Survival Food - Freeze Dried & MRE

I just received the email notification from Mountain House below, confirming only 3 online dealers are being supplied, Nitro-Pak, The ReadyStore, and Emergency Essentials;

Updated: 7/31/2008

Dear Valued Customers:

This is an update on Oregon Freeze Dry’s #10 can situation. Because sales remain high, we continue to be unable to meet all #10 can needs. OFD is continuing to allocate as much production capacity as possible to this market segment, but we must maintain capacity for our other market segments as well.

We are able to meet demand for Mountain House pouches and most of these products are available for purchase on our website. For a list of locations where you can purchase #10 cans, which should enable you to obtain product from reputable dealers NOW, or at least in the very near future…click hereWe also want to again clarify inaccurate information we’ve seen on the Internet. This situation is not due to sales to the government domestically or in Iraq. The reason for this decision is solely due to an unprecedented sales spike in #10 cans sales.

We expect this situation to be necessary into 2009. 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.

Sincerely,

OREGON FREEZE DRY INC.
CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT
1-800-547-0244

The 3 online distributors on the list Mountain House provided are;

• Nitro-Pak
• The ReadyStore
• Emergency Essentials

For the same reasons as hurricanes, and a few more, the best Earthquake preparedness food is MRE.

MRE (meals ready to eat) or military rations are just that - ready to eat. They are a complete meal with no water needed to prepare.

Most importantly they can be heated with “flameless” ration heaters which is much safer than using an open flame or other cooking equipment after an earthquake.

Since you may not have utilities for weeks in some areas after an earthquake it is much more convenient to have ready to eat meals for this period.

Since you can buy MRE in 12 meal cases with 6 different meals in each case, the variety offered makes them a better choice.

MRE is not the tastiest food and some people have difficulty digesting them so I don’t recommend using MRE as a survival food longer than 3 weeks at a time. This however is hopefully much longer than you will need an emergency food reserve after an earthquake.

According to Nitro-pak, each of their MRE’s typically include;

1. Soda type crackers and a spread, like cheese, peanut butter
   or jelly as an appetizer
2. A main course entree, like beef steak, chicken & noodles, turkey breast, etc.
3. A complementing side dish like fruit, rice, soup or potatoes
4. Some type of dessert, snack or candy
5. An accessory packet which includes: matches, spoon, wet wipe, salt, pepper,
   coffee and sweetener (some may include an alternative beverage powdered
   drink, too).
6. Military versions also include a mini roll of toilet tissue.

MRE lasts 5-7 years if stored in cool place below 80 degrees fahrenheit.

If you store a few cases in a basement, it would be best to have them under a table near an external door that you can break down if need be. That way you can access the MRE meals after an earthquake.

Three places you can order MRE online;

Nitro-Pak
The ReadyStore
Amazon

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I strongly recommend MRE for Hurricane preparedness because it is truly ready to eat and can be heated with a flameless ration heater or “FRH”.

Electricity can be unavailable for weeks in some areas after a hurricane so the ability to have a hot cooked meal with no equipment required is a huge benefit.

Commercial MRE comes in 12 meal cases usually the FRH is included. The meals are usually 1000 - 1300 calories (check this before you buy MRE) so 2 meals per day will be more than enough to get by.

Don’t wait till there is a Hurricane approaching to buy MRE though, as local stores will sell out of MRE quickly.

MRE has a 5-7 year shelf-life if stored in cool place below 80 degrees Fahrenheit, so you should plan to stock up every 5 years or so and always have 1-3 weeks supply .

You can buy online at Amazon.com, however with shipping the total cost from Amazon is over $89 per case. This cost is higher than most other online outlets, but you are probably not as familiar with the other small ones, so you may trust ordering from Amazon more. However, when you buy MRE from Amazon, it is not directly from Amazon you are buying but rather their “Amazon Prime” partner, which is in fact a smaller outfit than the 3 retailers listed below.

I have had good experiences with these online MRE retailers to date and have seen only positive reviews on them from others;

Nitro-Pak
The ReadyStore
MREfoods.com

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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I have seen reports on various sites that say that Mountain House will not be selling #10 cans on their website until the end of 2009.

This statement is correct.

I called Mountain House customer service and they confirmed this is the case. An updated notice should appear on their website soon.

However it was also being said that dealers only had limited supply of Mountain House #10 cans and after that dealers could be out of stock for as long as 20 weeks!

The above statement is not correct!

Mountain House customer service confirmed that they would continue to supply their TOP DEALERS.

The supply is limited and on allocation to these dealers due to high demand.

I called Nitro-Pak customer service and they confirmed that they will continue to take orders and shipping lead times are at present 2-4 weeks and will continue into the foreseeable future. This applies to #10 cans sold by themselves and special food reserve packages.

However since the supply of #10 cans from Mountain House is on limited allocation to dealers, if demand increases even more, the lead times will only get longer.

However you will still get freeze dried food in #10 cans if and when you order from their dealers, the question is just on how long it will take to get delivery.

I recieved a phone call and email from a Texas radio station this morning. They talked about the chaos going on with Hurricane Dolly and how their listeners would be very interested in survival food products.

It was someone from the advertising department, not the newsroom.

After I told them my website is a blog and that I don’t actually sell products they quieted down a bit.

I told them anyone advertising now would just be selling on fear, but I guess that is what they were interested in.

I also said it is too late anyway for anyone who is not prepared with their own food supply. Hopefully there will be little or no damage and disruption from this hurricane.

If you live in an area that has risk of hurricanes, the best course of action is to decide on your preparedness plans now and not wait. You will make the best decisions when there is no rush and panic and not be at the mercy of people trying to profit on your fear.

As mentioned in a previous post the best survival food for hurricanes is MRE. It is ready to eat and does not require water to prepare. If you have to travel away from the coast before the hurricane hits the best food to carry with you is MRE.

Commercial MRE is available at camping stores, some department stores and online.

I would avoid military MRE on auction sites as it may be compromised by how it was stored previously, and there is a chance it was stolen or improperly obtained or is specified not for re-sale by the government.

You may look at freeze dried food, even when it is a lowly $2.90 per meal as an expensive luxury.

After all, for $1000 to $1200 you can purchase bulk food in 5 gallon pails of either staples or dehydrated food that will last an individual one year or a family of four for 3 months.

Compare that to the “expensive” $3375 for a “Platinum Food Reserve” of freeze dried food.

Obviously the bulk food is a better deal.

Or is it?

Consider the preparation time and effort if you cook bulk food from scratch for 4 people for 3 months. This time could be extremely valuable, in a disaster, that could be used on other tasks that may be much more critical.

Cooking for 3 months using staples and dehydrated food works out to an extra 364 hours (see note at bottom) over using freeze dried food. Divide the $2000 difference in cost, and it works out that your effort is worth $5.63 per hour.

Is that $5.63 you save today on your food reserve worth the priceless hours you may put to better use?

But hold on, it gets even worse for the canned staples and dehydrated route. You will either have to use that food regularly with associated preparation effort in order to keep your food reserve fresh, or you have to accept throwing out your canned bulk food reserve after a few years and replacing it. Freeze dried food on the other hand can store for 25 years according to Mountain House.

In the end if you include this likely replacement cost, your extra 364 hours effort could be valued at less than $1 per hour, does that sound like the better deal now?

You decide.

(NOTE: For cooking using staples and dehydrated foods; If you spend 1 hour cooking and cleaning up for breakfast,  1.5 hours for lunch and 2 hours for dinner or 4.5 hours per day, 7 days a week for 13 weeks that will total 409.5 hours. Subtract the 30 minutes total a day on the other hand that you will spend preparing meals with freeze dried food, so you get the difference of 364 hours)

I found these interview comments by Michael Leavitt, US Secretary of Health and Human Services on the impact of a severe pandemic flu.

Awareness of the need for pandemic flu preparedness came 2 years ago when the risk of a pandemic outbreak from the avian flu virus (H5N1) escalated.

Fortunately, a flu pandemic did not materialize and the risk has abated somewhat.

However there is always that risk present as there were 3 pandemic outbreaks that occurred in the last century. And present conditions, even with the technology and medical knowledge available today, make the occurrence of a pandemic flu no less likely nor the impact less severe than in the past.

From a preparedness point of view what can we expect and plan for?

Here is a statement from the PandemicFlu.gov website;

A pandemic may come and go in waves, each of which can last for six to eight weeks.

An especially severe influenza pandemic could lead to high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts can range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

With possible reductions in the food supply and a general desire to limit your exposure to other people and thereby risk of infection it would be highly desirable to have a food reserve of up to even 3 months for you and your family.

While it may be tempting to think that you will have time to prepare if the threat escalates again in the future, the fact is many preparedness food options will quickly become difficult to obtain.

Recently with the awareness of food price increases and as well as the threat of food shortages, which for the US became somewhat exaggerated for a time in some circles, the result was survival food quickly went out of stock with long lead times of 6-8 weeks.

While the availability of freeze dried food in #10 cans has come down to 2-4 weeks lead time now, based on this recent experience you can imagine what will happen when a future pandemic flu threat escalates and starts to get more and more news coverage long before the actual pandemic occurs.

So why wait?

Freeze dried food reserves for 3 months can be had for as little as $2.90 per meal.

Here is the latest on #10 can price increase, it is expected to be as much as 15%.

Per Nitro-pak

P.S. PRICE INCREASE NOTICE- All Mountain House #10 can freeze-dried foods & units are going up August 1, 2008 by as much as 15%. HURRY, Order NOW and Save!

Nitro-pak’s Mountain House #10 Can Selection

This message is still on Mountain House’s website;

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, but we must maintain capacity for our other market segments as well.