I have for some time trying different brands of freeze dried and long term storage food.
We like to camp and we have been in situation where we have been stranded for up to a week in our home without power. That week stranded was in the Seattle area just a few years ago when wind knocked out our power and took down many lines. I worked in the ER at the time and we were on emergency generators for about 4 days at the Hospital. That was just a wind storm and an extreme cold snap. I recall talking to the co workers wondering just how bad it would have been if was an earthquake and not just a wind storm......ANYWAYS.......
I like to have a variety of stored food because every situation is different and I want to be able to adapt as needed. So over the years we have purchased small amounts of emergency ration foods. I try everything because there is no point of buying something no one will eat. We have purchased some absolutely awful food. Our dog even refused to eat it. How can someone screw up pancakes when you only need to add water? but alas it has happened.
We have found a good freeze dried product that we like. I have been slowly stocking up on it. Even jr has asked for seconds and wants to know if we can have it again for dinner. I am not sure if any of you have tried Mountain House Freeze dried foods. You can get them at Cabela's and REI. I get them at Amazon.
DO NOT waste your money on "Food For Health™" We got the 275 serving size bucket at Costco. It was awful.
So anyone else have any good tips? or warnings?
Mountain House seems to be about the best of it's kind, IMO. It's still not something I'd want to eat every day unless it was an emergency thing. We've found that the FD veggies are pretty good too. In our experience one must watch the altitude. They need longer time at high elevations. I guess as the water doesn't get quite as hot when it boils. That's my theory at least.
We also stock dry foods like pastas, rice, bread mixes, dried eggs.
MH also available online at Emergency Essentials (http://beprepared.com/Default.asp?bhcd2=1292622170) online, plus other stuff
I make my own noodles...cook them, dehydrate, then keep different seasonings around to make meals. Powdered chicken and beef broth, yellow curry, Thai seasoning, etc. Works good for back packing meals too.
Watch out for MSG, and lots of soy in freeze dried foods. Also the M.R.E.'s if eaten for several days can cause severe constipation. Watch your intake of these or use a laxative.
One of our recent guests remarked that we have 5 months food in our upstairs freezer.
We also have 30 0r 40 cases of 30 year food through our Mormon friends. I think we are good as we also have at least something in our garden year around ... and cattails down at the spring.
We have lots of grains and rice - dried refried beans - lots of dried beans which usually affect me rather badly... :-\
Oh Goody. Dried and refried. It doesn't get any better than that. (http://countryplans.com/smf/Smileys/default/yummy.gif)
Yup ... they get them from the same place as Taco Bell as we found the Taco Bell stickers in one of the boxes.... then - a couple cases of Potato Pearls.. instant good mashed potatoes. Unless you don't put enough water in them and then you drink a glass of water... you swell up like a seagull eating Alka-seltzer. I nearly killed Whitlock with them one time when we were mining.
On a good note, my son has been just scratching by with the kids and new (older) house to maintain, and we were able to send them home with a good Care package from some of the excess we put away in stored goods for hard times ... or teotwawki ... whichever comes first. :)
It's amazing the things you can dehydrate yourself. Re-fried beans, pasta sauce, even ground hamburger will last a long time if vacuumed packed.