Anyone with experience on emergency food rations?

[The_Dinkmaster]

Not trying to get political, but with the election around the corner I have done a lot of praying and have a very ominous feeling about what lies ahead for the next 4 years (get your souls right with Jesus if you havent).

I'm concerned about an economic downturn and would really like some type of MREs on hand at home just to have for a "just in case" situation.

Anyone with experience eating emergency MREs that can give insight on good vs bad brands? Im willing to pay a little more now for better tasting/quality food, just hoping for some direction before I blindly buy something that is terrible.

 

[Mtnmilsurp]

We just stock a lot of extra of the non perishables we regularly consume anyway. For example, I grind spelt for bread, pancakes, waffles, etc and keep a couple hundred pounds in the garage (its really cheap bought in 50lb bags). We've got hundreds of pounds of deer and elk in the freezers, a pantry full of rice, beans, pasta, and tomato paste, and the hens lay about a dozen eggs a day. We're good without a bunch of nasty MREs sitting around taking up space.

 

[The_Dinkmaster]

We just stock a lot of extra of the non perishables we regularly consume anyway. For example, I grind spelt for bread, pancakes, waffles, etc and keep a couple hundred pounds in the garage (its really cheap bought in 50lb bags). We've got hundreds of pounds of deer and elk in the freezers, a pantry full of rice, beans, pasta, and tomato paste, and the hens lay about a dozen eggs a day. We're good without a bunch of nasty MREs sitting around taking up space.

I see your point. Unfortunately I dont have a ton of meat in the freezers yet due to having two kids recently and not being able to. We do keep a large amount of non-perishables on hand, but I just want to do more I guess. Id love to get some chickens but I dont have much room for them. Just looking for more ideas

 

[UpSideDown]

Our case is that our power is very unreliable and we live in the boonies. I don't count on refrigeration for that reason. Carbs are easy, protein is hard, fat lasts maybe a few years as olive oil. My suggestion is to buy food you will actually eat, and cycle through it. It's easy to justify buying more rice, flour, beans, etc. that you use, than buying niche super-pricey 'emergency' food. It's just food. Make sure it's stuff you use and you'll be thankful.

Past that it's hard to beat chickens. They're small scale, affordable, easy to feed, and produce very healthy eggs and meat on a pretty quick/consistent basis.

We just grab a little extra each time we go to costco so we have extra food on hand.

ALSO do not sleep on the mormon food bank / deseret industries. They sell a ton of freeze dried food in 6 packs of #10 cans for good prices.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Keep a lot of frozen food, canned and dried food. Have a small generator and a bunch of gas on hand to run the freezer/fridge. Learn how to can all the frozen food in a true SHTF incident. A big dehydrator is also a plus.

 

[TaperPin]

A great way to get into emergency food is to get a clipboard and write down the 20 or so dry or canned foods you like to eat now and how many you go through in a month, then keep a stocking level for all of them. Keeping a six month supply is easy, then go up as money allows - just a one year supply of food, TP and paper towels is a pretty big storage space. Starting out with food you actually eat means nothing is going to get wasted and you’ll have a better idea of what to add to have a good variety.

Storage containers can add up, but doing something as simple as buying steel cut oatmeal in 25 lb bags saves us $150 a year or so. You’ll also be more on the lookout to find things on sale and stock up. One time a coupon came out that made big frozen burritos $.10/each and I filled up a small freezer with them. Lol

 

[RWT]

This has good articles on having a sufficient supply. Be careful it is a rabbit hole.

Modern Survival Blog

Living a preparedness-oriented lifestyle while in the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.

modernsurvivalblog.com

Best advice. Double and triple up on what you already eat as mentioned above. Add a few larger long term items every month.

If you have a LDS store near you it is an easy option to try some of their items. I really like the rice, beans and other large vegetables items to keep at the ranch. Amazing how often we break into them when unexpected non hunting guest show up at camp.

Home Storage Centers

Home storage centers help Church members and others build a basic supply of food for their longer-term home storage needs. There are 101 locations across the United States and Canada, where individuals can purchase food items such as wheat, dry beans, rice, and other products that have been...

providentliving.churchofjesuschrist.org

 

[flathead#2]

Rice, Beans, Salt, Sugar, Flour, Corn meal, Crisco.
Well stocked chest freezer with Fish and Deer.
15 Chickens,
Always something to eat in the garden.
Lots of .22lr and .177, .22 pellets for the air rifles.
Dove, rabbit and squirrel in the back yard.
Church on Sunday.
Yes, the next 4 is going to be interesting.

 

[Weldor]

Most of the the I've tryed is pretty good. Don't know if I would want a steady diet of it though. Lots of sodium.

 

[*zap*]

it is good to have a deep pantry and it is good to have some stuff ready to go if you need to evac. both are good and situations are possible. personal downturn can make a deep pantry pay off big and any type of local disaster may/can make the ready to go pay off big also.

bullets/band aids/beans

 

[HawkCreek]

Mountain House is about the best freeze dried food I've tried. Nothing I'd want to try to love on but it has its place. They are currently running a 50% off sale through their web site.
As was mentioned an LDS store is handy but they ship through their online store for just a little more also of you don't have one local.
We keep a deep pantry but I plan to stretch out meals with the afore mentioned ideas.
Don't forget water.

 

[S-3 ranch]

This has good articles on having a sufficient supply. Be careful it is a rabbit hole.

Modern Survival Blog

Living a preparedness-oriented lifestyle while in the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.

modernsurvivalblog.com

Best advice. Double and triple up on what you already eat as mentioned above. Add a few larger long term items every month.

If you have a LDS store near you it is an easy option to try some of their items. I really like the rice, beans and other large vegetables items to keep at the ranch. Amazing how often we break into them when unexpected non hunting guest show up at camp.

Home Storage Centers

Home storage centers help Church members and others build a basic supply of food for their longer-term home storage needs. There are 101 locations across the United States and Canada, where individuals can purchase food items such as wheat, dry beans, rice, and other products that have been...

providentliving.churchofjesuschrist.org

I’m like to keep the 3 month mountain house container on hand
But a couple flats of LDS caned beans of every type and some rice , oats
A couple of cases of every type of spam and canned tuna
Some canned honey
Are meant for the best long term

Those freeze dried only have 1500 calories per day , and consist mostly of pasta,