Survival Food - Freeze Dried & MRE

There was a Wall Street Journal article on a new dehydrating process from a Canadian company called Enwave.

They say they can dry food in minutes instead of hours or days.

More importantly the process uses less energy, has much lower equipment costs.

The phrase “continuous processing’ also caught my eye.  The equipment for food is called a “nutraREV machine”

According to Enwave’s website;

nutraREV technology uses a combination of vacuum and microwaves to dehydrate fruits, vegetables, low-fat snacks, herbs, meats and seafood at, or below, room temperature. In 2007, EnWave built the first continuous nutraREV machine capable of commercial production levels of dried berries. This machine is currently in the final testing phase at the facility of a major blueberry grower, CAL-SAN Enterprises, Ltd. in Richmond, B.C. to determine whether it can consistently produce 100 Kg of dried blueberries per hour.

It would interesting to see what the final product looks like and what the expected shelf life properties are. If it is as good as they say it is, hopefully a survival food producer picks it up soon.

If you want to go the bulk food rotating inventory route and are determined to make it a success, there is an excellent video and website for you.

The name of the website is Food Storage Made Easy.

Amazing amount of great information on food storage is there. The proprietors of Food Storage Made Easy, Jodi and Julie have laid out some great tools with spreadsheets and video tutorials on how to create your own 72 hour kits, 3 month storage and shelf racks and more.

On the site you start with “Getting Started” of course, and then there are 9 “baby steps” you take on your way to going beyond food storage.

Here is a video of Julie explaining how to use the 3 month food supply spread sheet;

More than just spreadsheets and videos, there is a lot of great advice in regular blog posts such as the recent “How To Build Your Own Can Rotating Rack”.

There appears to be a good group of people following judging by the comments to blog posts there. There is a forum as well but that has not seemed to evolve yet.

I checked the site visitor stats on Compete.com and they surged to over 20k per month in January 09;

No doubt due to the great content there.

I still recommend freeze dried food and MRE reserves as the most effective and fastest way to be prepared.

If you are someone who is ready for the commitment of managing a bulk food rotating inventory system then I strongly recommend you start with Food Storage Made Easy.

The ReadyStore has an online offer to save $100 on new products when you order over $1000 of new products until February 16th, 2009.

Some of the new survival food and products include;

Quad-X-treme Auto Emergency Fuel & Survival Kit

ULTIMATE 3-Month Supply of Freeze Dried Food - #10 CANS

1 Month MRE Supply

3 Month MRE Supply

6 Month MRE Supply

1 Year MRE Supply

MSR Reactor™ Emergency Stove

The 3 month MRE would be a great compliment to a freeze dried food reserve for a family of 3 or 4. Freeze dried food is the best choice for cost and taste.

However MRE has added benefits of

• flameless heater pouches available that, with a little water added, heat the meal in 10 minutes
• No drinking water and nothing else needs to be added to prepare meals
• ideal for trips longer than a few hours becuase they need zero preparation

Most people find it overwhelming to take action to have a long term food storage to be prepared for disasters and economic uncertainty.

They read lots of information online that tells them they have to radically change their lifestyle to support food storage. The people who write these food storage advice articles are often already in a lifestyle suited to what they preach.

There is nothing wrong with their advice, it simply doesn’t apply to the vast majority of us urban dwelling working parents with kids who have tons of activities and school projects to do every week.

How to Get Started With Your Food Storage is one of those interview articles where the person has a lot of home time to bake bread, use milk powder, and spend tons of time cooking from scratch. This is great if you are in a lifestyle that supports it but for most of us that is not the case.

Answering the question about how often the food storage is used the person replies;

Now it’s natural. But I would say every meal. I make my own bread so at lunch we have that, at breakfast if we have cereal or something then it has the powdered milk. And then dinner would have usually milk or onions or something. I use it all the time.

Further they are asked on advice to those getting started in food storage since it is “a hard step” ;

So what I would say is just pick one thing that you’re going to start with. And one of the things I think is easiest to start with is powdered milk

Okay, so I want to be prepared and I start with powered milk. How many months or years go by before we are ready? How long before most of us just give up?

On the other hand you can order a freeze dried food storage family unit and be ready in a week when it arrives.

You will have 3 months worth of ready to eat meals for your family that costs about the same as the average American family pays now for the same meals in groceries. The food will store for 25 years so if you don’t need it this year or next, it will still be there for you whenever you need it.

Those who are supporting their families with a traditional food storage lifestyle are inspirations to us all.

Those who want to be prepared next week and buy a freeze dried food storage have also done a great thing for their family and friends.

 Mountian House #10 Freeze Dried Food

Freeze Dried Meals

Per Nitro-Pak website;

Our “Easy Meal Security-Pak™”
Provides 45 Gourmet Meals… Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner for
One Person for 45 Days, A Family of 5 for 9 Days, or 15 People for 3 Days!

Emergency Food Storage?
By admin
Freeze Dried Food - This type of food is usually stored in #10 can, but is also available in smaller pouches like MREs. Freeze dried foods taste great because the foods retain their taste, texture, and shape of fresh frozen foods. …

Freeze Dried Food Reserve Information

Freeze dried meals have become popular in the last 25 years among hikers and campers as an easy to prepare food. You can carry freeze dried food in your backpack in pouches and can eat them hot or cold in minutes with no preparation, just add water.

These same properties also make freeze dried food ideal as a survival food reserve.

Freeze dried food in sealed nitrogen flushed #10 cans have these great survival food benefits;

• Freeze dried food can last up to 25 years if stored properly
• It can be stored in a much smaller space than other food reserves
• Can be eaten just by adding water to hydrate
• Retains the taste and texture of fresh food, not canned food
• In bulk can cost can be less than $3.00 per meal

A Large quantity, up to one year of freeze dried food can be stored in a pallet sized space. You can try a a box of freeze dried meal pouches first with your family to decide if the taste is right for you.

So Freeze Dried Food comes in pouches often used by hikers as well #10 cans from Mountain House brand foods.

Oregon Freeze Dry markets Mountain House food.

Here are some facts about Oregon Freeze Dry;

Oregon Freeze Dry (Mountain House Brand Freeze Dried Foods)

• Incorporated in 1963
• Located on a 35 acre site in Albany, Oregon
• Employs over 250 people
• Three manufacturing plants
• 32,000 square feet of freeze-drying capacity
• over 60% of the freeze-drying capacity of the US
• Facilities have continuous USDA and FDA inspections
• Kosher and Halal certifications
• Worked with US military to provide rations that taste better, weighed less, and easier to prepare than canned rations
• Private label lines include such products as lunch and dinner entrees for the Nutri/System weight-loss program
• has produced over 400 different foods and beverages
• Supplier of Mountain House® brand

It is important to note that pouches only last 6-7 years where the #10 cans can last up to 25 years if stored in a cool dry place. The cans last longer because they are better sealed and nitrogen packed. Nitrogen displaces the air and so there is no oxygen in the cans which gives them long life. This is better than vacuum packing.

You will need to have water available to re-hydrate the freeze dried food. Total water reserve for should be between 1 to 1.5 gallons per person per day.

The one advantage MRE has over Freeze dried food is that MRE is better suited to “on the go” situations since it does not require water and usually comes with “flameless ration heaters”. But MRE only stores 6-7 years and costs twice as much. I recommend survival food reserves to have both a long term freeze dried food reserve and also a short term 2-3 week supply of MREs.

Freeze Dried Food Reserve Packages

Platinum one year food reserve from Nitro-pak

Platinum Food Reserve
Food supports 4 People for 3 Months or one person for a year.

This bulk freeze dried food reserve is (at the time of this post) for $3375 , with free shipping and a 120-day ‘no-risk’ guarantee.

“…will provide over 2000 calories per day for one person for one complete year, or a family of 4 for 3 months! It comes with a total of 168 #10 cans (large restaurant size cans) that comes packed in 28 cases for easy storage.”

Mountain House 4 person 3 month “dinner Entree-pak”

True food preparedness means;

1. A food reserve with variety that tastes good so people can eat and be satisfied
2. Food that is simple and easy to prepare even in a disaster
3. Food that is easy to store and transport
4. A diversified reserve of several different survival food types

The new Mountain House 4 person 3 month “dinner Entree-pak” meets all of these conditions and at low price per meal. For those who have other food reserves and want to top them off with a super easy to prepare freeze dried food reserve, this is a good choice.

Priced at $1190 this package offers an affordable peace of mind for preparedness for your family that easy to use.

So you don’t need to be a dedicated trained survival enthusiast to be prepared. You just need to make the right prepardedness choice.

Freeze Dried Food Online Retailers;

• Nitro-pak
• The ReadyStore
• Amazon.com

KT

Mountain House #10 Cans Versus Pouches

The image on the left shows boxes of Mountain House #10 cans. The image on the right shows Mountain House pouches.

Pouches are popular with hikers, rock climbers and back-packers. Mountain house also sells them in cases as a food reserve.

They are a meal in pouch, just add water.

A Mountain House pouch can be used as a survival food reserve and are specifically packaged as such in the “just in case unit” 7 day food supply box pictured above.

This is comparable to MRE with the distinction they taste better, are easier to digest but require more preparation since you need to add water.

When you compare a pouch to a #10 can the main difference is that pouches are an individual meal.

Mountain house #10 cans are a bulk, 8-10 serving food reserve unit.

More important however, pouches will store for up to 7 years at 75° F (24° C), while #10 cans will last 25 years under the same conditions.

While it is more convenient to have the pouches and they are a good alternative to MRE if you can’t stand the taste or digest MREs, #10 cans are a much longer lasting and better investment for disaster preparedness.

The exception are those people who find the contents of the pouches comparable enough to fresh food, and will consume pouches periodically for regular meals and continuously re-stock them as a food reserve for disasters. Then the 7 year shelf life is not an issue.

Finally a food reserve of the same duration in #10 cans will store in a smaller space than the pouches due to the cans being a bulk (less packaging) food supply.

In summary;

Mountain House Pouch

• More convenient package as a meal
• taste better than MRE
• Store for up to 7 years

Mountain House #10 Can

• bulk, 8-10 one cup servings of one item
• store for up top 25 years
• store more efficiently than pouches

Mountain House Just In Case Unit

Mountain House #10 can Food Reserves

MRE Information

MRE or “Meals Ready to eat” are military style food rations.

There are two categories of MRE, military MRE and commecial MRE.

Military meals ready to eat are made for the US military and the armed forces of other countries.

They are sometimes sold on eBay but there is risk there as the military considers this illegal as they want to discourage theft of their property. There is also risk as the age and storage conditions the MRE experienced before you bought it will be unknown  perhaps even to the seller.  Military MRE cased of 12 sell for as little as $40 on eBay ($3.33 per meal) which is less than $72 ($6 per meal) average case price of commercial MRE. Besides risk you should also consider shipping costs which online retailers may charge less than $15 where eBay  sellers sometimes charge a lot more for shipping and “handling”.

The main difference between military and commercial MRE (that is good commercial MRE from main brands such as Sopakco, MRE Star, aPack) is calories and sodium levels.

This 2 minute video shows you the difference in contents between Military and  Commercial MRE;

They choose an inferior commercial MRE package I do not recognize but the information is useful. The best source online for MRE information is mreinfo.com. There is great forum where people who love to talk about MRE exchange information and stories about MRE.

Military MRE has high sodium content as they are intended for short term on the go use. Military MRE has 1250 to 1300 calories whereas until recently commercial MREs had less. Some commercial MREs have only 700 calories.  MRE Star’s commercial MREs now have average of 1,100-1,300 calories.

Some reasons why they are a popular choice for survival food;

• MRE’s paks are a complete meal with main course, side dish, crackers with spread, dessert, and a powdered drink mix.
• MRE packs last 4-10 years depending on storage temperature, longer than most canned food.
• They are pre-cooked and in a pouch “ready to eat”, nothing needs to be added
• Usually you buy MRE with flameless heaters so you can eat your meal hot (cold is ok too)

Where to buy MREs

Military MRE is often sold against government regulations on eBay. Also if you go to a local military surplus shop it is likely they will have some. However there is some risk as the seller likely does not know the history of how the MRE was stored. Even if the military MRE has a date code in last year you still don’t know if it spent a couple months in the desert which use up most of it’s shelf life. Commercial MRE can likely be found at your local camping and outdoors shop.

Commercial MRE is available in 12 meal cases online. There is also bulk MRE pricing for pallet loads of MRE.\

Here are some online site that sell MRE;

Nitro-pak

TheReadyStore

Amazon.com

USAGE

You can best use MRE for emergency situations where you “are on the go” . Also if you do not want to waste time cooking or do not want the hassle of bring cooking equipment with you. MRE’s are the most convenient survival food choice.

MRE cost is about $6 per meal plus shipping for a case of 12. You can get discounts if you buy larger quantities.

There are often periods where MREs become unavailable due to being bought up by relief agencies dealing with a disaster. The price increases for awhile then goes back to about $6 meal or $72 per case.

Shipping is not included with most supplier if you order one case, but some will offer free shipping if the order is more than $100.

For a food reserve for periods longer than a week however, a “freeze dried food” reserve is better in terms of space and cost per meal. You will need water for freeze dried food which, although hydrates quickly, is nevertheless is not as “ready to eat”.

Myths about Disasters - Emergency Preparedness Survival Food …
By Josiah Friberg(Josiah Friberg)
We provide disaster nutrition expert advice and resources on food storage, long shelf-life food, organic whole food nutrition, food packs, healthy MREs, and disaster meals. We are committed to helping you get prepared for natural …
Emergency Disaster Preparedness… - http://emergencydisastersurvivalfood.blogspot.com/

Preparing Mentally - Emergency Disaster Preparedness Survival Food …
By Josiah Friberg(Josiah Friberg)
We provide disaster nutrition expert advice and resources on food storage, long shelf-life food, organic whole food nutrition, food packs, healthy MREs, and disaster meals. We are committed to helping you get prepared for natural …
Emergency Disaster Preparedness… - http://emergencydisastersurvivalfood.blogspot.com/