What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

I can see one problem, that you will need alot of water if all your food is freeze dried. If the claims of a 30 year shelf life are correct, then I can't see myself spending time canning and dehydrating (although those two practices seem worthwhile to learn).

I've read stories of rice and beans going bad after just months, so I'm really thinking about buying large quantities of freeze dried cans. Although I am sure that it is best to find more than just one method of stockpiling food.

Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

Bomber - those are exactly the reasons I was doing the same - I was still doing the rice and beans and other supplpies as well - but this semed like a great deal to me! Easy to store, less room than cans of beans or tuna (cause the liquid is removed), suppose to be great tasting (which is not the most important thing but a consideration), and people on this site told me they have used them for years and loved them! I got a heck of a decent discount on them too!

Plus, I was told that when they can them, they get the oxygen out which increases the shelf life of the product - and they are used by the Red Cross and Fema and other government agencies (which does not mean they are great but it does suggest they believe the shelf life too!) 30 years is not the longest I have heard - they might up the posted shelf-life, thats what they advertise cause they can claim that without false advertising!

As to the water - I agree.......thats why, in addition to storing water, I bought 2 water purifiers and, in case I break them both, an additional product one can add to water which works better than bleach, no after-taste and purifies the worst water! It will not get rid of things floating in it but you can strain it or filter in thru a coffee filter or even a piece of paper towel, then add the purifying drops.

NOW - I do not work for either company - let me make that clear right off, cause I have seen people trying to help others and get banned cause they had their company's product in their tagline - and I have no interest to get the powers that be in here all worked up, especially when I have nothing to gain by mentioning the products.......again, I do not work for them.....

BUT, IF ANYONE WISHES TO KNOW WHERE I GOT THEM FROM - AND AT DECENT PRICES - PM ME AND I WILL GET YOU THE INFO IN A COUPLE OF DAYS ONCE I GET PERMISSION FROM THOSE PEOPLE!

Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

I'm a big believer in diversifying one's food supply. I keep rice, beans, wheat, sugar, etc., in mylar bags inside plastic food-grade buckets with oxygen absorbers. I have a cabinet of commercially packaged and home-canned foods, and I have a lot of freeze-dried and dehydrated (mostly freeze-dried) food in #10 cans. Like Master Ho, I have water purifiers. The only stories I've heard of rice and beans going bad quickly were cases in which the stuff wasn't probably packaged for long-term storage (most notably, in cases in which it was simply stored in plastic storage crates and got buggy).

The big drawbacks I see with #10 cans are the water requirement, the cost, and the storage space required. The water requirement really isn't that high, and if you have enough water to meet your other daily needs, you'll probably have a few cups for rehydrating foods. Definitely have water purification equipment on hand, though. Cost, especially once shipping is factored in and serving size adjusted (1/2-cup serving size is very small!), is high enough to be a significant factor in the decision to store #10 cans. A year's supply of FD food will cost more than a year's supply of rice, beans, and wheat, but it will offer a lot more variety. A year's worth of food in #10 cans also takes a lot more space to store than a year's supply of rice and beans in buckets. It may also be more obvious should anyone outside your family see them. I keep my cans in metal storage cabinets with doors, so if someone has to come into my basement, they're not going to see shelves and shelves of food.

One more consideration with #10 cans is that if anyone in your group has food sensitivities or certain types of health issues, they may not be able to use the most cost-efficient types of FDs (the prepared meals, such as lasagna, beef stroganoff, etc.). Read labels carefully and try before buying a lot. Many have very high sodium content. Also, with the exception of some AlpineAire meals, which are comparatively expensive, the prepared-meal types of freeze-drieds are loaded with modified food starch, moreso than your average commercially packaged foods. If anyone in your group gets migraines, for example, you're probably going to have to buy your FDs as separate components (cans of chicken, cans of peas, etc.) and avoid certain types (no post-apocalyptic broccoli!). Also, as someone who has done a lot of camping, I've seen a lot of people have some gastric upset after a couple of days of living on FDs. I used to go on month-long expeditions, and I've never seen anyone choose to live on freeze-dried food. Most people didn't want to eat it more than once every 3 or 4 days.

Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

I've done a lot of backpacking and I always took Mountain House. It tastes great, is light weight, easy to prepare, has a long shelf life and is tough for the bears to find. The bears on the Muir trail survive on backpackers food. I can't tell you how many stories I heard about people loosing their food to bears. I had mine tied up in a tree like most others but never had a problem.

Over all, I would say it is quite good. I would avoid the beef stew and the pre-cooked eggs. Others may disagree. The Beef Sroganoff and Rice & Chicken are quite good. I'm having a tough time not opening mine.

There's a guy on warrifles.com who is slowly turning over some MH he bought back in 1981. He's eating one or two #10 cans a year. He reports that it tastes as good as freshly bought product.

In the mountains I never carried more than one quart of water, on my belt. (don't put it in your pack). I was almost always able to find springs. If tshtf and you have to move fast, light weight freezedried is what I'm taking with me. The heavy canned goods etc, gets left behind.

But don't just buy freezedried, I also have canned goods, rice etc. The freezedried is emergency food that will keep you alive when 95% of the population is starving.

The internet is loaded with stories about people who opened pails of stuff they packed 5 years ago only to find bugs or spoilage. I don't want to be in that situation. If done right, you can pack it yourself and it will be fine though. I'm to lazy to do it. I would rather buy mine.

One thing about MH, it's packed in nitrogen. That's how they get the long shelf life. 7 years on foil packs. 30 yr advertised on the #10 cans. However, I've read that MH has sampled 40 year old product and have found it to be fine.

I would buy foil packs at the local sporting/backpacking store and try out several different meals before you buy a large load of it. But really, in a shtf situation all of it will taste pretty good.

It's expensive but: what's your life worth?

It's not high in fat, so I would plan accordingly. I always carried lots of ice tea with sugar. I've heard that sugar is converted into fat by the body. I could be wrong on that point though. Perhaps one meal could be MH and another meal could be high fat canned goods. I would have a variety of food besides the MH though.

Don't be fooled by those who have an ax to grind...

Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??

MSG ............................. and lots of it ...

If you want to prolong shelf life of dried foods get a Seal-a-Meal kit, otherwise use hot ice to purge storage containers.

.

Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

Yup so true. what may be good eats for one, may be nasty to another. always buy a small package to test out before you buy a big case.

Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

The only draw back for freeze dried foods is if you vaccum seal them they crush really easy.

Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

Perhaps just buy MH or another freezedried brand just for bugout. I refer to it as E&E. Just get a few weeks of foil packs. There's no way you can carry 2 weeks of 'regular' food plus all the other gear on your back.

If the grocery store ever runs out of food for more than a couple of weeks, I suspect that we'll see chaos and violence beyond anything we can imagine. Many will be fighting for their lives. I wouldn't worry about any food chemicals at that point.....

Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

So - to summarize - freeze-dried foods are good as an addition to other stored foods and a good chocie to have in case one has to carry food in a bad situation - but, if one has food allergies or sensitivities, be careful as you would with any food purchases?

Is a fair summation?


TO THOSE WHO RESPONDED TO MY POST ABOUT FREEZE-DRIED FOOD AND WATER PURIFIER SOURCE BELOW - give me a couple of days to gather the info and links - I will get back to you about them, probably by Monday - I have to search thru some files to find them!

I will repost that section here for those who are interested:

NOW - I do not work for either company - let me make that clear right off, cause I have seen people trying to help others and get banned cause they had their company's product in their tagline - and I have no interest to get the powers that be in here all worked up, especially when I have nothing to gain by mentioning the products.......again, I do not work for them.....

BUT, IF ANYONE WISHES TO KNOW WHERE I GOT THEM FROM - AND AT DECENT PRICES - PM ME AND I WILL GET YOU THE INFO IN A COUPLE OF DAYS ONCE I GET PERMISSION FROM THOSE PEOPLE!

Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

You would if they disabled you! Some of us, unfortunately, do have to worry about food additives. I agree that for most people the need for convenient and lightweight food would outweigh worries about food additives. I wish I were one of them!

I always post these warnings about FD (and MREs, by the way) because I know how common migraines are, especially among women, and migraines and food additives are a potentially disabling mix. Also, Mountain House is a very popular brand (thanks largely to those same flavor-enhancing additives), and it's one of the worst for migraine sufferers. I just want to make sure that people who may be buying for their families take their families' needs into consideration before dropping a boatload of money on food that may make some family members sick. I urge everyone to make sure everyone they're buying for tries the food before it's bought in large amounts.

Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

The only drawback I see to storing cans of freeze dried foods is that they do not comprise a sustainable way of living. If you are planning on TSHTF and bad times coming for a relatively brief period of time, then store the freeze dried food. If you believe, as I do, that hard times might come and never ever leave, then you'd best learn to garden, can, pickel, ferment and dehydrate your own.

Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

I figure the period is brief, tho I am getting a years worth, but I would think 3 months would be long enough for most forseeable problems.

Anything over a year - thats why I have a gun!

To use on myself! :eek:

Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

Whether the tribulations last a long time or just a little, the real advantage of the freeze dried foods to me is that they allow the addition of real variety to your diet. If the Troubles last only 3 months, it could seem like an eternity if you try to live on beans, wheat, honey and dehydrated milk. The basic food storage plan followed by many would leave me with my own gun to my head before even 3 months had passed.

So, in addition to the basics, I have freeze dried as well. But I'm also gardening, dehydrating and canning in addition to stockpiling. This summer I grew mung beans for the second time because I want a source of sprouts (fresh veggies) that doesn't depend on the local supermart.

Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

I have said, and am doing, about the same - but unfortunately, not all of us are in places and situations where we can grow much. We have a lemon tree, and can grow a few tomatos here - but thats about it........people in apartments can grow even less.......so in those cases the stored rice, beans, tuna, etc can get old and, as you said, the freeze-dried foods will be a welcome blessing, even if its not the sort of thing one generally wants to eat everyday right now!

Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

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Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

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Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

I do understand the problem. While I live in a suburban single-family house, there is room in the backyard for only a small garden (less than 200 square feet). But I think that the skills and knowledge required are really important, so I'm learning how anyway. And one of the things I've learned is that I can increase the production in my garden by succession plantings. Two crops of potatoes in succession. Tomatoes and pepper seedlings planted after the peas come out of the ground in June, for instance. In addition, I plant pole beans on the north edge of the garden because they grow UP -- in this case on poles and netting reaching nearly 12 feet into the air. You'd be surprised how many green beans you can grow in 4 or 5 square feet! And, I've learned that I can grow carrots and onions successfully in large pots on the patio. Apartment dwellers might be able to utilize balcony space. Every little bit helps.

Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

Isn't it astounding how much food 200 square feet can provide?

Not a cornfield, but if you select pick and come again type plants, the upward supported crop space, and succession planting, as you did, a small plot can provide bounty. Squash (yellow summer and zucchini) are so productive they are a gardener's joke. It seems like there are 5 new ones every few hours! :wavey: Come pick us!

I like the yellow because they stand out and I do not miss a green baseball bat size squash. :eek: Besides which, unpicked they signal the plant 'OK. The seeds are made. We can stop now.'

Here potatoes are a winter crop and sweet potatoes a summer crop. But you can grow a LOT.

On MH taste, I'd taste it myself before deciding. I consider it notably less tasty than canned soup or stew which are light years below home cooking. I can eat it, but I would not call it good. But for a change of pace, and ease of preparation, I agree with the positive posters.

On beans and rice going bad -- beans can get hard and take much more soaking and simmering if they are elderly, but that is some years in storage. And they are not ruined. Brown rice can have the fat in the germ go rancid. But if you get the oxygen out by vacuum sealing, the dry ice and seal, or oxygen absorber and seal method, then bugs won't grow even if weevil eggs are in there. If you seal white rice it won't go rancid though it has lost vitamins and is starch and mostly just calories. But you need calories too.

Frankly, not to be gloomy, but to me things like Falluja, Katrina, Gaza, and Lebanon looked like practice runs on disrupting infrastructure and causing massive refugees and misery. Cutting off water was a priority in each case to the attackers or those who kept help out of New Orleans.

So if you can, I think collecting your roof rainwater in a not very obvious way is more vital than food. (A well is even better, but for those in town.) Your cistern can be underground with pipe to the hand powered pump inside, or in a closet, with piping in from behind the downspout on your gutter. Just some non glaring to the passerby way to not have to go outside, yet have water. There could be many reasons to not want to leave home - fake or real pandemic, martial law, short term civil disorder.

I do not think those conditions would last, but I do not want to be forced out into whatever for water.

Check up on your local rainfall patterns to see how big a storage tank you need. We are upgrading from 55 gallons to 500 gallons because we get dry periods. But then you have a replenishing water supply to sanitize and filter.

No plan will meet all contingencies, of course. But if we can sit tight and have food and water here, I know my neighbors and my own ground and how to defend it. The road could be pretty dangerous.

A really great personalized for your family medical kit is another thing I just completed and packed if we needed to toss it in the truck and go. I might start a thread on that topic since I have talked about so many topics on this freeze dried thread. :Sorry:

And I hope we do not need any of it and just eat the beans along and rotate them.

Re: What are the drawbacks to Freeze Dried #10 cans such as Mountain House??
 

Bomber....if you send me a pm, I'll send you a link to a forum that has dedicated a large area to Mountain House products. Over there, you'll get the facts without the bias and other nonsense.

One member suggested putting up a poll where everyone can grade each 'item'. That should be interesting...