I’m Getting Ready to Order a Large Food Unit

Discussion in 'General Survival and Preparedness' started by swamper, Mar 7, 2008.


  1. swamper

    swamper Monkey++

    Hi everyone, this is my first post here.

    I’m planning on ordering a couple of large dehydrated and freeze dried food units. Now I know a lot of people pack their own long-term food supply (because of the $avings) but I’m just getting started and I don’t feel I have the time to start learning that from scratch. The situation in America is getting worse with each passing month and I think it is better to have a good stock of professionally prepared food supplies on order rather then looking for buckets, absorbers, bulk grains and hoping that I’ve done it correctly. Nothing could be worse then opening a bucket during an emergency situation only to find that the food spoiled because you were a newbie when you packed it.

    We are a household of four adults with little to no preps. I think the first step is to order a six month food supply as well as a Berky. My plan is to get one order of dehydrated that needs to be manually prepared (like the stuff Walton Feed sells) and another order of freeze dried that can be prepared much more easily. I’m hoping that this will provide the best variety for the dollar.

    I’m thinking of getting “Security FoodPak 1” from Pleasant Hill Grain:

    http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/foodpak1.aspx

    And the “Deluxe Freeze Dried 3 Month Supply for 4 People” from the Internet Grocer:

    http://www.internet-grocer.net/3mo-4mh.htm

    The reason I’m considering Pleasant Hill instead of Walton Feed is because I hear Walton is overwhelmed with orders right now and I don’t want to wait forever to get my stuff.

    I know that buying this stuff is just the beginning and I will need to add more items, like cooking oil and a grain mill, but I think it’s a good start.

    Any thoughts or advice? Has anyone here ever dealt with these companies before?
     
  2. E.L.

    E.L. Moderator of Lead Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    First off, welcome to the forum. I am glad to hear that you are seriously considering your preparations.

    While I cannot help you with dehydrated food products I am sure that others here can, you may also want to look at one of the vendors that advertises here: http://www.safecastleroyal.com/main.sc

    He sells a lot of Mountain House products. These products are freeze dryed instead of dehydrated. I, along with others on this board can attest to the quality of the Mountain House products.

    Again, welcome to the forum.
     
  3. swamper

    swamper Monkey++

    Thanks E.L., that site you linked looks good. I'm going to take a look at what they have
     
  4. TnAndy

    TnAndy Senior Member Founding Member

    You might also look at Honeyville....they have a limited range of product, but they had the best price on freeze dried strawberries I could find.

    I ordered some a few weeks back one morning, and it shipped the same day !

    http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=286

    Shipping is only 4.49 per order, no matter how much you order......yeah, I know you are paying in the price of the goods, but when you find they have a good price on some items, the cheap shipping just sweetens the deal.
     
  5. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    I would mentiona couple of thoughts. First off if you decide to order from Safecastle, it would likely help you out to PM him here before placeing your order as he often offers a bit more of a discount to members here and if you are placeing an order for 4 folks for 6 months that could add up. My other thught would be that you would likely do well to also order a SMALL amount of the things you are considering first and TRY them before you get 6 months worth. If the stuff isnt eadible due to just plain nasty, alergys or whatever then it would be a waste and that also is something you wouldnt want to find out when its your only option.

    For a 6 month supply you might even consider just looking at what you already eat and stock up on THAT. Canned goods and dry goods will almost all keep for at least a couple of years, so if you just set aside a large closet or some such to store it in and rotate it out you could have the same type of foods (minus the fresh milk, meat and veggies) you eat now for the first 6 months or a year. Then each time you go to the store just put the new stuff in the back of the long term storage and bring the old stuff into the kitchen for use.

    Im not sure what your liveing situation is (apartment, house with a yard in town, house in rural area with acerage, etc) but for me, liveing on 13 acres, our plan is to try to keep stores of what we already eat to a level where we could eat off them untill we could start harvesting from the garden again and keep some small animals on the hoof (goats, rabbits, chickens) so could butcher them and be able to have a perpetual food supply.

    BTW, Welcome to the forum. Hope this is helpful and that you jump in with any other questions or thoughts you might have. Theres also a wealth of information already posted and plenty of folks with every kind of knowledge around here to discuss anything not already posted or rehash what is.
     
  6. JC Refuge

    JC Refuge Emergency Essentials Store Vendor

    Hi Swamper. Welcome to Survivalmonkey.

    http://safecastleroyal.com/product.sc?categoryId=77&productId=316

    Linked above is just one of many food packages we offer. This one and a 12-month version are fully stand-alone nutritional packages that provide what you need to survive in foods that you are likely used to eating and will enjoy. These packages are shipped only to our buyers club members and shipping is free to the lower 48. Most of it ships immediately (a few of the Mountain House cases are on backorder and will ship in a few weeks).

    One very unique feature of this package and the related 12-month package is that you can opt to pay for the 6 modules over a time period of your choosing (at no extra charge).

    Please let me know if you have any questions.
     
  7. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    One thing I forgot to bring up, what is your water source? I would assume you have already considered it but have known some folks who didntbut you will need a bunch more water to be able to rehydrate freeze dried or dehydrated foods than you would just for drinking and if your on city water or some such with no well/spring then water would be a huge concern and even more urgent. I know we haul our water from town and in the winter are frequently running just from barrels of water (pipes freeze a lot so just use mostly the barrels a lot of times) and we conserve to a level most would find uncomfortable. For a family of 3 a 60 gallon barrel of water still only lasts around 10 days at most and thats with a LARGE portion of the drinking being soft drinks and such that dont come out of that. If you do ANY laundry even with a wringer washer or was tub (either uses a fraction of the water a modern washing machine dose) then you figure a barrel for laundry day or close to it.

    Even if it dont apply to you figure its worth posting for the info of lurkers. To be realistic, if you were going to store water for a family of 4 for 6 months you would need at LEAST 1,600 gallons. At that you are looking at bathing once a week from a 5 gallon bucket and shareingthe unused water, recycleing water (dishes rinse water becomes wash water becomes water for plants or washing/flushing toilet, etc), wearing clothes for a few days betwen washings, laundry in wash tubs again recycleing second rinse to first rine to wash and wash to other uses, etc. Basicly for 1600 gallons to last 4 people 6 months you dont waste ANY and make sure to be creative. If its rehydrateing all the food then would need to add at LEAST 300-400 gallons more to be reasonably safe. We only lightly conserve when we have the pump running and pump from our 550 gallon tank and with moderate conservation (what most would consider heavy conservation) a tank lasts 3 of us about 2-3 weeks.
     
  8. MTdriver

    MTdriver Monkey++

    Swamper, I've been doing a ton of research myself in regards to long term food storage and of all the different company's products Pleasant Hills has the finest, not to mention the best $. The bottom line when it comes down to food supplies, you need diversity & nutrition. PH's food provides both. Good luck gathering those preps!
     
  9. Blackjack

    Blackjack Monkey+++

    Pleasant Hills doesn't have freeze dried though. Mountain House and Provident Pantry Freeze Dried foods (available through safecastle and others) have a 35 year shelf life, like 7 times longer than dehydrated.

    Not that there isn't a place in your preps for both.

    btw, welcome to the monkey, Swamper...... and MTdriver (I see that was your first post).
     
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