Freeze Dried & MRE - Survival Food

If you have done a bunch of searches looking for survival food online distributors/retailers you will know there are quite a few specialty sites in this area. There are also quite a few blogs like this one and forums focused on preparedness or survivalism.

One way to gauge how significant and trustworthy these sites are and their relative online presence, is checking to see how popular they are. I am doing this for online stores first since that is mostly what visitors to this site are looking for. Compete.com provides a website analytics tool that helps gauge how much monthly traffic a site gets. This is a good measure of popularity.

Below is a graph of the Top 5 or what I call “first tier” survival food distributors. The monthly site visitors are listed in thousands (K).

The “first tier” top 5 Survival Food sites as of May 2008 updated each month automatically;

1. Emergency Essentials (beprepared.com)- Sells both commercial MRE & Freeze Dried, and dehydrated food mostly “À la carte”. Some mixed food reserves with a mix of long life freeze dried food and bulk foods.
2. Nitro-pak - Sells both commercial MRE & Freeze Dried Food, variety of bulk 3 month and one year freeze dried food reserve units,  wide variety of preparedness products (Note: We have an affiliate partner relationship with Nitro-pak).
3. The ReadyStore - Sells both commercial MRE & Freeze Dried Food, variety of bulk 3 month and one year freeze dried food reserve units. (Note: We have an affiliate partner relationship with The ReadyStore).
4. Long Life Food Depot - Sells mainly commercial MRE
5. The Epicenter -Sells both commercial MRE & Freeze Dried Food in pouches (recently stopped selling most #10 cans due to availability), camping gear.

The “second tier” top 5 Survival Food sites as of May 2008 updated each month automatically;

1. MRE Depot - Sells non-military surplus MRE, canned staples, freeze dried staples.
   
2. Survival Acres - Sells Freeze dried food and dehydrated food.
3. MRE Foods - Sells commercial MRE. Lowest delivered price for an MRE case I have found online.
4. Are You Prepared - Sells commercial MRE and freeze dried food.
5. Meyers Custom Supply - Sells commercial MRE, also has an AlpineAire page but no products on it at the time of this post

There are other sites, some I listed below that had significant monthly traffic, but their product focus was not centered MRE and freeze dried food, but more on either other survival products or survival information in general.

Camping Survival - Wide variety of survival & camping gear, some MRE.

Captain Dave’s Survival Center - Wide variety of survival gear, some MRE

The Survival Center - preparedness books, food storage advice, canned food and also some MRE & freeze dried food.

AAOOB Storable Foods - specialize in grain mills, other bulk food storage equipment, but some MRE and freeze dried.

After food has been freeze dried what else can be done to preserve it?

The freeze drying process removes 98% of the water from food, stopping bacterial growth as well as killing insects and their eggs.

Beyond freeze drying further to preserve food and increase shelf life, oxygen is the main enemy. If the food is stored in a way that it is not exposed to oxygen, the shelf life can reach 25 to 30 years. Shelf life here refers to the food maintaining it’s properties of nutritional value, taste, and appearance. It may still be safe to eat beyond this time but the aforementioned properties are degraded.

Oxygen Absorbers

Some freeze dried food producers use oxygen absorbers to extend shelf life.

Oxygen absorbers are materials that chemically react with oxygen in the environment they are in, combining with the oxygen and thus removing it from that environment. The most commonly used material for absorbers is iron in the forms of iron powder or iron carbonate. Both combine with oxygen very effectively.

Once oxygen absorbers are exposed to oxygen they will continue to react with it until the material is fully “oxidized” meaning it can not absorb any more oxygen. For this reason they need to be very carefully sealed and stored so that they are not consumed before their intended use.

The application in which oxygen absorbers are used for freeze dried food storage is to place them in the can of food before it is vacuum sealed.

The idea is that any oxygen that leaks into the sealed container over years of storage will be absorbed by it, rather than the oxygen reacting with the freeze dried food and degrading it.

There are two types of oxygen absorbers commonly used. One type, Multisorb Technologies’ FreshPax Type-B requires some moisture from the environment it is in to be present to work and is used for moist foods like bread and processed meats. Type-D absorbers contain there own moisture source and are thus suited to dry foods like freeze dried food.

You may remember the old adage Aristotle proclaimed in 350 BC, “nature abhors a vacuum”. So any vacuum packed container will over time be invaded, if ever so slightly, by the surrounding air and with it the 21% of air that is oxygen.

So while the oxygen absorber will extend the shelf life by absorbing the oxygen in the air that is present initially during packing as well as the air that leaks in over time, eventually the absorber will be “maxed out”, that is it will be fully oxidized and can not absorb any more oxygen.

I have seen the guarantees for shelf life for this type packed freeze dried food at 10-15 years. This period may be a reflection of the limit of the process and process controls that the producer of the food uses, as well as that of the oxygen absorber.

Nitrogen Packing

Nitrogen packing or “nitro-pak” on the other hand takes a different approach to dealing with oxygen “enemy”.

Rather than relying on the properties of the container to fight the invading air trying to get in, the container is flushed with nitrogen or packed in a nitrogen environment. As a result the sealed container has the same or slightly higher pressure but with nitrogen and not air. This means that air is not fighting to get in. There is no abhorrence so to speak.

Thus the period that the food remains unexposed to significant concentrations of oxygen is much longer and thus the possible shelf life is longer.

What is the longest shelf life for nitrogen packed freeze dried food?

Mountain House, the commercial brand of Oregon Freeze Dry which has been around for over 40 years, states on their web site regarding their #10 cans of freeze dried food;

“Our foods will have the longest shelf life available…up to 30 years!”

It may be the result of superior process controls, not only the nitrogen packing process, that makes them feel comfortable making this statement.

There is information online on how you can nitro-pak foods yourself with some equipment but I would be leery of assuming your process control would be on the same par and have the same shelf life.

In any case “nitro-pak” freeze dried food has the longest shelf life for any type of commercially available stored food I have seen.

References on oxygen absorbers, nitrogen packing, and freeze dried food;

Wikipedia - Oxygen Absorber

Walton Feed - A Short Lesson on Oxygen Absorbers

Walton Feed - Storing Your Food Using Compressed Gas Such as Argon or Nitrogen

Nitro-Pak - Freeze Dried Food Reserves

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.

Often when people first think of what food would be good to store for disaster preparedness, they think of dehydrated food.

But is dehydrated food really a good choice for survival food?

Let’s consider 3 factors; preparation, taste, and shelf life.

Dehydrated food requires a lot preparation to be consumed. In order to use dehydrated food it needs to be hydrated so you need to soak it. You still need to prepare, mix and cook it. To cook you will need cooking equipment and fuel. You will have to clean up after the cooking.

Compare this to freeze dried food.

For a hot meal using freeze dried food you need heated water, just add it and wait a few minutes. If you have to, you can use unheated water but still no cooking is required. This is huge convenience, not to be undervalued for disaster preparedness. There likely will be times in a disaster when you do not have time and energy to cook using dehydrated foods.

You may like the taste of dehydrated foods you have consumed as a snack or specialty food. However if you are eating for weeks or months meals made from dehydrated food as a base, you may have difficulty consuming healthy amounts of food.

You should never underestimate the importance of being able to enjoy the food you are eating, there are examples in history of people starving even though there was edible food available.

It is of great benefit to lower stress wherever possible in a disaster situation, lower stress results in people dealing more effectively with problems in any situation. Having good tasting hot meals regularly tends to lower stress. Freeze dried food retains the original taste and freshness when re-hydrated to a high degree.

Finally there is the shelf-life to consider. The likelihood of a experiencing a disaster is greater over a longer period. The longer the shelf-life of your survival food, the less the often you will be replacing it. Even worse, would be discovering you have rancid food when you need it most. Dehydrated food shelf life is usually rated 8-10 years. Freeze dried food can keep it’s flavor, appearance and nutritional value for 25 years.

While you may save a little with dehydrated food in the up front cost, the long run costs will be much higher than if you choose freeze dried food. The added benefits of taste and less time to prepare to eat make freeze dried food a much better choice than dehydrated food.

Shipping lead times on Mountain House #10 cans of freeze dried have come down to just 2 to 4 weeks from previous 3 -7 weeks.

orders with #10 canned foods or units are taking 2 to 4 weeks to ship.

I noticed a further update on Nitro-pak’s website;

IMPORTANT SHIPPING NOTE: Do to current market conditions, huge customer demand, worldwide food shortages and tight supplier allocations (most of our competitors have been totally cut off by the factory), orders will ship in approximately 3 to 4 Weeks from receipt and will be shipped in the order we receive them. We are receiving limited stock weekly. Don’t delay ordering. The longer you wait, the longer the line is getting. Sorry. Just being up front & honest.
Your charge card WILL NOT be charged until 3-5 days prior to shipping.
Thanks you for your patience!

This does not contain any new information other than “competitors being cut off” whatever that means, and I am checking what the status at other online retailers.

Mountain House website is still saying they are not directly selling #10 cans of freeze dried food, the statement there says;

We regret to inform you Oregon Freeze Dry cannot satisfy all Mountain House #10 can orders and we have removed #10 cans from our website temporarily. The reason for this is sales of #10 cans have continued to increase. OFD is allocating as much production capacity as possible to this market segment…..We expect this situation to be necessary for several months although this isn’t a guarantee. We will update this information as soon as we know more. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your patience. We sincerely hope you will continue to be Mountain House customers in the future.

I think the panic buying we have been seeing by survivalist driven consumers, caused by worry about the manifestation of “peak oil theory”, will ease off if the price of oil goes down $15 to $20 or so soon. However it will be some time before the availability of freeze dried food will improve and prices will go down. If the price of oil goes up much more, then the demand for freeze dried food will likely spike exponentially higher unfortunately.

Hurricane season is upon us once again. Hurricane food preparedness should start with MREs. Since MRE are truly “ready to eat”, that is you do not need to prepare or cook them, nor is water needed. MRE’s are the best choice for hurricane preparedness.

MRE’s are also easier for traveling since you do not need to carry that extra water or heating equipment to prepare them. The Flameless Ration Heaters that most MREs come with, can heat them in 10 minutes so you can feel some comfort in a stressful situation with a hot meal.

MRE’s are a great food reserve for hurricanes for another reason; the packaging they come in are tested tough by the Military;

1. 100% survival rate from a military cargo parachute drop
2. A survival rated of at least 75% in the event of a air cargo parachute failure
3. Survive under the harshest of weather conditions
4. Withstand extreme soldier field abuse
5. Handle outdoor storage anywhere in the world
6. Pass 7,000 individual pouch drops from 20 inches
7. Be able to withstand a static load of 200 pounds for three minutes.

Hurricane Kits & MRE

MRE’s

Executive 72-hour Kit - As seen on CNN!

72-hour Survival Kits

Emergency Radios

Water Filters, Purifiers and Storage

Executive 72-hour Kit with Solar Upgrade

Below is an great article by Rayven Perkins where she talks about her first hand experience with MRE’s in the aftermath of 3 hurricanes starting with Hurricane Charley.

Two commercial MRE meals per day provide enough calories for an adult for one day at about 2400 calories. A box of 12 MREs costs about $75. So for $300 you can have an emergency food reserve that supports 4 adults for 6 days.

Recent news about food shortage and food price increases have created a huge increase in demand for freeze dried food as well as MRE, so if you need to prepare for this season you really need to act now.

MREs are available at local camping and some other outdoor stores. They are also available online but I would avoid eBay as you have no idea what you are getting, some or all of the MRE may be old and close the expiry date. Also if you see marked military MRE, please note that It is illegal to sell military MRE.

MRE (meals ready to eat) Food Reserves

72 hour survival kit

MREs for Hurricane Preparation

By Rayven Perkins

Its almost hurricane season again! And time to get our supplies ready in case we get hit again this year. I have personally been through four hurricanes, three of which hit during a two-month period during 2004. I have stayed in my home for all four hurricanes and have learned a thing or two about the best supplies to have on hand.

Bar none, the best food supplies to have on hand are MREs. MRE stands for Meal Ready to Eat. They are United States military rations that have become available on the civilian market. MREs are an all in one meal kit. Packaged in a waterproof bag, they contain items such as an entree, side dish, snack item, beverage base, and dessert.

They contain a food heater that is activated by a very small amount of water, and even have an accessory pack with condiments and utensils. Heck, they even have toilet paper in them!

MREs have a shelf life of up to 10 years when stored properly. They are a great item to have on hand for any sort of emergency. They certainly came in handy for us when we had them in 2004. The first hurricane, Hurricane Charley, caused our electricity to go out for 5 days. We did not suffer any structural damage, luckily, but we lost all the contents of our fridge and freezer.

We had actually forgotten all about our MREs at the time. We did not properly prepare for Hurricane Charley. We had that “it won’t happen to us” mentality.

After the hurricane, we spent two days eating cold spaghetti-o’s before we remembered the box of MREs we had purchased for camping. Out they came! The whole family ate much better those last three days without electricity than the first two! Between the hurricanes, we did have the sense to restock our Meals Ready to Eat and have always made it a point to keep them on hand since then.

The second hurricane that hit us that year did some structural damage, but we retained power. The third hurricane left us without power again, this time for over a week. With two small children at home, I can tell you that hurricane season that year was not fun. In Central Florida, you need air conditioning to survive. Going a few weeks without air conditioning was trying to say the least.

Couple that with being holed up in a dark apartment with no TV, little light, and nothing to do. The only thing to break the monotony of those days was the fun we had when we ate our MRE meals. The kids (and adults) had a blast opening up each bag, cooking the entrees over the flameless heater, and devouring the interesting snacks provided. It was the only source of amusement during this trying time.

In short, every hurricane preparedness pantry needs to have a case of Meals Ready to Eat available, not just for food, but to break up the boredom.

Rayven Perkins is a stay home mom who has put together a resource on MREs, including where to find the best prices for purchasing them. Visit her website at: Discount MREs

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rayven_Perkins
http://EzineArticles.com/?MREs-for-Hurricane-Preparation&id=1120493

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MRE (meals ready to eat) Food Reserves

72 hour survival kit

I read these words on the page “Emergency Survival Kit” on KGMB’s website, a TV station in Hawaii. This is the same information on emergency kits you will get from the American Red Cross or FEMA.

What “cycle” actually means here is that you throw out the food and water every 6 months.

In terms of food, the real answer on how often you need to “cycle” really depends on the 2 things.

First the type of food you chose to put in your emergency kit will determine how often you need to throw out the food in the kit and replace it with a fresh food supply.

If you choice was to store energy bars, every 6 months will likely be the case.

If you choose MRE, then the food will store 5-7 years so you will not need to throw it out every 6 months. This information should help you decide on which food to buy, as MRE will be a better choice if you include the cost of throwing out 10-14 supplies of energy bars or other food you replace every 6 months (if you remember to do it, if you don’t you will have a different problem when disaster strikes).

However as stated above how often you need to cycle the food in a survival kit depends on two things.

The second thing is the storage conditions for your survival kit. If you store your kit in a cool dry place your MRE will last up to 7 years.

However if you keep a kit in the trunk of your car, the high temperatures will dramatically reduce the shelf life of MRE or energy bars. I am not saying don’t keep a kit in your car, it is important to be ready wherever you may be in a disaster, but you may need to make extra effort to replace food if you do.

Daytime temperatures in the trunk of a car can get well over 120 degrees F on even a warm day. Below is an MRE shelf life chart based on studies by the U.S. Army’s NATIC Research Laboratories.

If you store MRE in a place that the temperature is elevated for any sustained period of time then you will need to replace your food more often. The data below is useful, but not a guarantee of product, you will have to refer to the manufacturer of your food for accurate information on that specific product.