a cool, dark pantry. Once opened, it remains good for about 3–6 months at room temperature or up to 1 year in the refrigerator. While it rarely grows mold, it can go rancid (sour smell/taste)

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HarpersGhost@reddit

Butter needs refrigeration

Salted butter doesn't need refrigeration. For long term storage, I freeze it. But for day to day use, it's in a butter tray on my counter and it lasts for weeks. Granted I have AC, so if you house was hotter, you could get a butter bell to have it last longer.

We've had butter far longer than we've had indoor cooling. Just need to go back to the old ways of doing things sometimes.

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Ok-Scar7729@reddit

I've never thought of ranch powder and now I think it has to be added to my kit. Whole powdered milk has been life-changing for me.

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baardvark@reddit

I bet you could make a veggie dip out of ranch powder and milk powder.

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Ok-Scar7729@reddit

Oh Lord, that might change my life. I have barely eaten ranch since leaving the United States. I had honestly forgotten how much I love it until it was mentioned in this thread!

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RoseNDNRabbit@reddit

Buy all the bullions possible. Just a scrape livens up food, stews, soups. Buy green chili sauce, salsas and the like. They wont go bad, just more intense with time. They will loudly announce your presence in TEOTWAWKI or SHTF situation. You can chop a favoured bullion block in half and bring with you. Just a small bit will enhance your meals as a solo to huge team meals.

Look into the french way of using butter without refrigeration. For the table, its a very high quality clay butter dish that has the butter smashed into the top. No air holes or anything. The bottom has cool water in it. Making the whole of it cool. Obtain materials for an ice house as our ancestors made just 130 years ago. Store the rest of the butter in differing segments there. Along with oils, fats, meats and ice.

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chantillylace9@reddit

Au jus powder is great too and you can get it pretty cheap or even brown gravy. I like au jus because you can make lighter sauces and then if you want to make more of a gravy you can just add some thickener.

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reinakun@reddit

I’ve got two fantastic uses for ranch powder (as someone who hates ranch dressing).

1) Make (cheddar) drop biscuits and then brush a mix of ranch powder, melted butter, roasted garlic powder, and parsley on top.

2) That same glaze (plus a generous pinch of turmeric and black pepper) makes for an incredible combo with seafood and is the base for my shrimp scampi and shrimp scampi pasta.

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baardvark@reddit

Another idea: you may already have wild onion or garlic growing in the yard. If you mow the weeds and suddenly smell chives, you found it. Completely edible.

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Virginia_Hall@reddit

I consider Mt House meals to be a good salt substitute ;-)

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FreshestCremeFraiche@reddit

Yeah you’ll be well preserved for sure. Mountain House isn’t bad for what it is but I would be hard pressed to eat that stuff daily. I really only use it when backpacking and I’m like yeah, this is expensive and not as good as the real thing, but damn am I glad I didn’t have to carry potatoes and milk up that mountain just to have some mashies

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FortunateHominid@reddit

Yeah. I've seen people testing different brands of survival and camping food long term. Couple weeks to a month.

One consistent result was stomach issues. Primarily the type which can cause dehydration. Not what you'd want in an emergency situation.

That doesn't include the amount of water many require.

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iambecomesoil@reddit

If you're stocking up, loperamide needs to be in there.

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FortunateHominid@reddit

Should definitely have that or something similar in a med kit/supply.

Though if it's required to eat your food supply, I'd argue you might want to reevaluate.

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iambecomesoil@reddit

If you're going from a traditional diet to a stored diet that's different or emergency ration kind of foods, it's to be expected. It's why you change a dog's diet over slowly.

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FortunateHominid@reddit

I understand. That's why I go with the prep only what you eat mentality.

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Ysobel14@reddit

This is the only way to go. Nobody wants these things now, and they will be worse later.

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MerelyMortalModeling@reddit

Most marked survival food is a scam sold by grifters and aimed at low knowledge and scared consumers. You can see it with their overabundance of FOMO and Patriotic! advertisements. There is also that lovely thing, I don't know the name for it where they aim at different political camps based on who won the last presidential election.

Learn how to preserve food wheat, grains in general, sugar, beans and spices can be stored for a decade or more with stuff you likely have at home. Grow a garden, doesn't have to be large but large enough for you to propagate seeds and learn how to can and dehydrate foods.

It can cost next to nothing, will increase your overall health, teach and refine useful skills and can just be a fun hobby

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craigcraig420@reddit

I unfortunately bought a My Patriot Supply 3 month kit about 15 years ago. 5 years ago I started trying the food. It tasted awful, especially the rice and pasta, and I absolutely would not want to eat that shit even if I was “hungry enough.” I threw it all away except for the breakfast granola and instant mashed potatoes. Those were acceptable. Now I stick with dry goods and canned foods for food storage.

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Oldebookworm@reddit

I buy those Idahoan potato packets when they’re 10/10 and out them in Mylar with oxygen thingies. Mashed potatoes for a base is tasty an filling. Knorr rice and pasta packets too.

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wishinforfishin@reddit

Do you open the packages and dump into mylar bags, or just toss the whole thing in Mylar? I take these camping quite a bit so I have a bunch.

Would be nice to extend their shelf life so I could shop sales more.

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choppcy088@reddit

Whats the oxygen thingy?

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Oldebookworm@reddit

I forgot what they’re called. Oxygen absorbers

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choppcy088@reddit

Ohhh the silicon packs!! I think they saybif you eat one, you'll awake from the Matrix.

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craigcraig420@reddit

Dessicants

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Zaphanathpaneah@reddit

No, dessicants are moisture absorbers. Oxygen absorbers are iron powder.

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craigcraig420@reddit

Thanks for that. I didn’t know.

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RoseNDNRabbit@reddit

I was looking for this comment. These packets are most excellent!!

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craigcraig420@reddit

Excellent backpacking food

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OneRingOfBenzene@reddit

Just a tip...

"Camping foods" are designed to be eaten, and therefore have to cross a higher bar.

"Survival foods" are designed to be cheap, and 90% of the people buying them never taste them. Edibility is a secondary concern.

I've gone three weeks backpacking where 1/3 of my meals were Mountain House. They were on par taste wise with other quick cooking meals (cous cous, mac & cheese, rice w/Indian spices) and frankly I looked forward to the Mountain House meals because they were at least as good, and usually easier to cook.

Don't buy food marketed to preppers. Buy food marketed to hikers.

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tacos41@reddit

+1 for the Mountain House stuff. Their Biscuits and Gravy is incredible.

(maybe that's just the hiker hunger talking)

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fatlardo@reddit

Can confirm the Mountain House B&G is really good. Not a hiker, just a fatty here.

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ronniebell@reddit

You get extra points for your heartfelt honesty (fellow chonky girl here)!

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malapriapism4hours@reddit

Username checks out.

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etherlinkage@reddit

Love it. Have an upvote.

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-wtfisthat-@reddit

That’s really the most reputable credential.

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Apart_Isopod8629@reddit

I have a whole storage box filled with just mountain house B&G!

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nakedonmygoat@reddit

I also recommend Peak Refuel. My husband and I bought some for camping, but ended up having one during an extended power outage. If they had served it to me at a mid-price restaurant, I wouldn't have sent it back. It was a huge morale boost. I haven't tried every one of their offerings, but they get consistently high ratings.

The only camping/hiking foods I won't try are ones that call themselves "biscuits and gravy" or "pizza." There is no way you can freeze dry those, reconstitute with water, and have an edible result. I'm willing to be proven wrong, but until someone can, I'm willing to die on that hill.

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ronniebell@reddit

I freeze dry pizza all the time, it makes delicious pizza crackers! Is it warm lovely pizza from your local wood fired pizza shop? (well, maybe, because I have a wood fired pizza oven at home) - no…. You might be able to rehydrate it with a quick dunk in hot water and a quick sit then a stint in your oven (haven’t tried that yet), But it’s a great crunchy snack on a hike.

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wishinforfishin@reddit

Peak Refuel is the bomb.

I confess to digging out my camping gear bin once or twice just because I had a craving for fettuccine Alfredo and didn't feel like cooking.

And now I really want to try one of my Mountain House Pizza Bowls just to see if it's as bad as you say. I bought several in advance of camping season but haven't opened them yet.

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OverInteractionR@reddit

Mountain house biscuits and gravy

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Hopeful_Nectarine_27@reddit

I just had some the other day, it was delicious.

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Queasy_Holiday_4170@reddit

Seconding MH biscuits and gravy. Are they amazing? No. Are they more than passable? Absolutely.

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fatlardo@reddit

Love peak. Only thing is it's only good for 5 years.

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MrSparklesan@reddit

I’ve had some epic camping meals both freeze dried and MRE.

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jadedflux@reddit

I purposefully randomly eat a Mountain Home lasagne meal because I legitimately think they’re great lol

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TheGreenGrizzly@reddit

This is the answer

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questionableK@reddit

Some of the freeze dried backpacking meals have long shelf lives. They are way better than survival meals

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Ancient-Claim-5487@reddit

I have Mountain House. The lifespan is 5-7 years on them, depending on the product. I bought them after Helene. Canned tuna, chicken, and Spam only get you so far after an emergency. I did manage to scrounge a jar of Nutella while ice-hunting one day and it was heavenly on crackers.

Helene and two weeks without electricity were a real eye opener. All my emergency food was buried in a drenched room under insulation. Now, I have things divided in different parts of the house. I realized that Sterno was not the most effective way to cook and that I needed to get over my propane fears. I now have two camp stoves (one butane, one propane) and a couple of solar water heaters that can heat water passively without attendance. I also bought a couple of solar ovens to play with baking things if my charcoal runs out. I have a third cooking burner that operates off solar, but its pretty bulky and won't get set up until I need it. I only had a small bag of charcoal; now I keep a large bag unopened. I chucked my little cheap grill and got a kamodo type grill that I can bake in. We had family members drive in from Charleston with batteries to operate our old '90s CD/radio decks and lanterns/flashlights. We discovered that our old weather radio had died, so those CD dust collectors came in handy. We now have a weather/AM/FM radio/charger/flashlight that can be charged via electricity, solar, or hand crank.

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wistful_cottage_core@reddit

All things in moderation and I recommend layering your preparedness approach.

For instance, I only stock enough "survival foods" for very short term emergencies or situations. MREs are great for things like power outages because they get you a hot meal while you get generators going, clear roadways, patch roofs, etc... I like mountain house freeze dried meals for long road trips, emergency packs, and overnight camping jaunts but we only stock varieties that we actually like.Otherwise we have a deep pantry and long term storage system for other SHTF preparedness. It doesn't have to be all or nothing.

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RickShaw530@reddit

I agree with this approach. In a truly local SHTF situation, it's going to be super competitive to fish and hunt where I live.

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tempest1523@reddit

Yeah in the Great Depression lots of areas are over hunted… and that was with a way smaller population size than we have today. A real SHTF scenario animals will be sparse

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RickShaw530@reddit

If you're a carnivore, breeding would be your best bet. I have no desire to raise any kind of livestock at the moment. However, in a slow-roll SHTF scenario, I'd look into meat rabbits. In a quick yet prolonged shelter-in place situation (provided it wasn't nuclear Holocaust), I'd break out my live animal cage and see if I could trap a couple of breeders. Chances are good I'd catch possums before rabbits here, though.

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RootsToShoots17@reddit

I agree to having different options. I actually really like mountain house freeze dried meals, we eat them when we go camping and always finish them off. It’s so nice to have a warm, home cooked style meal after dried fruit, nuts, and jerky. I have lots of ingredients in my storage, but having something ready in 15 minutes after boiling water is an awesome option if you don’t have a lot of time or energy.

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wistful_cottage_core@reddit

I feel the same way. Sure we have a camp stove and all that but it's nice to not have to rush to get that set-up during an emergency just to have a hot meal. I've found going to bed with a full stomach makes the morning projects a lot easier to handle.

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ToothSufficient7763@reddit

I buy the occasional can and hope I never have to use it.

I really like the Auguson farms brand from Amazon. I get and use their can of pancake mix. It's awesome.

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Ancient-Claim-5487@reddit

The Auguson pancake mix is terrific. We like it better than the Hungry Jack that we used for goodness knows how long.

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lr99999@reddit

That’s not what “survival food” means.

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Present-Opinion1561@reddit

oh boy! this topic was the first real spicy conversation within our prep group. We elected to stock rotational real food as a group and survival rations individually as you saw fit. And yes - it did pretty much come down to taste.

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Soft_Yellow1757@reddit

deep pantry is the answer every day. If things go bad and i need long term food, it will be rice/beans/flour after about 60-90 days as i run out of the stores of tinned and dried meats and other things that i eat but not enough to have a store of more than 60-90 days if i had to remove the fresh version (i eat canned tuna once a week, canned chicken once a week, and other tinned meats even less- so how can i store more than 100 cans of them with the expectation i will get to them before they spoil)

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bizconnectadventure@reddit

hmmm what do you do for water in this situation?

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Joseph9877@reddit

Eh, I love MREs. Can't relate

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MrSparklesan@reddit

We only stock food we eat. we rotate the pantry accordingly. But we stockpile for economic reasons. we lose our jobs we have a good 30 day buffer. similar reason. had all this food neither of us liked. so started getting stuff we do like little by little.

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Cute-Consequence-184@reddit

I much prefer to make my own meals-in-jars rather than eating garbage, if I want faster meals.

But deep pantry is the way to go honestly. Meals in jars are good to make mixes for chili and soups. But I would much rather open up a home canned quart jar of Chicken bone broth with chunks of meat, toss in a jar of peas and carrots or some dehydrated peas and carrots and some dried egg noodles and have a meal ready in 15-30 minutes than eat some high sodium, low energy, garbage tasting MRE.

And canning your own vegetables, while the up front cost can be expensive, is still not that expensive when compared to freeze dried food. And the up front cost is only once. After that, you already own all of the equipment.

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marinuss@reddit

Anyone else changing their minds on these freeze dried survival meals?

No because you did some weird MRE and starve yourself challenge does not mean that's life. A proper method would have been spend a month foraging, fishing, hunting and trapping for your food but if you can't get any of that, then you have to eat MREs/freeze dried foods to make up for the calories. You starved yourself, that's why it was a shitty experiment. Coming up with some obscure challenge isn't realistic. If you had six months worth of MREs and you know there's nothing else maybe you ration it up and go down to maintenance calories, but you still eat your calories. You don't just go hungry one day because you didn't catch any fish. If you have a day you catch fish, then cool you get to enjoy some freshly caught fish cooked up instead of freeze dried food, and if you have a way to preserve extra maybe you have some good food for tomorrow and the next day too.

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Docella@reddit

I have survival foods in my pantry. It does not take 20min to preare and very tasty. I think it depends on the brand you are buying and the country you are from. We did a taste test befor buying in bulk and was pleasantly surprised with the meals. I have 3 months for two people, and also the normal dried food and other stuff.

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funnysasquatch@reddit

You don't need any of this survival food nor the backpacker foods for prepping. Only buy them IF there are flavors you enjoy.

The supermarket is full of food that is going to last a long time, cheap, and tastes good. Simple examples are Knorr's pasta and rice sides. Tuna and chicken packets. While they might not last 25 years hidden in a basement like Mountain House, you're probably not going to need that. You're more likely going to need to have some food on hand because you lost power during an ice storm.

Buy the cheap instant ramen. Get some beef jerky. Bullion cubes. Some dried garlic and onion. Jerky rehydrates into steak. The rest is just improved seasoning.

Peanut butter plus ketchup plus some soy sauce makes a Pad-Thai like sauce.

Chef Corso on Youtube has lots of tips like this.

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OwnLittleCorner@reddit

the prepper instant meals are meant to briefly get you by. You need to learn to grow, forage, herd and hunt a.k.a. homestead what you can to be sustainable in the long run. Even if its as simple as started growing microgreens to raise food.

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ChrisLS8@reddit

I just got a fuckload of Readywise Pro for half off recently and I stock up on Peak Refuels annual sale. MREs are trash to eat and I only keep some around for when I do training events like DARC

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Savag3k1ller@reddit

Freeze dried foods are expensive. I would same MRE's a similar. Sure you can get a 12 pack for anything around 40-50 bucks. But can most people keep them for 8-10 years in a cool dark place? Some. Then you have picky eaters that scoff at these foods. You claim to be starved but still too good for freeze dried meals? You're going to have a tough time surviving if you're that picky.

I prefer stocking up on canned meants. They last almost indefinitely as long as they are not dented/punctured etc. You can get a can of great value lucheon meat (similar to spam but much cheaper) for around $2.00 simple ingredients, get the ones without mechanically separated chicken. Great Value corned beef for $3.27, Great Value sardines in hot sauce for around $0.97 -- all good cheap options. You should try all of them and see if you like them BEFORE stocking up on many cans. Bags for rice and beans will help stretch out the hunger. If you eat these things on a regular basis and know you like them, you rotate them out...eat the old cans first.

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AdLast4323@reddit

Keystone canned meats are pretty good. You’ll need a can opener but shelf life of 5+ years and once cooked I can’t tell em apart from fresh meat. They are relatively expensive compared to fresh meat.

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bluefairytx@reddit

I really liked the freeze dried food off the company Thrive Life. It was more bulk than mres though . Unfortunately they're no longer in business. I would suggest only buying one or two items before making a big purchase from companies to test it first.

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FollowingVast1503@reddit

I bought Keystone canned meats. Gave them all a taste test and found them to be enjoyable. The chicken, turkey, beef chunks and pork can be turned into soups and stews. I added some bbq sauce to the ground beef, very tasty.

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YetAnotherIteration@reddit

I just buy cases of MREs when they go on sale and call it good. 🤷‍♂️

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Soldier_Of_Life@reddit

The reason they taste bad is cause who could we possibly complain this to when shtf as its marketed to be eaten only in that scenario

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E9F1D2@reddit

I buy 3 or 4 random "Survival Food" buckets a year and rotate through them while camping. I haven't found any to be extraordinarily gross, nor any to be overwhelming good. They're just... food.

I will say my biggest complaint with the survival food buckets is they're portioned out much larger than meal sized, so once you open it you either have to eat the whole damn thing in a few days, or reseal it with an oxygen absorber. Annoying, but is what it is.

I don't mind them and feel they do have utility. The biggest part of that utility is buy it and forget it.

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Wellslapmesilly@reddit

How would you stack rank the big survival food brands?

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E9F1D2@reddit

For flavor alone, I like the Mountain House, but it is expensive. Augason Farms comes in at second for their canned components, like butter powder, vegetables, etc. I mix those in with regular meals monthly to keep them cycling. The "meal buckets" from Augason, Patriot Supply, Ready Hour, 4 Patriots, are largely same-same. They each have their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to palatability.

They'll get you through in a tight spot, but really need seasoning to taste. They're mass produced to be as least offensive as possible, so they generally come off as bland, but edible. A small spice rack will go a long way if you ever need to consume them for an extended period. A little oregano, paprika, garlic salt, and cajun seasoning go a long way.

I legit hate prep can stroganoff though. Doesn't matter the company. It just ain't right.

MREs I've never been a fan of. They're solid calories though, so don't count them out entirely.

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AK-Kidx39@reddit

We had a power outage for a week and my college diet at the time consisted of a lot of ramen and canned fish. I’d throw in some canned spinach or collard greens. It changed my mind to keeping a healthy normal diet that wasn’t refrigerator dependent and had a long shelf life. I didn’t have culture shock and I could be set for a while

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Clama_lama_ding_dong@reddit

I was looking into ration bars at one point, but I'm gluten free due to Celiac. And my kids would NEVER eat ration bars. So we buy just stock up our favorite Luna Bars and rotate out our emergency stash as we use them up.

Calorically they are very similar. Amd way way better.

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ivobrick@reddit

I did. One ration is worth nearly MONTH of food (rice, beans, oil, oats, honey, pasta, canns). I keep only for 2-3 days mre and thats it.

I bought a book what i can " steal " from the wilds to make staples actually normal (edible flowers, plants, tea trees, mushrooms and stuff like that). And majority of them are actually medicine plants. Did you know spruce tree can give you tea whole year? Or disinfectant for wounds? I did not.

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pretzelsRus@reddit

What was the book, please?

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ivobrick@reddit

It is called " from our nature ", but - you need to find local book. Because i am from an EU so we have different plants here. Or you know, those bushman/survivalist books. Im certain they are avail for your region wherever you are.

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pretzelsRus@reddit

Thx, Mate!

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sluttyman69@reddit

Rotating stock memories some taste better than others. Gotta try them out as for the dried foods most taste like OK let’s see whereabouts as tasty as the pink bubblegum coming out of the baseball card packages, chewed and tasted almost as well as the cardboard package unfortunately but now you get into some of them backpacking mountain, climbing, and other stuff those are quite tasty. I’m not long to fix and you know actually edible so it really does depend on what you’re buying what you spend your money on and I do after getting on just how hungry you are cause after a week or two of no food those things would be very edible.

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Ra_a_@reddit

We store MRE and mountain house. And we rotate through them

Neither are wonderful, but we use them up while hiking or just for dinners

We add-in things like an extra can of meat. Some cream cheese. Can of table cream or butter, knorr de pollo etc to make them more palatable. Sweet Can fruits.

We have canned fruits which serve as a bit of the “spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down”

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arglebargle82@reddit

I think Mountain House is actually quite good. I'll occasionally have one on a whim. I of course add some seasoning, but still it's a good base. Then again I'm not relying on them in a survival situation, they're my "power goes out for a couple of days" kind of meal.

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coof_7@reddit

I’m not from the US military, but as someone who has served in the military, combat rations and emergency food weren’t inedible for me. Of course, that said, if you told me to eat only that, I’d go crazy. That’s why it’s best to stock up on canned goods and foods that can be prepared with just water and fire (rice, dried beans, etc.), and consume them on a rotation basis. As others mentioned above, emergency rations are exactly that — emergency rations. They’re the last resort you turn to in a crisis. That’s why they don’t need to taste good. Personally, I store 30 days’ worth of this type of food for my family, and beyond that I stock canned goods and grains. I’m still a beginner prepper, but I think this approach isn’t bad when it comes to the concept of emergency food storage! I’d always appreciate any additional input! Have a great day!

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SeriousGoofball@reddit

I think it partly depends on what you're getting. There's a difference between "Sweet and sour chicken in fried rice" and a #10 can of dehydrated diced carrots. I think getting cans of carrots, white rice, peas, corn, mashed potatoes, etc, can be totally viable.

Obviously, it means more effort on your part. You'll also have to spend more getting a good selection of proteins. But I think making the bulk of your survival storage ingredient based instead of meal based will offer a better long term strategy.

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Mochalada@reddit

I’d definitely rather just eat rice and beans for months than MREs

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Ok-Scar7729@reddit

I am constantly telling people to eat their survival food and practice survival scenarios. You actually did it!

Yes, when you actually go out in the wild and try to survive with "gear" and prepackaged survival food it does not go well.

On the flip side, I won't go down the block without a few days of food stashed in my bag. But I'm not using that nasty overpriced survival food crap.

Over the years I became obsessed with creating my own portable, lightweight, and nutritious survival food. Lots of experiments, lots of failures, and it is still a work in progress.

In addition to the survival situation, I have digestive issues. If I eat too much solid food, my stomach just stops working. I have to maintain a very high liquids to solids ratio in my diet. At the same time, I have to get enough calories, fat, protein, and vitamins.

Through studying traditional Chinese medicine I have come to a point where I never eat anything raw or cold. I have a chai tea blend that I make which gives huge medicinal support. I start every morning by brewing a liter and a half of it which takes all of 5 minutes.

A liter goes in my thermos to be carried through the day. I drink a few cups of tea in the morning, and I also use the tea as the liquid for my chia pudding.

The Chia pudding recipe is super simple, incredibly healthy, hydrating, and filling. I take two tablespoons of chia seeds, 2 tablespoons of ground flax, two tablespoons of ground pumpkin seeds, pure dark chocolate to taste, stevia for sweetness, and powdered whole milk. Powdered butter will also add some calories and fat if you have it.

Of all the food mixes I have ever made, that chia pudding is the one that consistently out performs everything else. I don't even have to have hot water to make it, making it with chai tea is a nice little flavor boost but it is delicious with just plain room temperature water. I love chocolate, I will always eat chocolate. It has the most long-term impact of pretty much anything I've made, a good serving of this can carry me half a day.

Cream of wheat, which I buy here in Central America under the name corazon de trigo, is another great meal. It is so easy to cook, and the pan will clean easily. I eat it with salt and reconstituted powdered milk. The taste is bland but satisfying, I really like it and don't get burned out on it. It is easy to eat enough to be full for a large chunk of the day.

So my EDC looks like a thermos with chai tea in it, a plastic mug, my powdered chia pudding recipe, corazon de trigo, some backup tea mix, and powdered whole milk. If I was going to be somewhere that I knew that I wasn't going to have access to fresh vegetables I would also pack a dried chicken vegetable rice soup blend.

In my daily city travels I can get hot water from any corner store, so I only carry a mug. When I go out into the countryside, I carry a small travel stove and pot, as well as a small water filtration system.

Completely outside of survival scenarios, I use this as my core diet and it's very cheap and healthy. I usually have cream of wheat, chai pudding, and Pho everyday. I like cheese and prunes. That is another thing, cheese and prunes should always be in your pack. Just a bite or two of cheese and two or three points per day make a major nutritional difference.

When I travel I have this with me and it prevents so many stomach upsets from sketchy street food and overspending at restaurants.

I am a total foodie. I am a gourmet chef capable of cooking almost every cuisine on the planet. I am a fine dining junkie. I used to blow insane amounts of money on eating out, and also with doing elaborate cooking at home. I have watched some of my fine dining friends go into debt for their restaurant visits.

A long time ago I was trying to wean myself off of binging on chocolate. I decided that I would only buy and consume very high quality chocolate, and I could only find / afford that occasionally. I found that I began to hate the taste of cheap chocolate, and that waiting for the good chocolate made it taste even better.

Now I take myself out to a fine dining restaurant on Sundays. Otherwise I eat my core meals at home. I find that I appreciate the fine dining so much more now!!!

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Oldebookworm@reddit

How much powdered milk do you use?

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Ok-Scar7729@reddit

Probably too much, I love the stuff! Throughout my diet maybe 3 to 5 tablespoons a day.

I'm in Central America now and I love how easy it is to buy high quality whole milk powder in bulk at almost any grocery store. When I was in the states I had to special order it and have it shipped to me.

For the chia pudding, one tablespoon of milk, and honestly it's good even without the milk especially if you have really good dark chocolate in there. Same with the cream of wheat, usually one tablespoon in there. Chai tea gets one tablespoon powdered milk per 1 l batch, and sometimes I drink 2 l of that a day. It's particularly important with the chai tea because I have turmeric and pepper in there. You don't get the benefits of turmeric without pepper and milk.

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Oldebookworm@reddit

Yeah, whole powdered milk is hard to find, but I did see a can of Nido at the grocery store. Kind of pricey, so I haven’t picked it up yet.

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unexpectedgentleman@reddit

Hey. I saw you tried multiple brands. I currently have the chef's banquet bucket. Which I have been wondering how it tastes. Did you had a chance to try that brand? Can you share your experience?

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Tacticalsandwich7@reddit

You are conflating not eating a few days a week for a month with starving. You were certainly not starving because if you were you would absolutely eat that food.

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Oldebookworm@reddit

Yep. When you’re that hungry, you’ll eat things you’ve hated all your life. Been there.

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Tacticalsandwich7@reddit

There is a huge difference in mindset between actually starving and voluntarily eating a restricted diet for a set period of time where you know that not only at the end you will go back to eating normally and that at anytime you could stop and go back eating normally. If you know there is a meal tomorrow, it’s not that hard to skip eating something you don’t like very much. While if you legitimately don’t know when you will eat next you will eat a lot of things you don’t think you would.

I always told my wife when she asked how someone decided to eat such and such, “It probably started with a guy saying if I don’t eat something I’m going to die, so I’m going to try eating this disgusting, weird, or difficult thing.”

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Safe-Promotion-2955@reddit

As someone who ate that shit as an air cadet, yeah I have no idea why people spring for that shit. Just buy extra of whatever normal food you have. It'll be actually edible and way cheaper. You're way more likely to need your preps for job loss, storms, or injury than you are to need dehydrated Christ knows what that can survive a nuke.

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sttmvp@reddit

I use survival food as a supplement to my other food supplies and when I just don't feel like cooking a meal.. I have lived off them for almost a year after a hurricane and they were fine if it was truly an emergency situation, I'll eat whatever I have..

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Psychological_Fun172@reddit

If you think that's bad, try salt pork or pemmican. "Survival food," has probably never tasted good, it's always better to eat real food if you have it.

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RoseNDNRabbit@reddit

If pelican is prepared correctly, it is good. Only a small handful, before being dehydrated or eaten raw, is enough calories for a single day of being super active. How much did you eat??

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znirmik@reddit

I actually enjoy salt pork and don't mind stockfish. The only downside is the time to prep it for cooking.

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halcyonforeveragain@reddit

I loved pemmican. Everyone else thought I was crazy.

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iamliberty@reddit (OP)

I like it, too!

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Mule_Wagon_777@reddit

Hard tack and boiled peas, with water two years in the cask! Yo ho!

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LNSU78@reddit

I just buy cans of food and eat them before expiring

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choppcy088@reddit

I only stocked a couple weeks of Army MREs BUT after Katrina we were eating them quite a bit and I'm ok with most of them once you add some salt/spice. I especially love the cheese, crackers and milk shakes

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Beertruck85@reddit

Mountainhouse are delicious and taste great to me, maybe because I ate so many MREs but thats what I stockpile.

I was in combat for the first time running a 102 degree fever and unable to breathe through my nose. It also happened to be the summer in the Middle East, my point is I have shelf stable long life survival food that taste good because things rarely go the way you plan them and if im down for any reason I still want to be able to feed the people I love.

You're correct about being hungry and still not eating, historians reported that during the great depression communities routinely did not eat the bad cuts of meat they had available to them. At the same time if you dropped a 40 year old MRE in Dachau in 1944...no one would have complained.

There's really really hungry and then theres starving and those are 2 very different things.

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JRHLowdown3@reddit

Egg Zach Lee.... +1

I just did a 36 hour fast on Thur thru Sat morning, took in some apple juice as the only real calories during that time. As I've stated before during times I've cut weight for fights and competitions, your brain is the first thing to go. Decision making slows. Rote things you have done, have practiced and done regularly are still possible (Reason 342 why you should train regularly, so the important things are rote) aren't a problem, more complex thinking ahead can be. By the end of it I wasn't really thinking about having a huge meal, but Saturday night I made some rice, veggies from the garden and fish- because I knew I was training Sunday and knew I needed to sharpen the brain back up. The thought of "OMG I expect cooking show food" never entered my mind... 28 year old rice with some fresh snowpeas and carrots from the garden and some fish was just fine.

This "every meal should be a party in my mouth" aka cooking "reality" show BS really has no place in survival. Is it nice to have a "nice" meal every so often, sure. But is it a pre-req to living? Hell no. We eat to live, versus most Amerikants idea of "live to eat" mantra.

Also, huge variance in different types of "survival foods". MREs for example have gotten a helluva lot better over the 40 years I've been preparing.

And for all the new folks RE:- the "store what you eat" thing. This was NEVER designed to mean store Happy Meals, pizza and beer... What it what meant to mean was "eat the food you are storing and stay USED to it." I.e, staples. It was never meant to mean- "oh your eating shit foods every day, try to find a way to store CrapDonalds burgers and fries, beer and soda.."

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Ok-Scar7729@reddit

I love this reply so much and it really ties into my own reply on this thread.

You brought up fasting, which I think is crucial to survivalism. If you have never practiced the art of starving, you're not going to deal with it well when you experience it for the first time under SHTF conditions.

I try to do one 24 hour fast per week. I don't have a set day, I'm the type of person who normally plans out my weeks on Sunday or Monday and I will figure out where it fits best at that time.

I also like to do a one week fast four times a year. Not only is it fabulous for your health, it conditions your mind to deal with starvation scenarios.

And oh Lord the junk food...

In my own comment I mentioned that I am a gourmet chef and a fine dining aficionado. I totally agree with your sentiment that every meal is not supposed to be a party in your mouth! I intentionally limit myself to one fancy meal per week, this keeps me healthy and also allows me to really enjoy that one fancy meal. It's also kind to my wallet.

However, never in a million years would I consider eating the junk that the average American shoves into their face. You're not going to go from a daily McDonald's habit to any kind of survival scenario and do well. Your health is the most important survival tool that you have. If you are destroying your health daily by eating junk food, there's really no point in prepping. You've already chosen passive suicide.

Eat healthy and simply daily. That IS the prep.

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JRHLowdown3@reddit

Very well said, +1

Next time I'm going to shoot for 48 hours for a fast. "Passive suicide"- I love that, will likely steal it :)

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MajorTom1983@reddit

You freeze dry your own food and meats? What is the Ration or Ruin Challenge? Would love to get more info how its being done. Also, I tested a lot of survival food, ended up finding 2 brands that were real good quality and have them only as a stopgap for us for 2-3 weeks. But other strategies after. Also went to the Mormon place near us where they have food storage as a practice where they fll entire under bed with supplies and it goes with them when say a kid moves out, anyways point being is there is a distributon center near us that get lots of other supplements ike canned milk and potatoes and other staples that I feel work better canned (big cans).

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Oldebookworm@reddit

How much powdered milk do you use?

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SpeciousSophist@reddit

i’ve bought numerous products that are basically pre-mixed different combinations of beans and spice powders or pastas and all of this kind of cobble together to the “” premade meals that last a really long time"

My dad has eaten them and he says they taste totally fine, it’s certainly not on par with my cooking which I take a lot of pride in, but they are totally passable

I certainly would never spend a dollar on something like an MRE however except for maybe like one or two of them to leave in a get home bag, but those things are disgusting, expensive, and frankly don’t align with my prep strategy

I don’t mind something taking 20+ minutes to simmer in water because all of my prepping focuses on being able to comfortably, stealthy, survive a long-term supply chain disruption... There’s absolutely zero use case for an MRE in that scenario or anything along those lines.

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Jolopy4099@reddit

I view it as an addition to the food I have stored but that I can guarantee will be good for a long time. I like the security of having something I know should last 25 yrs and just needs hot water added. Where I am an old metal pot and some branches broken up is all I need to boil water.

Should you store the food you like, sure. Should you store food that lasts 25 yrs, I would. No one should be relying on 1 type of anything for preps, which is why I think having a few months is smart in case a shelf falls down and shatters containers of your food prep. It's just another layer of food prep in case something happens.

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violetstrainj@reddit

I totally agree. I don’t buy MRE’s (when I was a kid my dad would bring them home from fighting wildfires, and we’d eat them because didn’t have much else, but they tasted terrible).

What I do instead: I watch MRE review videos, especially the international ones. I’ll make a note of what’s popular in the packs, what seems to taste good, and what would be the most balanced with nutrition and energy. Then I look up the versions of those foods that I can find at the grocery store or order online. I also watch backpacker videos (The Hungry Hiker, Miranda Goes Outside, Darwin On The Trail, etc.) and take note of what kinds of foods they put into their packs, and I try those out as well. This system has worked pretty well for me so far, as I’ve been able to try some really tasty shelf-stable foods that I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.

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Eredani@reddit

What is your definition of survival food?

MREs are only a small part of my emergency food storage.

As for freezer dried food, I only stock Augason Farms, Mountain House and Peak Refuel. And most of that is just ingredients, not meals.

I have freezer dried my own meals, mostly soups and stews.

My advice to anyone is get the 30-day buckets only if you can afford, it makes you feel better, and its not your only or even primary food option. Oh, and avoid anything with the words Patriot or Ready in the name.

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Miss_L_Worldwide@reddit

I agree with you. If you dehydrate your own meals you might have better luck though.

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Pax1980@reddit

It's great to see you taking such a hands-on approach to your preparedness training! Your experience highlights a crucial point—when it comes to food storage, taste and palatability matter just as much as shelf life. It's one thing to have a stockpile, but if you're not excited to eat it, what's the point?

I’ve found that making meals from whole foods or even learning basic preservation techniques can really enhance your options during a crisis. There's something empowering about knowing how to cook with what you have or relying on your own foraging skills. Plus, experimenting with simple recipes can also strengthen your skills in a fun way!

As for emergency food, I think you're right to assess its value critically. I've tinkered with apps that help turn smartphones into handy offline survival tools—think maps and plants identification—that can complement traditional food sources quite well. It’s about blending tech with practicality these days.

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There_Are_No_Gods@reddit

This comment was clearly written by AI. Is this fully a bot, or just a person going a bit too far with using AI here?

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Pax1980@reddit

English is not my prime language, so I use some assist from Gpt to express my thoughts - still mine

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Something_Clever919@reddit

Can you please share your experience with apps?

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Pax1980@reddit

Yes. Please look at our app-blackout-project over at www.preppi.eu

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Any_Needleworker_273@reddit

I'm seconding this 100%. While we do store some 10# long-term storage cans, they're ingredients I know how to work with that provide value add when fresh isn't available. I've built a pantry of food stuff we use that we rotate through, along with our garden and egg flock, which would likely sustain us for a year comfortably. Longer with a very lean approach.

However, the reality is that our pantry serves us as a general buffer, and nearby grocery store (our closest is 20 miles away) well during seasons when we're busy with other projects and takes the mental load off our supplies. So we tend to stock up/rebuild the pantry in spring and fall so we are good for the winter months (storms, outages, unsafe driving conditions) and then for the summer when we're spending our time on the garden, outside projects and just enjoying life.

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roberttheiii@reddit

I have a few MREs and dehydrated meals. If for some reason I have to leave home but have a bit of time to get ready, these could be convenient. The dehydrated food also has an insane shelf life. Otherwise yeah it’s just deep pantry / canned foods. Could we eat like kings for a year? No. Would we starve to death in less than a year with what’s in the house? Probably not.

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GLORA-ORB@reddit

Keep some easy stuff for when you’re injured or sick is my only addition here. I feel you and I think your approach is smart, AND I think having back ups for genuine emergencies is best.

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QuokkaMom@reddit

I spent some time in the Army and will never again throw a lip over an MRE or anything resembling one. Anything I can get in a survival meal pack, I can get in a can and of far better quality. That said, I do have some emergency calorie bars for my go bag. Those actually don't taste too bad and are strictly for the starving times.

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joelnicity@reddit

Maybe I’m just not as sophisticated as most of you. I have never had a Mountain House meal and thought “I don’t want to eat that again.” That’s not always true for every freeze dried brand, but definitely Mountain House

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znirmik@reddit

People are quite different on how they perceive food. I have friends who will rather go hungry than eat a steak that's slightly oversalted. I will eat plain moldy bread with no issue, as long as the taste of mold is not too overpowering (as in pick out the obvious mold spots and eat the rest. Pure mold tastes nasty). And that's normal life, not starvation.

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The_Latverian@reddit

No, I'm with you. I think Mountain House is reliably delicious 😋

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nak00010101@reddit

Its all a matter of perspective. I'm not laying in supplies to enjoy gourmet meals while I watch Rome burn. If I'm eating that stuff, like already sucks.

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rcbenni@reddit

agree, but i honestly like the convar energy bars. 😅 but my wife hates them

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DeflatedDirigible@reddit

Ever consider that your problem is psychological based? You mention sponsors and hosts and costing you money due to loosing sponsors.

You weren’t starving. You weren’t actually being challenged. Doing something for YouTube is nothing like a real-world challenge.

When surviving, your brain can turn to gratitude for food. Being hungry after one meal is different than the constant pain that never lets you comfortably sleep. The emotions of performing for an audience are different than the trauma of a real world survival situation where you’re grateful to be one of the survivors and know that many you care about are dead or missing.

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No_Staff594@reddit

Look into the recent warnings about military MREs and their health concerns as well…

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JRHLowdown3@reddit

Would be helpful if you mentioned what specific brands you are referring to, quite a bit of variance in "survival food" (vague AF), especially with all the new johnny come lately companies entering the market in the last 10-15 years... Many of which have come and gone, or are no longer relevant.

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IndependentNinja1465@reddit

Jerusalem artichoke, egyptian walking onion, lovage, rabbits.. stew forever no storage needed

My limiting factory is carrots.. perrenial carrots

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SheistyPenguin@reddit

We keep an assortment of freeze-dry for emergency purposes: mainly Mountain House cans/pouches, and a few staple ingredients like cubed chicken from Augason Farms. I've eaten Mountain House on weekend camping trips, and it's decent for what it is.

For us, freeze dry is intended for a very specific prepping scenario: a large weather event that ruins our pantry and prevents us from restocking at the same time. Think a natural disaster that floods the house and closes down grocery stores for a week.

Alternatively, scenarios where we want to stash some food in "set-and-forget" fashion- like in a car trunk, a boat storage compartment, or a cabin in the woods.

To your point, I would not use it as a full meal replacement if I could help it. I'm also leery of the "survival food" stuff marketed specifically to preppers. It's too niche of a market, and for a "set-and-forget" food the quality can be garbage and still fly under the radar (how many people actually open those $200 survival buckets and test the food?) I'd rather get something from Mountain House, which has 30+ years of vetting from backpackers and people who eat the stuff while camping.

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More_Dependent742@reddit

I've gotta say, despite how much we Brits love to bitch about MoD supplies and equipment, British Army rat-packs always impressed me as a cadet. This would have been late 90s early 2000s. Boil-in-the-bag is great, but of course a bit on the heavy side because it already contains the moisture. Still, 24 hour block of everything you need (bar water), neatly tetris-ed into a durable cardboard cube (with targets printed on it for... reasons).

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The_Latverian@reddit

Yeah, Canadian army rats of my youth were, dare I say, good 🙂

Boil-in-foil entree, a pack of freeze dried strawberries or peaches, and a big chocolate bar.

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AnaisRim@reddit

I can't think of a better time than now to build a stockpile of dried beans, rice, pasta, canned veggies, and potable water. I'm even canning my own stuff with a pressure cooker and will be buying off farms this summer and autumn. Because Trump is going to fuck everything up and food will be scarce.

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AlphaDisconnect@reddit

You can go a week without eating. Weak sauce. Now try crying kids and mothers who can no longer breastfeed. Guarantee there is someone in Africa who would take this over literally eating dirt to feel food.

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WhereDidAllTheSnowGo@reddit

Agree

Avoid those pre-made, easy, ‘suicide buckets’. https://www.reddit.com/r/prepping/s/YNHVNVsm3l. And https://foodassets.com/info/why-we-do-not-recommend-survival-food-buckets-totes.html . In contrast are the well-reviewed backpacker, freeze-dried meal kits (which are expensive). Lesson, test yer preps.

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SJSquishmeister@reddit

Mountain house is good for augmenting staples. The eggs are an easy example and we actually eat them all the time.

Some Augsson powdered eggs.

Couple real eggs.

1/4 - 1/2 cup of mountain house egg mix.

The bell pepper, mushroom, etc.

It's pretty good while taking the edge off the sodium intake.

The idea is to use mountain house / augason sparingly to help flavor staples. .

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BelleMakaiHawaii@reddit

I don’t buy dehydrated foods unless it’s fruit powders for hot chocolate/smoothies, and at no point in history am I buying MREs… nasty things

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The_Latverian@reddit

Im done with MRE's...wildly expensive and so-so. But I actually enjoy most of Mountain House's stuff. Pricey, but the handful.ive experimentally eaten gage been pretty radty and satisfying.

And man, they are light, so I have about 20 around for the unlikely event that we have to hike out of a catastrophe.

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Ok_Cartographer516@reddit

honestly I like the way it taste even MREs, the MREs are better hot but I can eat them cold and enjoy them

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Ok-Handle-6663@reddit

Pot noodle and tinned curry and mackeral/sardines here.

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acadburn2@reddit

There is no 1 fix.... a MRE is good frome time to time.... heck, spaghetti is greater once a week... I'd hate life if I ate any food all the time!

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Wise-Mango-1486@reddit

You heat up your MREs???

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dittybopper_05H@reddit

Anyone else changing their minds on these freeze dried survival meals?

No. Because I never did think they were any good.

Canned food is much better than freeze dried food from a "survival" standpoint. To reconstitute a pouch of freeze dried spaghetti, you need clean water at a minimum, and you need to heat it to make it relatively appetizing, and it's going to cost you about $12.50 from Mountain House.

Meanwhile a can of Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs is going to cost you about $1.50 (or $1 on sale) and you can eat it right out of the can if you need to without adding any precious water.

BTW you can't get around that requirement for extra water by saying "I'll just eat it dry!". Your body is going to need the extra water to digest it one way or the other.

Freeze dried foods have their place for things where weight is at a premium and where there is a relatively guaranteed supply of reasonably quality water.

There are definitely use cases for them: If you're hiking the Appalachian trail, perfect. Even for short hikes, they keep pack weight down. If you're on a long range patrol on foot for a military organization. Again, freeze dried is the way to go.

If you're building up a supply of food for use at home, or to take with you in a bug-out vehicle, canned goods are the way to go.

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TheCarcissist@reddit

Make your own.... ok, yes, I absolutely know that freeze dryers are expensive, but if you are really serious about storing food, I do believe the cost averages out relatively quickly and the meals are great. I dont hesitate to eat them now.

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SunLillyFairy@reddit

I also store simple foods... grains, beans/legumes, canned meats, powdered milk/butter/peanut butter. They cost a lot less and are generally better for you.

Just FYI- I make my own BOB meal bags; I package them in Mylar bags that made for adding hot water to/eating from. They are from simple oats, chia, powdered milk, sweetener and dried fruit. It's nutritious, including protein and fats from the chia, inexpensive, and I think they are tasty.

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Broski777@reddit

Same here!

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melonball6@reddit

My husband opened my eyes on this one when I was making our hurricane food prep list and said I should get survival food and he said. No way. Get delish stuff we normally eat every day. And after hurricane season we just eat it and repeat for next year. He put stuff on the list like Bloody Mary mix and canned dolmades (Greek stuffed grape leaves). His preps are the best.

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innieandoutie@reddit

Sounds like a FL native

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Seversevens@reddit

I never wanted to get them. To me, a tub of oatmeal, rice and beans goes farther for the money

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silasmoeckel@reddit

Save the freeze dried for movement that's when the weight is important.

Mix your own from components rather than get premade.

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MNConcerto@reddit

How about freeze dried ingredients like single food types.

Cans of freeze dried strawberries, onions, peppers etc.

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SPR95634@reddit

I have about 2 weeks worth of survival food. I have been looking at what to buy as after COVID many have changed recipes and ingredients and aren’t as good. I’m glad I put it off as I am also changing my mind on efficiency of keeping stock of so much food. If you have to bug out it’s hard to take with you. I’m now focusing on skills rather than items. If we have to go your skills are already with you. Gardening and butchering is what I’m currently working on.

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CharIieMurphy@reddit

It's probably not nearly the same shelf life but I feel like a way better route would be to start jarring and preserving things. Food will taste way better, can do things you specifically like, and does seem like it would be a good basic skill to have

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Many-Health-1673@reddit

I keep a few meals on hand, but for long term scenarios they do not make sense unless you have a budget like the DoD and have a lot of storage space

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FunNectarine6906@reddit

Survival food is beans, rice, lentils, flour, canned food, etc Everything else is just luxuries for backpacking.

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IronAntlers@reddit

I agree that did you enjoy should be your primary plan. But there is almost no downside to storing these items when they have such a long shelf life. You not finishing your food when on your excursion is purely because you were not faced with true starvation, lol. In my plan they are meant to be used when backpacking or as an absolute last resort, but their shelf life and portability is too good to throw them out as a part of a food system entirely.

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unicornofdemocracy@reddit

I've never found MRE particularly helpful or the larger packet stuff that are similar to MREs. I do help some use for freeze dried food though especially if you are moving and not coming back to a fixed location.

If you are staying, you have so many better options to store food. 100%. If you are on the move, freeze dried food (Mountain House type stuff) are so much lighter and easier to pack than a bulky pack of MRE. I buy larger containers and repack when I go on backpacking trips, etc.

The taste is about the same, variety in MREs are slight likely better, but if you are on the move, its more about nutrient and space and those MRE packest are just too big to justify carrying them.

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EastTyne1191@reddit

I have a bucket full of survival foods, but I treat it more like the fast food of prepping. It requires no heat and just a bit of water, so in a pinch it's something to fill a belly.

But the reality is that I'd rather eat real food and so would my kids. I'm stocking up on the basics because I can make just about anything with it. Also adding all our comfort foods because when you're living off of lentils, canned vegetables, and biscuits every once in a while having a box of cake would be nice.

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bobsmith14y@reddit

Morale is an important part of survival. If you have a choice, prep the foods you will most likely enjoy. MREs and other manufacturered meals are good emergency meals during a real emergency, but it's not a long term prep. I have prepped a variety of beans, rice, wheat, sugar, spices, etc. to have a base of ingredients to make what my family would like to eat. However, i will keep a number of prepackaged meals around just in case.

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bugabooandtwo@reddit

Speaking of morale...bags of individually wrapped hard candy is like a bag of gold. They last a long time, and each candy takes a while to melt down in your mouth, so one treat goes a long way. And a bag or two takes up next to no space in the pantry. Just a little thing that can go a long way in a bad situation.

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bugabooandtwo@reddit

MREs are supposed to be a last resort before starvation, not the go to food prep if something happens.

I find it's best to simply have a deep pantry of my normal rotation of foods, and a good backup power supply.

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Yarblek@reddit

Lol when I was in the army we said MRE stood for meal ready to excrete

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wwglen@reddit

I think the newer MEEs are actually pretty good. I have a few cases I keep to supplement my other food.

I also tend to eat one a week for lunch, this way I can keep them rotated.