Freeze dried Food
- Thread starter SC-Texas
- Start date
The #1 community for Gun Owners in Texas
Member Benefits:
Fewer Ads! Discuss all aspects of firearm ownership Discuss anti-gun legislation Buy, sell, and trade in the classified section Chat with Local gun shops, ranges, trainers & other businesses Discover free outdoor shooting areas View up to date on firearm-related events Share photos & video with other members ...and so much more!
Member Benefits:
.png)
Mexican_Hippie
TGT Addict
I've tried some. It's usually edible but bland.
I sell Shelf Reliance's Thrive line of foods. Started using it when I was working in Nigeria and needed a good way to bring veggies across the pond and didn't want to pack up 300# of canned goods. LOVE IT! When I'm home I cook with it regularly, and I especially love the vegetables.
I may or may not have a good stash that you can pick through, SC. I will be back in Houston the first of August....want me to put you together something?
Shameless plug -
www.thegerd.shelfreliance.com
I may or may not have a good stash that you can pick through, SC. I will be back in Houston the first of August....want me to put you together something?
Shameless plug -
www.thegerd.shelfreliance.com
I second Shelf Reliance. Ordered a 6 month supply (for 2 people) from Costco a number of years ago...ya know, just in case. Anyway, been happy so far. We've ordered individual cans from them since then to use more regularly. Their sausage crumbles are great in breakfast tacos or if you want to get your nostalgia on and do the school-lunch pizzas. My wife and daughter LOVE the yogurt bites. I would stay away from the TVPs though (Textured Vegetable Proteins) except for affordable proteins for the zombie apocalypse (when taste is not going to be super high on the priority list). If you are wanting to slowly go through this stuff for general eating here and there, invest in real meat proteins 
Also, the cans say to use within 1-2 years after opening, but when my wife asked a booth at a gun show if we vacuum sealed them back up, would it go back to being 20-25 years, the lady responded "I'm not allowed to answer questions like that, but I can say when the food is in the sealed air tight can, it lasts 20-25 years. I think there was a wink thrown in there for good measure. At any rate, if you open something to try it out, just vacuum seal it up and should last longer. Maybe not the 20-25 years, but longer than a year or two. And while we're at it, the sausage crumble in my pantry has been open 2+ years and it still tastes just fine.
Okay, I'll stop rambling now. Have fun
Also, the cans say to use within 1-2 years after opening, but when my wife asked a booth at a gun show if we vacuum sealed them back up, would it go back to being 20-25 years, the lady responded "I'm not allowed to answer questions like that, but I can say when the food is in the sealed air tight can, it lasts 20-25 years. I think there was a wink thrown in there for good measure. At any rate, if you open something to try it out, just vacuum seal it up and should last longer. Maybe not the 20-25 years, but longer than a year or two. And while we're at it, the sausage crumble in my pantry has been open 2+ years and it still tastes just fine.
Okay, I'll stop rambling now. Have fun
this times 100
Mountain House foods taste great and you can go to wally world and buy some of the smaller packets in the camping section and try them to see which ones you like best.
Don't waste money on Wise. I did. I have about 4 buckets of that stuff and we only like about 3 or 4 of the entrees. Some of it taste plain out nasty. I guess I'll choke it down if I have too, but I won't be buying any more Wise.
Freeze Dry Guy also has a brand called Saratoga Farms, they have great hash browns and others bulk staples like eggs and milk. their quality is good also and they have some things that MH does not
Mexican_Hippie
TGT Addict
If you're used to good food anything freeze dried is a disappointment.
Grow some herbs or fresh tomatoes to mix in and that will kick things up a notch. It's not gonna be the same as fresh caught salmon with some dill you just picked out of your garden. Gotta readjust expectations a little.
It's meant to be use in emergencies.
Tejano Scott
TGT Addict
Certain things from Mountain are really good. I have several of their number 10 cans as my temp emergency food stash. I also have some stuff from Backpackers Pantry, which is as good or slightly better than Mountain House on some items.
I also just placed a decent sized order from Hawk Vittles. Instead of freeze dried, it's dehydrated. Lots less sodium and supposed to be outstanding. Got my order shipped pretty quick. I got a few extra packs of stuff to try out, but I haven't yet. It looks pretty good. Downside of dehydration over freeze dried is shelf life. The Number 10 cans can last 20 years. The freeze dried Mountain House/Backpackers Pantry pouches are said to be good for 7 years. The Hawk vittles are good for 1 year. So perhaps these would be better suited for a backpacking trip where you can't pack a large load of food into where you're going.
http://hawkvittles.com
anybody try these? www.packitgourmet.com/
I got good results with both Wise Food Storage and Mayday. WFS was really good but it requires a lot of water to cook, however it can last a lot longer than most other emergency foods out there. Mayday requires no water and actually does not make you thirsty when you eat it but is only good for about 3 years. Also Mayday isn't very flavorful.
Mexican_Hippie
TGT Addict
Trick question. MREs are never good.
I believe about 10yrs is fine, but I'm pretty sure it depends on how they're stored (e.g. inside vs hot attic)
I believe about 10yrs is fine, but I'm pretty sure it depends on how they're stored (e.g. inside vs hot attic)
ROGER4314
Been Called "Flash" Since I Was A Kid!
I thought back to the days following our direct hit with that monster IKE. I was hungry and a co-worker gave me an MRE. I'm not a fan of MRE's but I tore into that rascal like a hungry wolf!
Lesson learned? The girls get prettier at closing time and emergency food tastes better with each day that passes beyond your last meal.
Flash
Lesson learned? The girls get prettier at closing time and emergency food tastes better with each day that passes beyond your last meal.
Flash
The brand I have stored (SoPakCo) are labeled as 3 year shelf life. I have eaten them at over 7 years old though without any ill effects and couldn't really tell a difference. I keep them stored inside and would have no worries about keeping them 10 years.
Well, since I sling the stuff, I tried to keepquiet...mods if this post is considered advertising, please delete it.
The Thrive line of freeze dried foods average shelf life is 20-25 years. Mostof it is 25, some of it (meat that has high fat content, like pork and turkey)have shorter shelf lives of around 5-7 years IIRC. Most of it is good for ayear after opening, again with the high fat items going bad before the others.
They freeze dry it so hard that it will pull the moisture out of the air. I recentlywanted to make some veggie quinoa, hadn't made it in a long time, and I wentfor an opened #10 can of carrots in the pantry. When I grabbed it, it didn'tfeel right, and sure enough, the carrots had sucked the humidity out of the airand swollen up. Thing was, they still tasted ok.....then it occurred to me thatI didn't remember the last time I'd cooked with them. It had to have been atleast 18 months, since I'd been in Canada for work for so long. I still decidednot to use them, just out of an overabundance of caution, but if it was 3 daysafter Ike, They'd have been boiled up with bullion and some of the freeze driedchicken slices to make soup for my neighborhood.
When I was working in Nigeria, I would dump #10 cans of Thrive into vacuumsealed bags (so I could sneak them by customs in Nigeria) and the stuff keptgood for over a year....a few months back, one of my coworkers brought back asuitcase of my stuff, and there were 3-4 bags of Thrive veggies and freezedried cheese in it.....because the opened bags had been rolled up and kept thefood from having direct contact with the atmosphere, it was still GTG.
As far as taste goes.... When I was in Africa, the only real taste issue thatwe ran into was having to realize that we were all so used to our meals beingsalted to the hilt, and there is nothing at all added to Thrive foods. Westarted salting our meals, and any murmurs died out. We also learned, whenmaking shepard’s pie out of all freeze dried stuff, that the hamburger crumbleshad had so much fat washed off before freeze drying, that it was lacking a bitin flavor. But take the fat out of steak, and it loses flavor, too. Heck, mostrestaurants add butter to steaks to make them pop, so it's not the fault of thefood, and we all agreed that it was probably better for us anyhow.
NOW...the downside.....if you don't know how to cook, you may well hate it.
There are a few prepackaged "Just add water" meals that are soldunder the Thrive name, but 95% of what they sell is raw ingredients. Thecompany is run by Mormons (they won't sell dates, for example, and last Ichecked, they still didn't do coffee), and they are straight up preppers. Keepa year's worth of food on hand at all times.
IMHO, if you are serious about prepping, long shelf life, and having wholesomefood on hand, this is the way to go. If you want to have some stuff around soyou feel better about yourself, do your taste tests and pick up a few cases ofwhat you like the most.
If anyone is interested in this product, please PM me and I'll figure out a wayto get a sample to you.....If it's something you are interested in, I'd love tocome and cook up some of my stash for you to see what it's about. When I'mhome, I seriously do eat this stuff every day. It's the closest I've found tofresh-from-the-garden veggies ever, and the meats, cheeses, yogurts, and allthe other stuff is good enough....kids love it!
Like I said, if you are interested, you know where to find me.
The Thrive line of freeze dried foods average shelf life is 20-25 years. Mostof it is 25, some of it (meat that has high fat content, like pork and turkey)have shorter shelf lives of around 5-7 years IIRC. Most of it is good for ayear after opening, again with the high fat items going bad before the others.
They freeze dry it so hard that it will pull the moisture out of the air. I recentlywanted to make some veggie quinoa, hadn't made it in a long time, and I wentfor an opened #10 can of carrots in the pantry. When I grabbed it, it didn'tfeel right, and sure enough, the carrots had sucked the humidity out of the airand swollen up. Thing was, they still tasted ok.....then it occurred to me thatI didn't remember the last time I'd cooked with them. It had to have been atleast 18 months, since I'd been in Canada for work for so long. I still decidednot to use them, just out of an overabundance of caution, but if it was 3 daysafter Ike, They'd have been boiled up with bullion and some of the freeze driedchicken slices to make soup for my neighborhood.
When I was working in Nigeria, I would dump #10 cans of Thrive into vacuumsealed bags (so I could sneak them by customs in Nigeria) and the stuff keptgood for over a year....a few months back, one of my coworkers brought back asuitcase of my stuff, and there were 3-4 bags of Thrive veggies and freezedried cheese in it.....because the opened bags had been rolled up and kept thefood from having direct contact with the atmosphere, it was still GTG.
As far as taste goes.... When I was in Africa, the only real taste issue thatwe ran into was having to realize that we were all so used to our meals beingsalted to the hilt, and there is nothing at all added to Thrive foods. Westarted salting our meals, and any murmurs died out. We also learned, whenmaking shepard’s pie out of all freeze dried stuff, that the hamburger crumbleshad had so much fat washed off before freeze drying, that it was lacking a bitin flavor. But take the fat out of steak, and it loses flavor, too. Heck, mostrestaurants add butter to steaks to make them pop, so it's not the fault of thefood, and we all agreed that it was probably better for us anyhow.
NOW...the downside.....if you don't know how to cook, you may well hate it.
There are a few prepackaged "Just add water" meals that are soldunder the Thrive name, but 95% of what they sell is raw ingredients. Thecompany is run by Mormons (they won't sell dates, for example, and last Ichecked, they still didn't do coffee), and they are straight up preppers. Keepa year's worth of food on hand at all times.
IMHO, if you are serious about prepping, long shelf life, and having wholesomefood on hand, this is the way to go. If you want to have some stuff around soyou feel better about yourself, do your taste tests and pick up a few cases ofwhat you like the most.
If anyone is interested in this product, please PM me and I'll figure out a wayto get a sample to you.....If it's something you are interested in, I'd love tocome and cook up some of my stash for you to see what it's about. When I'mhome, I seriously do eat this stuff every day. It's the closest I've found tofresh-from-the-garden veggies ever, and the meats, cheeses, yogurts, and allthe other stuff is good enough....kids love it!
Like I said, if you are interested, you know where to find me.
Members online
- JackOfAllTrades
- Axxe55
- innominate
- mclipp
- TwentyFive
- no2gates
- HtownARAK
- Texasgordo
- Wmb556
- madwildcat
- Otto_Mation
- Gun_ner
- Polkwright
- Darqhelmet
- Johnny Diamond
- or.slacker
- PoolBoy22
- jgillaspy
- ULEWZ
- TXDANG
- kbaxter60
- Curt Gunner
- prisondoc
- zackmars
- msharley
- jonathan.lestingi
- texcross
- CentexGunner82
- Coonan357
- 1911'S 4 Me
- pcswann
- Ausländer
- recoveringyankee
- justmax
- runnin2live
- Shuutr
- overlookh
- MikePotts
- RickLovesBacon
- Noggin
- Wataman
- ZX9RCAM
- usmcpmi
- TXAZ
- D0ntTr3@d0nM3
- TX LR308
- Bigguy
- Roscoe
- Armybrat
- Fullretard
