freeze dried supplies

[dibley]

I have a question for you "to buy normal cans or beans and rice , or prep with instant freeze dried.? "
we have been looking at the Mountain House range of freeze dried food it seems a quick and long lasting way of building a base for the food storage. What do you think of them and have you used them? Is this just a quick fix or does it have merit.

We tried the sachets on our summer camping excursion, the kids liked some of the meals and it was easy however long term it would be a bit samey in terms of texture but tasty all the same. I was thinking this would help with the rice beans and grains.

I am also enticed by the 25year shelf life of the large cans.

[preppingsu]

At the moment we just stock tinned and dried food, most of it are items that the family like and eat. I have added a few other items for variety/bartering/sharing etc.

[the-gnole]

All depends on what you are prepping for, if you are laying stuff down for 20 years then some things are better than others, but a lot of folks are looking at short term disruptions and some levels of financial hardship so only look at three, six, nine or twelve months of stores which they rotate their way through replacing and renewing as they go.

Budget is also a consideration with many, the simpler day to day stocking of regular goods is far cheaper than going for the de-hydrated type meals that MH and camping type stores sell.

[Brambles]

+1 on what The Gnole said. Food fatigue is a big thing when you have to consider children. They may have liked it for a few meals while camping. But can you guarantee they'll feel the same way after a month? I think most of us here have our suppies in various forms. Not relying on one specific way of storage is a part of prepping, not having all your eggs in one basket, so to speak.

[Technik]

Prep what you eat, eat what you prep.

[Bladerunner]

If you can afford Mountain House and you have the room to store it, get as much as you can. Get as many different flavours to avoid the boredom of it though.

Only down side I can see (other than the price) is that once you open a tin you have to eat it relatively quickly which means the same meal for a few days on the trot.

I would not depend solely on this as your preps, obviously, but food that lasts 25 years cannot be a bad thing to have in your stores.

Be lucky (and prepped till 2037)

[Grunter]

The Mountain House food looks good, although like Bladerunner has already stated once the tin is opened it has to be eaten within days.
When funds allow i will probably get one of their smaller bulk packs because i love the fact that i can then forget about it for 25 years.
I have 5 mouths to feed and once my stock levels are where i want them rotating them all will take a bit of time so these will make it easier.
Also been looking at MRE's for a bit of a change, they can give a full days calories and dont need much water at all to heat the food up.

[AberdeenshirePrepper]

I would say that the Mountain house brand is good simply because of the fact that you can buy it then leave it for 25 years and know your food stores are stocked. It is a very easy and efficient way to food prep.

I would get it but also continue to stock other things for a bit of variety.

[Yogi1kanobee]

I recently bought a couple of cases of Mountain House stuff. We may get a couple more in spring, thought I don't think we would get any more than that.

We bought a sample pack to try all 10 main meals, some are better than others. I think that if you are going to invest in Mountain House food it's worth the £40 to try them all first, as its far from a cheap way of prepping. We see it as a couple of months of emergency emergency food.

BTW - it say on the pack to add water and leave for 8 - 10 minutes. Well, you really need to give them at least 20 minutes otherwise they will still have crunchy bits....

[ready]

personally i think when the shtf we will be happy to eat anything, i dont think people will be worried about getting bored with the same food for a week.