Just in case this coronavirus turns bad, would like to have some back up food. In the middle of worlds longest kitchen remodel, so I want stuff that doesn't require cooking. We have camp stove, but limited propane cans. Just looking for something as an immediate supply for right now for about a month. I also at some point need to look at longer term supplies. For the moment something I can buy for under $200 hopefully to feed two for thirty days.

I know you don't want cooking but I would look at freeze-dried meals.

I've eaten Mountain House stuff on many backpacking trips. It's good stuff and all you have to do is add water. Hot water is best but you can use room temperature water, it just takes a little longer and isn't hot when you eat it.

You can get it in large cans with multiple servings or individual sizes. I use individual ones when hiking. Just add water to the pouch and eat right out of it.

+1 on Mountain House. Tastes good and not as loaded with salt as most of them.

Other benefits of Mountain House: freeze dried is much more compact than MREs, and the shelf life is rated at a minimum of 30 years.

Mountain House is what I buy.

Freeze dried tastes good, but while backpacking we always added lots more dry noodles to fill our bellies and prepare for the next day. We used regular store bought noodles.

It won't meet your $200/30 day criteria but I get the authentic MREs online. I like that I know what I'm getting and most of the menus are good. I'd suggest getting both an 'A' case and and 'B' case.
Each case has 12 MREs.
Try to get the pack date 2019 (inspection 2022) or later.

P.S. the MRE pears are quite good

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
For the moment something I can buy for under $200 hopefully to feed two for thirty days.

Sorry, but that's not going to happen with MREs or similar.

MREs are about $60-$80 per case. Each case is 12 MREs. You can figure 2 MREs per person each day, since you're not humping 100 pounds of gear for 20 miles and fighting in combat. So that's about $12 per person per day.

Freeze dried meals like Mountain House will run you $5-$7 per meal. That's about $20 per person per day.

But feeding two people for 30 days (180 total meals) for under $200 would require spending ~$1 per meal, or about $3 per person per day. You're simply not going to get anywhere near that with any sort of ready-to-eat prepper meals.

You'll need to start looking elsewhere.

You could go with something like 50 pound bags of rice and beans from Sams/Costco. That would keep you well under $1 per meal per day, but it will require cooking, it'll get old fast, and it won't last for ultra long-term storage like something like the 30 year freeze dried meals.

Your other option would be to stock up on cheap canned food, which you might be able to stockpile for about $1 per meal (1 or 2 cans of something per person per meal), especially if you're using coupons and waiting for sales and clearances. It won't necessarily require cooking since eating it cold straight out of the can is usually an option, which while it won't be ideal, it's better than starving. And though it won't last 30 years, it'll last a good while.

I drink Huel as a meal replacement twice a day for over two months now.

Comes out to less than $2 a meal, is nutritionally balanced, and doesn't require cooking.

Well, if you're talking meal replacement, give the man what he's asking for...



MRE Meal Replacement

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
I drink Huel as a meal replacement twice a day for over two months now.

Comes out to less than $2 a meal, is nutritionally balanced, and doesn't require cooking.

Thanks for the idea, I'm going to give it a try as a meal replacement for Lunch. 3/4 of the time my day get's too damn busy to eat until well after work.

Another vote for Mountain House. MRE’s don’t have anywhere near the shelf life.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
For the moment something I can buy for under $200 hopefully to feed two for thirty days.

Sorry, but that's not going to happen with MREs or similar.

MREs are about $60-$80 per case. Each case is 12 MREs. You can figure 2 MREs per person each day, since you're not humping 100 pounds of gear for 20 miles and fighting in combat. So that's about $12 per person per day.

Freeze dried meals like Mountain House will run you $5-$7 per meal. That's about $20 per person per day.

But feeding two people for 30 days (180 total meals) for under $200 would require spending ~$1 per meal, or about $3 per person per day. You're simply not going to get anywhere near that with any sort of ready-to-eat prepper meals.

You'll need to start looking elsewhere.

You could go with something like 50 pound bags of rice and beans from Sams/Costco. That would keep you well under $1 per meal per day, but it will require cooking, it'll get old fast, and it won't last for ultra long-term storage like something like the 30 year freeze dried meals.

Your other option would be to stock up on cheap canned food, which you might be able to stockpile for about $1 per meal (1 or 2 cans of something per person per meal), especially if you're using coupons and waiting for sales and clearances. It won't necessarily require cooking since eating it cold straight out of the can is usually an option, which while it won't be ideal, it's better than starving. And though it won't last 30 years, it'll last a good while.

Looks like I had no idea what I am asking about.

Given the cost. Maybe I should consider a case of MREs, some Mountain House meals, and some canned soup, etc and raise the budget some.

Using the above and considering one meal and one small meal/snack/shared meal per day per person, what would be a cost effective solution to accomplish the reserves? What is a more realistic budget?

just buy more of whatever you normally eat

rice
canned soups like chunky soups w/ meat (Chunky Soup has a tremendous variety)
crackers
peanut butter
ramen
beans
pasta / pasta sauce / noodles
bottled water / drink mix (like powdered flavoring)
etc

I'm not a fan of buying stuff you don't otherwise use

just increase the on-hand quantities of the usual items and rotate accordingly

very easy to keep 30 days + of non-perishables that way

obviously it gets tricker with perishables like fruit vegetables so you can go canned for those...

re expiration dates : have eaten soups years past the expiration date with no ill effect. ymmv

-----------------------------------

decent tasting and MREs are a paradox and is like finding a gold crapping unicorn.

Instant oatmeal (add raisins, blueberries or your berry of choice and a packet of honey for taste), instant soups (add water and heat)are cheap alternatives. With canned soups for long tern preps you need to have a system for cans to be rotated and used before expiration dates.

MREs require certain storage requirements and are ok if you store them right but also plan on using them in the next year or so. Got to keep them in the box to help store, but once out of the box, pain in the butt to store. If using in a go bag, strip them down to streamline them.

Mountain House is my preferred long term storage food. I have both the big can 25 year shelf life ones and the the backpacking ones ( pick them up when they are on sale).

The LDS aka Mormons have some great info on long term food storage:

LDS Food Storage

LDS On Line Shop

Another thumbs up for Mountain House. I have Mountain House stored in the basement. A LOT. It's just me & Mrs Cliff. We've broken some pouches open for dinner, and I now have to watch Mrs Cliff because she wants to just heat up some pouches every once in a while cutting into the supply
We have tried other brands. Don't quite taste like shit spread on cardboard, but not as good as Mountain house.

Something else to consider. Water. Water is life. I have a BUNCH of filled 5 gallon water containers stored away. YMMV as far as storage,but water is more important to me then food.
Sig209 makes some good points regarding buying more of whatever you eat. Stocking up on his list and rotating is very doable even on a budget.
This is what I have for water storage along with a preserver for longtime storage.



You can also buy Mountain house locally at places like Dicks, Cabela's, even Walmart. If you sign up for their newsletter on their site you get notifications of sales, etc.

MRE's are fine in a very short emergency pinch but, you'll get really tired of them knowing there was other options available not to mention they're the most expensive option. I keep a couple in my truck and BUG bag but, that's it.

If freeze-dried is where you're thinking, just know that it'll cost you more than if you spent a weekend preparing your own kit with stuff from a supermarket. Also, both MRE & freeze-dried stuff will take its toll on your intestinal system, so, pack a lot of prunes or, trail mix to...help things along.

Mountain House, Backpacker's Pantry, and Alpine Aire are the big three brands, all offer complete meals or, a la carte set-ups. There's a handful of smaller brands that have filled the niche where the big-3 don't do well or, offer.

Valley Food Storage I've been considering for a home kit. Heard them awhile back on the Fieldcraft Survival Podcast. They have pre-made kits, can do custom kits for you and accommodate dietary restrictions.

Just buy more canned goods, ramin, and other stuff you may actually enjoy eating at home.

Fuck MREs and that stuff you'll never want to eat - just stock up on regular non-perishable food.

Thats what we do for Hurricane Seasons and then we eat it down over the winter when my son is home, then replenish - but we always have 2-4 weeks of food at home, if not more.

Rogue is spot on above....

Ive been looking into this for a few years now. MRE's and freeze dried food are way too expensive for what you are trying to accomplish. Your budget is flat blown if you think you can get a month or two worth's for cheap. You cant.

Sams will sell you a 50 pound bag of rice for $16.98 and a 50 pound bag of beans for $34.98. 100 pounds of food for $51.96 and that wont last as long as you think.

The 50 pound bag or rice has 80,640 calories total. The 50 pound bag of beans has 51,840 calories. That's only 33 days worth of food for two adults at 2000 calories per day, per adult.

10 pound (or larger) bags of pancake mix sell at Sams for $6.58, and has 16,100 calories per ten pound bag. Get a couple of those, a couple jugs of pancake syrup, and you got some delicious pancakes instead of rice every day. Its probably the second cheapest meal to rice/beans, currently available.

Big jugs of olive oil and cooking oil has a tremendous amount of calories, per serving, and per dollar spent. Obviously you don't want to drink the stuff, but adding a tablespoon worth of olive/canola oil to your rice meal prep a few times per week adds fat calories and just calories as well. Fat is a required nutrient for brain health long term, especially if you are just eating rice and squirrels for months on end....

Buy flats of canned vegetables at your budget grocer for 50 cents per can. You can get flats of canned chili to dump on your rice for 89 cents per can. Canned chicken or mushroom soup at 50 cents per can to flavor your rice. Taste pretty good, easy to make, affordable, taste better than an MRE... And dont forget a couple flats of canned fruits as well.

This virus has had me stocking up at every trip to the store. I now purchase at least 2 extra flats of soup/vegetables/canned pasta/chili, etc, when I go to the store. Its good for 2-3 years in the can and I practice first in, first out dating at my house so I eat the oldest cans first.

And dont forget to buy a LOT of seasoning. Salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, these types of things can drastically improve the taste of long term storage food items that are very bland and flat gross by themselves without seasoning.

I had considered buying the 50 pound bags of rice and of beans, etc.

It’s a hassle to repack those into buckets, etc and store, and nowhere near as good as #10 cans.

I decided it was much much better to buy the #10 cans of those items at the local LDS Food Storage.

The price is excellent and the quality is too.

The refried beans are pretty decent too.

They sell to anyone, no questions asked. I’m not LDS and have always been treated kindly and courteously by them.

Now if someone could figure out a way to package coffee for long term storage!

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