Survival Food - Freeze Dried & MRE

There is a need and great value of having a food reserve for tough economic times. The chances of a depression have increased greatly since I wrote about it on September 15th, and many will experience hardships for sure.

Some are stating that if there is a depression it will not be as severe as the “Great depression” that occurred last century. Of course the same people were saying just a few weeks ago the worst of the bank troubles were behind us.

So is there need for a food reserve? What type of food reserve is the best value?

First, the need for a food reserve is greater now than in the past. At the worst part of the great depression unemployment reached a high of 25%. Anyone who read John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” will have a feel for what it was like for people in rural areas trying to survive.

However there is a big difference between now and then.  Then much of the population was rural and able to revert to a sustenance economy to get food to just barely survive the crisis. Now most of our population is urban. Most people will be totally dependent on food supplied in markets. Adding to this is the fact many foods are imported. Further, even non-perishable food is managed with tightly controlled “just in time” inventory to maximize profits. In a global crisis food imports are likely to dwindle as nations focus on self preservation. Food stock-outs will be more common. There may difficulty in getting food and prices will rise.

What food reserve is the best value?

For the same reasons that I strongly recommend freeze dried food for disasters, it is also the best value for hard economic times. It is easy to store, only needs water, no preparation or cooking required, and has long storage of up to 25 years. It can provide food insurance protection for a long time.

It is also better from a community perspective because when you buy freeze dried food you are actually increasing the future food supply for all by utilizing food available now before there is a shortage.

By having a food reserve to draw from in hard times with food shortages,  you will be able to leave food on the store shelf for those who do not have a food reserve.

A lesson from “The Grapes of Wrath” is that we all do better as a community helping each other.

Having a food reserve will enable you to make a contribution when the time comes, either by leaving food for others at the supermarket and also by sharing the reserves you have with those most in need.

An important final note is that freeze dried food while readily available now, has earlier this year experienced long lead times of 6-8 weeks, during heightened concern about high oil prices and related food price increases.

One further update on Mountain House #10 Cans availability, I called The ReadyStore customer service and they confirmed they too have regular supply.

The lead time listed on their website is 3-6 weeks.

The customer service representative from The ReadyStore said shipments of individual Mountain House #10 cans, cases of 6 #10 cans, and the freeze dried food reserve packages were all shipping in that range and will continue to be available.

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Latest from Nitro-pak on #10 cans of freeze dried food;

**PRICES GOING UP August 1, 2008: Mountain House has announced that prices will be going up on August 1, 2008. In order for our customers to “lock-in” todays lower food prices, we will honor the current lower prices on all orders received before this date. ORDER NOW!

Barack Obama recently commented on the “global food crisis”. Here is an excerpt from transcript of a June 10th, 2008 Q&A session;

I think that we’ve got to stockpile food reserves at a global level more effectively than we have in the past. Those stockpiles have shrunk considerably. And finally, we’re going to have to deal with increasing energy costs, which are having an impact on overall food production and cost. So this is going to be long challenge, and is something that an Obama administration is going to monitor closely and take aggressive action.

(See full transcript from Lynn Sweet Chicago Sun Times -Obama June 10, 2008 availability. Transcript)

His reference to “more effectively” stockpiling food essentially means having food produced and stored regionally to avoid excessive freight costs moving food in emergency situations from one geography to another.

Having food stockpiles in the countries most likely to have a crisis could also have the added benefit of stabilizing production and pricing, but don’t tell that to any “free market economics” zealots still clinging to their “jaded by reality” philosophy.

The cost of freight being excessive is especially true when food is air lifted half way across the globe from the US to wherever it is needed, now even more so with high fuel costs.

One way to offset the cost of airfreight is to store freeze dried food as a reserve for domestic emergency purposes for it’s long shelf properties. When a crisis occurs elsewhere in the world requiring food to be made available immediately, it will be much more economical to ship the light “water removed” freeze dried food since it is has 98% of the water, and thus the weight removed.

For air freight, weight is a much more significant factor in cost than it is for land or sea freight which is not likely to be used if the situation is urgent.

Water to hydrate the freeze dried food can be brought in locally at lower freight costs than the cost of food with water in it being shipped from a regional facility.

The superior shelf life of freeze dried food will also limit the loss and waste that occurs from the time food is pulled from storage through it’s distribution, till the time it is actually consumed by those who need it.

Just read on Nitro-Pak’s website that Mountain House freeze dried food prices will be going up July 1st. This is the statement on Nitro-Pak’s site;

**PRICES GOING UP JULY 1, 2008:Mountain House has announced that prices will be going up on JULY 1, 2008. In order for our customers to “lock-in” todays lower food prices, we will honor the current lower prices on all orders received before this date. ORDER NOW!”

The food shortages reported in the news have resulted in increased lead times and now the food price increases are starting to be seen on survival food’s such as Mountain House #10 cans of freeze dried food and pouches. There is no indication how much the prices will increase. As the note says orders placed now will honor the current prices. Since prices tend to go up fast but back down slowly I expect the higher prices on freeze dried food to last for some time unfortunately. Single mountain house #10 cans are orderable again on Nitro-pak’s site but based on this news I think most will be stocking up on bigger food reserve packages before the prices increase.

As mentioned in a previous post, Mountain House #10 cans are still available at Nitro-Pak and other online retailers but the lead times have increased to 3-7 weeks.

Today I noticed that the Mountain House #10 can individual entrees and 6 can cases had disappeared from Nitro-Pak’s website.

The mountain house freeze dried food reserves, year’s supply, variety packs, and group food reserve units were still there and on sale but with aforementioned 3-7 week lead times.

I called Nitro-pak and spoke with Lisa in customer service. I confirmed that they were still shipping food reserve packages listed above but they have temporarily stopped selling the individual #10 can entrees and cases to devote all allocated supply to their food reserve packages and 6 can cases.

Lisa said they hoped to resume those sales by June 15th. So there is no need to panic.

You can still buy Mountain House food reserves packages now at the 3-7 week lead time.

I noticed on the Mountain House website that most of their #10 cans are out of stock.

#10 cans are the best bulk freeze dried food for survival as they last up to 25 years.

Here is what Mountain House website said;

“We are sorry, due to increased sales, many of our #10 cans are currently out of stock .
Please look for our #10 cans to be available on one of our many on-line dealer websites.”

As mentioned in previous post Mountain House #10 cans are still available at Nitro Pak and other online retailers but the lead times have increased to 3-7 weeks.

Hopefully this is just temporary due to some panic buying and supply will be more easy to come by later. I also noticed freeze dried food price increase which are likely due to the same food price increases and food shortages reported widely in the news.

Where to get;

• Mountain House Freeze-Dried Food

• MRE’s

• 72-hour Survival Kits

• Free Shipping on orders over $100

Due to recent food price increases, orders for freeze dried food are taking longer to ship. Also some prices have increased.

It appears many people are ordering to avoid price increases since news of food prices rising started to appear.

Nitro Pak order lead times have increased to 3 - 7 weeks on some food reserve packages.

Good Advice for Some is a Recipe for Disaster for Others

Most of us want to take action to mitigate risk of trouble in life for us and our families. That is why most of us have home and car insurance, buy smoke detectors and gas alarms, and have periodic safety maintenance of our homes and cars.

Yet when it comes to disaster prepardeness only 7% are prepared. Why?

For most the perceived risk level is much lower than a house fire or other events that happen more frequently than a disaster so there is less desire and interest in taking action.

Another factor however is the perceived significant, huge, dedicated, effort involved to be “food prepared”. Where does this perception come from?

Do a Google search on survival food or food preparedness and you will find a lot of information from survivalists. Many of these survival sites provide good expert advice on survival and food preparedness.

However much of that survivalist advice is for those who are committed and dedicated to spending a huge amount of time and effort to be prepared.

Advice you often see at these survival websites is to buy in bulk at big box stores. That is buy the grains, flour, and other food products in large 50 lb bags. Then you need to spend a lot of time dividing it into food storage containers, labeling those containers by date, use dry ice to increase storage life, the effort goes on and on.

What you need to do next is spend a lot of time to cook and consume that bulk food every day on a regular basis and periodically “stock-up” to keep your “not so fresh” inventory from going bad. You need to monitor your labeled, bulk food “home warehouse” and maintain a FIFO (first in, first out) inventory system to make sure the food you use today is the oldest in your home warehouse. Does this sound appealing? Will your current lifestyle easily accommodate this continuous effort to be prepared?

What if there is a shortage when you need to re-stock on bulk grain? Timing is everything in this system and you could be spending a lot of effort to be prepared but end up unprepared because of bad timing.

Do you think you are prepared to do all of the above to be “prepared”? Even if you are motivated now at this time and ambitiously say “yes”, what is the chance you will give up this “preparedness is my life” dedication and send most of the 200 lbs of bulk rice you just bought to the garbage dump?

While I can admire the dedication that these people follow to be prepared, I know that most of us are not inclined to go to these extremes to be food prepared. Not everyone wants to nor obviously will they, make a such a drastic lifestyle change to support food preparedness.

Is the above survivalist system the only way to be food prepared for months or even a year?

Is there an easier way that is not extremely expensive?

How can a much greater number of Americans than 7%, really become food prepared and thus decrease the burden relief agencies need to support in a disaster?

The simple answer is freeze dried food. Buy it once, Mountain House #10 cans can last up to 25 years. Store it in a cool dry place, forget about it till you need it. You can mark ‘Expires in 2033′ on the boxes in case you never use it in the next 25 years.

Then you won’t be clearing out pallets of rice at the big box every 6 months like the survivalist’s recommend you do. You won’t be caught off guard when there is a shortage at the time you need to re-stock your 200 lbs of bulk grain.

Information on Survival Food Products;

• Mountain House Freeze-Dried Food

• MRE’s

• 72-hour Survival Kits

• Free Shipping on orders over $100

KT