Mountain House brand emergency food buckets

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momopi

momopi

Well-known member
I went to Amazon.com to order some Mountain House brand emergency food buckets today.  These buckets contain a dozen pouches of freeze dried foods, and has to tested at 31 years (!) to be edible:http://topfoodstoragereviews.com/30-year-shelf-life-with-mountain-house-pouches

However, please keep in mind that their facility is in Oregon, thus the shelf life is much longer at colder temperatures.  For Southern California, we should assume 10 years shelf life for the pouches.

Anyways, the buckets sell for $70-$80 retail at Sports Chalet.  On Amazon.com they offer $20 off on orders of $100 or more on this product, plus free shipping.  I was able to qualify for the discount with orders of 2 buckets per order.  For those who are familiar with ordering on Amazon.com, play with your order by adding/removing items and breaking your orders down to multiple orders to maximize the discounts.  I was able to get the bucket price down to approx. $46 each.  These make great gifts to friends and family.

You should assume that each bucket is good for 1 person for 2 weeks or 2 persons for 1 week in emergencies.  Remember that the human body can survive without food for weeks, but you'd die without water in days.  So don't forget to store emergency water (1 gallon per person per day) and water purification tablets & filters.  I'd recommend at minimum, 2 weeks of emergency food and water for your household.

Be aware that if you purchase this kind of stuff in bulk online or retail, you may be tagged by law enforcement:http://info.publicintelligence.net/FBI-SuspiciousActivity/Military_Surplus.pdf

For a while the price of freeze dried foods was up due to FEMA's billion dollar order.  I guess the supply situation has improved since and they're now offering Christmas discounts.
 
If the zombie apocalypse were to occur, I think I would rather be dead than trying to survive and live in that kind of environment.
 
mre-shelf-life-chart.jpg


For Los Angeles area, I'd rate MRE shelf life at 3 to 3.5 years.  If you're buying food for long-term storage, it's not a great choice.

The LDS Church encourages their members to store food for emergencies, you can read some information on their web site:http://www.lds.org/topics/food-storage

Their online store actually has the best prices I've seen for #10 can grains.  However as non-LDS member, I don't really want to take advantage of their subsidized prices.  My preference for #10 cans is Mountain House, which offers a wide variety of choices.  They did a taste test on 31 year old Mountain House pouches with the following results:

taste.gif


Info: http://survivalacres.com/mountainhouse/shelf_life.pdf

Keep in mind that they're in Oregon, so the shelf life will be longer at colder temperatures.  But from the charts we can deduce that beef stew and chicken rice/noodle will have the best shelf life.


 
Tyler Durden said:
i see your point... but shouldn't you try to "refresh" your stockpile every so often?
That way, you would not only be able to find any rancid or defective items, you would know how to prepare it.
Click to expand...

If you're storing grains and canned goods, then yes, rotating your stock is a good idea.  I do home canning for fruits and they only last a year or so.

But if you're looking to buy stuff that'd last for 30 years, then Mountain House #10 can products is a good choice (IMO).  You buy it once and don't have to worry about it again.

If you store water for emergencies, they need to be rotated & refilled as well.  There are water preservers & treatments that is supposed to make stored water good for 5 years, but I'd rather just empty the water bottle every year and refill it.


 
Costco has a ton of emergency food.  I remember when I first saw them not so long ago, I was surprised that they even carried them.  I guess emergency food is mainstream now and not just for "survivalist" types.

 
For those who may want to spend less and get more, try these:

http://beprepared.com/4-person-72-hr-food-bucket.html  ($124.99 for 140 servings in individual packages to reduce waste/spoilege)

http://beprepared.com/4-person-72-hour-food-supply.html  ($78.95 for same, but less variety and inferior selection)

http://beprepared.com/1-month-bucket-combo-3-buckets.html  (combo buckets)



My preferance is for #10 cans with 20-30+ year shelf life.  But the buckets do have their place, being cheaper and easier to carry.
 
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