Desertthorn said:
I was watching a video about food prep from survivalist folks who store food and they linked a company that sells like MREs but much cheaper. The meals were like chili mac and chicken and rice, and for 50 servings it was less than $80. They didn't require refrigeration as it was all freeze dried food and I immediately though it would be good for nomads. Has any one ever used them and like them.
Ohhhhhh, I'd say "don't get me started", but it's too late!
The following is
not a criticism of the folks who brought this up, merely my attempt to share what I know from personal experience...
First, in general, anything involving "preppers", or "survivalists" is a
marketing machine, with
little, if anything, of quality.
There's an entire sub-genre of spam (the non-edible electronic variety) that targets well meaning folks by trying to
push the Fear Button.
That website in the original post is packed with crud sensationalist ads, which is the first sign of low quality.
Many of their claims are just downright wrong (even the comments point this out).
At a glance, it seems ok, but there are thousands of sites like that, which just regurgitate the same-old-same-old, including the false info, then monetize it.
Desertthorn:
In general "MRE" only refers to meals that do
not require cooking in order to consume.
Most of those survivalist "kits" are very poor quality, require significant cooking (even if it's simple just-add-water, they typically require much longer cook times than freeze dried or partially precooked foods), are high in sodium, low in nutrients, and vastly overstate the number of "servings".
When the "survival food buckets" first came out, they were marketed as a one month supply with a 20~ year life for about a hundred bucks.
Understandably, there was considerable excitement on prepper boards, then a few people actually bought them & did the math.
I speak from direct experience.
I waited until they went on sale, then bought one and
actually ate enough of the items to do an honest review (elsewhere).
Disclaimer: I did
repurpose the bucket, and it makes a dang comfy "kitchen" chair in my van.
You can do a much better (cheaper + higher quality) job by just cherry picking components.
I do not see the point in paying a
premium for very long life items.
What excites me is food items that have at least a 2-6 year storage life, and which don't require excessive fuel to cook.
If they have a longer life, that's fine, but I won't pay a premium for it. I'd rather rotate my stock.
Instead of buying "chicken & rice", which typically is regular rice with little if any chicken (more likely it's TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein)), you can buy real canned chicken and precooked/parboiled/etc rice for much less.
You won't get the "20 year" shelf life, but you'll get a pretty decent life for less money and higher quality.
One very kewl source of long life foods is the Mormons:
https://providentliving.lds.org/food-storage/home-storage-center-locations-map?lang=eng
Those prices are typically for
six (yes 6) #10 cans. Some of their links are funky.
You don't have to order online.
Many of their storage centers allow Muggles (i.e. we non-Mormons) to visit and buy:
https://providentliving.lds.org/self-reliance/food-storage/home-storage-center-locations?lang=eng
They're all over the West.
I plan to visit one on my way South come winter.
P.S. To end on a lighter & Geeky note...
Qxxx said:
I know beer is edible
...
Surely HDR consumes more than beer.
*cough* Mudder's Milk *cough*
(hey, somebody had to say it! that's yet another Firefly reference)
