Customer Reviews

Emergency Survival Food Supply 275 Meal Pack

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

Fast delivery and I'm happy to have a stash of emergency food. But, the packaging is a little misleading. It's not 275 individual servings. It's 55 packets that contains 5 servings. So you either need to cook 5 servings at a time or have a way to measure, divide, and store the 5 servings between meals. Not a big deal but just be aware. Overall, I hope to never need to use this product!

Some info to make deciding whether or not to purchase: this bucket comes with 275 servings of food. However, as another reviewer noted, the food is packaged in servings of 5. What the other reviewer did not note is that the servings are relatively small: I computed that the average calorie count per serving is 128. Assuming a 2000 calorie diet, this means that you might be eating 15 servings of this food every day in an emergency situation, which works out to about 18 days of food.

That's less than I expected out of 275 servings, but this is still a huge, cheap, long lasting bucket of food. I haven't tasted any of the food, nor do I plan to for the next 19 years or so :) For now I'm definitely still glad I bought it!

Let me start by saying that For Your Health products (such as instant rice, dehydrated pinto beans, and whey milk) are also available at Costco. The nice thing about buying it there is that if you don't like it, you can take it back.

I have mixed feelings about this (and similar) products that I categorize as "survival food." If you are looking to buy a bucket of food that is to be put up on a shelf and only pulled down under the most dire of circumstances, then this product is fine. The food is in small servings, and is edible enough.

However, stockpiling "survival" food is usually wasteful and unnecessary. It is much better to simply increase your stockpile of "regular" food (e.g., canned veggies, rice, beans, boxed foods, shelf-stable milk, etc.). Nearly all store bought canned and boxed foods have a shelf life of many months to several years - detailed shelf life tables are online or in my handbook. I recommend establishing a 30-day minimum food stockpile - no tubs of beef jerky or crates of tuna. Just regular food that you keep rotated. With this level of supplies, you can feed your family a balanced diet through nearly any event, and that includes hurricanes, floods, pandemics, widespread blackouts, etc. It is true that you wouldn't be ready for truly world-changing events, such as if an asteroid hits the planet and destroys all civilization as we know it, but I would argue that being worried about highly unlikely events is counterproductive to a productive life. It's much better to be prepared for likely threats.

I fully understand that many people believe that 30 days of food is totally inadequate, and that's fine, stockpile more. But keep in mind that the average American eats 2,100 pounds of food per year. So keeping 30 days of food for a family of five might be about 1,000 pounds of food - definitely requiring a little creative thinking to store in most homes.

The bottom line is that the For Your Health products are perfectly acceptable food products, but unlikely to ever actually be eaten. You would be better served by shoring up your daily food supply. Just my opinion; you decide for yourself.

Please be kind enough to indicate if reviews are helpful.

Written by Arthur Bradley, author of "Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family."

First, there is a place for having some emergency food on hand that has a very long shelf life and this is one of the better deals out there that you will find. After my first purchase of this emergency survival food supply bucket I was satisfied enough that I ordered a second one. It was very fast delivery and packaged right. The buckets are stackable and the contents individually sealed. I think it has enough variety to be workable. Yes, you can buy these at costco for the same price but you have to pay costco for membership.

Here's my thoughts. As other reviews state, this is not 275 servings sealed in 275 bags. It's actually 55 bags with 5 servings each. This probably isn't the only solution for food storage out there as people's specific food needs can vary. Again, if you are considering this you are probably thinking of only a few scenarios where you would ever use this, and you are probably buying it as an insurance policy thus hoping you don't have to use it. With a 20 year shelf life, if stored properly, it lasts far longer than canned groceries and would work for that.

So I think there is a place for a couple of these buckets on hand. Think of them as your long term food solution. Stack it in a dark, cool place in the basement and forget it. But I definitely wouldn't go overboard. You need to consider your short term food storage needs. While these are great and I recommend them, they aren't super cost effective or varied enough for a short term emergency food solution.

What I do for my family and what I recommend for you is that you augment these with a good dose of canned goods and other normal groceries and household items that your family already uses. Most canned goods last 2-3 years and can be rotated into your normal stock at any time. For example, you can buy canned corn, green beans, mixed veggies, mixed fruit, pinto beans, soups, diced tomatoes, canned chili, tamales in chili, tomato sauce, dry pasta, rice, peanut butter, power bars, canned chicken, tuna, honey, etc, etc...just look at the date's imprinted on the can or package to determine approximate shelf life. You can also find shelf life guidelines on the web. Then rotate them into your current stock if they gets closer to expiring. Also, don't forget that you need water. A case of 28 16.5 oz bottles of water can be purchased for under $4. Bottled water in proper storage conditions should last a year and a half or so.

If you buy a little bit of extra groceries here and there and a bucket or two of these, you will quickly build up a backup food pantry that you can use at any time.

This is our second "Emergency Survival Food Supply" and it rounds us out to roughly a month of food for my family of four. We opened ours and tried the Potato Soup so we would have an idea of what to expect if we ever had to actually rely on these. Here are my observations:

Pros -
+ Convenient Storage; comes packed in a 5 gallon bucket
+ Convenient Packaging; each meal comes in 5 serving foil pouches (see picture in "Customer Images") and, at least for the Potato Soup, that is accurate
+ Good Flavor; my family was actually somewhat surprised about how good the Potato Soup tasted
+ Filling; the heavy carb load on these (19g to 40g) makes for a filling meal (the Potato soup thickened nicely)
+ Easy to Make; just add water (we have stored one week of water and have several water purification methods)
+ 20 Year Shelf Life; we put this in our basement next to our "Bug-out Bag"

Cons -
- We tried the Potato Soup because the edge of it was slightly opened where it was trapped under the lid, but all of the others were properly sealed
- Hard to remove the storage bucket lid, we had to use pliers, a screwdriver, and wire cutters to get it off
- 5 servings per pouch doesn't really work too well for our family of four since once it is open it would hard to store and later prepare, so we have taken that into account and will just divide each one four ways

This is one of the items that we hope to never actually need, but is comforting to have on hand.

Recommended

CFH

I have purchased this product and can say that overall it is a good deal regardless of where you buy it. However, there are other options available that I like better and feel are superior. The servings are quite small so in reality, rather than 5 serving per pouch, if you are an adult it is more like 2 "everyday" serving per pouch. Of course in a true emergency you would ration and eat smaller servings. Also review the nutritional values and ingredients from several similar products.

As for the price going up after the Japan disaster, if you search online for emergency food products you will soon find that there is an 8 week plus backlog in orders from almost every supplier out there. People are waking up to the fact that the security we have enjoyed in the United States is currently just not there. But it's not JUST Japan. There is a food shortage and food prices are increasing all over the world, oil prices are skyrocketing which causes transportation costs to go up, the Middle East is exploding, most national economies are struggling, and the US dollar is in a free fall. It's all coming home. The US has been typically isolated from these things but that is changing and changing quickly. So yes, as the law of supply and demand dictates, prices are going up and this is more reason to buy now while you still can. Because believe me when I say that we haven't seen anything yet. It's only going to get worse!

I have a store of about 6 months of everyday canned and box food as well as supplies of Pinto beans, rice, flour, etc that we use and rotate. If food prices continue to go up significantly or there is a disruption in supply we are covered for a while. I also have 6 or more months of long term storage food with a 15 to 25 year shelf life. This is mostly in the event of a much more significant problem such as a total collapse of the United States economy (which is not only possible but likely) or other disaster that affects food supply, employment, etc. Statistics say that only, at best, 20% of the US population is prepared to sustain themselves longer than a week. Long term food items such as these pouches will serve not only as emergency rations but as a source of barter (money) as well. In addition we have silver tucked away. We also have a fresh garden that we have grown in place of the typical flower beds we had in years past. And, being that we live in the desert of Arizona we have 1000 gallons of potable water stored that we rotate.

Regarding the room it takes to store these items - the canned and box food takes the most storage area but we have a large pantry for this. The long term food storage we have is a mixture of both freeze dried (such as Wise food products) and dehydrated pouches (from eFoods Global). The dehydrated pouches only have a 15 year shelf life compared to the 25 year shelf life of freeze dried but you get much more food in a much smaller area. Of course we also have our bug-out kits and camping supplies in the event that we have to leave our area.

The long and short of it is this... You hope to never have to resort to any of this but if you do, on that day you will be glad you have it. I agree with Arthur Bradley's opinion in general. There are ads all over the place right now from people who are selling large stores of freeze dried food that were purchased during the Y2K scare and are now near the end of their shelf life (beware). Most of this food will ultimately be discarded. But in my opinion I would much rather throw away a years worth of long term food 20 years down the road, than need food a month from now and not have it and not have any way to provide for my family. Do it smart and have a plan. No one can be prepared for every situation but doing our best to provide for today and plan for tomorrow is a responsibility that we can't ignore in today's unstable climate. If you'd like practical help for doing this visit me by searching azsaver in google.

Emergency Survival Food Supply 275 Meal Pack
I was snowed in and had to use a couple of packets. Yes, it is a little misleading as to the servings. It doesn't taste too bad, but a little too peppery, and it never dissolves totally, almost as if there were a scoop of sand in each packet. Would never use again unless there were a severe emergency. A waste of money.

Imddisastersurvivalkit sold me this item, and though it took a while to receive it, the seller communicated every step of the way, quickly and politely. I recommend this seller. The basic serving size is ONE cup. 1 idea to increase calories would be to add some vegetable oil to the product or some protein. In a true emergency I don't expect to maintain the weight that I'm at now anyway, LOL! I am putting this away and if need be I'll take it out and use it after 15 years or so.
For the price it's an excellent investment and I highly recommend buying this now.

please rate this review, thank you and God bless!

This is simply a terrific product. In these days of disasters and emergencies, we prepare in many ways, and this product is a perfect way to provide yourself and your family with "food supply insurance". The food comes in a 5 gallon heavy plastic barrel, with a secure lid. It contains 55 packets, and each packet is "5 meals" for a total of (55 X 5) 275 meals. I am a big guy, and each packed actually does provide me with 5 meals (except the blueberry pancakes, which I eat all at once, in ONE meal! They are delicious!). Various types of food are included, such as potato soup, corn chowder, cacciatore, western stew, country noodle, blueberry pancakes, and even more. The packets typically provide 5 servings (meals) of high calorie food which is perfect for survival in emergencies. I tried a few, and they are pretty darn good, and I would have no difficulty eating them during a food shortage. Having a lot of food on hand like this provides a certain comfort level, and once you have it, you know that you've done the right thing for yourself and your family. Another great feature is the 20 year shelf life! Can you imagine that, 20 years! I'm glad I bought the barrel of food, and I think it's a great investment, and think of it as food supply insurance.

It was $87 the week before the Japanese earthquake and now less than a week later, it's $160???!! Wow! Talk about taking advantage of a crisis and taking advantage of peoples' fears in wanting to be prepared!